Chevy Cruze shown in US trim. Replaces Cobalt

[jdc]

i think he was pitting his 8 year old accord vs 2009 cobalt...

[Grateful11]

jdc wrote:
i think he was pitting his 8 year old accord vs 2009 cobalt...

Ditto

[C(-)ris]

Even so. You can't compare an 8 year old mid level sedan to a new budget sedan... it really doesn't matter how old the car is. The fit and finish don't change as the car ages. The Accord was a higher end car, and always will be. The age doesn't change it. Especially for a well maintained car.

[Mac1337]

kj4btkljv wrote:
[quote=C(-)ris]
You do realize that your Accord base price starts at $10k more than the Cobalt, and fully loaded vs fully loaded the Accord rings in at almost $20k more. You can't compare those two cars together. Go drive a new Malibu and report back with how it compares to the Accord.

That's exactly how I was going to respond. You beat me to it. Simply not a fair comparison between the two.

Jeff
On the other hand, why does it cost more to place the controls where they make sense?

[C(-)ris]

Dakota wrote:


On the other hand, why does it cost more to place the controls where they make sense?

It isn't that easy. It costs a ton of money to do ergonomic studies to figure out where things should go and the mechanics of making it work in that spot. It isn't as easy as throwing buttons around. The cheaper the car, the less time they spend on figuring out the best place and way to do things. They focus on the cheapest place to put it.

[Don C]

Car makers have had a few years now to figure out where knobs and switches should go. It's not as though they were starting from scratch with every new model. Sure there are some new knobs and switches (my 1967 Opel did not have a USB port) but it had controls for lights and the wiper.

[JoeH]

Don C wrote:
Car makers have had a few years now to figure out where knobs and switches should go. It's not as though they were starting from scratch with every new model. Sure there are some new knobs and switches (my 1967 Opel did not have a USB port) but it had controls for lights and the wiper.

Exactly. I had a human factors prof. over 25 years ago who was in contact with persons doing ergonomic studies at the auto makers. Almost none of their studies were getting published, legal did not want this information out there to be used by lawyers in liability cases if they used less optimum layouts. Lots of those were being used for cost cutting or marketing reasons. So he could get some broad ideas of what they were researching, and sometimes get hints at where to take his own work which could be published.

[weapon]

How can you defend a new car vs an 8 year old base level accord? Easy, they had 8 years to make a better car. Material prices, manufacturing cost all should have come down.

It is still a piece of junk compared to other economy cars. My cubemate has a 2003 scion Xa. It is a super compact and the quality of the build inside is nice. Same with TC. Even the honda fit has a nicer interior.

No matter who you put it against that car is a turd. Chevy is in trouble.