I can't remember specifically what he said but something like the alternator sat behind the motor too close to the engine. So the engine got hot and the radiator blew the heat onto the alternator. This was back in 1994 so I can't quite remember exactly what he was talking about because I was more concerned that the car kept coming back to the dealer. When I said that seemed like a bad design he said not for GM - GM makes money selling alternators.
All we have is statistics - Phil Edmonston actually doesn't need to know anything about cars - all he has to do is take information and compile it. If you sell 100 Grand Ams and 98 people come back and list 7 problems. Then you say okay this model and model year consistently has problem X (let's say the alternator) then it is an issue. If you then poll 100 Honda Civic Owners and zero people complain about problem X (the alternator) then you can say that Honda makes a better alternator or the alternators they buy are better ones. It's not rocket science and it doesn't take a knowledgable car guy.
So these outfits like The Lemon-Aid and CR calculate the statistics and they look at the cars as they age and accumulate data that says perhaps that the Grand Am has an alternator failure at 4 years and 80,000 km 12 times more often than a Honda Civic at the same year and mileage. This is a know a known problem. Even if 12 times more often is still a relatively small overall number. Maybe it affects 25 cars in 100 sold while in the Civic it is 2 times in 100. It still means that a fleet operator who bought 100 cars may only have ten problems but the consumer market may get 50. Knowing they are selling to a fleet they may beef up the part because they want a fleet operator to come back to them in 5 years to buy a new fleet - piss him off and you lose 100 car sales. Piss off some average Joe - so what you lose 1 car sale.
The reason Toyota and Honda became popular certainly wasn't that they looked good. They became popular because people drive their GMs and Fords and Chryslers and got tired of having it in the shop 4 times a year. They begrudgingly bought a dumpy-looking Camry and said geez it's been 9 years and 300,000 miles and I put in oil and bought some tires. I didn't have to replace everything in the car three times.
VW's Golf was ranked as the 11th least reliable car in the UK - The golf is being pulled out of the US market because they are so bad that owners were not coming back to buy another one - Everyone I have met that owned one has nothing good to say about them. Terrible dealer service - your car broke down mam? Well, you obviously don't drive the car properly! The Japanese ate them for lunch and VW couldn't sell the rolling piles of crap a second time. That's the difference - The Honda Civic owner loved his car and after ten years bought another Honda. The VW Golf owner hated the pile of crap and said - this VW is a pile of junk so I'll buy that hideous-looking Honda Civic Hatchback. Besides, when you sit IN the Civic you don't have to look at it LOL. And then he has 1/10th problems can get it fixed the same day because there are a billion parts and the parts don't cost as much. You can learn to love the looks.
VW is pulling the Golf out of the USA - they got killed by the better Japanese and Korean efforts
The VW Golf Is Officially Leaving The USA
I agree with you on Delco. My Honda Civic came with a Delco battery which amused me. My Grand Am did not. It came with some no-name-brand battery. Granted my Grand Am was 1 year old when I got it so knowing that pile of crap - it was probably on its third one by the time I got it.
I still think about that Grand Am 1 year old:
- brake pads need replacing at 25k and 50k (apparently the rear brakes never engaged properly so 100% braking on the front wheels)
- power windows failed
- alternator failed
- rattles all over the place
- paint on roof peeling
- passenger seat would fly forward in heavy braking
- accelerating off the line the car would lift up a bit and steer left
- I hit a car from a rolling stop - left the foot off the brake - so very slow-moving. hit a car at less than 4 MPH - the front of the car fell off. $1800 damage. Back in 1994 so $3,600 today
- passenger door stuck closed. Had to be opened from the inside
- Alarm went on and could not be turned off. Granted this was a dealer-installed alarm so probably not the fault of GM - but it was a GM dealer who sold the crappy thing. So...
18 months of ownership
Honda Civic - 4 years 90,000 km stop and go traffic
- glue on the brake handle was a little loose- re-glued.
Original brake pads still had 20% - automatic - stop and go traffic. I wouldn't touch a GM with a 50-foot pole. And all the statistics and mechanics support that. My dad had a Cutlass Supreme - that junk was even worse. V8 with no power. Back windows didn't roll all the way down. It was a comically bad car. Oldsmobile went belly up too. I don't buy the theory they went out of business due to regulations or whatever. They were atrocious and you simply would never buy another one if you bothered to go and drive an Accord. An Accord with better materials, that didn't break and actually handled well and sipped fuel better. I rented an Accord once and thought holy crap our Oldsmobile was total garbage. The Accord was nimble and quick with a 4 banger and the V8 Olds was slow and plodding. Like 20 years behind. And don't get me started on our Dodge Ram V10 or Ford Escort. Oh My....