Speaking of Cars

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Whatever you may think about the competency of US automobile executives, please don't tell me their companies are failing because they're putting out bad products.

My favorite cars of the last 20 years have all been GM products. Right now I drive a 20 year old Buick. While it is showing inevitable signs of wear and tear, it still gets me where I want to go just fine.

Five years ago we bought Mrs. Toy a 2003 Chevy Impala. It is the best car we've ever owned. Prior to that she had a 1995 Mazda 626. The Mazda's transmission failed and had to be replaced before it got to 30,000 miles (still under warranty, thank goodness). We wanted to avoid the next failure and decided to trade it in before it reached 60,000, and thus the Impala came into our lives.

The 6-cylinder Impala is roomier, more comfortable, bigger, safer, and more powerful than the 4-cylinder Mazda. But best of all, the Impala actually gets better gas mileage than the Mazda. Our Impala gets 32 MPG on the highway, and on two road trips we've gotten as much as 33 MPG, which is actually better than the EPA ratings. The Mazda never did better than 29!

GM better not go out of business. I don't want to buy Japanese ever again.
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