Why we will never again own a Government Motors vehicle.

We currently have two GM vehicles. One is a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire with 119K miles on it. This car I have not complaints about. It has been maintained well, and therefore has done us proud as a reliable vehicle with no special bells and whistles. Our second car, well this one is an issue. It's a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx with 86K miles on it and obviously it was during these years when crap began to be produced from this manufacturer. This vehicle is six years newer than the sunfire, but presents itself at least six years older! When my wife and I purchase this car, we thought that it was sleet, classy, and an all-around good multifunction family vehicle. Obviously this car was rushed to market with no true research done that would have saved us as well as GM a lot of headaches and lost customer base. I have taken a few pictures that highlight why this car sucks, why I wish I owned a car from a company that takes pride in their product, and explains that if a company running in a free market can create this, then a taxpayer owned company would simply produce a danger to the roads and citizens who drive them. By the way, this car doesn't qualify for the "Taxpayers pay for everyone else's new car" program, AKA "Cash for Clunkers."

This is the obvious lack of testing and good engineering. If you look closely at the top orange area of the blinker, you notice there's a hole in the orange enclosure. I went through many bulbs as this enclosure just melted under the trapped heat from the bulb and blew out the light. After this went on for several years, the encasing finally melted enough that it now misses the bulb and the trapped heat can now get out. As a result of this heat escaping you can see the discoloration that was rewarded to the once shiny silver metal lining for the entire headlight system.

Should a car that is only five years old have the inside door paneling peeling away? This isn't an accident on our part or lack of care. It just started to separate and give our five year old car a sense of being around the block a few times! Also, this door has power locks, but unfortunately the only feature that works on the passenger door is the unlock button. That door can no longer lock the car.

One would expect that when they bring down the visor that pieces of the covering wouldn't land in your lap. Apparently, the spring that holds it open and closed just popped out and the flap would just hang freely. This was distracting enough that I just removed it as it no longer stayed open or closed.

The above picture was a major buying point for us with a three year old child in the car. This version of the Malibu came with dual moon roofs in the back. This worked wonderfully until the summer heat became a factor. The shade that covers this window is a spring loaded retractable covering that when closed is latched in the notch seen above. However, there is no support system behind this notch when we first purchased the car. When summer came, we couldn't keep the shade closed as the rubber notch/paneling became soft and the spring loaded retractor would snap open the shade as the rubber didn't have the strength to keep it closed. Now our son at the time would have to endure the sun barreling into the window as the shade couldn't block it out. We took it in to the dealership when the steering box failed (detailed later) and the dealerships/GM's solution was to install a support system behind it free of charge. This worked fine until the adhesive that attached the support system (plastic bar) behind the rubber notch wore off over time and we are again battling the sun. Our next solution will be to rip out the spring (and maybe use it to somehow fix the visor) and permanently close the shade to avoid the Texas summer heat coming into these two moon roof windows.

Who knew there was a trick to removing your phone charger in such a way to avoid the entire lighter assembly from coming out of the dash? The only solution I currently have is to crazy glue it back in, but looking at the design of it, there isn't anything to keep it from separating when any device plugged into it gets removed.

And finally, the glorious instrument panel…

I just love the fact that only half of my instrument panel lights now work! It gives it a personal touch I suppose. Now I know the picture isn't the best, but I do believe you can see what I am trying to illustrate here. First it was the bulb on the left that cut in half both the Tachometer and the Speedometer details and when the second bulb went out on the fuel indicator on the right (all you can see at this point is the red indicator) I called a local dealership and was extremely glad I could purchase replacement bulbs. I feared I would have to buy the entire panel! So I have to ask, why are the bulbs burning out at all! I've only replaced two license plate bulbs on my Sunfire in the eleven years I've owned it.

Other issues we have had with this car in the 5 years we've owned it is as follows:

• Battery died which in itself is no big deal, but it shorted out the CD player which had to be warrantied and replaced. We were glad this occurred as the black paint on the volume knob was flaking off and shining through the knob was the back light which only made this look worse. This occurred early on and should have been an omen to us!
  
• Steering box failing. I had never experienced this before, but over time this worsened to the point that when you approached a red light and were down to the final 5mph, the steering wheel , if let go, would just start turning itself to the left. We first had the alignment done (never pulled left on the road to begin with, but had to try something) and finally they had to replace the steering box under an extended warranty. This worked for about two years and its slowly creeping back to the left again.
  
• Master Brake Cylinder failing. Luckily we had this fixed before the breaks completely failed on us. Somehow the master cylinder was already junk at 85K miles and needed replacement. I'm used to having brake pads changed and even the occasional rotor…but the master cylinder? Our Sunfire's still running just fine on its original master cylinder….and steering box for that matter!
  
• Seat warmers come on whenever they want. It's always nice to have your ass unexpectedly warmed up when its 105 outside! I thought about just cutting these wires but then remembered I need to sell this thing. What really gets me is we owned a 2002 GMC truck (older model) where the seat warmers actually abided by "low" and "high" settings. This "newer" car had those settings, but it was all or none. Low wasn't a low warmth…it was a high setting for a short time…so its heat your ass up….turn off….heat your ass up….turn off.

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And wouldn't you know it!!...as I create this document there is yet another failure and a towing. The master cylinder failed in mid-July and less than a month goes by that the electrical power steering fails. Only this fails during driving while the engine is still going. So for instance, if you are making a left hand turn at a signal when it decides to stop working, your car will now be going straight into cross traffic. So we tow it again and my wife and I decided that we need to get out of this hazard and money pit. So after 1,500.00 in repairs in less than a month, we dump it along with the aging Sunfire for a Mazda and Toyota.

None of these issues, in my opinion, are the result of a true lemon, but rather a rapid deterioration of cheap workmanship, materials and poor engineering. A great idea rushed to market and ultimately to a rapid demise. This is why we will never buy a GM and perhaps another American made car. These past few years have enlightened me to what the priorities are for these companies. I have no doubt that the unions played a role in this cars deterioration. GM needed to fund labor and benefits over quality and development and to compete in a global market, had to make cuts somewhere. I now know where those cuts were made and I now seek out a car company whose products do not reflect these types of short comings.