For anyone waited years while putting up with the **** poor quality of F-bodies should be rewarded by GM.

It's a travesty that two name plates such as the Camaro and Firebird couldn't receive proper window motors, or headlight gears. Or do enough R&D to realize that the upper dash pad and door panels will crack pretty bad when left out in the sun. It's an endless list. I've found myself at the end of the road with my F-body, I'm frankly just fed up with the quality as it is right now. It's pretty sad considering how much I wanted to own one growing up as a kid.

I would love a 2010 Camaro, but it will be outside my price range for a couple years till I get a better job.

I would like to avoid GM as my next car purchase, but I'm leaning towards an LS2 GTO to hold me over till I can buy brand new.

 

Yeah, I know. It's a pipe dream considering the shape GM is in right. Just a minor rant, I guess.

 

The auto business and we consumers have evolved quite a bit since the 4th Gens. What was acceptable then isn't good enough today. That's called progress and it's a good thing.

 

I'll agree that there where some poor materials used on some of the interior pieces. My dash cracked by the vent, but a little super glue solved that issue and my window and lock buttons cracked on the driver side, again super glue worked, the window motors I had to replace once and the headlight gears I replaced with Brent's brass gears, but all in all my 13 year old WS6, has held up extremely well and at 165k miles it still runs like new. The only major repairs I had to do in the engine bay was a new water pump at 130k miles and a new opti at 70k miles. The A4 tranny had to be replaced at 95k miles, but I was kinda hard on it. I replaced the front brakes with a baer track kit, so I guess the front calipers were shot, but 10 years isn't bad. Anyways, compared to alot of vehicles out there, its been a great car and rather easy on the wallet as far as repairs go. Maybe I have just had better luck than others. But looking back at other cars from the mid 90's and I can't think of anything that was really that much superior from a quality standpoint. My parents had a 1994 lexus GS300 and it had all kinds of issues, the repair list was far longer than my 96 TA. Ok, enough of my ranting.

 

Do it, you won't regret it

 

So.... all GM needed to do to bring quality standards up, is a equip every 4th gen with super glue

 

One thing thats very odd to me. Back in the 70s-80s, when cars werent that great, they sold so well. But now that cars everything you could ask for, they have to practically give them away.

 

I havn't had any of those problems with my '95 Z28 (150,000 mi), the interior still looks brand new. Maybe you guys just need to be a little more gentle with the cars. They arn't tanks you know, you can't just slide across the hood and jump through the window Dukes of Hazaard style and expect them to not have some cracks.

 

Did you buy your Camaro or Firebird brand new? If not, you haven't contributed anything to GM then, you've probley helped support Autozone workers more than GM employees.

 

So you want to avoid GM based on a used (probably) car that was built 9-10 years ago and, really, was designed back in the late '80s. Whatever dude.

 

guilty


haha

 

The loyalty rebate is the TRADE IN!

Hal

 

Anyone care to share how much they've been quoted on their 4th gens on a trade in for a 5th gen?

 

I try to not sell cars to people who make a living selling them. They tend to be the stiffest buyers......

 

I've owned 3 4th gen Camaros, and I can 100% agree with you that those 4th gens were substandard in accessory quality even by 1990s standards.

I will also agree that the view of people at GM who this issue was brought up on ranged from arrogant to dismissive to downright disgusting.

In the biggest reason I should never become a dictator, I would have had the guy who signed off on the pre '98 fuel guage accuracy locked away in an Afgan prison, I would have publically flog the people who OKed the clutch, have the and to this day would still have a shoot-on-sight order for the guy who OK'ed those F-body power window motors.

And, no... I'm not kidding!

On the positive side, the body structure of the 4th gen F-body was almost tanklike (even if the skin was poor fitting... front fenders anybody?). The hardware you got for the money (compared with what the Asian sport cars were offering) was impressive. And although GM (in bad judgement IMO) went the wrong way in sizing the 4th gen versus the 3rd gen, they did look aggressive.

I bought my 1st Z28 at an auction on a whim. My 2nd one because I wanted a 6 speed. I got my B4C (and my 3rd Thunderbird SC which I refurbished) because Pontiac dealers did everything they could to NOT take my money for a purchase of a new GTO.


Although it's tempting to jump on that bandwagon with you in that GM owes us for putting up with their screwups regarding the 4th gen Camaro, the bottom line is that we got these cars on our own free will.... and there was a reason for us doing so.

I could have picked up a used GTO, or a new supercharged Cobra. But I figured I'd keep the Z28 and B4C at the time. Today, at 195,000 miles and 3 power window motors later on my B4C, my 2002 does what I ask it to. It gets me from point "A" to point "B" dependably. It takes down the occasional challenge from someone else who "thinks" they have a fast car. It still stands out and looks great. And, with the exception of those "make-me-want-to-never-buy-GM-again" power window motors, most all maintence on the car is cheap.


So while I have a love-hate relationship with the 4th gen F-body, the car was still good enough for me to have owned 3 of them over the past 12-13 years with my '97 spending 6 years and this 2002 also spending 6.

If they are going to give loyalty discounts, then fine. But although it's very tempting (and maybe even deserved), they don't need to give discounts on current Camaro owners because of the 4th gen F-body.

If the new Camaro is heaps better (and they banished those guys who made the crap that ended up on the 4th gen to the Afghan-Pakistan border), then that will be payment enough for me.