2010 Kia Soul

[KC1BUD]

This car suprized me the other day when I saw the commercial on TV. This thing is tiny , like the Scion sedan. But what surprised me was the EPA rating on it. It has an EPA fuel mile rating of 31 on the Highway.


It suprised me because Chevrolet makes several models that get better highway mileage than this.

My 2008 Impala, is twice the size and has an EPA rating of 30 MPG on the highway with the V-6. The Malibu is rated over 30mpg and the Colbalt gets 37mpg on the highway from the EPA. All of them larger than this thing. And the Colbalt is only a little higher in price than the Soul. So why do people continue to buy foreign?

[paz]

For one thing, I think people haven't gotten te message that American car companies have improved their products as much as they have. American companies got a bad reputation in the '60s through the '80s or '90s (remember Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader?). They started improving their cars back then, and they continue to improve today.

The other problem is the legacy costs that the American car companies bear. Foreign manufacturers, even those who manufacture in the U.S. in union shops, have only been doing so for a few years and don't have the long history of pensions and retiree benefits that Detroit has to pay. Those legacy costs get added into the price of every new vehicle. For that reason, cars from American car companies are either a few thousand dollars more expensive, or if they are the same price, they don't have as many features as cars from foreign manufacturers.

[robbstein]

There are also car companies (read GM) that have used dumb designs that cause expensive repairs...have uncomfortable seats...don't give decent customer service...

I've had both Ford and GM cars over the years as well as Hondas. The Fords have been fine, which may be why they haven't had the money problems GM has had, but I've sworn that I will never buy another GM car after the last Saturn we had.

[dieselclacker]

I will have to agree with paz's post above on this subject. I still think in general, you still get more bang for the buck in foreign made autos.
I used to be a staunch GM supporter by purchasing thier products until about 30 years ago. I even worked for Chevrolet for a while in my other life. Seems like thier quality really went downhill at about the mid 70's era. To me they seemed to have the attitude of "here is what we want you to buy", instead of building "what I wanted to buy".

I have looked at american products the past few years, and was not impressed with GM at all. I did purchase a Ford Mustang for my grandaughter as a present for her college graduation. I will say it has been trouble free for three years, and she loves the car. ( She better, ).

I might add that fuel mileage is not the only criteria for my auto purchasing. I look for such things as size, serviceability,trade in value, styling etc. and size them all up before making the buy. I just purchsed a new Honda CRV, and am very happy with it so far.

These are just my thoughts and opinions, on the subject, I would certainly hope that GM and other manufacturers get it together, and produce a desireable competitively priced car, like I know they can.

Dieselclacker

[KC1BUD]

Originally Posted by dieselclacker

I will have to agree with paz's post above on this subject. I still think in general, you still get more bang for the buck in foreign made autos.
I used to be a staunch GM supporter by purchasing thier products until about 30 years ago. I even worked for Chevrolet for a while in my other life. Seems like thier quality really went downhill at about the mid 70's era. To me they seemed to have the attitude of "here is what we want you to buy", instead of building "what I wanted to buy".

I have looked at american products the past few years, and was not impressed with GM at all. I did purchase a Ford Mustang for my grandaughter as a present for her college graduation. I will say it has been trouble free for three years, and she loves the car. ( She better, ).

I might add that fuel mileage is not the only criteria for my auto purchasing. I look for such things as size, serviceability,trade in value, styling etc. and size them all up before making the buy. I just purchsed a new Honda CRV, and am very happy with it so far.

These are just my thoughts and opinions, on the subject, I would certainly hope that GM and other manufacturers get it together, and produce a desireable competitively priced car, like I know they can.

Dieselclacker

That bang for your buck is more bucks paid out to buy the foreign car. As you can see from this website; http://www.automotive.com/2009/99/ch...036/index.html

The only comparable car on the list on the right of the page that is lower than the Colbalt is the Aveo, Kia made but sold under the Chevy Badge.

As far as having not purchased a Chev in 30 years try again. My Dad bought a new Ford in 1957 and it blew the engine in less than a year. Needless to say it was 30 years before he tried them again, but he did.

The big three isn't even the leader in recalls anymore. From Businessweek on line article on autos August 13, 2007, 3:50PM EST by Douglas Macmillan

"Toyota, a Recall Leader?"

"It's not just older models that get recalled. Frequently car manufacturers, or the NHTSA, discover a problem with a car shortly after it's released to the public. For the past two years, BusinessWeek has compiled lists of the most recalled new cars—and for both years, the results were surprising.
While General Motors (GM), DaimlerChrysler (now Chrysler LLC), and Ford led the list in 2006, Toyota saw a departure from its quality-obsessed character—recalling nearly 1.5 million vehicles worldwide, spanning every single model line produced that year (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/06, "The Most Recalled Cars 2006").
This year the bombshell on the list was Volkswagen of America, which recalled more than a million New Beetles because of a faulty brake light switch (in both the 2007 and older lines), and some 58,000 Passats for a fragile vacuum line. The company predicts that only about 30% to 35% of the vehicles in this recall are faulty but advises all owners of affected models to visit their local dealer."

This article can be read in its entirity at; http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...810_455098.htm

According to this article these cars models are ranked for total number of recalls VW is on the top of the list, and GM doesn't even appear until 10th on the list. See; http:///images.businessweek.com/ss/0...l/index_01.htm
There are two VW models and two Nissan models before you even get to the first GM car model and that is the Aveo made by Kia motors of Korea and badged as a Chevy.

Yes I worked for them and yes I retired from GM.

I can tell you that during the period 1978 to 1985 that we built engines and a lot of them shouldn't have been released.

We the Labor that everyone loves to rail against complained about these engines. But the Supervisors wanted the production numbers so they would look good to upper management. They, not us wanted to keep building.

[mcgillagorilla]

i am glad everyone is buying foreign owned cars when your job goes overseas please do not complaign that there is no work for americans.

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

What I don't get is these manufacturer's think anything over 30 is great gas mileage. In 1982 we bought a brand new Honda Accord and it routinely did 38 to 40 mpg. We now drive a 1996 Chrysler LHS with a 3.5 Litre V6 engine and it gets 30 mpg.

So why do these buildgers think these small cars are so great when they only get 30 to 35 mpg?

[RedneckExpress]

The Smog requirements kept getting raised which costs fuel economy. You can build a car that has really great fuel economy, but really poor smog, or you can build a car that has really low emissions, but goes less distance on the same fuel.

Soot filters on Diesels anyone?