--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2C00011 Date: 02/07/98 From: ALAN MORRISON Time: 02:40pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Saturn Cars FAQ SATURN CARS FAQ The Saturn Mission Statement To market vehicles developed and manufactured in the United States that are world leaders in quality, cost and customer enthusiasm through the integration of people, technology and business systems, and to exchange knowledge, technology and experience through General Motors. Our Philosophy We, the Saturn Team, in concert with the UAW and General Motors, believe that meeting the needs of Customers, Saturn Team Members, Suppliers, Retailers and Neighbors is fundamental to fulfilling our mission. Shared Values We at Saturn are committed to being one of the world's most successful car companies by adhering to the following values: commitment to customer enthusiasm, commitment to excel, teamwork, trust and respect for the individual, and continuous improvement. --- Is Saturn part of General Motors? Yes; however, Saturn is a wholly owned subsidiary and not a division of GM. --- Does every Saturn car come with a moneyback guarantee? Yes, Saturn has a moneyback guarantee policy. If you own a new Saturn, you can return it for any reason within 30 days or 1,500 miles of use, as long as you have no more than $300 worth of damage done to the car. Used Saturns may be returned within 3 days or 150 miles. --- Where is Saturn on the latest IntelliChoice ratings and the J.D. Power Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) and Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)? IntelliChoice ranked the 1997 SL1, SL2, SC1 and SC2 models as the Best Overall Values in their respective classes. J.D. Power put Saturn in first place for Sales Satisfaction and seventh in Customer Satisfaction. (The top six were all luxury cars -- Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and Jaguar.) --- I hear that Saturn is coming out with a midsize car. Is this true? We'll be introducing a midsize vehicle called the LS sometime during the 1999 calendar year. We'll manufacture the LS in Wilmington, Delaware, with the same Saturn philosophy and spirit that we do Spring Hill. We'll let you know more as the production date draws near. --- Blue Wave/386 v2.20 [NR] * Origin: River Canyon Rd. BBS Chattanooga, Tn (1:362/627) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2C00012 Date: 02/07/98 From: ALAN MORRISON Time: 02:40pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Saturn wins Manuf. Champ. Saturn Wins Manufacturers' Championship October 28, 1997 Reno, Nevada-The Saturn Inner City Youth (I.C.Y.) Racing Team dramatically concluded the 1997 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) World Challenge season at the Reno Grand Prix. Going into the Grand Prix, the Touring 2 Class Manufacturers' Championship Cup was up for grabs, with both the Saturn and Acura teams tied for the lead in the T2 division. The Manufacturers' Cup is awarded to the team that has earned the most points which are based on finishing position during the entire nine month racing season. With the standings so close, excitement and anticipation surrounded the race. It didn't take long for things to heat up: both Paul Booher of the Saturn I.C.Y. Team and Michael Galati of Acura both qualified in the top five. The race itself was an intense battle between drivers fighting for position on the narrow winding street course. There were plenty of bumping incidents and several cars wound up in the barriers. In the end, Johannes Van Overbeek of the Last Minute Racing Team drove his BMW 318Ti to victory. Paul Booher held off Pierre Kleinubing of Acura and Taz Harvey of Honda to take second place. It was Booher's impressive finish over Kleinubing that clinched the Manufacturers' Cup for the Saturn I.C.Y. team. Saturn's strong finish in the race also secured Booher the second spot in the overall individual Drivers' Championship. The Saturn Team was in the spotlight during race weekend and the grandstands were filled with cheering fans. Among them was Steve Wittenbach, Merchandising Manager of Saturn Corporation. After the victory, Steve was on hand to congratulate the team and help accept the Manufacturers' Championship Cup. Saturn Corporation is proud to sponsor the Inner City Youth Racing Team and congratulates members for their success both on and off the track. ... SATURN- Something All The US Really Needs --- Blue Wave/386 v2.20 [NR] * Origin: River Canyon Rd. BBS Chattanooga, Tn (1:362/627) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2C00013 Date: 02/07/98 From: ALAN MORRISON Time: 02:40pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Buying imports - AIADA U.S.-Japan Auto Trade [or The Truth according to AIADA] In July 1993, the U.S. and Japan began talks on bilateral trade in key sectors including autos and auto parts. Due to a lack of progress in the auto sector, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Mickey Kantor in May 1995 announced the U.S. would impose unilateral trade sanctions on thirteen Japanese import vehicles. This announcement galvanized AIADA members as no other threat has done in the association's twenty-five year history. AIADA dealers and staff worked round the clock to educate lawmakers, the Clinton Administration, and the American public of the devastating effect such sanctions would have on America's small business international nameplate dealerships. [Read Honda, Nissan, Toyota dealers, etc...] After weeks of aggressive lobbying and public relations efforts by both AIADA and its members, tense trade negotiations in Geneva led to an eleventh-hour accord which averted sanctions. The U.S. and Japan are now focusing on implementing their bilateral auto trade agreement. [As of November 1997 -over 4 years later- Japan is still refusing to negotiate fairly, and little progress has been made opening the tightly controlled Japanese market. As you can see, the poorly named AIADA, (American Import Auto Dealers Ass.) works for their own profits and against America's best interests.] ... AIADA: Aid Imports And Despoil Americans --- Blue Wave/386 v2.20 [NR] * Origin: River Canyon Rd. BBS Chattanooga, Tn (1:362/627) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00000 Date: 02/08/98 From: CHRISTOPHER TARANA Time: 12:16pm \/To: LORI HARVEY (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: Brakes -=> Quoting Lori Harvey to All <=- LH> Would somebody like to explain to me......When there are 4 sets of LH> brakes on a vehicle, and on set goes bad, why doesn't the rest of them LH> compensate for the bad one. If one set doesn't stop you, why does the LH> rest of the system quit working. I have a '85 Plymouth Voyager that my LH> front right brake went out on, and soon after the whole system went LH> kaputz. Ideas? Lori, there are 2 sets of brakes on a modern car, each has one front wheel and one rear wheel. 1 part of the master cylinder controls the left front and right rear brake, and the other part the right front and left rear brake. This system is called a "Split-Diagonal" system and is designed to allow you to stop the car safely if one of the systems should fail. (And eep the car stable as well.) When one wheel's brakes wear down significantly before the other 3, its usually a good sign of a serious brake problem on that wheel. The other hree brakes will compensate automatically, but they also have 25% more work to do as well. This will also cause the remaining three to wear faster. One thing to also remember is even though the system is split diagonally, most brake wear occurs on the front brakes as they generally take a slightly greater share of the workload. Depending on the particular problem the right front brake suffered from, neglected maintainence can also lead to premature brake wear, and on high mileage cars, it's not uncommon to replace a brake hose one day, and see another one wear out from the increased system pressure and have to be replaced. (It's always a good idea to replace brake parts on a per-axle basis if you can't do the whole car at once. Do both front or both back at the same time to prevent related parts from failing and to equalize the wear.) I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have, and perhaps you could be more specific on what was wrong with the RF brake, and what happened after it was fixed. Christopher ... 1) Don't sweat the small stuff. 2) It's all small stuff. ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR] --- PCBoard (R) v15.22/M 2 * Origin: Ed's BBS * Holiday,Florida * 1:3619/45 (1:3619/45) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00001 Date: 02/08/98 From: JAY EMRIE Time: 12:06pm \/To: ALAN MORRISON (Read 0 times) Subj: Buying imports AM>-=> Quoting Chris Zychski to Alan Morrison <=- AM> AM>... HONDA - How Our Nations Debt Accumulated AM> CZ> One might perceive you hold some peevishness for the AM> CZ> Japanese automotive industry. AM>This came from a tagline file for cars, DL'd off a BBS. It was one of AM>only two taglines for Honda, the other being: AM>... HONDA - Had One, Never Did Again. AM>Maybe it is a growing sentiment, but in fairness few of them are AM>flattering, like the many FORD lines; Found On Roadside Dead; etc. Or: Fix or repair daily! ___ OLX 2.1 TD Undertaker: One who undertakes to take you under. --- RemoteAccess 2.50+ * Origin: Northern Lights! * San Antonio * 210-499-6299 V34/VFC (1:387/23) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00002 Date: 02/08/98 From: JAY EMRIE Time: 12:28pm \/To: MARK LOGSDON (Read 0 times) Subj: Vehicle Confiscation ML>JE> RW>I know a guy there in South Texas that might disagree with you. e' ML>JE> RW>the it of making flight checks every time he's about to fly his airpl ML>JE> RW>That a habit grows on you if you do it daily. ML>JE> ML>JE> Well, Roy, I, too, was a pilot in WWII, and did exactly that before ac ML>JE> take off. I'd bet a dollar to a donut he doesn't do it each and every ML>JE> time BEFORE he drives off in his car! I know I do NOT. Mark, should not this have been directed to Roy Witt rather than me? ML>Yes, but the consequences between having one headlamp out on an ML>automobile are usually less grave than that of having (let's say) ML>low fuel on an aircraft. ML>There are differences in dispatch criteria between commercial and ML>military aircraft. There are some "failures" that would preclude ML>the dispatch of a commercial aircraft but would permit dispatch of ML>the military aircraft. ML>Even in the more conservative case of commercial aircraft, there are ML>different categories of "failures" for dispatch. For example: ML>1. Pilot is permitted to takeoff and fly for 'X' hours before ML>getting service. ML>2. Pilot is not permitted to take off but if already in flight may ML>fly 'Y' hours before getting service. ML>3. Pilot may not take off and if in flight must shut down the ML>engine (if multi-engine aircraft). Obviously there is a difference ML>between single-engine and multi-engine aircraft. ML>There might be other categories and variations of the above. ML>Nevertheless, I think it is silly to compare having some trivial ML>failure (like a burnt headlamp) on an automobile to having a ML>critical aircraft part failure. ML>--- QScan/PCB v1.19b / 01-0232 ML> * Origin: IBMNet Connection - Indpls, IN - 317-882-5575 28.8 USR 1:231/1) ___ OLX 2.1 TD I can write it perfectly; I just don't understand it. --- RemoteAccess 2.50+ * Origin: Northern Lights! * San Antonio * 210-499-6299 V34/VFC (1:387/23) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00003 Date: 02/08/98 From: JAY EMRIE Time: 12:30pm \/To: ALAN MORRISON (Read 0 times) Subj: Vehicle Confiscation AM>-=> Quoting Sean Dunbar to JAY EMRIE <=- AM> SD> I got pulled over for a burnt out light. He then proceeded to write AM>How could you, Sean? Time for some counseling and community service. ;-) AM> SD> me up for the inspection sticker bit AND not having my glasses on. AM> SD> Paying the inspection sticker ticket, but the one for the glasses 'm AM> SD> going to fight (had an eye exam last year.. 20/20 in my left eye, AM> SD> 20/40 in my right). AM>I'm borderline also, but so far have avoided having the box checked on AM>my license about "corrective lenses". Couldn't you tell him you had on AM>your contacts? Took lots of squintin' at the DMV eye machine last time. AM>The fonts on that machine are so fine you can hardly make them out unless AM>you look at them for several seconds. The tester told me to just continue AM>looking until it became clear. It works, but since nearsightedness is AM>worse at night I usually wear my glasses when it gets dark, especially AM>if I have to find a streetname on those little signs in the dark. AM> SD> Actually though, since I've started working where I'm in front of a AM> SD> computer all day, my eyesight has deteriorated noticably. *sigh* AM>I know what you mean... When I've been reading or working at the computer AM>for long periods everything is fuzzy for several minutes afterward. Since AM>learning about this effect I try to get a window to look out of as much as Alan, this is a product of aging. As one gets older the eyes take longer and longer to change from near focus to far focus. No glasses will compensate for this. I'd bet a nickle that after you have been reading, working with the computer or doing any close-up work for an extended length of time that when you look at distant things (with a horizontal orientation) - say a telephone or electric wire you see two of them - the stronger more predominate image at the top and the dimmer secondary image below. As time goes by the two images will merge into one as one SHOULD see. Also, squinting will help merge the inages, as will rubbing the eyes. However, nothing but time will restore proper vision after reading. Welcome to the aging club!!! Been there, doing that for quite some time now. AM>possible. Put my computer near a window and ask for a windowed office at AM>work. Someone told me you could get mild reading glasses to help avoid AM>this effect but the Doctor I asked about it was skeptical. AM>--- Blue Wave/386 v2.20 [NR] AM> * Origin: River Canyon Rd. BBS Chattanooga, Tn (1:362/627) ___ OLX 2.1 TD Wagner's music is better than it sounds. - Twain --- RemoteAccess 2.50+ * Origin: Northern Lights! * San Antonio * 210-499-6299 V34/VFC (1:387/23) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00004 Date: 02/08/98 From: JAY EMRIE Time: 11:54am \/To: MARK LOGSDON (Read 0 times) Subj: Vehicle Confiscationi ML>JE> Well, like I said, it gives him a chance to write you up on more eriou ML>JE> violations. :-( ML>Can you say fascist police state? I knew you could. :( Well, it's a very fine line between stopping potentially dangerous violations and fascism - isn't it? ___ OLX 2.1 TD Nothing in the universe travels faster than a bad cheeck. --- RemoteAccess 2.50+ * Origin: Northern Lights! * San Antonio * 210-499-6299 V34/VFC (1:387/23) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00005 Date: 02/08/98 From: ROY WITT Time: 08:36am \/To: KENNY HENDERSON (Read 0 times) Subj: 1999 Cars On, 07 Feb 98 at 16:22, Kenny Henderson was overheard shouting over the engine noise, saying something to Roy Witt about "1999 Cars",: RW> JP>> S-10s (pickup and blazer) scattered within. KH> RW>> Late 70's 2nd gen Trans Ams were turboed as well. Cavaliers and RW>> Sunbirds too.. KH> KH> Grand Prixs were turboed as well, maybe for only 1 year. It was KH> around 1989 or so, they only made a handful. Alan, any idea what KH> year, and what motor was used? Don't remember any Prix's being turboed. ... My 9th Chevy: 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, in Red. (1971) --- T(W)itt Filter Tossed v1.13 * Origin: Bow Tie Racers, #1, On or Off the Track! (1:202/909.13) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 246 AUTOMOTIVE Ref: F2D00006 Date: 02/08/98 From: ROY WITT Time: 08:38am \/To: MARC GERGES (Read 0 times) Subj: Active Handling On, 07 Feb 98 at 09:55, Marc Gerges was overheard shouting over the engine noise, saying something to TOM WALKER about "Active Handling",: TW>> Also the RWD car is FAR more forgiving if you push it too hard. MG> MG> Can't find that. When it comes close (say the car is losing a bit of MG> traction at the front) and you left you foot of the gas it comes MG> round with the rear. That's not forgiving in my eyes. If you want to die, that's the way to do it. Otherwise, steer into the drift and feather the throttle. TW>> BUT the Natual thing to do when yuo find yourself beyong the TW>> limits is to BACK OFF. MG> MG> Yes, step off of the accelerator pedal. Never step off. Feather it... ... My 3rd Chevy: 1965 Malibu SS, in Glacier Grey. (1965) --- T(W)itt Filter Tossed v1.13 * Origin: Bow Tie Racers, Been there, WON that! (1:202/909.13)