Anyone else worried about ... the big "R"?

[exilio]

I am talking the big R as in RELIABILITY.

For years I have only bought foreign, because reliability was important to me. But for the past several years I have really wanted to buy a car from an American auto maker--I really dig the Camaro and would love for it to be that car. However, I am worried about reliability. I want to show my support for an American car make, but I don't want to get hosed in the process.

Anyone else concerned about the same thing?

For years I have wondered why companies like GM don't try to fight the perception that their vehicle are unreliable, by doing things like increasing warranty periods, miles or offering free service.

Anyways -- I would love to hear your guys thoughts.

[pinkcamaro10]

I have owned nothing but GM vehicles my entire life, and my parents for their entire lives. If I was ever disappointed or concerned with the reliability of GM my family would have stopped purchasing them a loooooong time ago. I have never had a problem with any car ive owned.

[headpunter]

the same, the only non gm vehicle my family ever owned was a ford van and it was the Biggest piece of junk ever. my current colorado is 3 years out from the dealer's lot and still in great condition. and i treat it like crap most of the time.

gm's quality as a whole hs gone up alot since bob lutz became the "quality Czar"

[Optimus Prime]

With the exception of a couple of cars (and they weren't that great), I've only owned Chevrolet. I've had no problems except for normal wear on a Malibu I owned after it got a lot of miles. My current is a Cobalt that is now two years old with a little over 10k miles, and I've had 0 problems, and that's one of their lower end cars!

[Alarick]

Not concerned in the least.
My current Camaro is still running strong at almost 100k miles.

But having worked as a Service Adviser for both Chevy and VW, I can say that every manufacturer has some issues, and some gems.
Winding up with a reliable car can boil down to getting the one that was built on Monday versus the one built on Friday.

That being said, personally I plan on getting the longest extended warranty that is offered from GM, just in case.

[MB2010CC]

Read my Sig... HAHA!!! Im not going to lie I have had a few problems with this car. But the fact that it is still running amazes me. Most of all because I drive like a bat out of hell!!!

[Cole317]

The truth is, you usually only hear about how unreliable or bad vehicles are because when something goes wrong, its more of a deal than something good happening(i guess...) and therefor those few people are more likely to post or complain than the people that have no problem. That may have been confusing but i hope you understand what i mean.

[inspector10]

The last GM experience I had was not exactly stellar. Bought a brand new '99 Oldsmobile Alero V6 coupe. At 2500 miles the trasmission quit. It took close to a month for the dealer to fix it, and it never felt the same. Then there was the annoying stuff like the driver's side power window falling off the track, the rear defroster quit working, the passenger seat track broke, the blower fan only worked on the 2 highest speeds, and the list goes on. About a year and a half ago at 90,000 miles, the engine developed a loud tick when cold - sounded to me like one of the lifters collapsed. That was the last straw, I dumped the car. So I can definitely relate to the quality worries, but this new Camaro is awesome, so I'd be willing to give it another shot.

[FenwickHockey65]

I have had unmatched quality in my GM vehicles. Just look at my sig. That Safari van is still on the road with over 300,000 miles. We had never had any problems with it when we sold it in 2003.

And for proof of GM's new quality, just look at JD Power and Associate's best midsize car in initial quality, the best pickup truck, and the best full size car. GM wrapped up all three categories with the Malibu, Silverado, and Grand Prix.

[EU4IC]

My 95 Impala SS has been in the family for about 10 years now. My mother had it before and she isn't the kindest person ever to a car.

It now has 156,000+ miles and I have only had one mechanical problem ever and that was a simple heater hose fix. I drive this car like I'm chasing somebody down and I haven't had any problem other than that.

I always thought GM had good quality, and it was the japanese cars that had reliability problems?

[EU4IC]

Also, this Camaro is going to be one of the biggest names in the auto industry. GM has A LOT riding on this car and I seriously doubt they'd let it have a bad name due to reliability issues.

[fastball]

In 1997, when I was 20, I bought a fully loaded 1990 Beretta GT with 57k miles. It was near mint condition, and I absolutely loved it.......

Untill the paint started peeling, the interior plastic started cracking, the doors started rattling, and the car just started to overally feel rough and flimsy.

So, in 1999, I was -this- close to buying a Camaro Z28 untill someone I worked with encouraged me to look elsewhere, and pointed out that the Camaro's interior plastics are not much better quality than my Beretta's (and let's all be honest, the 3rd and 4th gen interiors were not made with the finest quality materials).

I ended up buying a brand new 2000 Honda Prelude in December of 1999, and it is the very same car I still drive today, albeit with 201,000 miles..... and still in pretty darn good shape.

Having said all that, I have been doing serious homework and reading alot of what Scott and the other Camaro core team engineers have been doining reguards to the design, assembly, and engineering of this new Camaro. Just as many of you have been. I have also been paying very close attention to GM's other newest cars - the Malibu, CTS, and G8.

Today, GM is doing a damn good job at out-importing the imports. High quality interior plastics, some of the tightest panel gaps I've ever seen on a car made by anyone (both interior and exterior body panels), superior chasis engineering so the car feels like one solid hunk of metal instead of a bag of bolts. This is what I see on 2007 and 2008 GM cars, and it's not what I've seen from their older cars. My Mom's 2007 Lucerne is Audi-like when you shut the doors and drive over bumps, and it puts her 1998 LeSabre that she traded from to absolute shame. Even she noticed and she is not a car enthusiast like most of us here.

GM is doing exactly what I said they needed to do 10 years ago, which is emulate Japan and Germany in quality and refinement, only do it better and with American style. I would have loved to buy a Camaro 10 years ago if when I pressed on the dashboard plastic it didn't bow in, or when I pulled on the headliner it didn't almost come all the way off. To be honest, I was a bit put off by American cars and actually very sad that to me, America couldn't build a car as good or better than Japan or Germany. I have always said I'd buy an American car if it were as good as my Honda.

Well, today, I do have faith in GM in ways I never could have imagined 10 years ago. See, I think I'm the person GM needs to win back..... the person who essentially swore off American cars completely, and vowed never to buy one again. But I guess the problem GM must overcome is those who don't pay attention to the entire car world with an open mind. I always, always, always rooted for and insisted that GM make better cars. And I swore if they did one day I would go back to them.

In an ironic twist of fate, not only have they improved their overall quality and reliability exponentailly over the last 10 years, but the culmination of it all is going into the car I was originally going to buy, opted not to, and then saw it discontinued with thoughts I never would be able to anyway.

Yes, I love the Camaro for what the Camaro is. But for me, it's more than just the return of the Camaro. It's GM as a whole, better quality, better reliability, and attention to details that they never had before.

They've won me back, and I really hope many more of the folks who've jumped to Honda, Toyota, and BMW and MB over the years give GM a good, close, hard look and pay attention to what they are doing.

So, no, I'm not worried about reliability. Besides, both the 3.6 and LS3 are rated among the best engines in the automotive world.

[Silverghost]

123,000 miles on my 4th gen and the only thing I ever had go wrong was passenger side cat went bad, got it replaced under warranty then decided to go with kooks headers w/ no cats. I've never owned a car with a better record then my Chevy and that includes my nissan which I purchased for the same reasons you keep buying forign.....reliability

[c0rsa180]

See now its people that put american made cars down that really get me mad...I understand that there was a point where you bought a chevy which looked like a cadillac which looked like a oldsmobile which looked like a pontiac, but that was a loooooonnnngggg time ago and this is no longer an issue. My family has always bought domestics, and the day I buy an imported car is the day I die (I guess my father taught me well), and there has never been any issues other than self inflicted problems (blew a tranny because we left the tranny cooler lines disconnected when we changed a radiator (at 130,000 miles) oops)...but I will end this rant with one point, GM is able to produce vehicles for lower MSRP's than the competition, with greater performance (show me a car that can take on the new ZR1 for a fraction of the price), and with the advances they have made (magnetic ride suspension, standard tremec MT6, the chevy volt, cts-v the list is endless) and all I'm trying to say is GM has gotten a bad name and it is complete bull...give me a GM over ANY car ANYDAY...

sorry rant over