9th May 2023, 18:30

Yesiree, a lot of Toyota platforms including the Tacoma and 4Runner are kind of ancient and have been unchanged for quite some time. Even the Camry's body style looks the same for the past 15 years.

But then again there are posters on here that like to humiliate the tried and true Ford Panther platform for sticking around for so long with few changes. Go figure.

10th May 2023, 17:01

People post on here often about rental cars. Same thing. Also the owners got rid of the truck because they didn't like it. What do they care if the truck was reviewed?

10th May 2023, 17:05

Add this to the previous comment

Also when I borrowed the truck, they were embarrassed that the A/C wasn't working in the dead of summer.

10th May 2023, 18:58

Doug Demuro has a YouTube channel with millions of subs basically doing exactly that. Spends a day with a car and gives it a thorough review.

11th May 2023, 02:04

One day is plenty of time compared to a 10 minute test drive if you're in the market for a new car.

11th May 2023, 15:03

The Panther platform is actually quite revered in many automotive circles. It doesn't matter if the vehicle is made by XXX company. What matters is if it's well designed. American automakers have proven they can make a reliable vehicle. Ironically it's usually when they have been making the vehicle for a long time. The old Jeep XJ's with their ancient inline 6 cylinder engines that dated back to the 1960's will go forever. Same with the Buick 3800 series V6 powered cars.

I think the difference is consistency. Whereas the 3800 series engines were great, the current 3.6 V6 GM is using in many vehicles is awful and prone to stretching their engine chains. OTOH Toyota seems to have a much higher level of overall consistency when it comes to long term engine and drivetrain reliability. Sure - Toyota made some duds. But just not as many. And at this point they HAVE to because their brand isn't exactly very exciting. They are now very far behind everyone else when it comes to EVs. But they are probably simply biding their time, waiting for the battery tech to improve or carefully and methodically working on their own EVs and getting the bugs worked out before getting it out there.

11th May 2023, 18:16

Similar to Scotty Kilmer. He uses his customers vehicles for examples on what to and what not to buy. Doesn't seem to upset them either.

12th May 2023, 18:01

For sure. I will never get a BMW after hearing Scotty LOL. Expensive to maintain & poor quality, especially with stuff like hoses that you know will fail eventually.

12th May 2023, 22:17

"these things easily go for 300,000-500,000 miles, and even then they aren't even close to being worn out"

We badly need people to talk from own and sincere experience, not from what others may say on YouTube videos. I can tell you I had a Lada Niva that went 800,000 miles. Let me know how you are going to verify my sayings.

14th May 2023, 15:05

It's been said a few times on here. I think the biggest problem on this site (and many others) is what counts as faults or maintenance. If someone says they got 20 years and 200,000 miles plus out a car with no faults, we can safely say they are lying, and almost certainly you have to assume parts like alternators and timing belts (if applicable) have been replaced in that time, along with brakes and suspension components among other things. But at that age and mileage some can count as "wear and tear". And most likely they had some other problems.

If on the other hand it is a 2 year old car with 25,000 miles on it, and they say all it has had is a couple of oil changes and brake pads and tires, then fair enough it is fault free as that all counts as maintenance.

Personally I have wrote a few reviews on here and I am always careful in the faults section to specify what maintenance I have and done separate from random faults or breakdowns. It just all depends on how good the review is written.

14th May 2023, 17:30

Yeah, it's a good thing that "Scottie"? doesn't review the low quality Ford Telstar too. As for BMW, they use all different types of hoses for different purposes. A/C, power steering, fuel, brake, and even some radiator hose. Which one are you referring to?

15th May 2023, 18:16

Search YouTube for “Scotty Kilmer BMW hoses” and you’ll get a library of videos about the topic. From such gems as, “Here’s why I’ll die before I buy a BMW” and many other videos showing the shoddy plastic & rubber they use for hoses. Anything which you’d consider a “hose” under the hood, you can be sure BMW realizes they’ll fail after several years. Bad materials

16th May 2023, 18:06

"We badly need people to talk from own and sincere experience, not from what others may say on YouTube videos. I can tell you I had a Lada Niva that went 800,000 miles. Let me know how you are going to verify my sayings."

Just in my family circle we have owned:

1985 Camry

1988 Celica

1988 4Runner

1992 Camry

1996 Tacoma

1998 Avalon

2002 Tundra

2002 Prius

2014 Tundra

2015 Prius

None of these and I literally mean NONE had any issues other than just routine maintenance. They simply ran reliably until sold or traded in. The 92 Camry, Tacoma, Avalon, 2002 Prius and 2002 Tundra all had in excess of 250,000+ miles on them, with the Tundra well past 320,000, and I still own the Tacoma which is also well past 300k. Am I saying they are all perfect? No, but our experience is fairly common and the reason that brand is the world's best selling due to that reputation.

17th May 2023, 15:29

Another thing is when someone actually gets 300,000 miles out of a vehicle they will replace things like starters, alternators, brake calipers, suspension components, water pumps and a muffler and try to pass those things off as maintenance, when in all actuality they are not. Try looking in an owners manual in the maintenance schedule section and you won't find any of those items. They are more along the line of repairs from high mileage or old age. My extended family has also owned a few cars exceeding the 150-250 thousand mile mark and a lot of the parts that I mentioned have lasted the life of the vehicle. Never once did brake calipers needed replacement on any. I have read your Tacoma review and follow ups in the past. Most of the stuff that I listed have been replaced on your truck. Now, am I saying your Tacoma is junk? No, absolutely not and I don't blame you for keeping it so long. Buy a brand new Tacoma and it's almost guaranteed it won't be as good.

23rd May 2023, 14:02

There is a difference between ordinary wear items that need replacement versus catastrophic mechanical failure. For example Ford Tauruses. I also own a 1950's vintage car and am used to going to salvage yards. There was always a nice, neat, and very long row of 90's-era Tauruses and almost all of them had what looked like a milkshake had exploded under the hood. It's because a lot of them blew their head gaskets. It was a design flaw and literally millions of those cars had head gasket failures. That's very different than replacing a water pump, brake pads, alternators and so on. Things will wear out over time. But an engine that grenades is a whole 'nother thing.

Another thing is how much attention to maintenance the owner gives to their vehicle. I have repeatedly been dumbfounded when on occasion my brother comes over for us to work on his car and the dipstick is almost dry, the coolant overflow tank is empty, and he can't remember the last time the oil was changed. A lot of people treat their cars like appliances. I am always the only one at the gas station checking the oil. Many of today's cars are badly abused. It's not the automaker's fault that people go 10,000+ miles between oil changes, let fluids and lubricants run dry, let maintenance go by the wayside. I'd wager that even some of the worst, least reliable cars would last a whole lot longer if the owner's took better care of them.

As far as a new Tacoma? When I bought mine I remember people would claim surely it would not last as long because it was assembled in the US with about 50% domestic content versus entirely made in Japan. It's been totally fine. And I would bet the new ones will be too - not like I am about to buy one, but if I had to I would trust it.

24th May 2023, 20:38

Depends on what engine was used in the Taurus; the base 3.0 dubed "Vulcan" was all cast iron. This was a reliable engine also used in the Ranger pick up. I never seen one blow a head gasket. The larger optional 3.8 with aluminum heads? Yes, head gaskets were more common, seen this happen on the Sable, Cougar, Thunderbird, Mustang, and Continental, let alone the Taurus.

26th May 2023, 16:05

The 3.8 was definitely a problem engine. The problem was then engine was a mix of cast iron and aluminum. Those metals heat and cool at different rates and this caused the head gasket to eventually fail. And it took years to get Ford to finally do something about it. I had a housemate who had a Mercury Sable wagon with one of those engines. He bought it cheap from a couple and it only had 45,000 miles on it. I had warned him not to buy it. But he did anyway. One month later the car overheated. I suspect the previous owners knew the head gasket had started to fail and unloaded the car to get rid of it before it failed completely. He spent $2500 to have the engine repaired. Still - that car was a piece of junk. It was absolutely riddled with electrical and mechanical problems.

What's a shame is that the Taurus was such a truly revolutionary car. Everyone else eventually copied many aspects of its design. But the cars were simply not very good cars save for maybe the SHO.

Yes, the Ford 4 cylinder engines used in the Ranger were very good. A bit underpowered but pretty reliable.