They WISH it was $20 an hour for that guy. With the cushy UAW contracts, those guys cost more like 50 bucks an hour. Big factor in breaking GM and Ford right now, not the only one but a biggie.

 

(Shhh, I was trying not to make waves with any Union workers here) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

you know that is a huge problem!! not only is that guy making $75,000/yr but he doesn't have to work half as hard because the union stand behind him and it makes it hard to do anything to him!! i'm not saying all union workers are bad workers but i think i have the right to talk about it because i work for the government and experience it first hand!! wonder why they all want to use robots to do as much as possible...hmmm i dunno!! maybe the fact that power and maintanence is cheaper on a damn robot than payin a guy $35/hr (at least) minus benefits and he works a fraction of the time!!???? i dunno i just don't want to see ford, chevy, or dodge fail!! they can do anything and everything an import can do but they just can't make the same money with it that imports do!! oh and for the record, i'm mainly speaking out about trucks because that's all i drive!! i've owned ford and chevy and have been happy with both!! never a dodge but i'm sure one day i will, fords are just more appealing to me so who knows!! and to help answer the original question, sorry these forums always seem to side track a lot..... visit this link and maybe it will help answer your question Future Diesels. What have you heard?

 

i just don't want to see ford, chevy, or dodge fail!! they can do anything and everything an import can do but they just can't make the same money with it that imports do!!
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i agree. after owning them and owning a toyota presently i just dont see where the level of quality of the toyota is ANY higher than the domestics, despite what consumer reports or our news media would have the masses believe. They have most people thinking that if you look up toyota in the dictionary you'd see the toyota symbol and toyota! If the big 3 has a recall its front page news; if toyota has one it gets no airtime (well the last one finally did). And right now guess what? Honda (IMO the best of the jap car makers) has to send out 6MILLION letters to car owners due to a flaw discovered in their odometer recording mileage too quickly- thus voiding warrantees sooner, inflating lease rates, etc. Toyotas were found under recording mileage (i knew that b@stard was slightly off!!) and a similar suit was filed against nissan as well for overrecording mileage. At least honda is doing the right thing and extending warrantees, fixing the problem and maybe some cash....same thing nissan had to do. The American car companies - were right on target and accurate with milage recording. Didnt read it anywhere- heard it on the radio in a news blurb...

unions had their place in time but you all are right- they did bring these OEMS down. without the union costs, none of them would be in the red right now. Americans still make good cars its just the american people are swayed by the media staeering them to believe that they suck.

 

My friend that is a mechanic here at the GM dealership said they had to watch a vid on the future of the diesels. (bare with me, i really dont know what im talkin about...LOL) It had to do with emission controls. Something about burnin fuel to clean the exhaust exiting to plz the tree huggers out there. It didnt really make sense. Anyone know anything about this?

The moreal of the story is that supposely in the near future diesels will get poor mileage b/c they will have a 'special' convertor that requires fuel to clean the exhaust exiting. My friend didnt know when this was gonna happen, but he told me it mite be a good idea to hang on 2 my 05 since i get really good mileage rite meow

 

Yes they're screwing up the diesels, having to reroute exhaust back through for more complete combustion etc all kindsa stuff. Plus now the catylitic converters too. It's like back in 1972 when clean air rules hit the autos, they lost all their power and had smog pumps, low compression, they didn't know what to do. Plus the new low sulphur diesel fuel isn't in the pipeline yet so they can't release the new engines (which won't run on the old fuel). We got us a mess on our hands so hang onto your pre 08 diesel trucks.....you can still buy the old style Duramax now called the 07 "Classic".

 

Actually the ULSD has been widely available since October - in fact, it's getting harder and harder to find the older blend. The new model LMM D-Max puts out more HP and Torque than the previous LBZ and the burning process to lower emmisions is automatic. The only down-sides are that we do have to pay for the extra cost of all the emisions crap (A GMT900 series truck will cost about $2K more than an equlivant GMT800 style) plus there's that funky looking exhaust tip that's designed to cool things off during the re-burn periods.

Jaybee

 

They have to mess with too much of a good thing?

 

i feel a little more confident/secure knowing my truck was put together by a person making $20.00 or $50.00 an hour than by some kid making minimun wage, because if thats what they did pay thats all you would have working there.

 

Good info there Jaybee.
SR