Comments by "alex smith" (@alexsmith-ob3lu) on "Ed's Auto Reviews" channel.

That’s what happens when you replace engineers with bean counters.
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24 year old Gen Z here. I might be the “unicorn” in this crowd here. My parents have owned a 1985 Buick Regal, 2001 Saturn LS2000 sedan, and a 2005 Chevy Malibu. They’ve since sold off their Buick Regal and Saturn sedan, but my dad still drives his 2005 Chevy Malibu. I pretty much grew up around American cars in my family, and my 2017 Chevy Equinox is still going strong at 95k miles. A big problem that I see today, are folks who use (and abuse) their car for 3 years before trading their wrecked car for a new one. It used to be that you’d own a vehicle for (minimum) 10 years before swapping out for a new car.
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@orangeclay0922 Have you tried GM? They still produce Chevy Malibu sedans.
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@orangeclay0922 What about a Buick Encore? A friend of mine recently purchased a brand new Buick Encore for around $23k. I know $23k is a bit more than compared to a Toyota sedan going for $20k, but there was no need for a wait list and there won’t be any problems getting any spare parts etc. for a Buick. Just my personal experience, not trying to force anyone into paying more money for a car.
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@RustandRedemption Not really. Some of the greatest American engines (Chevy small block) were developed in the 1950s; during a time of great economic and financial wealth across America. The real problem that caused the decline of American cars is management. By the 1970s, most engineers were fired from GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Only to be replaced by accountant and regulators who don’t understand cars. Same with the blue collar workforce. We replaced all our skilled mechanics and technicians with high school dropouts and then wonder why our cars are not selling? Despite all that, you still had great American models like the Buick Regal, Chevy Malibu - Iraqi Taxi, and Pontiac models that were all designed by automotive professionals.
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“Rebadging” of cars is nothing new. Ford started using Nissan, and Toyota combustion engines for their pickup trucks in the 1970s because Ford could not build their own efficient pickup truck engine. Also, I see a lot of similarities between 2022 Chevy Malibu and 2022 Honda Civics as well. A lot of this has to do with decades of globalization.
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This is a very interesting video in regards to American cars of the 1980s. It seems to me that most American cars in the 1980s were sluggish and bad quality, just like their 1970s counterparts. However, what makes American cars very “grey zoned” is when you mentioned Buick Regal sedans competing with Porsche/Lambo muscle cars, Chevy sedans purchased en mass by taxi cab companies, and no mention of bad quality of American pickup trucks…
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Fascinating! I’ve had that similar experience driving American cars too. My Saturn LS200 sedan was very economical for driving highways, but consumed a lot of gas driving on local roadways.
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