The "rumor" that Toyota makes unreliable cars/trucks.

I'm doing a bit of ranting here today. Its about something that bothers the hell out of me on occasion. It seems that ever since Toyota became a real threat to GM and Ford, all the uber-pro-domestic car and truck guys are pretty pissed about it. So suddenly I've noticed a lot of bullshit on various forums and car review comments where all the Chevy and Ford guys basically bash Toyota

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I'm as patriotic as the next guy. But my family has owned a lot of Toyotas. We beat the absolute hell out of these things and they run for at least 200,000, 250,000 miles, and even then they're still going strong.We have owned a few Fords and GM products. Of these, it seems like 50% of them were complete garbage. The others were just OK, but nothing to brag about.

A lot of these guys are just pissed off because Toyota somehow went from making little rice burner cars to full size trucks, and that's not to their liking. So instead of making a rational argument, their lame defense is just to make up bullshit about how "bad" Toyota is and how they steal American jobs and so forth. Tell that to the guy assembling Camrys in KY, or the guy building Tacomas in Cali, buddy.

Arg. Rant off. Ya'll get my drift.

 

We know the truth...The truth that Toyota is the stongest car maker in todays poor conditions because they continue to make cars and trucks the right way...=)

 

The other thing is that I wonder if these guys who think Toyotas are crap ever work on them. I know for fact my Brother's Ranger ( which actually was a decent truck but really underpowered) was a hell of a lot harder to work on than my truck. The engine in his was just slapped in there, wires and hoses all over the place. On mine, you can tell an engineer spent time thinking about how to actually repair it and make it easier on the mechanic. THAT's the difference.

 

Eh, whatever... let them throw their money away every 4 or 5 years on a new Ford or GM truck. None of that crap will change the 13+ years of positive experiences that I've had with Toyota vehicles.

 

Ya. Exactly. I have had so many people tell me how they'd never buy one of those crappy Tacomas. Funny since mine is over 13 years old now and still going just fine. Meanwhile, all my friends are on truck no. 2 or 3 already.

 

I think the sales numbers speak for themselves. Toyota makes cars and trucks that people want to buy.

The domestic manufacturers make cars and trucks that people wanted to buy 25 years ago, and still do out of habit. My dad's a perfect example. He's a financial genius, and can find ways to cut costs, get more from investments and pay less taxes it'll make your head spin......but....

He's got a 2009 Explorer Sport Trac
A 2005 Mustang Convertible
And bought my mom a 2008 Escape

Despite cost of ownership, maintenance, and replacing them every 5 years or so, he always has, and always will, drive fords.

If nothing else, i simply think its out of habit.

 

My mom had a 96 Astro van for 12 years (got a new vehicle this summer.)

Besides a blown head gasket, I don't remember very much that went wrong with it. At 160k there was some major problem with the engine that was gonna cost like 3-4k or something to fix.

Considering the fact that my old civic (92) had to have a distributor and headgasket replaced before we got rid of it (165k, summer of 07 the brakes completely failed so we got rid of it.)

Consdering the "crappy american product" lasted just as long with a little bit more problems as the "civic that will run forever" I'd say the Astro was a good purchase.

Now my mom has a Forester and hates it, says she wants to go back to a van like the Astro.

 

Just smile at them, say 'yes, you're right' and been quietly content that you've got the better vehicle.

I want to see the US car dealers do well, but my support wanes when it comes to spending 20k and deciding which car is best.

 

GM's are garbage. I've owned 4 different vehicles and they have all crapped out on me before 100K miles with regular maintenance.

 

misery loves company man. so let them think what they want to try and make themselves feel better for wasting hella money on a piece of junk.

i myself have never heard someone bash toyota for poor quality. i did head a coworker say "well, seeing as most cars dont really go past 100,000 miles anymore..."

all i said was "ummmmm toyotas have been known to go 250,000k plus without any major mechanical issues, no big deal"

thats all i gotta say about that!

 

I've watched a friend go through 4 volkswagon's in the time that I've owned 2 Toyotas. She constantly had shit break down on them, and had to dump a bunch of money into getting them repaired, yet she still insists on buying volkswagon's... Some people will just never get it. At least her husband owns a Tacoma.

 

Any german car designed and engineered before OBD-I is awesome. Anything after and you're asking for trouble.

That's just my opinion though.

 

Make them watch this, from my favorite TV show. Think an S10 or Dakota could do this?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrk6vsb77xk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc4Ksz3nHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZDtC9kjVk

 

You obviously never had the joy of working on a 964 Porsche.

Everyone always picks on the team in first place. Human nature.
Don't worry, they won't adapt in time and fade into the abyss. Then we'll wax eloquently about the 'good ole chevy' in the same way we talk about Packards and Edsels with the occasional AMC Pacer thrown in for good measure.

 

good point, 924/944 were a fairly unreliable pre-obd-I car.

I'd LOVE a 930 slantnose though.

 

944=good 924=
930= goes into the "if I won lotto" thread

 

resale value speaks for itself.
toyotas hold their value way better than a chevy,dodge,or ford.
so all those chumps can bite me

 

My camry went to 290K miles, then got totaled by a drunk driver. No engine work besides a starter that shattered. No valve noise either. Only blew oil @ 5500rpms.

My honda, at 170K the motor went south. the head warped and the block cracked. My moms honda has been a pain in my ass since she got it. it has about 170k on it. its a carb'd engine and has had many issues with the carb. other then that its been good.

My rabbits (not counting the junkyard pick) have been great. the current one was just mistreated and neglected. ive got it back in good shape.

My truck. Well, Ive most definitely beat the piss out of it. And I cant seem to find the end of the piss. It never stops. Ive overheated the engine, overheated the transmission, submerged the thing in mud to where it implodes the airfilter and have sucked countless amounts of mud/water down the intake. It fires up everytime. I swear this truck used to be a mascicist in a different life.

I have a friend who owned a blazer, always broke something on it.

I used to work in a transmission shop. So i worked on countless Taurus, Escorts, Sables, Astrovans, Aerostars, F150's, Exploders and every fwd chrysler. From that experience I vowed to never own one souly based on the drivetrain. Never had one Chevy p/u all the time i was there.

I really dont have anything bad to say about my suburban. It ran nice even though it was held together with ducttape and bailing wire. But thats why Im rebuilding it. I do miss the 67 Dart tho.

 

I wouldn't have bought another Toyota if I didn't believe they were the best out there but I also have to be honest and say that Toyota has reduced some of the quality that we have come to expect out of them over the years.

It's called economics 101 and it's one of the reasons that Big 3 are in the situation they now are.

When the Japanese first hit the market strong they were all pretty much bare bones and people bought them as an alternative to the high cost the domestics were charging, it didn't take too long and the Big 3 started making smaller less expensive vehicles as an attempt to hold market position but as the Japanese were working on building better and better cars and trucks the domestics were heading down the road that cheap was the future and started producing lots of junk.

It has come full circle now where the Domestics Auto Manufactures are the ones that have to prove that they can make reliable vehicles in models that the public want all for a cost that we are willing to spend.


I'd hate to see the Big 3 fail and it's not only because so many people would lose their jobs but without the Big 3 then Toyota would be in the position to produce only what they felt was the best money maker just as the Big 3 did when they were the top dogs on the block.