14th Sep 2007, 20:55

A Toyota with a snow plow on the front of it? Well, I guess there's a first time for everything.

20th Dec 2007, 20:26

Just as political candidates who put more money into their campaigns generally win, import auto makers with big-buck ad hype will sucker in a few more people who don't bother to gather the facts about a vehicle's engineering, reliability, performance and construction.

In spite of the big buck ads, however, you will note that very few companies who actually use full-size trucks for the purpose they were intended are using anything other than Ford, Chevy and Dodge. Most companies prefer heavy-duty vehicles, such as Ford's F-series or the Silverado/GMC over vehicles such as the much smaller and flimsier Tundra.

21st Dec 2007, 13:39

Yes, we realize you're now concerned that Toyota has upped the game and is now treading in the last American safe-haven, with what most in the industry as well as those who buy them consider to be vastly better trucks.

I actually went and looked at a few Chevy Silverados - the one that won Truck of the year. There is no way that anyone who stands less than 10 feet away from one would ever think that this indeed was anything close to a winner. Almost all of those that I looked at had Orange Peel in the paint job, actual waviness in the sheetmetal, beer can thin metal in the truck beds, and bendy plastic door handles. I might have agreed if you were to compare say - a 1992 Silverado to a new Tundra in terms of heavy-duty comparison, but the Silverados I looked at were outright jokes.

22nd Dec 2007, 20:27

13:39 was it a 1500 work truck? There is no way a Tundra can compare to the Silverado 3/4 ton Diesel which I use at work towing various trailers. How about a new C4500? My paint is flawless on my personal Silverado and I am not a door handle stickler if my paint was an issue I would take advantage of the 100,000 mile warranty and correct it... I am into comfort, safety, handling, load and towing capacity and mine also gets quite a work out.

23rd Dec 2007, 07:36

13;39: I've been all around, underneath, and inside new Tundra's and new Silverado's. All you have to do is look closely at them to see that the Tundra is built infinitely better than that crappy Chevy.

I have a friendly rivalry with my buddy's dad who is a staunch GM owner, while I only drive Toyota trucks. We always sort of elbow each other in the ribs over which one is better. I have a Tacoma, he has a Silverado, both 8 and 10 years old. Mine's 10 and has never needed a repair. Right now it sits in my driveway and you can barely tell what color it is thanks to about 2 hours of bouncing through the mud and rocks yesterday. His takes him to work and back, has never driven over anything rougher than a gravel driveway and has been in the shop several times, yet still he defends it and condemns mine.

My challenge to the domestic owners is: put your money where your mouth is. Not just online stories. You may not believe this one either, but I don't care. If we could post pictures here, I'd get my digital camera and post pics of my truck. I always tell him, 'well, you say it's built 'like a rock', lets test that out'. Try and keep up with me off road. Let's see which one is built tough enough to take the abuse. He knows he can't follow me without breaking his Chevy. So he jokes about how much his can tow compared to mine. So what? You can pull a trailer with a car if you want to. What's the point? What truck CAN'T pull a load? That's no test of it's durability or build quality. It's the Toyota's, NOT the Chevy's that hold up when the going gets tough.

25th Dec 2007, 14:29

14:33 I don't quite know what your point was in relation to mine, but again, mine is that nobody builds a higher quality car or truck than Toyota. No other truck can stand the abuse that a Toyota can take and not break. In fact, in that little off roading episode the other day, I misjudged the severity of a very bumpy patch of foot and a half high hills, like whoops on a motocross track. I came into them way too fast and had the truck bouncing off the ground several times; I could feel the rubber stoppers making hard contact with the frame rails, and the ashtray full of change flew out. My mistake. But today, I drove it 200 miles to visit family, and still not a squeak or rattle, steers as straight as the day I bought it.

I don't care who says otherwise, you cannot do that in any Ford or Chevy truck and expect not to break something, or many things most likely. This is how I treat this truck on occasion, and it's still perfect. Nothing else will withstand that kind of abuse.

26th Dec 2007, 14:49

To the last comment - You keep saying that domestic trucks can't take the abuse that your Toyota can, yet you offer no proof to back this up, besides your story.

In any case, I'm sure my domestic truck could take the same abuse yours could, but because mine actually has a V8, I can go up a pass at 70 carrying 4 passengers in comfort and pull a trailer without being hard on the truck.

You just keep going on about how nothing is as reliable as Toyota. It's not the 80's anymore, the domestics are just as reliable if not more.

29th Dec 2007, 07:26

14:49 Another domestic owner crying for proof. Open your eyes. It's everywhere. I'm so tired of the same old arguments. Everybody knows the reputation of Toyota products in general and especially of their small trucks. They're the best; everyone knows it. Period.

Don't try to tell me a Dakota or a Ranger is half as suited for off-road driving. And Chevy's? Every small truck they've ever made is complete and total junk. Everyone knows this.

A freaking S-10 is a laughing stock next to a Tacoma. Their new Canyon or whatever doesn't even enter in the running. It's a rattling piece of GM junk. You can go buy a new one tomorrow, and you'll break it to pieces trying to follow my '98 Tacoma where I take it and at the same speed. And I've never put a single part into it. Still on the original shocks even, and you can't follow me in a new GM. You'll destroy everything in the suspension in the front end. No question about it.

29th Dec 2007, 11:50

LOL! You're tired of the same old arguments?! At least we actually present arguments; you just make statements with no proof to back them up!

"They're the best; everyone knows it. Period."

Anybody can say a car is the best, but that doesn't make it so! Toyota is NOT the best, just read any recent automotive review. The last one I read compared the Camry to Malibu, Accord, and Altima, and it came in DEAD LAST because of quality issues and poor interior quality. The new Tundra isn't exactly having stellar reliability either.