21st Sep 2007, 18:11

I completely agree with your financial strategy regarding keeping vehicles for a long time. I also make over 6 figures, can buy any vehicle I want CASH, but happily drive 10+ year old vehicles with over 200K miles. The only difference is, my vehicles are domestic, and in every single instance, have given me no or next to no trouble. So I can assure you, it is quite possible, as well as easy (with proper care and maintenance), to carry out your strategy with domestic vehicles.

So, I'll stick with what I know works - my domestic vehicles - and (Heaven forbid) be patriotic as an added bonus. This idea that Toyota's supposedly are superior to domestics is complete nonsense, and extremely damaging to our economy. If you (original commenter) are really so concerned about your finances, you should pay very close attention to this if you want to keep your six figure income.

Before anyone starts in with their template rebuttals that I can foresee already, about how buying a "Toyota" is some how more patriotic than buying a GM or Ford because of Toyota's beloved plants in the US, please read the following article (see link), and tell me if you honestly still believe that:

http://www.uwsa.com/issues/trade/japanyes.html

22nd Sep 2007, 17:27

18:11 Well, you see, that's where you're wrong: in general, you can't drive domestics to 200,000 with no trouble like you can with a Toyota. You'll have to forgive me for not believing everything I read. If you have actually done this with a few domestics in a row, then you are blessed with incredibly good luck, and you are in the vast minority. Most people realize that a Toyota will rack up more miles than any domestic, and with less trouble, almost all of the time. I can see where someone that drives a domestic would want to brag about 200,000 miles, but for a Toyota owner who takes care of his vehicles, that's just one more time that the odometer rolls over.

22nd Sep 2007, 17:30

17:37 Domestic trucks have only been used often and sold in large numbers because there were NO other choices! That's the only reason. You have to use what's available, even if it's crappy, if there are no alternatives. Now that Toyota makes a full size truck, there are better options.

23rd Sep 2007, 02:48

Just bought an 02 Tundra, 167K. The V8 pulls great compared to my old 90 V6... my mileage has fluctuated from 16L/100k to 25L/100k pulling junk trailer from once every two weeks.. does this seem normal consumption?

The only other concern is a prominent knock whilst in second gear braking down hill... piston slap? I hope not.

Other than that, a nice truck.

I can't see why they don't build more diesels here... Europe has them from any size up... same as front load washers and ancient underground tramlines. We're still decades behind and catching up... Let's not get to far and patent H20... well what's new...

23rd Sep 2007, 09:38

17:27:

OK, fine, you have your beliefs, I have mine. I can see that you simply do not believe me that I get hundreds of thousands of miles out of my domestics with little or not trouble, and nothing I say is going to convince you otherwise. Your assertion that you can't drive domestics to over 200,000 with no trouble, is incorrect. I do it all the time, with mileages of well over 200,000s on every domestic vehicle I have ever owned, and see others do it on a regular basis as well. None of my vehicles ever failed me, or ever needed an engine replacement, and were always running great when I sold them.

Throwing innuendos around such as "you'll have to forgive me for not believing everything I read" does not address the fact that buying Japanese vehicles is killing the US economy. You are a smart guy for not believing everything you read, so I am sure you are capable of distinguishing facts from propaganda. Therefore, I do not think you read the article in the link provided in 18:11, or at least not very closely. There was nothing factually incorrect about it.

The facts are:

- When the Japanese build a plant in the US, they are given the land for free or next to nothing, and do not have to pay taxes on the land or pay very little - American manufacturers are given any of these breaks.

- Japanese companies can sell products (and are allowed to open plants in the US) with no restrictions, but the US is not provided that opportunity in Japan.

- The Japanese are waging economic war on the US; they over value products in their own domestic market, to cover selling them at a loss in the US market, for the purposes of driving American companies out of business - America, for some insane reasons, does not have any protections in place to counteract this, and people who buy Japanese products, are (I am sure in most cases inadvertently) bringing the Japanese one step closer to toppling the US economy.

Assuming you are from the US, do you want to essentially be a soldier for the Japanese, in helping them bring down the US economy? I do not mean to be overly dramatic or offensive, but that is exactly what you are doing when you buy a Japanese product. Can we please get past the notion that Japanese products are supposedly superior? Any look at all of the quality problems Toyota has been having recently (do a little research on this folks) should dispel that.

So many people make excuses for Toyota, my own fellow Americans (at least I think), it is sickening. If an American car model has a problem, which I will not deny happens, the rant from the Toyota crowd goes (paraphrasing) "you see, all American cars are crap, but Toyota's are great..." But, if a Toyota has a problem as has been happening with great frequency recently (again, do a little research), no matter how serious it is, the apologies from the Toyota crowd come fast and furious. You get barraged like machine gun fire with the programmed responses such as (paraphrasing) "well, Toyota's have been great for so many years, they are entitled to a mistake, they are still better than American cars, always will be, that is a fact, and everybody knows it..." Correspondingly, if/when an American vehicle achieves high mileage, it is dismissed as being "lucky." It is purely irrational thinking. Any fact that is presented is either completely ignored, or at the very least considered a fluke, depending on how it suits the agenda.

None of the Toyota faithful wants to admit they might have bought into a bill of goods by Toyota, and may have to challenge their assumptions on what they have always thought was the truth. So, they'll buy anything Toyota puts out, at any cost to our economy, and make excuses for any problems they are experiencing, having steadfastly convinced themselves that Toyota's are still automatically superior to anything else that is available. They will do absolutely anything/everything, but challenge their believes, and admit they might be wrong.

So, I have no notions of being able to change the minds of anybody who falls into the above category. I just hope there are enough objective people left who can see what is going on, both with the idea of Toyota superiority being an utter ridiculous myth, and how buying one is so damaging to our economy, before disaster occurs. Then, it would be nice if a miracle takes place, and our elected officials actually implement a trade policy where America can protect its interests, like every other country rightfully does for itself. But we can clearly not expect much out of our politicians, so in the mean time, our defense lies wholly in a proactive, patriotic citizenry. That is a scary thought.