Consumer reports strikes again

It's been obvious for years that many of the magazines, including CR, are biased in favor of Honda. To them, Honda is the end all be all of the automotive world. Honda makes boring vehicles for people who are either boring or like boring things. Are they good vehicles? I don't know, I'm not boring so I don't buy them.

That's funny because I traded in an '05 Altima 3.5SE for the Tacoma. I won't be going back to that pile of turds again anytime soon.

 

nd, you've got so much class, you flush it down the toilet on a regular basis.

I test drove a frontier a couple vehicles back. It was a reg cab, short bed, 5sp, 4x4. An economy 4x4, if you will. It didn't seem like a bad truck, but like my name states, toy(yota) for life.

 

Hey Dog ! pile of turds, that's rich ! your not boring so you don't drive them, that's really funny, must be the salt air ?

 

^Yup. It was formerly NJ nuclear waste.

 

The ridgeline shoud not be in the same league in any review.....It is a unibody vehicle, AWD, no HI/LOW range and to boot the motor is transversly mounted..Other than that rant..They do drive nice and there vtm rear end works well if used correctly. Honda went after current honda owners with this vehicle..It is what it is but its no truck..

 

I have had 3 Honda Accords:

88 LX Sedan Auto (boring)
89 LX-i Hatchback 5-Speed (fun)
01 EX Coupe Auto loaded (fun as all get out)

The Accord is probably the only Honda I would buy (besides a bike), and I have to get one that is exciting. I don't DO boring cars.

 

definate improvment !

 

I bought an 07 CRV for my wife in January. It was between that and a Rav 4.
We chose the CRV because of some interior features we liked better and I don't like the new look of the Rav4. It's a good vehicle, just can't see shit when I'm backing up.

 

We have a 2006 RAV4 V6 Sport 4WD that my wife drives.

I love it! We get around 25-26 MPG overall average, and it has power to spare (and then some more on top of that).

 

I spent last winter in Calif. reading reports.
That is why I bought the Taco.
Warrantees don`t mean much to someone that does not wish to spend his life at the dealership.
Toyota is an old Samurai name. As is Mitsubishi, the folks who brought our folks the Zero, and Honda.
I chose the `06 Taco with 7,000 on it because of its repair record. let someone else work out the bugs. It is 2nd. Gen. The `08 may be better. But the reports are not in. Chilton has yet to publish a manual for the `06 Taco.
It is not a Power Wagon. But I have one of those.

 

Although it only has 4500 miles on it, I don't see us holding on to the CRV for a long time. She has her heart set on one of the new Highlanders. She misses the 2004 that she had alot.

 

And that's the target for the large majority of Honda vehicles: women. Or even older folks. Of course, this is all just my opinion because the only people I see driving CRV's are women, the only people I see driving Accords are women and older folks, and the only people I see driving Civics are young chicks and the ricer crowd. I guess what I'm saying is, real men don't drive Honda's, lol. No, not really, because a car doesn't make you "manly" or not but it's just that I don't see myself, the average hard working, hard playing, American everyman driving a Honda. But that's just me.

I will say the new Accord V6 coupe's are pretty nice, though. Other than that, there isn't a thing that I like coming from Honduh.

 

I will die owning mine. But then again, I am old.
If I live long enough; my priorities are letting it breath and synthetic oil.

 

I don't have a problem with Honda, it's just they don't make a Toyota Tacoma. As far as reliability goes, they're up there with Toyota. Doesn't much matter though. Toyota did right by me when it came to 1st impressions, so they're gonna have to screw up pretty bad to get rid of me now.

 

In the end, we all know the Tacoma rocks. I never really put much stock into those review guides. I mean after all, they get their advertising dough from somewhere, right. The proof is in the drive, an buddy I love driving my Tacoma!

 

Amen Brother

 

One thing that I like about the TRD Off Road Taco is the steering.
I wired one of the yoke,(stearing wheel), buttons to Push To Talk on the two way radio.
If I have to, I can report a change of heading to dispatch whilst in the turn.
I am not saying that it is a good idea to talk in the air traffic pattern or in a high speed pursuit.
I am only saying that it can be done safely.

 

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I would not want a Ridgeline either, but you have to remember people who only see a car/truck as an appliance, if it works it's ok, and if it is a pretty color, well that's even better, and some couples; with or w/out children may see the Tacoma double cabs as a possibility along with a Ridgeline, although to me the difference is night and day. A typical CR pairing of vehicles, just like a Kenmore or Norge or Maytag washer dryer combo. A Ridgeline to me would be a good out of town rent-a-car, if your only other choices were a GM or Ford mini econobox. As far as the AWD, and no lo/hi choices, remember that about 60% (5 lug's or PreRunner's) or possibly more of the Tacoma's sold in the US are 2wd's, but I know what you mean, a rear drive or 4wd with a rear solid axle and leaf springs just comes off as a heavier duty driveline than a FWD or the AWD's with the front being the primary drive axle.

 

One thing about CR that I DO like is that they have no advertising. They are funded entirely via subscription on their website and magazines.

 

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Another thing CR does is send staffers to dealers to purchase the vehicles incognito, the dealers thought they were just people off the street. I have read them in the past when the cover caught my eye, or somewhere like the Dr. office, and I do remember the only Toyota complaint for well over 20 years is/was the lack of availibility of certain "safety" type pkgs. They always tried to get antilock brakes in the early days, and was always told "not in this zone" or "none out there", "can't get", "It's an option, but we have never seen one said the dealer" etc on almost any safety type pkg that Toyota pushed in it's advertising, but was just not out there in significant numbers, kinda like today with some pkgs on Tacoma's; VSC, TRAC, HAC, ALSRD, HSA, DAC, US spec DRL's, side airbags in some zones.

One other thing I liked about CR, was old issues with car tests. I used to go to Southern Tech in Marietta GA, as the library had back issues of most all magazines back to the late 50's. Everyone new about the "modifications" that all the manufacturers PR dept supplied to magazines those days, so everyone knew the published 0-60, 0-100, 1/4 mile speed of a GTO, Chevelle, Skylark GS, F85 442's, as well as Mustangs, Barracuda's, Dart GT's etc and such from the mags, but how about a test of something like a 326 Lemans, 283, 327 Malibu, 300-301? Skylark, 330 2bbl Cutlass, and the 289, 318, 225 slant sixes of the mainstream US market? Those tests came from CR, and to a lessor extent Pop Science, PM, and MI, although these were PR supplied fleet cars, but not high performance versions