Pretty much the only extended warranties I endorse at this point, are first-party warranties. In this economy, there is just too much uncertainty with third-party providers. I don’t care about the credit ratings or reliability-ratings of an underwriter… because all it takes is for the warranty provider to throttle claims with fraudulent rejections of valid claims.

Being the last Pontiac man, my extended warranty of choice is the General Motors extended warranty, the General Motors Protection Plan, or GMPP. It’s actually not run by GM anymore, it’s administered by Ally, formerly GMAC.

A lot of people were concerned when GMAC was broken off into Ally that there would no longer be a strong cohesion between GM and Ally Financial regarding things like warranties and good financial terms on new cars. I suspect largely that hasn’t been an issue because the Treasury Department still owns a majority of both companies, effectively making them one joint investment (via TARPfail).

My GMPP was for 60 months and 75,000 miles on my G6, and I bought it at 34,000 miles. That is the most miles that are offered on a used car extended warranty from GM.

There are a couple of good times to buy extended warranties via GMPP, and it depends on what you want from your warranty. If you want the best bang for your buck, the best time to buy a GMPP is within the first 12,000 miles. That is when GMPPs are the cheapest. They get very expensive in the last 1500 to 2000 miles of your warranty.

You must purchase your GMPP warranty while your car is within its original bumper-to-bumper coverage. (There is one exception, and that is for used cars, I’ll explain in a bit). You can purchase a GMPP for a non-GM vehicle, but I only suggest doing this if your local dealer services both that brand and GM. That way, you have people that can work with Ally/GMPP and work with your car under one roof. GMPP can be a lot cheaper than other brand’s extended warranties.

Of course, if you buy within the first 12,000 miles, you wind up narrowing the amount of warranty you can purchase. 75,000 miles added to 12,000 miles leaves you with a maximum coverage of 87,000 miles. If you want more coverage than that, you have to purchase at the time the car leaves the dealership brand new. Then GM Ally offers plans up to 100,000 miles for brand new cars with bumper-to-bumper coverage.

In my opinion, it’s best to wait. First, if your car gets wrecked in the first three years or 36,000 miles, you will lose a lot of money on the warranty, and pay up front for a feature you may not use. While you can get a refund on the warranty, it winds up being a raw deal.

In addition, you can save a good grand or two by comparison shopping. My original offer form the dealer was $3,500 for my GMPP. I negotiated them down to $2,500, almost at-cost. How? I got some online quotes. In the end, they knew other GMPP providers, and other dealers, would ink the deal just to meet quotas, and that I would be a happier customer.

There are only two times you have to pay for dealer markup on a GMPP. One is if you are buying a car brand new, and want the longer term coverage options that are available for new models. The other is if you are buying a used car beyond the bumper to bumper. Both can be rolled into the deal.

Remember how I said above that there was one exception to the requirement that you must buy a GMPP within the bumper-to-bumper coverage? Now’s a better time to explain. Any GM dealership can sell a GMPP on a used car on their lot. However, you have to purchase the GMPP at the time of the vehicle’s sale. You cannot buy a GMPP even a day later.

You can purchase a GMPP on a used car on the dealer’s lot up to seven years or 75,000 miles. The layout is pretty much the same, GMPP will offer plans that take the car up to around 110,000 miles. After 110,000, Ally knows that GM all cars start to become unreliable. This is why only the shady companies tend to offer longer extended warranties, they mitigate this typically by refusing to pay on a lot of valid claims.

And you can extend a GMPP too. This is especially useful if you bought a lot of miles, but haven’t driven through them. Same as above, you have to extend your GMPP before the car hits seven years or 75,000 miles. Any GM dealer can do this, and you may be able to call Ally directly and work this out with them there too.

One final thing on GMPP in general. You must, must follow the recommended maintenance schedule for your vehicle, as proscribed in the owner’s manual. GMPP can, and will, deny your claim on a major repair if you don’t. For most vehicles, this means getting your coolant flushed by the fifth year, and changing transmission fluid. The vast majority of the maintenance schedule can be done during the complementary inspection done at your oil change. I recommend doing those at a GM dealer to be sure, but you can have the service done by any ASE-certified mechanic, just keep documentation of it.

I started this lengthy primer on GMPP saying that it’s already paying off. Within 2,000 miles of leaving bumper-to-bumper coverage on my Pontiac G6, the coolant sensors failed. GMPP paid for the $500 repair, and gave me $166 in free car rental for four days. During those four days I fell in love with the Chevy HHR (Delta I platform and all), but that’s for another article. In the first 10,000 miles of my GMPP, I’ve gotten $666 back on my $2,500 investment. At this rate, my warranty will pay for itself before it’s half used up, and before my standard powertrain coverage even expires.

But, this is a good reason to try their 271 horsepower answer to the Malibu and Camry. Kia is offering a $25 Visa prepaid card in exchange for a test drive of any Optima. I’ll be giving the turbocharged variant a spin.

That said, I’ve test driven the current generation in non-fast trim, and found it to be… well… not very fast. The base model is over a hundred horsepower slower, and the suspension is as sluggish as a base Camry. Even the suspension would be forgiven if the base model was anywhere close to 200 horsepower, so it will be interesting to see how the turbo fares.

Just remember, the Kia Optima is not a sport car, don’t go to the dealer expecting it to be one.

Kia Optima Test Drive

When I called to learn more about the process, my main concern was a car driven by a smoker. The car in particular I was looking for was a good couple thousand miles away, and $800 to transfer a car is no small sum. Even though the car was a good deal, if it stunk of smoke… that could turn into a bad deal quickly.

The pre-transfer checklist protects you, actually. You craft a list of questions to ask the CarMax dealership that has the car. They go out to the car and check things out, and report back. If the transferred car doesn’t match what was on the list, you get the transfer fee refunded. In theory. I hopefully won’t have to put this to the test.

So, I quickly came up with an amateurish list of questions to ask the dealer. I know a bit about cars, but wanted to make sure on these things:

1) Are there any smoke or other odors anywhere in the interior?

2) The G8 has lower-quality paint. Please make note of any swirls, scratches, or other cosmetic issues on the exterior or interior of the car.

3) Some G8s have had early ball joint issues, so does the car make clunk, rattle, or clicking noises when going over speed bumps?

4) Does the steering wheel rattle at high rates of speed? (~50 to 60 mph)

5) How much has the car been repainted?

That was the list for my car. You should do some research on the car you are interested in, and see what things there are to look out for with your make/model/year/generation in question.

In the end, I did not buy from CarMax. The car I was seriously interested in, turned out to be a smoker’s car. Thankfully, the pre-transfer walk around noted noted this, and I was able to avoid paying $849 to transfer a car that stinks.

And, every time, I want to pull my hair out. Worse, I know one of two of these talk radio hosts is doing it on purpose; they know darn well the Volt goes 40 miles on electricity, and then another 320 miles on gasoline. Leaf does not. But, because GM is Government Motors, some on talk radio use Volt as a halo car… to attack government ownership of American auto.

Ends don’t justify the means here, but that won’t stop people from intentionally lying about the Volt. So, GM has to step in and nullify that themselves.

Yes, I’ve heard GM is trying to trademark Range Anxiety ahead of a massive PR blitz. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s enough.

GM must, and yes I say must, quickly and strongly emphasize in ads that Volt does what I emphasized in the paragraphs above. That should constitute a major part of their advertising, and that should be the only thing communicated in many of the ads.

Americans are already getting a false impression about Volt. Negative first impressions can destroy superior products. GM cannot and must not let this happen with the Volt, or when Volt is actually economical for most customers… they’ll go for a plug-in Prius instead.

After the Pontiac division was deactivated, many thought the Zeta platform was going to be phased out. In fact, Ed Whitacre was quite clear on that when he referred to Zeta as being ‘dated’ and obsolete. Originally, GM planned for all future rear-wheel drive platforms to be based on the upcoming Alpha platform.

However, it appears Whitacre was saying one thing and designing another. Zeta now appears to be undergoing a redesign based on the R&D learned from Alpha, and will share the lighter, more fuel-efficient qualities that Alpha had. That’s not to say that Zeta really needed a redesign… in my opinion it blazes past the Chrysler LX and Ford D2C platforms already.

Now, with talk of both a Buick and Cadillac getting Zeta sedans, things get interesting. Add on top of that Holden testing mounts for the twin-turbocharged Ecotec engine inside the original Zeta (the Commodore VE/VF), and things get really interesting.

If you haven’t heard of the twin-turbo Ecotec, it’s because of poor marketing on GM’s part. That I4 engine gave the Solstice GXP up to 290 horsepower, helping to make Solstice the best-selling roadster in America. Alpha is a perfect fit for future Solstice replacements, likely a retractable hardtop built in the Solstice image. That car will probably land on Buick in retractable hardtop fashion for ~$35,000. While that’s $10,000 more than Solstice, it’s far less than a BMW Z4, with a free retractable hardtop thrown in.

Deciphering all this information, here’s how I see things rolling out. The following is based on the engines that GM is testing, and the CAFE standards they will have to accommodate.

Chevy Caprice – Based on the Commodore VE and Pontiac G8, this will be a short-wheelbase version for consumers. It will ship with the twin-turbo Ecotec and an optional V6 (likely the GM LLT Engine, same as Camaro).

Chevy Caprice PPV – Already announced, based on the long-wheelbase Holden Statesman. Same engines as Camaro.

Buick Grand National / Park Avenue – This one could go either way. If it’s a Grand National, it will probably be a rebadged Commodore. If it’s a Park Avenue, probably a longer-wheelbase Statesman rebadge. Either way, it will match Caprice PPV with a V6 standard, and optional V8.

Cadillac ZTS – Okay, I came up with the name… Zeta Touring Sedan. This is where things get interesting. With the ATS and CTS filling the “low end” of Cadillac, GM can price this vehicle with a standard V8 engine, and make the ZTS-V their new top dog. 551 horsepower enough to make you forget the Pontiac badge? Probably not, because this will likely be one of GM’s most expensive vehicles to-date. A ZTS could land for around $50,000 and a ZTS-V could be in the mid $70,000s.

Again, this is analysis, but not speculation. Holden wouldn’t be getting the R&D bucks to worry about fuel efficiency this much if there wasn’t some intent to take these cars to America. And, with three or four engines to chose from, GM can badge engineer in a sensible manner… free from the likes of Fritz Henderson and their “not a car guy / not a fan of rebadging” mentality.

My one suggestion for GM, follow the lead of Holden. Take the Pontiac badge and make it a premium option for high-end Chevy cars. A $2,000 body kit with an ECM tweak for more horsepower is nearly pure markup for GM. Chevy dealers will have no problem pushing those kind of upsales… especially with not having to worry about inventory.

I have suspected from day one (literally), that GM plans to offer the Caprice within a couple of model years after its police-trim launch. This would allow GM to continue to have a RWD, non-luxury sedan, and give Holden a major shot in the arm with production until the Alpha platform is ready.

And, with that, I’ll show you the first appearance of the Chevy Caprice PPV… “detective unit” trim. This was originally meant to be an “undercover” trim, until GM realized that anyone looking for undercover cops need only look for the one car on the road that civilians cannot buy… the new Caprice. Realizing that mistake, GM now markets it as a car for detectives, instead of billing it for undercover use (used G8s work great for undercover work in that case).

Click to enlarge…

If only they’d market it as what it should be; a long-wheelbase Pontiac G8. Hey, Holden sure does over in Australia.

Holden Commodore Sportwagon SS V Series Special Edition… if only American GM would match Australian GM.

We’ve got the car people, we’ve got the tech people, and we know how to make bad decisions sting enough to reverse them.

First, after being told by great leaders that GM wouldn’t be managed by the government, then it was. Then government started telling GM how to act. GM wanted to keep Pontiac a niche brand, and the government said it wasn’t eco-friendly-small-car-ish enough for “New GM.”

No, I’m not holding a grudge, can’t speak for the rest of the staff though. But, we are going to circle the wagons and get Pontiac customers to stay in the GM fold. GM is a good company, it shouldn’t fall apart because of some really bad decisions in the past. Do we expect Pontiac to come back tomorrow? Nope. But, we do expect to get enough customers backing GM through the rough patch. When GM gets back on its feet, we expect them to sell what their customers want to buy.

Case-in-point, even six months after being killed off, interest in the Pontiac G8 continues to spike past the Chevy Camaro (per Google Trends). Granted this was after Bob Lutz commented that the G8 has a chance yet again of becoming a Chevy Caprice. But, it shows that America’s lone sport car brand needs to fit somewhere in the GM landscape.

To be honest, I don’t care too much how GM makes it work, and that’s a sentiment around the office. The public has come up with a lot of ideas over the past six months that GM hasn’t answered… tactily admitting they didn’t/couldn’t/were-prohibited from thinking these ideas through. From offering Pontiac as a sport-tuned option, to selling them as a sub-brand of Buick, there are lots of choices there.

Finally, look at Holden. They’re selling $1,000 Pontiac options left and right on three of their most popular models. That’s $1,000 customers in America, the home of Pontiac, would be willing to pony up. The company that invented E-REV technology will, at some point, have to give up on hiding behind fuel economy regulations, and give sport car buyers what they want.

And we’ll be doing what we do best; informing while organizing the community to get what customers want.

ETA? After iConsole Alpha 1.

As if Facebook didn’t need any more issues, after their latest privacy meltdown… here comes something else. In case you were living under a rock, Facebook decided to capitalize on everyone’s profile on search engines. They did so by presenting users with a Privacy Wizard. Users that “skipped” the wizard, unknowingly unlocked all privacy options, putting their entire profile up for view.

Well, here’s the new debacle. Companies (a key revenue generator for Facebook) are locking down their walls. Ordinary fans can continue to post comments (hidden replies that require multiple clicks to appear). But, fans can’t make new threads on the company’s wall.

Two big culprits that I’ve seen are General Motors and Sega. However, there are many, many more. I suspect this was the call of a couple of social media companies that manage dozens… if not hundreds of company blogs.

Facebook needs to step in here and explain that this won’t work in the long run. It turns off fans from interacting with the company’s wall, and thus, Facebook in general.

I know Facebook has taken pride in giving more control over access to people’s walls, but this is just going to hurt Facebook, and if they can’t force companies to have open walls… they can at least work to head off such lockdowns. If I were Facebook, I’d be calling some social media managers right now.

Well, after doing some digging, we have some results. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety posted rear crash ratings for the G8 on their Pontiac rear crash page.

Unfortunately, these don’t give the whole picture. The IIHS considers very few cars to be good or even acceptable in a rear-end collision. They have been a bit more liberal in their ratings for SUVs, but that’s understandable considering the design of an SUV.

The real problem is that this could leave a bad picture in the mind of people looking for a G8. Not that GM cares really, since they’re a rare breed. But, since the G8 is in every way safer than a G6, and the G6 does in the end get a Good front and Acceptable side impact rating… you can rest assured knowing you’re not less safe in a G8.

On a side note, I can see why the IIHS would only do rear impact tests. Each test requires killing a G8. There are only 80,000 G8′s in America. That means paying a lot of money to crash-test a limited car (that never really got a chance to sell in a good economy, but anyways…). Insurance companies care a lot more about rear-impact tests, because they cause more injuries (whiplash, etc) and insurers are more defensive about them in general.

It would have been nice though to see the G8 shine in the side-impact tests. Just the added sheet metal versus a G6 could have given it a Good rating.

Smart Charging is a hotly debated topic today. Many believe it is necessary to help keep power grids online, faced with ever-increasing demand. Opponents feel that it adds an additional layer of onerous government control, allowing governments to control when and how you life your life. Smart Charging, in power emergencies, can allow utilities to control thermostats and large utilities, reducing their effectivity or shutting them down completely. Utilities and companies like IBM argue that this could even be used to modify consumer behavior, to be better for the environment. Conservatives and libertarians oppose this kind of government “lifestyle shaping.”

Yesterday, a CNET article ran demonstrating OnStar’s EV lab technology for the Volt. It casually noted that the Volt will be in constant communication with the utility company, allowing them to decide when the Volt would be charged via Smart Charging on the OnStar network (in order to get the “best rate” as utilities switch to per-hour charging times for consumers).

Obviously, this got me a little outraged, as originally the first-gen Volt wasn’t going to have this kind of control from your utility.

So, after a couple of messages of concern to that effect, GM responded to me personally. The 2011 Volt will have Smart Charging, but you will always be able to tell it to charge immediately, even in a power emergency. Smart Charging on the Volt will never ignore the commands of the consumer.

Let’s hope GM keeps it that way. The Volt needs an Emergency Mode that lets you access its remaining battery power, not an Emergency Mode that lets your utility company… disable your car. That’s the last Volt I’ll suggest to a consumer.