15th Oct 2007, 14:40

19:10.

I bought a Honda Accord and they through in a 7 year/100.000 mile warranty in for nearly nothing. This warranty was through Honda and we never had to use it. However when the car went in for certification they replaced all the fluids and gave us a fresh battery. This was at 48,000 miles and now we have 168,000 miles on one of those "unreliable 2000 and newer" Japanese cars. We drive 35,000 miles a year and I would not do that in a domestic vehicle unless it had a V8 drivetrain. We have relatives with GM 3800's but the body and chassis are falling apart like crazy.

15th Oct 2007, 16:10

The "import" companies had to develop reliable cars to get a strong hold in the American auto industry. Now they turn out vehicles as reliable as the domestics because they don't have to be super reliable anymore. People will buy them no matter what with absolutely no question. Yet the "toyota camp" as someone earlier put it, fervently defend their japanese trucks.

15th Oct 2007, 16:26

19:10 Read your own comment! You prove yourSELF wrong. Just as you say, you'll easily go 100,000 miles in four years or so. ANY new vehicle will do that. The 100,000 mile warranty is a sales ploy; '100,000' sounds like a lot, but it's only 4 or 5 years for most of us; it's the only way anyone will consider buying a GM car, known to be of low quality. Toyota can sell cars on the merits of reliability, GM can't. So, they need to offer this warranty. The problem is, even a piece of junk GM will most likely last to 100,000, which is not a lot of miles anymore. AFTER that, you're stuck with the piece of crap, which will begin to self destruct before too long. Or, you can trade the GM in, which'll be worth nothing, and buy another junk GM. Or, you can just buy the Toyota in the first place, and have a reliable car for many years.

15th Oct 2007, 19:05

I agree completely with 11:45. Go out & buy Consumer Reports, and that will tell you the REAL story regarding Toyotas vs domestic. The Tundra is also 100% American, unlike the garbage Ford, Dodge, & GM are churning out. So not only do you get a better truck with more reasonably priced parts, but you don't have to feel guilty about buying something imported, like a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. Nice try domestic fans, but I don't buy it either.

15th Oct 2007, 19:52

What is your definition of a long, long time? Somebody on this thread snapped a camshaft on a inside of 1000 miles. Is 1000 miles a long time?

You say you can keep anything going if you keep replacing components. Well, that guy is replacing an engine on a brand new truck. I've never had to replace an engine on ANY of my vehicles.

The Tundra camshaft woes are just one example of Toyota's slapdash quality lately. Why don't you jump onto the Camry thread and read all of the accounts of Camry's blowing engines in less than 36,000 miles due to engine sludge, or better yet, just go to consumer affairs.

15th Oct 2007, 20:23

Yes... one of the MANY examples of the "slapdash" quality in Toyotas...

Listen- while I'm sure that you and many of the other anti-import crowd would love to believe that Toyotas are poorly made, making lame attempts to inflate a few mechanical mishaps from a very small number of Toyota owners into broad and unfounded statements like Toyotas being "slapdash" in their quality is not only overstated, but completely irrelevant to the facts.

The fact is that Toyota earned its reputation for high quality by doing exactly what everyone who hates imports only wishes their Fords and Chevys could do, which is build a reliable, honest, carefully engineered product.

Truth speaks volumes. Trying to dispel the truth with exaggerated and clearly inaccurate opinions has nothing to do with reality.

Now go off and find another person who (gasp) had an engine sludging problem back in 1997 and tell me how ALL Toyotas on the planet are horribly unreliable. We'll be here to set the record straight.

15th Oct 2007, 20:39

19;53 No, I don't want to re-evaluate it, because it's correct. Everyone knows Toyota's are better than Ford's or Chevy's. There's just a handful of them on this site trying every ridiculous angle they can think of to prove that wrong, and failing miserably. Toyota's practically always get far more miles on them than anything else, except maybe Honda's, before any major repairs are necessary. Citing a few examples of bad camshafts that may or may not even be true won't change this fact. Toyota's are simply better, and everybody knows it.

15th Oct 2007, 21:28

So, anybody who has posted a review about a Toyota Camry with a seized engine due to sludge at less than 100,000 miles, or a Honda or Lexus with a blown transmission at 50,000 miles, or a CR-V with a leaking AC unit must be lying... Because Toyota and Honda are perfect, which you know to be a fact because you believe it. Right. Okay.

Well, maybe it's just the way I take care of vehicles, but my '76 Plymouth Volarè, '77 Dodge Van, '83 Chevy Cavalier, '84 Plymouth Reliant, '85 Dodge Ram, '89 Pontiac 6000, '89 Chevy Van, '94 Cadillac Seville, and '97 Mercury Sable have all passed 200,000 miles. And that doesn't mean they "just made it" to that mark and then died. I've never junked a car; I sold them off when they were still running because I needed something different -- the Cavalier at 208,000 and the Ram at 260,000. Sorry, but you just won't convince me that imports are sooo superior, because I've literally logged millions of trouble-free miles on dependable American cars. Why would I pay a big "import mark-up" for a utilitarian commuter that isn't really any more reliable than the average old Chevy or Ford? Granted, an old Cavalier isn't that great of a car, but it's certainly no worse, and maybe even better, than an old Civic. No sale here, Yo.

16th Oct 2007, 11:08

My son didn't listen to his old Dad and bought a Tundra... now he deeply regrets his decision. Maybe next time he will listen to the old man and buy a Chevy!

16th Oct 2007, 13:14

I write on here to defend the imports. I have owned many domestics and have been fed up by all of the repairs that they need. Sometimes the same part over and over again. Sure you might have a nice V8 or 3800 under the hood, but the truth of the matter is that the car is poorly built and I cannot put anymore money into fixing them.

I have never heard of any problems with newer imports other than Acura TL and Odyssey transmission's, which fail no different than a Dodge caravan or similar domestic van. But now those woes are gone on the new ones. You might say, but what about Toyota sludge problems? Or what about japanese A/C compressors? Well my Toyota's have never had sludge problems. They are 1997 and newer... have over 100k...one has almost 300,000 miles. I have had a CRV before. No a/c problems in that SUV in the 100k miles we owned it.

To sum it all up, there is no way of knowing who is telling the truth or not. If someone wants to, they can believe that all Japanese cars are a conspiracy theory that fail at 50,000 miles. And the domestic cars are the best little secret that are built out of gold and can achieve 200,000 miles without repairs.

I am just here to warn people of domestic cars, but it is a no brainer that they are fleet orientated and designed with no thought about quality like a Japanese car. Sorry... yes I know I would be angry too if my job on the domestic assembly line was at risk... but don't bring it into the Toyota section!