5th Jul 2008, 11:18

8:37 You see the high gas prices in 2008 as a great time huh? If I said what I wanted to say here, this comment wouldn't even get anywhere close to being posted. I'm nearly speechless. Just incredible.

5th Jul 2008, 15:30

"3rd Jul 2008, 14:04"

I will have to disagree with you, going back and looking at the post it would appear that domestic lovers started questioning the motives of the original reviewer. Same as most of the long post on the Toyota and Honda pages. I don't understand the need to come onto someones review of a vehicle and say they must be biased because you don't like the brand of vehicle. I see this a lot on the import pages and very few on the domestic pages. Of course anytime someone post a negative comment on the domestic side, it never takes long for someone to say they are really an import lover who is just trying to destroy the good name of that company.

I also have to disagree with you on the post, it seems that most of the post have no real data being offer from both the domestics and import owners. You only see it as great post from the domestic owners because you are biased against the imports. As an unbiased towards any brand, I buy what I like and what gives me the most bang for the buck. I never buy just one brand and on brand only they all make some good vehicle and some garage queens.

When it comes to the number of post by one person it is easy to spot the same person over and over again but this doesn't just happen with import owners. Go look up the Ford Fusion owner that swears he bought a Camry and traded it in within months of buying it. He is all over the Toyota pages talking about how bad Toyotas are and not always does he say he owned a Camry. He is quite easy to spot due to his use of the same phrases and sentence patterns. Sometimes he even responses to himself to agree with what he said in the post about, to make it appear that more people agree with him. The only problem is that if you look at the time on the post you can clearly tell that no one would have read the post that he responded to, as they are only a few minutes to hours a part, and wouldn't have been posted to the board yet.

To the guy talking about the price on old cars rising on the small engine models. Yes they will go up, as it gets hard and more expensive to get the true collector cars but they always drop back down. These are great cars to flip. Think about the 1974 Pontiac Trans Am, when the 400s became hard to get and more expensive, people who still wanted the look moved on to buying the 350s and in-line 6s. Which caused their prices to rise and also caused the price of the 400s to come back down. As soon as the 400s became affordable, to most people, the price on the in-line 6 dropped and the 350 settled back to were it should be.

I will agree with you on the Viper, if you are looking for a good investment on a car that will be come one of the true collector cars, this is it. Right now you can get a used Viper with less than 20k miles for less than 30k, which is great for a car that originally cost 80k, in 20 years these cars will be hard to find and you will wish you had one.

Remember there is a big difference in true collector cars and a flash in the pan hot at the moment car. The true collector cars will always be worth something. Don't believe me, just look at the 60's Bug that saw a huge leap in price in the mid to late 90's, just to drop back down in price when the craze ended. You can get one now for less than 3k.

5th Jul 2008, 21:41

Vehicle quality is such a subjective matter that to maintain that ANY car is "better quality" than another requires a lot of purely subjective reasoning.

Most people regard Mercedes as one of the "best" brands based on the fact that they cost a lot. One of our best friends just bought a Mercedes and was raving about its "high quality". The exact model they bought has a "much worse than average" reliability rating. In fact, virtually ALL models of Mercedes are rated either "worse than average" or "MUCH worse than average". The subject of this review, the Tundra, has a "MUCH worse than average" reliability rating. The new Silverado is rated as a "Recommended buy".

Although most magazines are biased in favor of some models, overall the ratings seem to match real world experience. Another good friend just bought a very nice used 2003 Tundra because the owner could no longer deal with the 9-14 miles per gallon fuel mileage. I sincerely hope he has good luck with the truck, but real world experience seems to argue against it.

6th Jul 2008, 07:35

Well said 11:29.

I do get quite upset with the "Tacoma Guy," I'll call him, because I do not think he realizes the gravity of what he is saying. Having the American auto industry self destruct would be absolutely devastating to the country. To have him be routing it on is extremely sad, and I cannot help but think, a sign of the times. My grandparents and people of their generation would have never engaged in such talk.

I am no fan of Japanese cars. But, that does not mean I would want to see the Japanese auto industry (in their country) collapse, because it would be devastating to the Japanese people. Yet, the Tacoma guy gleefully wants to see it happen to his OWN country. I simply cannot understand or relate to such a mentality, and yes, am genuinely upset by it.

This is all on top of the fact that as far as the quality of the respective vehicles is concerned, you cannot convince me that Japanese cars (especially Toyota) are superior. Toyota quality is and has been in a free fall, which to claim is not happening, you have to either be disingenuous or blind.

I have multiple friends who have been terribly damaged financially by the horrendous quality problems with their Toyota's, which they delusionally thought would be the answer to all their automotive worries. Of course you could not even attempt to tell them were making a mistake when they were buying them. They sounded like the Tacoma Guy.

While the Tacoma Guy vehemently bashes domestics, mine have always been 100% faithful, the exact antithesis of how he attempts to characterize them. I will not run through the vehicle-by-vehicle list, because I have already done it on previous posts. But, I can hold my head up high while I am driving my vehicles, which I would not be able to do if I were driving an import.

I do not expect the Tacoma Guy to understand what I am talking about in that regard, but he might start to appreciate it a lot more if the American auto industry does in fact collapse. He'll be ruing the day he ever bought his Tacoma.