Quote:
Originally posted by yellowline
You can be right that some of the cars are behind the competition. But do YOU aspire to own a Camry?
The Camry is the most mediocre car ever built.
What does the Camry do well? It goes. From A to B.
I'd easily buy a late model Jetta over both of them.
Frankly, all companies should have to work equally hard to impress the consumer.
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Respectfully, I'll offer some counter point to yellowline's points above. No flaming, no offense intended.
As a performance minded person, no, I don't aspire to own a Camry. These cars are not enthusiasts cars and they are not marketed as enthusiats cars. They are relatively boring to drive. However, to most of the general buying public, all they want is a car to get them from A to B without breaking and for it to be able to be neglected for thousands of miles without failing. No car is perfect, but you can pile on many more miles on a Camry or Accord and have fewer problems than some comparable mid sized domestic sedans. It used to be that at 100,000 miles, most GM products were pretty worn out. That is not so for a Toyota or Honda. Hence the reputation of reliability for the Japanese makes.
I saw a new Camry last weekend with that sport package they have out now. Sharp looking car in person (this one was red). So, Toyota is working on the styling issue.
Also, I can go to a Toyota dealership and get a Camry with a manual transmission. If I go look for a Pontiac G6 with a manual transmission, the dealerships think I'm nuts for wanting such a thing. Chevy has nothing (and I wouldn't expect anything like that from Buick anyway). At Toyota, they at least stock a few of these types of cars.
At least Toyota is making a more sport oriented Camry now with some tweeks to the suspension, an excellent 4 cylinder with decent grunt, and the most important aspect (to me) is that you can get a manual transmission.
VW is having some serious quality issues right now. I've got several co-workers and friends with VW's and they have a TON of electrical issues. All in new cars with low miles. These aren't 15 year old beaters, these are 2002, 2003 models for example. This VW issue could be a whole 'nother thread.
All bets are off on the trucks though. If you want to pull a 6000 pound boat for 100,000 miles or haul 2 tons of gear, I'm buyin' a Chevy.
I agree that all car companies should be working hard to please the customer. GM has been resting far too long and have now been caught napping under a shade tree while the rest of the auto world slowly passed them up.
Jay
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