10th Jun 2011, 09:13
It just goes on and on. Teenagers who are given aging domestics with 200,000 miles on them have a problem and start screaming "domestics are crap!" Most of the negative reviews on domestics are from this type of source, and anyone SHOULD expect trouble from 12-year-old cars with 200,000 miles. Citing problems with 12-year-old domestics says nothing about the quality of new one.
10th Jun 2011, 09:31
I just looked at J.D. Powers site. Which car scores the highest marks? LEXUS STILL!! Nothing has changed since I looked at their ratings some months ago. This is the initial quality survey everyone seems so hung up on. Not one other car line has perfect scores. Acura is the closest second, not Ford, not GM. However, upon looking at all of their ratings, Lexus seems to dominate over anything domestic in every category of their ratings charts. Acura is a close second. Porsche dominates one list, which is performance and design... no surprise there.... and still an import!
Domestics are pretty much middle of the road overall. Nothing stands out. You see these surveys are based on perceptions, and yes some experiences. Toyota is focused on mainly because of media hype, therefore people tend to downgrade them. In reality, Toyota is much higher quality in my experience than any domestic vehicles produced outside of the Corvette or the Viper. We know how to build a good specialty car and a good truck, but mainstream autos?? Not so much!
I will say this again as you seem to not understand me. I have been driving for 26 years. In my 26 years of driving, I have had many imports and domestics. My imports have never failed me or cost me anything extra to own, other than routine maintenance. My domestics have always been problematic, other than one Chevy I bought and owned for about 32K miles of its life. Do I really care what ratings companies tell me about the highest rated cars? I don't, even though imports continue to dominate their lists. You fail to see it that way, but facts are facts if you look on the site. It is an argument that is old and tired, yet it continues to go on and on. Just drive your Chevy or Ford and leave me to my Toyota's, Honda's, and Subaru's. If one of them should ever fail me, I will be sure to post about it on here. So far, I've got nothing to say about import failures.
Please provide a link the information you are basing your claims on from JD Powers. I can't seem to find anything. Maybe your data was from 2008? Hmmmmm...
10th Jun 2011, 09:33
Sales have less to do with quality, and more to do with the best deal in this economy. GM and Ford offer up better rebates to unload their cars than Toyota and Honda do. That surely doesn't make them the better vehicles though. Level the playing field and offer the same deals on both import and domestic vehicles, and then see who is outselling who.
10th Jun 2011, 10:25
I also am having a bad experience with Toyota. A 2005 Corolla with transmission problems at only 88K miles. This is unacceptable. If the Chevrolet Cruze proves to be reliable, I may consider it in the future when I am ready for a new car.
Though I will admit I prefer Honda and Mitsubishi, because I have had the best experiences with them.
10th Jun 2011, 10:31
Honda is still superior in quality to domestics. However, I really believe Toyota has slipped in quality. I am having not a good experience with my 2005 Corolla. Transmission problems at 88K miles. Not good, but maybe I just got a bad one? It does seem tinny compared to my Honda though.
Actually Chevrolet has improved a lot in recent years. The Cruze may prove to be a really good car.
10th Jun 2011, 10:50
Nissan is a joke now, don't even bring them into the argument. Toyota got lazy like GM, Ford and Chrysler did when they got to the top, and now they are paying for it like the big 3 did. Honda is the only stable one out of the big Asian 3. If your argument about the tsunami is correct, why didn't these car buyers wait for the factories over in China to resume parts and car productions if Toyota is so great? Reports show domestic sales are on the rise...
10th Jun 2011, 11:44
Japan makes a HUGE amount of car parts, many which are not only used in their cars, but other brands around the world. For example, some of the full-size Dodge trucks use Aisin transmissions. So if you're a company that relies on parts and your parts supplier gets knocked out due to a tsunami, naturally production is going to fall, which is why Toyota, Nissan and Honda sales have fallen simply because there has been a dramatic slip in production. It's not a matter of swapping countries where parts are made. It takes hundreds of millions of dollars to setup or re-tool a plant to make different parts. Not sure why this is such a puzzling thing to some of you. It's cut and dry. So yes - GM will probably temporarily re-take the spot as the world's No.1 automaker until Toyota manages to recover from the effects of the tsunami.
I've been hearing this claim that "Toyota has slipped" for years. I will say that there seemed to be a "golden period" where almost all of the Japanese brands made extraordinary cars and trucks with an incredible level of fit and finish. Were they better then than now? My one complaint (and remember I am a Toyota guy) is that they have some really bland interiors. But the drivetrains are solid. My Dad has a 2003 Tundra. So far no problems and 235,000 miles. We own a 2002 Prius. Same deal. 150,000 miles and no problems. My brother has a 98' Avalon. 300,000 miles and no problems. My landlord owns a Sienna. Again- no problems. Next door neighbor owns a 2005 Camry. 130,000. No problems. I could go on and on. If there's evidence that Toyota is slipping, I can't find reason to see this as such, since the ownership experience we and others have had has been if anything - boring, simply because the cars just drive, and do so for years with no issues.
10th Jun 2011, 09:12
Don't take it as a personal attack on Canada. I don't think anyone is saying anything negative about Canada. The point is these are U.S. based companies. Any jobs that are provided outside of our country are considered outsourced to foreign countries. This is only because said foreign countries have a different economic system. Our masses don't directly benefit from any other country doing jobs that our companies provide. I understand where you are coming from, as we all have had a difficult time in this depression we are going through... oops I mean recession... as far as the government is concerned ;).
This argument is solely about US companies and people claiming they are supporting the US by purchasing their products, when they really aren't. It's not a slam on Canada... or Mexico for that matter.