I bought my car brand new in July of 06 and since day one i've had problems. Don't get me wrong I love the car, but I'm disappointed that i spent so much money on a nice sports car that is now falling apart on me. I'm sharing so that if you have the 04-06 Gto you can look out for the repairs,and yes they are costly.
I bought the car new and it already had a blown speaker. Then a year later the engine light came on and it came to turn out the car had been leaking gas for a whole year.
Next about 2 years later, the paint was peeling off my door handles and i had to have the repainted in my rare color of course the Braze orange.
Then same time the paint came off i noticed that my back seats in the stitching it was unwraveling. Turned out the leather was totally ruined and dried out from the sun, even though my car is garage kept, windows deep tinted black and has never been driven in the winter. They told me that should not have happened considering how i had taken care of it, however it is a common problem in the new gto's because of the leather that was used. It's not your normal leather.
If you see that the top of your back seats are hard as a rock, you will need to have the leather repaired. They had to strip all the leather off my back seats and put new on. The new leather is not the same as the original that comes with the car. It looks similar, however the new leather is more like your normal leather.
The latest almost 4yrs now coming in July, one of my speaker covers is broken, my steerling wheel is falling apart, and i mean the buttons for the radio have broken off and to repair it they have to replace the entire part behind the steering wheel...
The mirror cover on my passenger door is loose because the rubber that holds it on has worn off or fallen off..and last but not least my gear shift leather is drying out also.
I found out this car was built on a friday, i guess i have bad luck and a lemon.
I contacted GM to tell them how dissapointed i am that i spent so much money on a nice sports car only to have it falling apart on me almost 4yrs later. They may listen, they did replace the leather in my car for free even though it was out of warranty.
Hopefully no one else has all the problems i have had. I want to keep the car, but with all the repairs and how costly these repairs and parts are i'm not sure i will.
Good luck with yours!
Lets cipher this... First.... All the defects you list are NOT assembly process issues. To say the car was assembled on a Fri or a Mon has nothing to do with defective parts. The parts are NOT manufactured on the spot and stuck in the car. These parts come from vendors. You issues are with the vendors NOT the working stiff on the assy line. You are placing blame on the wrong people.
I too purchased my car new. I had to wait on it to arrive. I have had issues as well. Seats, this is a major issue, my car sits in a dark garage and I just had the covers replaced, the assy worker didn't cause this defect. IMO the leather shrinks and it is not a high grade of leather. Looks good but I have $hit many a tird that was a masterpiece but it was still a tird, if you get my meaning. I had my covers replaced at no cost too, no they do not perfectly match the are close as the leather "pebble" look on the sides are not as deep as OEM however the quality of leather that was installed is night and day different than OEM, BLAME GM for this NOT the assy worker.
Headliner: Seems to me the glue broke down, again, blame the outfit that manufactured that not the assy worker all he did was install the entire unit. The car travels down the assy line there is not enough time to glue the headliner in, the install it as it comes in.
Blown speaker? Blame the manufacturer not the assy worker that installed it.
Paint adhesion problems on the door handles is an issue, It was a process issue not some guy not knowing what hes doing, MANY including me had this same issue. There is a process workers follow and they work to the process.
4 years after having your car the steering wheel is falling apart. Something caused that after 4 years. Built on a Friday 4 years ago to me is stretching it.
Leaking gas? Took a year to notice leaking gas? I can smell raw gas from a distance, sitting in closed garage, I would think the smell of raw gas would alert someone. You didn't specify where it was leaking. That may be an assy problem unless something failed?
Dried out leather on the gearshift. NOT an assy error. NOT saying you are guilty of this but.......Many eat in their vehicles many love jamming french fries in their mouth as they drive. French fries= SALT, SALT= drying out of leather. I wonder how many people out there fail to associate that type activity with leather failures?
MOST of the issues you list are the common nuisance items with this car and I agree they should not be happening. Point blame at the right people. I worked many years on an assy line building Mack Trucks and components and MOST take pride in their work and often times the assy workers are blamed for things that are out of their hands. I also spent 18 years in warehousing there where I seen bad parts come in and are rejected and sent back. I'd bet the assy plant there had their fair share of poor quality parts come in. MANY make it to production. The parts come in they are sent to the line in a just in time fashion (now a days) and the assy worker picks the parts and installs from a build sheet. If the quality is poor its NOT his or hers fault. GM is to blame as you conveyed your dissatisfaction to them. Add all this up and this plays a part of why GM was in dire straits.
I do feel your pain with the car as my car is babied and housed in a garage. Not one of my issues was the fault of the assy line worker, it was GM suppliers. I agree with you this should NOT be happening this is why I purchased a GMPP and I am NOT a proponent of extended warranties but as items became known and the cost of these parts I decided to purchase one.
Then there are those who beat the snot out of these cars then unload them and young guys are buying them up along with the issues they have NO idea about. Many blame the car when a lot of it was the owner.
Good Luck with your car. Hopefully things will work out for ya :cheers