Well , 3 days after we got the Hyrbid Sierra it has broken down ....They took it to Indy for the Indy 500 , towing our camper behind it.
They made it to indy ...And went to get some grocerys this morning , and had no power steering , and the power brakes went right with it.

There camping at the track , the camper is set up and the truck has been towed to a local GMC dealer , no one has parts since no Hyrbid Sierras were sold in indiana.

Luckily we have some realtives in the area that will go get the camper out of the track once the race is over. But for right now the Hybrid has left them stranded a long way from tampa....

Ill be calling our dealership tuesday and the one where the sierra is now and try to set up how to get the parts up there , might be driving them up myself from tampa...

Never the less , there not real happy about tradeing in the silverado for it...

Is your family, like, cursed when it comes to cars? That really sucks!

yeah pretty much ...if you knew the malibu maxx story youd really wonder ....the first one had to be lemon lawed after turning left on its own at 70 mph ....electric power steering ...

If you ask me , theres nothing beatter then a good ol fashioned power steering pump driven by a belt

yeah pretty much ...if you knew the malibu maxx story youd really wonder ....the first one had to be lemon lawed after turning left on its own at 70 mph ....electric power steering ...

If you ask me , theres nothing beatter then a good ol fashioned power steering pump driven by a belt

Yeah, those are not exactly the paradigm of automotive excellence ("those" referring to both the Malibu and the sister G6).

On the other hand, who's great idea was it to get a Hybrid GM truck? They're very much like driving some kind of an unfinished prototype (herky jerky, rough, etc.), the gas mileage isn't improved and sometimes is worse, and the only real improvement is the electrical outlet and extra juice you can get with it turned off...and just being able to say you "have a Hybrid truck".

For someone used to the buggier side of the GM car line, I couldn't fathom buying one of those oddball trucks...

the only real improvement is the electrical outlet and extra juice you can get with it turned off......
thats why we got it ....for camping ....looks like the 3500 watt generator sitting in the garage was a beatter idea ....

the silverado needed replacement , we wanted something that we could get the same gas milage as the silverado , would tow alot easier (it has a diffrent gear ratio), and would come out in handy camping in areas where no electrical power was availible....Like camping at Indinapoilis motor speedway , which is where they are right now , where its very hot , with no way to generate electricty since the hybrid is sitting at a dealership in Indinapoilis....

And with no way to generate ecletricty they have no way to empty the sewage tank , and no way to get hot water let alone use the pump to get water .....no shower , no running water , no A/C and its 93 degrees right now at the camper ....There abandoning it for now and headed into town ....

Well, that certainly is one great use for it--too bad the accessory electric power mandates the rest of the rather poorly done (compared to current standards) Hybrid parts.

A regular Silverado/Sierra and a generator might just have been the better choice.

I wish them luck with it though, and if it comes down to it, hope they don't choose "buggy" GM #3.

heh , you dont know how hard it was to talk him out of a quadrasteer ....finally did it by letting him know it got worse milage ...

most likely once they do get back down here well be back to looking for a extened cab silverado/sierra with a 3.73 rear and the 290hp 5300

God damn Stoney...talk about crappy freakin luck...

God damn Stoney...talk about crappy freakin luck...

That, or at least where the cars are concerned, just some really strange choices:rolleyes:

Hopefully it'll all work out well in the end, though.

man, you and your folks are big time race fans....

Perhaps get an on-board generator on the camper?

That sucks about the hybrid.....

I thought the hybrid Silverado was aimed at contractors?

man, you and your folks are big time race fans....

Perhaps get an on-board generator on the camper?

That sucks about the hybrid.....
ive seen 12 indy 500s , and dad has missed only 2 indy 500s since 1961...we go to ALOT of races ....

Note to self: stay away from GM hybrids

Note to self: stay away from GM hybrids

My sentiments exactly. Give GM about 20 years and they'll have it figured out by then.:thepan:

As for now, the only hybrid I'd ever buy would come from Toyohonda. But since I would never buy a hybrid, that's completely irrelevant.:thumbsup:

My Coupe DeVille is a hybrid.

It burns gas and rubber.

I want a car that runs on the corpses of cute endangered animals.

I drove a Proto GM hybrid truck back in 2003 and was impressed at the seamlessness of the engine/electric operation. IT did well. I did not take it on the highway, just some city driving. But it really didn't even give a clue that you were drivign a brid except for the engine dying on when the brake was applied. Power (5.3L) was excellent, and manners were excellent. It did not have DOD yet.

What did they do to it to mess it up?

I have always wanted to hybrid my 91 Deville (sold now) and make it RWD electric and FWD engine. And use the electric to start me up and once running up to speed, kill the electric. And then work on some regen braking off of the electric system, and try to do what GM does and kill the gas engine on decel (ultimate DFCO!) but need more than the engine starter to get it started again. GM uses the torque converter as a motor/generator/starter on the new truck hybrids. It starts FAST! That would be the harder part.

Yeah, those are not exactly the paradigm of automotive excellence ("those" referring to both the Malibu and the sister G6).

On the other hand, who's great idea was it to get a Hybrid GM truck? They're very much like driving some kind of an unfinished prototype (herky jerky, rough, etc.), the gas mileage isn't improved and sometimes is worse, and the only real improvement is the electrical outlet and extra juice you can get with it turned off...and just being able to say you "have a Hybrid truck".

For someone used to the buggier side of the GM car line, I couldn't fathom buying one of those oddball trucks...

Well, nothing really changed since that prototype you had, but in more real-world situations and under a lot more conditions than I'm sure you could try it out in (especially after being fully broken in, it being freezing or hot out, etc.), the reviews have been less glowing. The one I distinctly remember is MT's long-term test of one where their gas mileage ended up being a bit worse than your typical Silverado, and after a while of driving it, every editor complained of random jerkiness and roughness in the transistion between modes--and it just being more annoying to drive than anything else.

As far as GM getting the Hybrid system "right", they already have (look for the new Saturn VUE Hybrid in a couple months, and a lot more models with the same system after that)--it's just that the Silverado/Sierra models aren't "full" Hybrids (i.e. with the ability to accelerate purely on electric power and then kick in the gas, or a combination of both, as needed), and WERE aimed largely to construction uses because of the extra power supplies and plug(s). Cutting the gas engine off at stops was just an added little thing to at least try and bump up mpg's a tad.

So, they have the systems right and ready (and everyone will be seeing that soon), but the Silverado/Sierra models were just kind of the first saleable experiment of sorts.

Well My parents have just left Indy , it took 2 GM engineers and a insider (a reltive) at the plant the produces the Hybrids (Ft Wayne) to get it done .

The part that failed was made in mexico , apprently this has been such a problem that GM swtiched to a american pump midway thru the 06 run , ours didnt get that pump , we got the mexican unit. The plant was getting ready to produce 7 Hybrids , there now going to produce 6 ...Becuse the pump for the 7th is sitting in our truck ....

The pump takes the place of a classic power steering pump , they named it "electro hydrolic"

After reading the posts, to me, it looks like it wasn't the hybrid part of the vehicle that failed, but the new power assists that went belly up.

exactly