17th Oct 2007, 11:50

10:12 Thanks for printing all of that and saving me the trouble. That should silence all of the domestic owners who read selectively.

Here it is again, Ford and Chevy guys: IMPORTS are still rated much higher in quality and a LOT more often. Your Ford and Chevy rattletraps still can't compare, as usual.

17th Oct 2007, 13:18

To the poster above... me a break. I have not seen any person on this site advocating American vehicles, who claims that every single one of them ever made was perfect. Sure there are bad apples... among all manufacturers. But, the only people who seem to not want to admit it, or at the very least try to make light of it, are the Toyota fans regarding Toyota problems.

You are excusing the fact that thousands of Toyota owners are having their engines fail on their two and three year old Toyota's. In many cases, these customers still owe tens of thousands of dollars on these vehicles, which are now nothing more than an expensive lawn ornament.

I have no problem at all responding to the post above, gleefully citing an instance of a problematic Taurus, asking what I/we thought of it. I have no interest in covering things up like the Toyota crowd seems intent on doing. Shame on Ford or anyone else for any garbage they have put out over the years. But will you say shame on Toyota for doing the same? Of course last I checked, Ford was not selling cars with engines that self destruct in well under 100,000 miles.

What do you have to say for all of the complaints against Toyota posted to Consumer Affairs documenting the massive sludge/engine-failure problem that you are trying to cast aside? It's right here in the link below, and mind you, these are only the people that bothered to make a post:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota_engine.html

Take a look at all of the unhappy faces around the Toyota thread on this site. I could have copied/pasted several here for you to read like as did with the Taurus review, but frankly, I think the tactic is very petty. Anyone can find a bad review for any car they need to suit any agenda they want. Do a Google search for "Toyota Engine Sludge." The truth is all around for you to read it. The question is, will you find it enlightening, or inconvenient?

You seem so willing to defend any problem of Toyota's, no matter how serious. Will you at least acknowledge that Toyota has been having serious difficulties recently? If you like Toyota as a car company and want to stick with them through their difficulties, with the hope that they will get their act together, I can at least understand that. But, if you will not even acknowledge they are having very serious problems, I think you are forcing your credibility, and perhaps even motives, to be brought seriously into question.

17th Oct 2007, 15:47

Toyota should up their warranty to 100,000 miles then... Is Honda better than a Toyota? Why did I switch to domestics when my vehicles failed at such low mileage?

17th Oct 2007, 16:50

15:20 Yeah, I watched it. And you apparently watched it, but only heard what you wanted to hear. Toyota has dropped to fifth place, only behind four other imports including Honda and Suburu. Ford is THIRTEENTH place. Ford are not, never were, and never will be as reliable as Toyota overall. Nice try, read more closely next time. Ford is still on the bottom, right where they have always belonged.

17th Oct 2007, 17:41

15:20,

See the above reprinted story. It doesn't at all state that Ford is MORE reliable than Toyota. All the report mentioned was that Ford, GM, and Chrysler had shown Improvement. None of the three are even in the top 10. Toyota is still in the top 5.

17th Oct 2007, 20:42

I laugh when I hear of people flocking to domestics. I never have heard of anything like that. Nor have I ever heard of a GM or Ford dealer pulling in so many Toyotas on trade in. Plus we don't the numbers show this? Maybe 4/100 million Camrys on the road were traded on a Pontiac or a Mercury Tracer. Sorry, but you will have to back up this phenomena.

17th Oct 2007, 21:21

The Consumer Reports are biased anyways. It's sad to see how many people believe everything they have to say.

17th Oct 2007, 22:08

Sorry, YOU believe that Toyota is superior. A fact is something not able to be argued with, it IS. Saying that Toyota is better is NOT a fact, because it simply isn't "is."

You cannot state such to be a fact, because all it will ever remain to be is an opinion.

17th Oct 2007, 23:23

The truth of the matter is that the Chevrolet Malibu is the best car ever built.

18th Oct 2007, 05:04

22:08 That's correct, a fact IS something that SHOULDN'T be argued. Yet the domestic crowd here would argue that the earth is flat if it somehow supported their incorrect theory that Ford's are better than Toyota. The FACT is that Toyota is the higher quality automobile, despite your arguments to the contrary.

18th Oct 2007, 10:10

I myself have been a Toyota owner for most of my life. That said, I am not totally against the idea of owning a domestic brand vehicle. Some are actually built by Japanese companies, so in some cases you can get a better deal on a Japanese car.

The problem I still have isn't whether cars like the Chevy Malibu, Ford Taurus, or trucks like The Chevy Silverado are nice to look at or comfortable to drive, its more an issue of whether I would trust them to last for the 10-12 years I tend to keep my vehicles.

A year ago I got married. We flew into my parent's home state and rented a car at the airport. It was a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix. It was fully loaded with just about every accessory imaginable. It even had a radio that adjusted the volume automatically when road noise got higher. It was comfortable, fast, and got around 30MPG, which is impressive. The seats were comfortable. The interior- while a little more plasticy than I care for, was not too bad.

I actually had a really good impression of the car until the next morning when I started it. There was this awful grinding sound under the hood. I opened the hood and couldn't tell what it was. It could have been the alternator, water pump, or maybe the plastic engine cover rubbing on something. Either way, it was a nasty sound and concerning given the fact that this was essentially a brand-new car with less than 10,000 miles. When I returned it to the rental place, I told them about it. Their response was that they ALL did it when they were cold.

That's the thing. if I'm to trust a domestic car, then why should I if new cars such as this one are STILL having some of the same problems that they were the last time I thought about considering one?

My 12 year old Tacoma, which is the bottom-of-the-barrel model with power nothing and a little 4 cylinder engine is better built both mechanically and structurally than most of the new domestics I see these days. I'm a stickler for the details and honestly- Ford, GM, and Chrysler aren't there yet. When they do get there, I'll reconsider. But I fail to see this so-called vast improvement or superior quality everyone seems to be going on and on about.