I'm from the south also. Born and raised in Athens, GA. Lived there for over 30 years. I started with GM in Doraville, GA. Alot of my friends and family worked at the Ford plant near the airport also. Both plants are now closed. My uncle worked and retired from Lockheed in Atlanta (union also). Alot of union jobs did leave the South. Not sure its because southerners are against them though. If it was up to me, GM and Ford would still be cranking out vehicles in GA. We still have 2 assembly plants in the South. One in Tennessee and one in Kentucky. Mabe I'll transfer back down that way one day. Sorry you have had bad luck with our products. I'm well aware of where the Tundra is made. Toyota was given all kinds of tax breaks by the state to get that plant there. As far as quality, your chalking it up to your personal let down. The 07 to present bodystyle truck has had great quality ratings. The Colorado and Canyon's are now trucks of the past. They were built in Shrevport, LA. (another southern plant closed). The replacements will be built in Wentzville, MO. Totally new trucks from the ground up. It's funny to me you say there is no love for unions in your (our) parts......Mabe from the large corp's view.
The things that stuck out to me in my Tacoma compared to my 2011 Sierra (figured this would be a more fair comparison then using my 2004 Z71):
1. when you shut the door on the Tacoma it is air tight. you litterally have to SHUT the door and it will sometimes stop your ears up. this tight cab equates to MUCH less noise then my Sierra. it just feels more solid.
2. Take a look at the edge of the doors on a current Silverado/Sierra. there is NO protection there for preventing door dings when someone parks too close to you and as hard as you try, you still manage to bump their car with your door causing paint to chip off. Toyota puts some sort of guard on the edge of their doors to prevent this, my Sierra did not have this and it was easy to chip the paint.
3. speaking of paint, my Sierra had "orange peel" from day one, my 2004 did not though and my Toyota doesn't. I could have done a better paint job with a rattle can. honestly.
4. pop the hood on the Tacoma and a blind man could change the oil on it. it's one of the few newer trucks that doesn't have some gaudy plastic engine cover that prohibits you from doing any sort of self-maintenance.
5. lifter tick. had it on my 2004 with the 5.3 and had it on my 2011 with the 6.2. never hurt anything but aggrivating as all get out!
6. seats. go sit in the seats of a new Tacoma and that's what the GM twins should have in their mid-level trucks. my 2004 had MUCH more comfortable seats then my 2011 did.
7. transmission clunk. this drove me insane with my 2011. never heard of such a thing and took it back to the dealer 4 times only to be told "oh that's normal". yeah, ok.
8. the buttons, dash, etc all felt much more cheaply made in my 2011 then in my Tacoma. granted the older Tacoma's left alot to be desired but they also didn't cost $48,000 like my GMC did either. Toyota really stepped it up with the new interior with their model refresh (notice I said refresh not rebuild/new model).
9. my Tacoma has storage boxes that are lockable under the rear passenger seat, my GMC had no such thing. I can also fold my rear seats flat, couldn't do that in my 2011.
10. my Tacoma has a rear power outlet in the bed of the truck. comes in VERY handy for running a small generator or power tools or an extension cord.
I come from a Chevrolet family. My mom owns a Malibu, dad has owned several GM trucks and I have owned two GM trucks myself. My family alone has given you PLENTY of our money over the years. I will say that your quality fell off bad from the 2004 truck to the 2011 truck I owned. Why I went to Toyota was due to many reasons but the main ones were the Colorado/canyon are not worth the tres they roll on, I wanted to stick it to Obama any way I could, and my tacoma is worlds better then both GM trucks I owned. The quality is night and day, they do the little things GM never thought about doing. Like I said no disrespect to you personally but I will not be supporting GM anytime soon. Oh and I'm sure those Toyota employees in San Antonio that built my truck are enjoying my money just fine
