24th Aug 2007, 23:40

Most of what can be said here has already been said... but I'd just like to chime in here and give my experiences as unbiased as possible:

My current truck is a 1993 Chevy full size K1500 Blazer, it's basically like a 2 dr Tahoe or a Yukon (Tahoe model name wasn't used until 1995). The truck currently has 203,000 miles on it and the 350 "TBI" engine runs great, while showing no absolutely no signs of stopping. I'm no mechanic, but I do almost all of my own maintenance on this truck, it's very intelligently thought out and easy to work on. If you need advice, the info is readily available online and you can do most maintenance with basic tools. I do all my own oil changes, and the parts that I ever do need are very reasonably priced. I don't plan on ever selling it, it's been excellent. I get many compliments on it's condition as well, it looks great, not something expected of a vehicle this old in the road salt-laden Boston, MA area.

My previous truck was a 1988 GMC Suburban with a TBI 350. I still have the truck, but unfortunately it was stolen out of my driveway and crashed through someone's house at 4am and suffered cosmetic damage to the nose, along with a smashed steering column. I plan on fixing it based on the fact that it's been downright reliable. At the time it was stolen, it had 199,000 miles on the original engine, and less than a month before the original transmission had just burned out a direct clutch or something inside, which led me to get it completely rebuilt. The entire rebuild at a speed shop was 900 bucks, including them replacing the flywheel and rear main engine seal since the transmission was out. The truck barely had any rust on it, although these models WERE terribly prone to rust (designed in 1973 basically.)

My dad has a 1988 Chevy Silverado with yes, a TBI 350. That truck has over 277,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. The only problems with it are the paint on the hood is starting to flake, and the cab corners have some rust bubbles. It's still in very good shape though.

My little brother has a 1989 Caprice Classic with the 305 fuel injected engine. The car will not die. It has over 200,000 miles also. Original running gear. It still looks kinda nice too!

In contrast, we've had some Pontiac Grand Prix's that had plenty of problems, mostly brakes, struts, and so on. Just terrible cars.

I'm sure there are plenty of good Toyotas and foreign cars, although I haven't owned any. I've driven them plenty of times though. I drove a 2000 Celica a few times a week, and it was the worst car I've ever driven. Blind spots everywhere, radio didn't work, the ergonomics for the driver were all wrong like the steering wheel was too far away, and the hatchback fell on my head. It kept stalling too. This was when the car was only about 4 years old and had 58,000 miles. In addition, about 75 percent of the 1990s Toyota Celicas I see have soot all over the back of them from burning oil. I've had friends with these and while most had high miles, like 180K or whatever, a few had only about 80-100,000 miles. Oil consumption at that mileage isn't acceptable.

What I'm saying is there are good cars and bad cars with each manufacturer. I'm sick of everyone saying simply that since a car is branded a Toyota its the Holy Grail of the automotive world. It's not. Just because you owned some piece of crap GM front wheel drive car with a blown Quad 4 in it back in 1991, doesn't mean you're suddenly the authority on the subject.

To add a LITTLE bias here, I will say they aren't all they're cracked up to be. People (more like "Sheeple") are succumbing to advertising for a large part of this, and the statements about American made and all that still don't apply. The destination of your dollar is still a foreign company and country, and you're creating a trade deficit by buying a new Toyota. I'm not saying we should be obligated to buy from Detroit either, because they've been making some bonehead moves themselves lately, and the unions are turning the car industry into one big HMO plan. But when we are devoid of all our domestic manufacturing base 40-50 years from now, because you sped the process up buying a new Toyota, our country will be ripe for a takeover by China when we can't defend ourselves anymore. This is NOT a far fetched idea. Seriously, think about it.

Lastly, A transmission shouldn't cost over 1800 bucks to rebuild, etc... And if my Blazer's engine were to go out, a new crate engine is like 2 grand. I could probably install it myself too.

Just my .02.

25th Aug 2007, 05:29

Why are aluminum engines utilizing cast iron sleeves? Why doesn't Toyota make a diesel full size pickup like Ford and GM? If you want high mileage are you indicating a gas aluminum engine is better than a diesel? How come the Tundra does not have the towing capacity of the domestics to pull my boat? Its not even capable on the ratings on mine. You can go to a boat store in a Tundra and then have it delivered by a large domestic truck however. Tundra can pull a boat, but not mine that is heavy yet still trailerable. You beat up on Ford and say Toyota is better. Theres no way the load I place and expect on my domestic can even be done with a Toyota unless you care to disregard mfrs. tow rating specs. I do not believe you can generalize an entire mfrs. line up on only one old model that you may or may not have a basis on. Driving in the woods to have a campfire is one thing... towing boats, concrete mixers, tow behind mixers, large trailers that are used all week are another. I would like to see some comments on how diesel engines are supposed to not be built to last. Compare to full size Ford F250 and above... oops there isn't a comparison that I'm seeing from any of the imports sold in the U.S.A, so domestics have more to offer. Its clearly indicated in sales as well Ford F Series has consistently been the number one selling vehicle in America. You would expect that to be a car but it shows a lot......... so that can only indicate what a great vehicle that Ford has that addresses the many truck niches that people expect.

25th Aug 2007, 06:34

23:40 Please don't feed us that flag-waving nonsense about how I'm going to cause the demise of the United States because I bought a Toyota instead of a rickety GM vehicle.

Toyota is building plants in this country more often than anyone else and employing US workers, while the Big 3 are selling out overseas. Yeah, I can already hear the domestic car owners chanting.. blah, blah... 'they still employ 'x' number of workers, and Toyota only employs this many'... But the point is that the trend is reversing. If we get blown to bits by China in 50 years, it's because this country started going downhill a LONG time ago, we have an inept, corrupt government, and we're wasting all of our resources and money in other small countries trying to play mother to the world instead of focusing on making THIS country a little better. It has nothing to do with what car or truck any of us drive. I can't quite see how buying a Ford Fusion made in Mexico will improve things instead of a Camry made right here in the US.