1st Feb 2007, 21:49
Not really, most car makers do a pretty decent job. I've driven old, domestic vehicles for years and never had a breakdown, and I'm talking about taking off on a 2,000-mile drive in a 30-year-old Dodge. Of the one dozen domestic cars that my family has owned with 200,000 miles, we never worried about the excitement of getting stranded on the road. I suppose that is your myth that you feel you must perpetuate, that domestics always break down with your two small children in the rain. The point is that because all cars are more or less pretty decent, why buy a boring crackerbox Toyota when you could have something nice, like a Park Avenue, Explorer, or other domestic? Cars that are actually comfortable and ride well, and have nice options. Or in this case, a real work truck made for people who do real work. I mean seriously, a Tacoma or Tundra is fine for somebody who just got their first job and wants to buy an entry level vehicle, or maybe doesn't know anything about cars, but has bought into the advertising hype about Toyota reliability, but people who appreciate nice things will step up to domestics.
1st Feb 2007, 22:52
Talk about Toyota's "reliability" doesn't impress me. In 41 years of driving the ONLY vehicle I've ever gotten stranded on the road in with mechanical trouble was a friend's Corolla with only 46,000 miles on it, and the only time my wife has ever been stuck on the road with car trouble was when her friend's NEARLY NEW Tercel broke down in rush hour traffic. NOT ONE of our 35+ domestics has EVER broken down on a trip, including one that had over 300,000 miles and a couple with well over 200,000 miles.
1st Feb 2007, 22:55
Basing any car buying decision on a Japanese-owned magazine's "10 best" list is pretty iffy. The magazine staff doesn't have to drive the cars they pick for more than a few miles, so reliability is impossible to determine. Also, I can't imagine a sane person preferring ANY of those incredibly dull and boring appliances to a REAL automobile.
2nd Feb 2007, 00:37
Toyota will have the last laugh. No rebuttal for all the facts I posted about all the auto. magazines, as well as CNN, and Forbes? I didn't think so. You guys have nothing left, but to laugh; at your sorry decision in vehicles. Toyota wins again, as always.
2nd Feb 2007, 02:33
To 2/1/07, 16:55.
I just love how the Ridgeline can be listed as one of the top two most reliable trucks, seeing how 06 was the first model year. There must be mountains of reliability data to back up that claim. It just goes to show how easily swayed you are by claims that have no data to back them up.
2nd Feb 2007, 04:24
16:55...how about giving us a review of the top ten full size trucks in the world? This is about a full size truck what this review is about. So start listing them... I know you do not want to. If you rent a full size new domestic as a test you'll never want to go back. My new domestics are great and no issues. My friends 2004 Silverdo has over 80,000 trouble free miles on his and its only a V6.
2nd Feb 2007, 07:48
They usually base that reliability info from other vehicles that are similar. The engine in the Ridgeline has been in the Odyssey, Pilot, and MDX for a while. Not to mention that the 3.5 V6 probably originated from the 3.0 which was from the 2.7 that has been in Honda's line up from 1986. There is probably some things missing... but I don't know...I am just a poor college student who drives his Honda accord with 249,000 miles...
2nd Feb 2007, 08:57
Funny, the only cars that have ever left me stranded were domestics, and I've owned over 25 cars over the years. My Tercel was the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.
You must live in some parallel universe.
2nd Feb 2007, 08:59
I made an earlier argument against one of those dumb CNN comments about three or four pages ago. Why would anyone listen to them? When MotorTrend declares the 07 Silverado as the truck of the year, I don't listen because I simply don't care what those people think about vehicles. What does CNN do with trucks? Haul a 10,000 lb load across town? I doubt it. As I said before, what would a bunch of yuppies know about trucks? Who cares what they think? Even if all domestics made the list and no imports made the list, I still wouldn't listen to them. They are humans who have opinions about vehicles, too. Since they're yuppies, they naturally prefer imports, so I guess that makes them better.
2nd Feb 2007, 10:31
The Ridgeline is NOT a truck. It is the same thing as a Ford SportTrac, but with a less reliable drive train (especially the transmission). The Tundra barely qualifies as a full size truck, though with Toyota taking a cue from Ford and beefing up the 2007 it might pass for a fairly decent truck if it can be brought up to the level of reliability of the F-150.
2nd Feb 2007, 10:35
Car and Driver is owned by the Japanese? And you'll also have to explain why Automobile Magazine had a Honda Ridgeline for over a year and 20K+ miles and had ZERO trouble and rated it one of the best VEHICLES they had ever experienced in their 20 years of long term tests.
And if you think GM is in any way going to honor that "wonderful" warranty you've got another think coming. The more they get into financial trouble the more they are going to squeeze dealers to deny warranty claims.
And I can't think of a more boring appliance-like vehicle than a domestic truck. No handling, horrible gas mileage. All you get is an ego boost.
I also find it funny that you people criticize people for suggesting vehicles like the Ridgeline have reliability, yet you go on bragging about GM's new warranty with UNPROVEN new vehicles.
Wish you people would do a little research into what you're talking about.
2nd Feb 2007, 10:56
"No rebuttal for all the facts I posted about all the auto. magazines, as well as CNN, and Forbes? "
You mean the trade magazines who survive on advertising dollars from auto manufacturers? I thought you were reading from a Toyota sales brochure, and not an actual magazine. My mistake. So, you're referring to vehicles listed as "Top 10" based on hard-hitting criteria like the number and locations of cup holders, whether the seat has lumbar support, and the ease of using the vanity mirror. Certainly these are critical factors for choosing "the best" vehicles in the country. The number of CD's you can store in the armrest is definitely an indicator of towing capacity and durability.
Toyota Wins Again!---That is, they win the market segment of people who don't actually use vehicles for anything, but carrying a surfboard to the beach. Dude!
1st Feb 2007, 20:54
To 16:55
I'm still laughing at that list of cars that are supposedly the best cars of 06-07. There is NO WAY the Toyota Prius is in the top ten. For one, it's so hideous that they should put a tax on it for visual pollution. Second, I'm not proud to say I've been in two of them, and their interior quality is about on par with a base model Hyundai. And most of those other cars you mentioned are just very undesirable econo-boxes that most American's don't like and won't buy, except maybe the type that read the magazine you were quoting who just need something to get them to Starbucks. I think that whatever you were quoting definitely has an axe to grind, especially if they would put a car like a Hyundai Accent in the top ten and not a Ford Fusion!