Good article series on how GM “went to shit”

[jeep45238]

My work truck is a '22 Ram 2500 diesel. It turned over 6,000 miles on the clock this week. I picked it up a month or so ago with 11 miles on it and the plastic cover over the fuel fill port.

At under 3,000 miles, the driver's window regulator was making noise and sluggish enough that it closes 1-2 seconds after the passenger side window. That's concerning.

It came from the factory filled at the 'min' mark on the coolant reservoir. Concerning, and I get that saving a qt. of coolant times thousands and thousands adds up to a ton of money - it's more concerning that it made it past the dealer inspection with this.

The truck says IC Coolant level low when cold and on any sort of incline - it has an air to air intercooler. This seems like a small thing, but shows the lack of quality control at a level integral to vehicle functions that are not repairable by a mechanic.

The parabolic mirrors are worthless unless they're flipped up. I used to make fun of Dodge's driving like this and not towing, and now I understand it's more or less out of necessity.

The seat lacks any lumbar support, which is sort of a big deal when you're on the road constantly doing physical labor.

The brakes lack feedback, and are amazingly sub-par to the Ford's we have in the fleet.

The bed rails are so damn high I can't get anything out without climbing into the bed. I’m the average male Amarrixan height of 5’11”.

The ride height is so tall I can't tow a trailer with straight ball extension without dragging the gate over speed bumps. I barely clear with a 2" drop.



The drivetrain itself is great to tow with, the exhaust brake is stronger than the Ford's we have, and the low end torque is great as well.




My personal aversion to anything not American made has faded a ton over the last 15 years.

[spinmove_]

It’s sad to see what GM has become because as luck would have it, my mom’s side of the family is so GM it hurts and, wouldn’t you know it, I married into a family that’s also so GM it hurts.

My first car was a ‘98 Chevy S10. It was great until I backed into oncoming traffic as a kid. Never did that again.

Then I had a ‘96 Buick Century. That thing had zero issues….until the driver door lock busted, the hood latch broke, had a giant crack in the windshield from a kicked up rock on the highway, and probably one or two other minor things. In hindsight I should have just fixed it all and kept going. But being the charismatic young stallion that I was (I wasn’t actually) I wanted something like “grandpa”.

Enter my ‘06 Pontiac G6. I managed to take it beyond 300,000 miles, but it went through shocks and struts like candy, had all manner of odd and bizarre electrical issues, and the in-dash CD changer completely shit the bed and ate a stack of CDs. Surprisingly I never had an issue with the panoramic sunroof. I was glad to eventually be rid of it.

Then I traded that heap in for a brand new ‘12 Mazda 3. Zero issues. Had it for 7 years. Should’ve held onto it after I put 175,000 miles on it and it was still going strong. But I wanted a truck, so…

I traded it in for a ‘16 Silverado 1500. I generally didn’t have any problems with it except for a couple of lights in the center stack weren’t working and then of course the class-action lawsuit transmission made all manner of weird noises and behaviors. It was a ticking timebomb in my mind with just under 100,000 miles on it and with the impending economic issues I traded it in for…

A ‘18 Mazda CX-5. I’ve had zero issues with it thus far. It’s going in to get the fuel pump replaced next Friday under warranty/recall, but other than that it’s been exactly trouble free. I’ll probably hold on to this thing until 2026/2027 in which I’ll have some sort of down payment saved up and trade it in for a truck or mid-sized SUV. THAT vehicle I want to make last 10 years because I just want a vehicle that can do more than I would ever want it to and just freaking work the entire time. It’s not that I dislike my CX-5, but when you have a random project pop up like “let’s build a firepit in the backyard with a huge ring of river rock around it” it sucks making several trips to Home Depot just to get everything you need.

We also have a 2000 Miata as a third “for fun” car. It needs a new soft top, new tires, and probably the aging radio/CD player replaced because, well, age, but she still purrs along without issues for something that’s only got somewhere north of 130,000 miles on it. We’ll be hanging on to her for a good long while.

I seriously doubt I’ll ever buy another GM product unless they really turn something around as well as come out with something super compelling. If I buy something else “American” it’ll probably be an F-150, a RAM 1500, or the wife wants a Jeep Wrangler. Beyond that, it’ll most likely be Japanese for me unless I somehow start making bank in the next few years.