6th Sep 2007, 14:02
GM also makes fantastic marine engines that you can order with your new GM Silverado and have a great boat engine to tow behind a great truck. I'd rather be out water skiing, fishing etc besides playing in mud, but to each his/her own.
6th Sep 2007, 18:19
Do you have a selective memory? Imports are ALSO having to recall millions of vehicles. Does the number 3,300,000 ring a bell? (Engine sludge) Once again, it's no big deal for the imports to have massive recalls, but it's an atrocity for domestics to have them. As far as the domestics having more recalls over the years, keep in mind that the domestics have sold millions upon millions more over the past decade than Toyota. If or when Toyota gets as many vehicles out there as the domestic, they will have recalls and lemons all over the place as well. Producing 900,000 trucks worldwide is an overwhelming task, and Ford has done it, but Toyota hasn't.
ONCE MORE: LET TOYOTA PRODUCE 900,000 TUNDRA'S WORLDWIDE IN ONE YEAR AND SEE HOW PERFECT ALL OF THEM ARE.
With the first 30,000 new ones made, there's already a camshaft scare. Who's to say that more camshafts won't go to breaking? If Ford only sold a little over 100,000 F-150's last year, there would be a whole lot less bad ones and good ones.
Another thing to remember is Ford and Chevy may have been more willing to go ahead and do the recalls when Toyota just kept blaming the owners for their complaints. How many recalls did Toyota do over the notorious 3.0L V6 head gasket ordeal?
Also, I don't remember the news announcing Toyota having to recall Tundra's for warping brake rotors. Is it a big deal for a Ford to be at risk of catching fire, but not a big deal for a Tundra to not be able to stop itself?
Oh yeah, my grandpa never changed the oil in his '77 C10, and we did real work with it, instead of playing in mud.
8th Sep 2007, 06:52
18:19 Yeah, as if Ford and Chevy willingly issue recalls, or even handle them properly.
It's my experience that they deny that there even IS a problem until they get sued by everybody. And by the way, the camshaft issue had nothing to do with Toyota. It was the manufacturer of the camshaft at fault, and it's long since been remedied. Also, the number of affected vehicles was WAY less than you guys are making it out to be.
I'd be curious to know how many vehicles were subject to the lemon laws throughout the country, Ford's and Toyota's. I have no doubt that, as usual, Ford has a ridiculous number of them and Toyota has very few. I'll write back with the numbers to prove it when I find them.
8th Sep 2007, 09:39
There must be some people out there who haven't bothered to check JD Powers lately, or they'd know that Lincoln, Cadillac, Buick, and Mercury are rated higher in quality than Honda or Toyota, including Acura. They would also know that Ford and Chevy, although rated slightly below Toyota and Honda quality, meet or exceed the quality of Toyotas and Hondas built in US plants.
The perceived quality gap is gone, people. This leaves me wondering why anyone would pay the $5,000 markup for a Toyota to achieve extra quality that isn't there anymore...
8th Sep 2007, 10:51
Sorry to burst the fantasy that any circa 1985 domestic truck still on the road must have been rebuilt 3 times, but my 1985 Dodge Ram has 260,000 miles on the original 318. It finally needed a timing chain at 250,000 miles, but I guess that's better than replacing the timing belt on a Toyota every 50,000 miles.
8th Sep 2007, 12:12
6:52.
Why isn't Toyota naming the camshaft "supplier?"
If Toyota was so free of guilt, wouldn't naming the supplier be a way of publicly vindicating them? Certainly if it was an American supplier, they would name them immediately, just like they instinctively blame all of their design/engineering problems of their vehicles on the workers that assemble them, if they were built in the USA. But that is just a cop out, because Toyota's quality problems are world-wide, not just in the US.
Why would you take Toyota at their word and assume they are telling the truth about there even being a supplier? Toyota is notorious for lying. They lied trying to cover up for the sludge problem in their engines by blaming the problem on their customers. They lied about the emissions systems components to allow their vehicles to be sold in the US, and got caught. They lie about the horsepower ratings of their cars and just got caught about it. They lie about the MPG ratings of the Prius and got caught. Their arrogance and bold in-your-face lying is mind boggling, yet you take their word as Gospel.
My guess is there is no supplier, and Toyota botched the camshafts up all by themselves. Their track record gives me no reason to think they will tell the truth about anything. If there was a supplier, Toyota would immediately want to name them, to get themselves off the hook. Yet whether they have a supplier or not, it is still Toyota's responsibility to verify the quality of the vehicles they put out. Why do you make excuses for them? If this were an American company having this problem, I bet you would be crucifying them.
It is still very early in the production of the new Tundra. We'll see how many camshafts really go bad in the coming months/years. You will be a very busy guy having to make excuses for Toyota then.
I'll stick to domestic trucks. They have 100+ years experience and a PROVEN track record of reliability behind them, not a myth that is becoming more and more discredited every day.
8th Sep 2007, 16:05
09:39, Yeah, Ford and Chevy are still beneath Honda and Toyota, right where they'll stay. And I guess you forgot to mention Lexus, which has taken the top spot for 13 years running, only now sharing it with Buick, for the first time. And since I can buy a Corolla for thousands less than a Buick, and get twice the gas mileage and twice the miles out of it, I'll stay with Toyota. Thanks for proving my point, from a Toyota owner's perspective.
And since when do Lincoln's and Cadillac's cost less than Toyota's? Get your facts straight. Of course, they'll show you that Toyota is clearly still the best buy, so I doubt you'll admit it.
9th Sep 2007, 00:02
If you think a 32FT trailer weighs 12,000 pounds, you're dreamin'! Most trailers empty weigh maybe a ton at best. Simply guessing a number to build up your truck's strength does not work. When you borrow a fertilizer buggy loaded with fertilizer, they weigh it to know how much to charge you; and when you take a load of tobacco to a warehouse, they also weigh that to know how much to pay you. These numbers are precise measurements and are not arbitrary. Yours however, seems to be.
If that Tundra is a 99-06 model, I'd like to see that thing stop a 12,000 pound trailer, unless it has its own brakes. Tuck 'n' roll, because you're not stopping that thing. If the Tundra's front brake rotors were notorious for warping with no load on them, I could only imagine 12,000 lbs pushing on them.
Oh yeah, wow 3,500 pounds behind a Toyota Tacoma I4? Ooooh my, how does it do it? That's less weight than what my father has sat in my Chevy's bed, yet you were pulling it on a trailer. It's miraculous! I imagine that S-10 I saw on West KY70 a month back was pulling more than that when it had a fertilizer buggy attached to the back of it. I also imagine that if 3,500 pounds is impressive for a Tacoma, then 10,000 pounds of fertilizer is impressive for an 80's model Ranger with a 2.9L V6 to pull up steep hills, as my brother-in-law has done with his father's truck years ago. (His father still has the truck.)
I would also be impressed to see a Tacoma pull 3,500 pounds; it's a rare thing to see. But I'm not impressed to see a Ranger pull that load, mainly because the frame rails of a Ranger are as thick as any 1/2 ton pickup's, where a Tacoma's are paper thin. The S-10 also had thick frame rails like a 1/2 ton pickup, but unfortunately the Colorado's are thinner like a Tacoma's. I guess they wussied it up a little to save on gas and to give it a supple ride. LOL!
So what are these agricultural loads in California that these Toyota's are pulling? 500 lbs of carrots or tomatoes? It doesn't matter to me what food is grown in California; compressed tobacco bails are much heavier and tobacco is Kentucky's main crop and you never see Toyota's hauling tobacco bails because they can't handle the extreme weight. Unless these Toyota's are hauling 3,800 pounds of vegetables in their bed, put me down as unimpressed.
6th Sep 2007, 13:50
Uhm no, the Ranger is not doing anything for Ford. I live in St. Paul and the plant is scheduled to close soon. My brother owns one of the last 2007 Rangers and the only thing going for it is the brand new freshness. Sorry to burst your bubble.