This post will mainly concentrate around the event itself and secondarily on cars I drove.

Now you probably know about another similar event I attended, organized by Lexus a few weeks ago. I can only compare the two as those are the only two I attended ever. I dont believe the comparison is unfair due to the fact that one is a luxury maker, they are both the same types of events trying to accomplish the same thing.

I am guessing on that but I think the primary goal of an event like that is for the automaker to showcase their newer models. It's like GM saying, "people come on and drive some of my latest offerings, you will see that we're better than you think and better than the competition".

I have never had a GM experience of any kind before and as you know I care about this company mainly because I want to see domestic makers improve in this industry. After this even I REALIZED WHAT IS WRONG WITH GM. I mean I could have guessed it before from what I am reading about the company, but it's another thing to experience it. Judge the whole company from ONE event? Isnt it a little bit of a generalization? I dont think so because this was a general event set up for the general public and that's when you realize what a given company's culture is all about. From the way they treat their customers and even more importantly from the way they treat PROSPECTIVE customers (or prospects if you will).

Can you tell I am pissed off.... Oh!


So the issues:

1. I walk in and after the orientation I have to wait in a 15 min. line to get my wrist band. Now this is a bad sign. DOESNT GM KNOW HOW BIG THEY ARE? Yes they do but, obvioulsy THEY DONT WONNA RECOGNIZE IT SO THEY DONT CARE ABOUT ME. The prospect. So let them wait for ever to get in.

Here's the way I am thinking if I am GM. I am in HUGE! trouble. People have abandoned my cars and in part, my SUVs and now that the Japs are in the truck segment, that's all that's left. Why do I want to piss off my prospects who I need to pamper with not only a great product, which I dont have yet, but with every prospective customer contact I get to have! And I dont get to have many in this super compatitive environment! GET MORE PEOPLE TO WORK ON THE BOOTHS GIVING WRIST BANDS OUT OR! INVITE LESS PEOPLE. The former is smarter to do, how can you turn someone away?!



2. The wrist band has got 4-5 mini tabs. Three of which are the C6, an SSR and the Cafe. I understand the Cafe, but, what's up with the C6 and SSR? Oh yes there was an H2 tab as well. Well, you can only drive the SSR and the C6 ONCE! And before you drive them you need to drive some other car "to qualify". This last one I understand. Everyone comes here and wants to drive 3-4 cars since EVERY OTHER ONE I HAVE IS AVERAGE TO BELOW AVERAGE. So get them to try the Malibu, the G6, etc. That's the new GM. Makes sense. The H2, I dont remember if you could drive once or more, I was not intereseted in driving it. ANd the Cafe makes sense, since you dont wonna give out multiple meals.

But why can I drive the C6 once? Who does the C6 think they are? Lexus was giving out 80 and 90 thousand dollar cars to anyone that wanted to drive them as many times as you wanted to drive them with no questions asked. More on that later.

If I am GM, I'd think: I NEED TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE DRIVE THE C6 AS MANY TIMES AS THEY WANT. ACTUALLY I NEED TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO DRIVE THAT CAR SINCE I RECOGNIZE THAT MY OFFERINGS ARE NOT THE BEST OUT THERE. FEW ARE AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME. THE C6 IS ONE OF THE FEW, GET THE PEOPLE DRIVE THE "GOOD GM PRODUCTS".

Resource issue? I dont wonna hear about it. I will find a way to make sure there are 70 cars out there so people have enough cars to drive. Lease a bigger track, whatever, find a way to push the good product. Why so hard for those geniouses to GET IN THEIR THICK HEAD?!?

How backwards can a loser company think, is amazing!

3. So they said they'd have the competition there. I saw the Altima, the Camry, the Accord, the 530i, the C320 and some others. But they only had ONE of each! Now I dont have to describe that, but here is the bottom line. If you wanted to drive the X5 for example, it took about 45 min on average. The funny part is that, that line would consist of no more than 10-14 people for that much time. You saw that many people and you thought, ah it does not look that bad. ANd waited and waited. And then 20 min. later you realize this is hopeless and moved to another line only to find out the same applies.

The main reasons for that was:

A. THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH TRACK. Cars would get into a jam to enter the stupid track (and yes there were 3-5 tracks for this whole thing but it seemed that the need was AT LEAST 4 TIMES THAT).
B. They only had ONE CAR FROM THE COMPETITION. So one X5 SUV, one C320, ONE ACCORD! I swear, I waited to drive the accord for 20 min and I was second in line. I left the line after becoming first. THE COMPANY WAS PUSHING FOR PEOPLE TO DRIVE THE CAMRY THE ACCORD AND THE MALIBU TO COMPARE (and get a key chain) and I totally understand why. That's what they needed to do. BUT THEY COULD NOT HAVE PEOPLE DRIVE THE CARS. TO DRIVE THESE THREE CARS WOULD TAKE YOU MORE THAN AN HOUR !!!

Now I ask you GM, what is the difference between me going to a dealer and driving the cars? Let me answer that. It would have been A LOT LESS OF A HASSLE. That's what.

C.They would let people switch! Something that Lexus did not allow. So me and my wife would go for a ride with me driving and after the ride was over, she would drive the car now.


4. So I go after the Cadillac (and other car) tend. Sit behind the CTS line which was the first line I sat at, because the STS line was large. The CTS line was about twice as slow as the average line at the Lexus event, only there I was waiting to drive the E500, the 745i, the XK8 cabrio, etc. Fine. Where is the CTSV? A representative comes around encouraging people to ask quesitons, so I asked her. She goes, well the V is a car that many people have put down 2K and are on a waiting list, it's a limited production car. OK, FIRST OF ALL THERE WAS A CTSV NEXT TO THE ENTRANCE FOR PEOPLE TO CHECK OUT LIKE IN AN AUTO SHOW. IF THE CAR IS HERE THEN ANYONE WAITING FOR THAT CAR IS NOT GONNA GET IT TODAY, ETC. SO WHY ISNT THE CAR ON THE TRACK?

So not only this company cannot deliver and is inept in so many ways, they ARE TRYING TO BULLSHIT THE CUSTOMER TOO. That did it. I was so furious, I was ready to leave. Soon.

Same about the XLR. Where is the XLR? It was at the Lexus event. Lexus is not part of GM is it? No. OK. Well, those are hard cars to get.

Same thing. There was an XLR standing at the entrance for people to get in and out of. BUt not at the track.

But the redicule reached its peak when I realized that THERE WAS NO V8 STS AVAILABLE TO DRIVE. They only had the V6 STSs. UNBELIEVABLE. That's when I realized that this is ONLY going to get worse.

I mean, again, you are GM, you just came out with something that barely can compete in the luxury segment and YOU DONT HAVE IT AVAILABLE FOR PEOPLE TO DRIVE! How backwards are you?

Then I am thinking of this.

According to Accenture, GM and Ford have spent 22 Billion dollars in the creation of new offerings. They spent 56+ billion in marketing these offerings!

Now think about this. This tells me a number of things. But the first is that GM is run by the Marketing dept. Not by the "product dept." or even sales. In a successful company, Development and Sales share the responsiblity of "running the company". Support will always fall at the bottom, in this case the service part of the dealer network.

But if that's the case and Marketing is running GM, then this Auto in Motion event is 100% a marketing event by GM! So folloging logic, I am now seeing THE BEST PART OF GM AS A PROSPECT!

The next thought of course is: Oh my God, this is worse than an amature could do.

That's when I capitulated. I personally have lost ALL my enthusiasm related to expecting better from GM in all fronts. I am now completely disappointed and my expectations are below low.

Back to the show:

5. The track was awfully short! It was HALF the size of that of Lexus' event. And the corners were arranged so that you could not at any point go more than 30 mph! By the time you started getting a feel about a car, the ride was over.

6. All cars but 2 were automatic cars. The C6 and the...Jetta. I dont know why. They probably could not find an auto car at the dealer's.

7. Back to the Cadillac line. When I got out of the CTS and got on the STS line, I realized that they had 4 CTS cars available but only 2 STS cars. SO that means, that the STS line was going to be twice as long as that of the CTS. Another way of adjusting to the descrepancy was for me, mentally, to have doubled the number of people waiting for the STS car and then compared to the CTS line to get a feeling. I waited at the STS line more than 20 min.

8. OK, I now realize that this is not going to be easy and I go directly to the meat and potatoes, the C6/SSR course. The issues:

A. The rule is someone had to be in the vette as a passenger from the staff. SO you cant drive the C6 with a spouse, a friend, what not. Why I was wondering. Well, I found out later and it only got worse.

B. After waiting for 20 min in line, I saw a sign saying, "from this point, 45 min wait". That's when I realized that: a) I am at 6 flags Great America for adults and b) going to the dealer to drive the car was SOOOO the right choice and I am wasting my time here.

The only good thing about waiting for ever was seeing the other people drive teh C6 and SSR cars and some of them really gave it a go. So hearing the tires scream and the thunderous rumble of the V8 was a treat. But I mean how long can one take that for? Also, the rumble for some reason would come out of the SSR but not so much off of the C6 cars. I was wondering why for an hour till I got my answer when I drove the C6.

In all fairness, this C6/SSR track was completely different than the...rest of the tracks for all other cars and trucks. This was 3-4 times larger (and you need that as this car is so fast), there were 4 wide turns basically and one straightaway. They were wide enough and long enough to get a feel of how the car balances while turning and that was important.

Finally my turn comes and I get in a C6 manual car.

Me to the staff member in the pass. seat: Boy you must be competely exhausted doing this all day.
Him: Hehehe...yeah.
Him: Please adjust the seat and get comforable, go in first gear and move that way.
Me: Thinking: what the hell, wait a second, I...
Me: Which of the three suspension does that car have?
Him: I dont know, you have to ask the product specialist, back there!
Me: Product specialist?

I mean what the fuck! If you're gonna ruin it for people and put someone from you staff GM in the pass. seat, at least have them be "product specialists". I can name probably 100 C6 prodcut specialists from this acura forum. PEOPLE ARE MORE EXCITED ABOUT YOUR CARS THAN YOU ARE GM!

How pathetic!

I mean, you're ready to drive the new Vette which comes out only in a blue moon as a new generation and you are totally turned off by GM themselves just before you put in 1st gear! They cant answer one simple question about something so important. I am going to drive this thing, I will go back and talk about it with my friends, can you tell me what I am driving so I get an idea about the other 2 options (as far as suspension)? What is the matter with you ? I am not asking you about the diameter of the spring leafs in mm, in the rear!

So I start rolling (I will not talk about the car here, later on that).

You reach the first stop sign and that's where the straight is. I mean this is the ONLY straight and this is where you can tell about the car's acceleration, right? Well...no. Why?

Cos the staff member tells me that:

1. We will drive in 2nd gear only. Dont change gears no matter what.

2. YOu will start in 1st but I will tell you when to shift to second.

What?!?!

Why dont I go and play the video game you asshole! I will get more satisfaction out of that! Asshole!

What the fuck!!!!

I WAITED FOR AN HOUR FOR THIS?!!?!

ANd it has not even started yet!

So I reach like 4500 rpm and he tells me shift!

Ah! So that's why I could not hear the rumble from the C6s, but only from the SSRs. The SSRs are automatic only and so they just planted it to the floor and the computer changed to second and it had to be at redline. NOW i understand and feel even more disappointed.

If that's even possible at this point!

I shift to seocond and I mean the guy is on my ass he talks all along the 20 second course and tells me how much gas, how to steer, everything.

The truth is I got a very good feel about this car's balance while turning, its brakes and the engine's mid-range torque/power.

When it was over, the spouse asked, "was it worth it?". And I immediately answered: Absolutely not!

But what completely embarassed the shit out of me was what she said next:

"You were going quite slow compared to the other guys out there".

%^&*&^% O((O*&^(* *^&*^&(*0 (*)*()*() #$%^%#%% %^&*&^% O((O*&^(* *^&*^&(*0 (*)*()*() #$%^%#%%%^&*&^% O((O*&^(* *^&*^&(*0 (*)*()*() #$%^%#%%%^&*&^% O((O*&^(* *^&*^&(*0 (*)*()*() #$%^%#%%%^&*&^% O((O*&^(* *^&*^&(*0 (*)*()*() #$%^%#%%

I am still swearing!

I tell ya, I am so turned off by GM after this, I am ready to go home.

But, there is free food so I am not gonna say no to that. Food was OK. Probably the highlight of the event. Actually, it was. Imagine.

At this point I wanted to see what's up with pontiac. Looked at the lines, left immediately. I have driven the GTO at a dealer's before, so I only wanted to check out the G6 and maybe the new V8 Grand Prix. Ha! The lines were terrible on the former and the latter was not available. I guess that's also a limited production car and people are waiting for it. I saw it out showcased static though. What a turn off! How low can it go?

On the way out, we saw that the truck lines were pretty good. So get this. I lowered myself to that low level (as a car enthousiast) and I actually saw myself be excited to drive GMC Yukon XLs and some other GMC pick up trucks. Yes sir. The ultimate embarassament to me as a car enthusiast. I went to the GM "drive our cars people" event to drive GMC trucks and the worst ones at that.

Does it get worse? Oh yes. After driving the 150 yard long GMC Yukon XL, the staff member goes to me: "you really need to take it down a notch ok?".

Oh my God, save me. I am outta here.

Can it get worse? Oh yes. On the way out, I am filling out an appraisal form to get "a gift". The gift is a t-shirt that says autoshow in motion and a calendar. We reach home, the wife pulls out the calendar and she goes: "oh my god, this is 2004 calendar!" So we were stuck with two 2004 calendars in October of 2004 by the super smart and thoughtful Marketing dept. of GM which spent three times as much last year marketing its product than making its product.

That ladies a gents is a company that's worth to be in a lot more trouble than it is today and be bought be Toyota so that they learn how to make cars, market them and treat the customer.

As far as I am concerned, I am not buying a GM product if it were free! Yes, including the C6!

I dont even feel in the mood to explain my findings from driving the CTS, the STS and the C6, I am so disappointed.

I have sent this link to Bob Lutz for whatever it's worth.

Good!

That sucks.

It sounds like you could have gotten more out of a dealer's showroom & test drive then this marketing event.

You should also send a link to the head of GM marketing and see if any of the Chicago papers will take your article as an opinion piece in the weekly auto section.

If you have his email address, please share. I dont mind sharing this with the world.

from the website -- http://www.gm.com/gmcomjsp/contactus/email.html will get you to GM corporate email but not to specific people.

Thanks. Sent the link under having a comment about a GM Ad. That was the closest, most relevant one.

I sent it to Jim Mateja, head columnist of the Chicago Tribune's Car section.

Excellent write up as usual Gav. I know what to expect now.

Sucks, I would have told teh guy in the c6:

a) shut the fuck up, and gotten myself ejected
b) ignored him and driven the car hard and gotten my self ejected.
c) gotten fed and slam on the brakes mid course and get out of the car and walk off, telling the guy to go fuck himself.

sounds like a piss poor showing from GM, very sad.

I was thinking you should send it to the investor relations as this would be a major turn off for someone investing in GM (of course they may have sent you to a diffferent event if your were an investor).

There was the same event earlier this year in southern california, and i agree with most of your opinions. I got a "black mark" on my wrist band because i was driving the cts too hard

how did they know it was too hard? I was going 45 in the 30 mph turn and the tires skid a little (I didn't knock any cones off or anything). Bunch of babies...

with regards to the corvette though, most people at the even I went to didnt know how to drive it (they had a z06 over there). I heard they had multiple spin-outs because people had just never driven anything with that kind of power before, and so I could understand the anxiety of the people working there. HOwever they should have let people drive the corvette more than once.

wow, great read. yes, pathetic. very pathetic!!

im not surprised.

I went to the same event and had a different reaction to it. I thought it was great, except for the waiting. I went to a similar BMW event a few years back and it was the same deal. You had to wait for test drives and the course was short. Seems like you had a real dickhead in the C6. I talked to the guy in my car and he was pretty friendly. I asked him if he was a professional driver and he stated he raced in Europe and teaches in England. I then asked him if it was alright if I really let it rip around the track. He said go ahead, just don't spin, stay within the cones, and don't dump the clutch. I got the car into second gear on the first strech and glaced at the HUD speedo and saw 63 mph before I braked and turned. I went around the track and he didnt say a word, at the end he told me to "work on my smoothness".

When I arrived it took me no more than 15 minutes to watch the video, sign the waiver, and then sign in. I thought that wasn't a long time to wait. Maybe you went at a busier part of the day? I do agree that the courses sucked, but I can provide a defenese to that arguement. The general public doesnt know how to drive and restricting the size of the course will keep speeds down. If the course was longer, people would be spinning out and plowing cones all over the place. I know I came into the event with the mentality that I was going to really beat the piss out of the cars. Even with the active handling on, you can still be stupid enough to cause damage. Also, I dont knw if this is true, but my friend told me GM puts throttle stops on the C6 at these events so you cannot go WOT. Maybe thats why I thought that the C6 felt a little slow.

The lines would be much much longer. I had to wait at least 45 mins to drive the C6 and it would have been much longer if they allowed multiple runs. It seemed like every redneck came out the sticks to drive the C6, imagine multiple runs.

Thank you. That was my intent, to make sure your expectations were low if planning in going.

And although you're right abot a, b and c, because after all, what are they gonna do? You only get ONE chance to drive the car. So what if you're ejected? You're ejected anyway after you drive it in reality.

But! Because it lasts for 20 seconds, you dont have the time to think of driving the car, the excitement factor and do a, b or c above.

How can you have a spin out when the traction control and stability control are on? Even in competition mode, an inept driver should be safe on the respect.

I was totally surprised.

Wait a minute. My guy had a heavy British English accent. Did we have the same guy?

Funny cos the C6 felt like a monster to me. Maybe it's that nice VQ engine you gotten used to driving every day

ANyway. I agree people dont know how to drive and you have to have the appropriate race track for that. I am not saying that GM should cater to car enthusiasts and amature racers, which the latter I am not. I am saying, SINCE THE TRACK IS WHAT IT IS, MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO GET ON IT!

Which means, shorten the lines, up the number of cars available, up the number of tracks and invite less people. Come on, you know what I mean.

Also, were you not pissed off that all the "good" cars were not there? The CTSV, the XLR, the Grand Prix with the V8, the STS V8, etc.?

Wow you would think that event would have better offerings than your local chevy dealer. I mean if you take a car out for a test drive from the dealer then most of the time you can push the car decently hard. You were at a closed track,you should have been able to push the car more than just the test drive would have allowed.

Gav you doing the bmw breast cancer drive this week?

No the guy that was riding with me didnt have a british accent.

FYI.....I saw a few people spin the C6. They had to get out of the car and the professional driver finish the course.

gavriil, I shared your story with a friend who said he had been to the event, here's what he had to say about it:

my friend drives an F355... certainly one of my "dreams"...

Maybe it was because I got used to driving a 450 rwhp C5 manual. My friend let me have it all weekend so I could detail it

I agree with you on making it easy for people to get on the track. I dont like waiting and it kinda made me mad that we had to wait so long. I was a little mad I couldnt drive the XLR. They had it there, but just to sit in. I had already driven the CTSV, so no biggie there. My friend drove the Grand Prix GXP, maybe you missed it? I swear I saw the new STS on the test track, dont know what engine it had.

I think a little better organization would go a long way. A few more cars would go a long way, especially more GTO's and C6's. I think that there should have been a limit for admitance each day, which would have eased the lines.

No

That's terrible. How can one spin the Vette with the stability control to ON?

Srika, thanks for sharing. I wonder which day he went. I went to the Sunday event.

That was it for sure then.

Agreed.

THe GXP was there? I missed it then. That tells you how much I capitulated after going through the first half of the event. Totally gave up. I specifically wanted to check out PONTIAC. It was my intention before I even went to the event, due to the G6a and the GXP.

You drove the CTSV. What did you think?

Yea they had the GXP at the Pontiac secton. I didnt drive the CTSV at the event, rather my good friend got one in February. I really like the performance and handling, but the shifter and interior plastics need improvement.

I am sure you did not drive the CTSV at the event. I asked for it and they said it was not there.