Does your dislike of BrandX keep you from possibly getting a good car?

This is an interesting thread. I never liked german cars till I got a e30 325i with a holed oilpan and bad bearings practically for free. I wondered if the motor wasn't in as bad shape as the owner'd thought, so I pulled the oilpan and welded it back up. Up to then I'd only experienced stamped pans and wondered at the rather beautiful cast aluminum pan. As I continued to work on it, the quality of components was just so much better than the American and Japanese crap that I'd been working on, that I developed a lot of affection for the things. I don't want the cost burden of maintaining a fleet of german cars, but I may be buried in my C63 AMG. Love that sucker.

I get the GM hate.

I currently own a 2019 Silverado 1500 and a 1999 K2500 Suburban. I also had a fleet of 2nd gen F-bodies for a while.

The build quality was awful on the earlier stuff but the 2019 High Country is very good.

My only real complaints on the newer stuff is that the 2019 has a panic attack every time the temperature drops below -20c. It trips a slow O2 sensor code that makes the remote start not function until I clear the code. The offending sensor has been replaced with a new, GM sensor and it still does it. When the old sensor completely failed about 100km from home, it caused a misfire so bad that the shake caused a fault in the EPS system lol. A spinout on ice this winter also triggered an EPS fault. Stupid thing is too smart for it's own good.

The 1999 has a crappy dash assembly with plenty of rattles and squeaks and about the worst cup holders known to man. The brakes weren't remotely good enough for a 5600lb truck until I upgraded them to the 3500 brakes. You have to drive out the wheel studs to change the brake rotors. It eats a rear heat control valve about once every two years because it's too close to the exhaust manifold. A lot of my dislikes are just stupid design and assembly.

The cheapness of GM repair parts makes up for all the issues though.

I will consider pretty much anything.  I don't have much brand loyalty, but I've owned primarily Ford, GM, and Toyota/Scion so I'm more familiar with their foibles.

I will say, I have owned two Dodge products and detested them with a passion.  One was a Ram 1500 and the other was a Dakota.  Both of them were rattly, buzzy, and plasticky.  I rented a Neon once and thought I was going to die of boredom.  Because of that experience, I will never know the joy of racing a Viper or the versatility of Stow-n-go seating in a Caravan.  I just instantly dismiss them.

I'm working on a 1993 Caravan survivor (3.0/3spd, of course) and it reminds me of how much I miss those things.  Smallish compared to new things but roomier inside, the controls are simple and intuitive.

If you need to take the middle/rear row seat out, though, you need tools and then a place to store it while you are hauling plywood or whatever.

ShawnG said:

The cheapness of GM repair parts makes up for all the issues though.

That and the aggressive depreciation, and abundance of information available when something does go wrong keeps me driving GM's.  
It's my default, and I'm not necessarily brand loyal. It's nice to see that I kickstarted the Subaru hate I've been advocating for in the last 20 years or so 

In reply to Peabody :

I remember when I was considering buying a 50's split-window VW bus, I joined thesamba forums.  If there is any vehicle out there with more abundance of info than GM, it's old VWs.

I'm also enchanted with some of the older Mercedes support.  They're tanks, and the intarwebs has come up with a solution for everything.  Having owned a couple W210s, that came in handy.  Newer MB forums are like "which OEM dealer should I allow to touch my S-class; money no object."  Older MB forums are like "Bro, the 0.02 ohm resistance of a paperclip can fix the power seat circuit from blowing fuses," and "Here's the $3 filter you can use to make your OM617 run on molasses and turpentine."

Funny, we put a T5 into the '57 Chevrolet shop truck.

We bolted a T5 to the original 235 I6 using the original bell housing, flywheel and pressure plate. A Camaro clutch disc and an Astrovan drive shaft.

No cutting or welding,  just mix-and-match parts assembly.

Gotta love the GM parts bin.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Moto Guzzi guys are like that.

"The part is discontinued but this particular Ducati uses the same thing. If you don't want to spend Ducati money, you can shoplift this O-ring from the plumbing section at Home Depot and it will fit just fine".

ShawnG said:

Gotta love the GM parts bin.

Want big brakes on your Sonic hatch? Trax rotors and caliper bracket, Camaro calipers. Bolts right up, and costs almost nothing if you do it right

I thought of that too while I was posting, but it's far less so these days.

VolvoHeretic said:

In reply to stan :

Do you want to learn to hate just one brand or do you want to expand your hate to include lots of brands?

Example: I just learned to hate my Ford Windstar minivan a lot more after finding out that you have to jack up the car and remove the front right tire and reach up from underneath with only one hand to release the tension on the fan belt tension pulley.  That was too hard so I took it into the shop and paid $300 to have someone else replace the squeaky tension pulley. 

when you say "just learned", are you using "just" in terms of time (ie "just now"), or in terms of scale ("it's just one of those things")?

because if you've still got a running driving Windstar, then you're breathing some pretty rare air, my friend.

ShawnG said:

My only real complaints on the newer stuff is that the 2019 has a panic attack every time the temperature drops below -20c.

you know, there are places to live that don't see -20C.

i may be missing out on life, but i've pretty much decided i'll never own another subaru.

Does FWD count as a "brand" for these purposes? Because I'm not getting a FWD as a "recreation" car but I keep reading these things about the new Civic or Minis or whatever else. All I know is memories of being annoyed with how boring they are and how useless they are at powering out of a low speed corner

There's cool cars for every mark. By and large, my bias against GM and Chrysler products tend to be supported with real life experience (seriously, why can't GM design cup holders? Why are their interiors laid out so counter intuitive?), but I'm all for being proven wrong. My tolerance for quirks also changes according to whether something is a project or something needs to be reliable and daily driven. I'm much more willing to put up with high maintenance toys than high maintenance e DDs. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

My only real complaints on the newer stuff is that the 2019 has a panic attack every time the temperature drops below -20c.

you know, there are places to live that don't see -20C.

-20C can be balmy in the winter.

We beat the Antarctic Research Station one day last winter when we hit -42C

It's +25C today.

P3PPY said:

Does FWD count as a "brand" for these purposes? Because I'm not getting a FWD as a "recreation" car but I keep reading these things about the new Civic or Minis or whatever else. All I know is memories of being annoyed with how boring they are and how useless they are at powering out of a low speed corner

If that can count, put me down for any modern full size truck.  Too damned big, cant see E36 M3 when you are in em

P3PPY said:

Does FWD count as a "brand" for these purposes? Because I'm not getting a FWD as a "recreation" car but I keep reading these things about the new Civic or Minis or whatever else. All I know is memories of being annoyed with how boring they are and how useless they are at powering out of a low speed corner

It depends on the chassis.  A well set up A2 chassis Golf could power out of corners like nobody's business.

This is part of why I also think that more than 100hp isn't really useful in a front driver.  If you need more acceleration than that, get a smaller car.  100hp in a 1 ton VW felt perfect.

Where front drive cars fascinate me is their braking.  It felt like I could fold my ears over my face with the Golf...

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Ever drive a BMC Mini? Just phenomenal pull out of corners and braking.

I came around to liking FWD cars in rougly 2022 when I drove my wife's B4 for the first time.

I'm not sure there's anyone I've completely written off, but there definitely are brands that have had rough eras that have made me push them toward the bottom of the pile of consideration. Many '90s Fords were a really boring and uncomfortable experience. Stellantis/Chrysler/Dodge has had some truly forgettable eras, and I've had some pretty rough experiences with Mitsubishis.

I think with me it's more that god experiences tend to turn me into a bit of a fanboy, so that becomes my new frame of reference. Hyundai is definitely achieving that status for me at the moment. Everything they're building is compatible with me in a way that just works. So I tend to compare lots of stuff I drive to me experience driving and operating Hyundai products.

In reply to buzzboy :

B4? Like an Audi? Those are AWD no?

In reply to CyberEric :

Most arent.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

i may be missing out on life, but i've pretty much decided i'll never own another subaru.

Quoted for truth.

CyberEric said:

In reply to buzzboy :

B4? Like an Audi? Those are AWD no?

Sorry, I should have specified B4 Passat. I don't think we got syncro B4 Passats in the US?
 

Having worked on a few, I will never buy something from VW. 

Because of their engine codes. Sure as an owner I can cross verify all my information, but then I have to trust the listings for parts are correct and having spent months working on a Passat and the customer providing the incorrect parts *numerous* times because the listing on the used parts were incorrect (he'd get parts shipped direct to the shop in an agreement with the boss, various bigger parts [transmission, a/c compressor], multitude of suppliers). I just don't wanna deal with it.

In reply to buzzboy :

Ah, gotcha. Thanks.