29th Aug 2010, 10:07
So, you got tired of getting 27 to 30 mpg, and thought why not drop it down to 14?? And you drive a lot too. How nice for those Middle Eastern countries that you are supporting whole heartedly?
Today I plan trips out and save where I can. I also drive much better imports that get much higher mileage and are still a hoot to drive. Even the SUV I have gets close to 30 MPG on trips with almost 270 HP. An American SUV will never achieve that kind of efficiency, nor will they ever be as refined and high quality. I really got tired of being on a first name basis with the Chevy service manager. I was there literally every other week, and the truck still needed $2K in repairs when I traded it in. Talk about needing AAA!!!
29th Aug 2010, 12:19
"So, you got tired of getting 27 to 30 mpg, and thought why not drop it down to 14?? And you drive a lot too. How nice for those Middle Eastern countries that you are supporting whole heartedly?"
I suppose sending money to Japan is better? And what good is better fuel mileage if you have to replace a $3000 transmission every few weeks? All GM and Fords are now ranked much higher than anything from Japan. Read something on automobiles besides a Toyota brochure. It could save you a lot of money.
29th Aug 2010, 13:10
More MPG woes. So why buy a SUV? Do you carry 4 passengers and tow for 2 hours one way? We do and it's not Corolla time.
29th Aug 2010, 18:37
Not everyone wants to be cramped in a tiny "me too" mid-size (if you can call them that) sedan from Japan with all of the pizazz of their refrigerator.
I currently own a large Buick sedan with a V6 that can get over 30 MPG on the highway but plan to trade for an SUV from Buick getting close to 10 MPG less, simply because Detroit has completely neglected the big car market in favor of smaller cars.
Because I want a vehicle with some American style and road hugging weight not to mention large size, I am forced to go to an SUV with poor fuel economy.
My commute to work is only 3 miles, but that is negligible, I drive what I like, not something I settle for because I feel I should.
29th Aug 2010, 19:06
"Even the SUV I have gets close to 30 MPG on trips with almost 270 HP. An American SUV will never achieve that kind of efficiency,"
The Ford Escape (the highest rated small SUV on Earth) easily beats that. Our friends just traded their rather unreliable Honda in on one. It's a much better, more sophisticated and better built vehicle than anything from a Japanese company.
30th Aug 2010, 13:33
Wrong, the Escape with the 3.0 V6 is rated at 24 mpg, and you'll be lucky to get that with it. With 40 less HP, it is anemic compared to the RAV 4, which is easily capable of a 0-60 sprint in 6.5 seconds, or about 2 seconds quicker than the Escape. That is just a nice bonus, as I wasn't looking for a race car when I bought the RAV4. It instills confidence merging onto busy freeways though! The Escape also rides much more like a truck, and is not as sharp in the handling department. It has a ton of body roll in corners. I think the Ford is as well built as the Toyota, but no better really, ratings or no ratings. I go by reality, not ratings.
Don't get me wrong, I like the Escape, but when we compared the two, the RAV 4 was easily our choice, based on refinement and quality of the driving experience.
30th Aug 2010, 13:38
Oh really? So the $thousands I wasted on my Trailblazer for ridiculous low mileage repairs was money I could have saved?? You're right, I should have bought the Toyota 5 years ago!
And who is sending money to Japan?? Toyota's are built in the U.S. by U.S. workers. You are the one sending money to Mexico and Canada by buying doomestics << (Accidental misspelling... but I like it!!). Of course, the government, who owns 61% of GM has no problem sending $billions to every foreign country that we need to start a war in, but hey, keep supporting their car company!! Go America!!
30th Aug 2010, 13:50
The word that sticks out to me is "want". You are not "forced" to do anything that your "wants" don't warrant. You will waste gas because you want to, not because you need to. Americans have to start putting "want" on the back burner here and start making choices that benefit more than just themselves.
There are plenty of high quality, high MPG vehicles out there that would suffice on your 5 minute commute. I'd be riding a bike if I only had a three mile commute. It amazes me that we are in the position we are in these days, and still people go on about what they want, instead of making changes to get things back on track for us all.
2nd Sep 2010, 00:18
I am just fascinated by this assertion about Fusion resale value versus Camry. I am guessing that it has more to do with demographics than anything else. You may have heard that Toyota has been so concerned about their brand image with the younger crowd, they started the Scion brand and pretty much just gave up on trying to get younger people to buy Toyotas. Ford seems to have a much better image with younger people than Toyota, particularly when survey questions using the word "value" are used.
The average age of Camry drivers is well over 50. Maybe Ford is expecting relatively few young people being interested in buying those used Camries when the time comes.
My sister in law in Denver is a high school teacher. She traded in her Camry for a Subaru Outback last year for reasons that never seemed clear, since we knew she liked her Camry, and it was not giving her one lick of trouble. But finally she told us she was just tired of her students teasing her about driving an old lady car. It probably didn't help that her hair is turning prematurely grey. (personally, I blame the high school kids for that too.)
29th Aug 2010, 09:56
"Toyota in 2010 has serious internal problems that will take years to straighten out."
But GM and Ford don't right? Yeah, keep telling yourself that one! They bought their high ratings with your tax money, believe it! Toyota learned every negative thing about the auto business from the domestic companies... every last one. Most of their issues are from American made parts too... go figure.
Have we already forgotten how the CEO of GM, Rick Wagoner was asked to step down... by the president!?!?! Have we already forgotten how the executives ALL showed up in private jets to ask for our tax money to save them from failure? Everyone thinks these things happened so long ago and that the auto business just magically fixed itself in one year. I see quotes about GM paying off its loans. Well GM is 61% owned by our government, and they took out more government loans to pay off the tax money they borrowed. They still owe themselves lots of money, and are in pretty bad shape overall. Now they want tax payers to buy their stock, so they can try to climb into prosperity again. I am sure many of you will happily do that, as they are such a great company. I'm sure all the stockholders that lost everything on GM they once had have forgotten already. Wake up!! Don't buy into the media's point of view that things are all better for them, and the recession is a distant memory.
Are we seriously this blind in this country? Well, I guess things got this bad, so I'd say YES!