3300 miles...

[snooper2]

and it already has a rattle in the dash... :puke:

So, I dropped off my 06' Grand Prix at Progressive as one of their customers backed into the front end. Great customer service by the way- one stop shop. They gave me a 2009 Impala to drive for free while car is being fixed.

3300 miles on it when I picked it up, and while driving to work this morning noticed it's got a rattle in the dash. WTF, oh, and the Grand Prix had a rattle as well I fixed myself. Took dash apart and above the instrument cluster they have four tabs that are not snug- causing the rattle. Fixed with a couple rubber washers.

The instrument cluster is very cheap looking, ( like something you would expect in a base model Cobalt ) worse is the cheap looking ultra fake wood. Also, I wouldn't expect a full size car these days to come with hubcaps...

Seat is comfy though :)







This is why these car makers are in trouble....

[Fumesucker]

1. Hoo boy...

:popcorn:

[snooper2]

3. Yep

I'm going to get the wrath of Impala drivers :) ( at least )

[liberal N proud]

2. Impala has always been a base GM model

Bare bones 4 wheels that seats 6.

I have a Chrysler LHS that is 8 years old and 133,000 miles on it and still runs like new. Just bought new tires so I guess I will be driving for at least another year.

Blame the workers, it is the easy way out.

[snooper2]

4. It's not the workers, it's the engineers..

After 80 years of building dashs, you would think they would have the rattles out by now...

Maybe they should go all steel again like my buddie's '55 chevy...

[Fumesucker]

5. Not the engineers so much as the bean counters...

And the executives.

I bet they saved a good fifteen cents by not putting the rubber washers in. :eyes:

[ProfessorGAC]

7. If That

At their buying volume, they probably buy 1500 washers for a dollar, and it would only take 5 seconds to put them in! At a fully absorbed labor cost (driect) of 80 cents a minute, it would only take 6 cents to put them in.

Geez, you were being generous to those beancounters!

GAC

[Fumesucker]

12. A penny saved is a penny earned.. eh? n/t

[napi21]

8. YEP! We have a 10 yo Mercury with 70M miles on it. No rattles,

no noises, and all we've EVER had to do is change the oil and put new brakes on it. We bout it used 8 years ago, paid $10,000, and even the tires are still good.

[Fumesucker]

11. Not so, Impala was at one time the top of the line Chevy..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Impala

From 1958 until 1965, the Impala was Chevrolet's most expensive full-size car. In 1965, Chevrolet introduced the more-expensive Caprice.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. I have a '98 Grand Prix with 120k and no rattles altho the back driver side window

just quit working recently.

[snooper2]

10. Very Very common with Grand Prix's

I never use the back windows on mine...but when I do they are already "vibrating/shimmy-ing(word?)"

three of my co-workers who have/had GP's all had same problem with the power windows...


Drivers side seems fine still on mine...

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. I never used mine either but I had a passenger who did and the result wasn't good.

:yoiks: Now it will cost a lot to get it fixed. Bummer! :rofl: I managed to prop it up, but it falls down if I go over a bump. :silly:

[cherokeeprogressive]

9. I have two Chevy Tahoes with a combined 160,000 miles on them.

Not a squeak. Not a leak. Not a rattle. Neither burns oil. Seating is excellent. Dash looks like a dash should; It has a tach, speedo, gas guage, oil pressure, and water temp guages. After that, I don't give a fuck whether it's fake woodgrain or not. Both are used to pull a 21ft boat. If I had it to do all over again, I'd buy them both once more.

[uppityperson]

14. If you'd just quit leaving your lego creations on the dash, pieces wouldn't fall into it.

I agree that it would be nice to be able to take dash off, get behind it, like we used to be able to.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. A couple of observations...

I live in the UK, and I don't own a car. I end up taking taxis maybe once or twice a week. Man, taxis will tell you all you ever wanted to know about a car's build quality. I've been in ten year old Skodas (basically VWs on the cheap) that may be battered to hell, but they don't creak, squeak, or rattle. I've been in two or three year old Opels or Vauxhalls (GM's European division) that have nearly shredded themselves on the speed bumps on the road to my house. Same with French cars - Peugeot and Renault's interior build quality is atrocious (but the engines are lovely.) Even my mom's Subaru is rattly as hell. Aside from the Germans and Swedes, I don't think anybody actually pays much attention to interior fit & finish any more.