19th Aug 2009, 21:36

"your 'observations' are the complete opposite of the true state of things"

No, they aren't. With a fleet of over 50 trucks and vans it's hardly an "observation". It's a solid fact, and it keeps our company rolling. If we had the downtime that most Tundras require while still under warranty we'd be out of business. I know of only ONE company within 100 miles of us that uses Tundras. They have three. They are facing bankruptcy.

19th Aug 2009, 23:57

Cars on the side of the highway have to do more so with ignoring signs that something is wrong than the car just crapping out all of a sudden, although it does happen.

I have never been stranded in my car not even for a flat tire. I own a domestic; very little problems except for normal high mileage things. But in all honesty you see more domestic cars on the road than Toyotas or Hondas. But you see them on the highway/interstate broke down or on the back of a tow truck many times too; more so the newer models than older.

A couple of months ago I saw a Lexus at a gas station. Well actually it was about 500ft away; it had blown a head gasket obviously (white cloud about 20ft high). Does that make all Lexus unreliable - no. It just happens it's a car.

But my favorite thing that I don't get is the whole thing about fit and finish. All newer cars look the same inside, lots of plastic, in my opinion until you get into the higher end and even those don't wow you. Do you guys get a feeler gauge and measure the gap between panels? I don't have trim pieces falling off in my 14 year old car and it looks fine to me inside, no rattles.

Personally, one of my favorite cars is the 2003, 2004 year style Acuras; the new ones are butt ugly, the Honda Accord looks much better. I rode in somebody's Acura TL and it was a nice interior, was less than expected, but nice and it drove nice, but transmission issues would cause me to avoid it like the plague if I could afford it now.

I also like the G8; nice looking car, haven't rode in one, but looked at one at the dealership and a car show nice car. I go both ways as far as my likes when it comes to imports and domestics. I think drivetrain wise imports are better overall, but there are some domestic cars that have drivetrains that last a long time. I'm at 157k on mine and I don't treat it nice.

But if you're in the used car market, you will always get more bang for the buck when you buy a domestic. My car only cost me $2500 with taxes at a little over 100k miles, but was originally $27k. Been a reliable car over the 50k miles that I had it.

20th Aug 2009, 16:38

Everyone import wise skirts over the continuous question I have. Where are all the 70's and early 80's Hondas and Toyota?

I am a participant in car shows and cruises with literally thousands of various cars at different locations. I have been in 2 car shows, not just 1 on many Saturdays, all day then a second on summer eves, doing charity events at schools, inside malls, outside parking lots such as a recent VA hospital in Elsmere De last month. Huge turnouts from multiple states driving in. I have yet to see one Toyota or Honda in literally thousands of cars on display so far from this earlier era. I do see 60-70's imports, the british import club, Italian exotics, VW's one bug back to 1947, yet not one 70's Toyota or Honda. Not one. It's kind of telling as are they worth restoring and preserving? Do the older ones have any appeal?

I saw a plain Corvair for sale at a show for $8000 at Pike Creek... wheres the 70s Hondas and Toyotas, do they exist? I had a 77 Celica GT new and have not seen one for decades. I know they were prone to rust as my 280ZX was eaten up as well.

At any rate, the keep the Toyota, Honda mentality to me is not as crystal clear. Rack up miles and age, and look at them on the secondary car; lots priced cheap in my area. None from the 70's restored or visible at shows. I even saw a Mercury Capri at a show from that era restored.

I will keep looking but not seeing a one... just basic transportation is my opinion. And get another. I see some very nice domestic restored full size pickups as well. No Toyotas evident. Not everyone wants to play in mud; they want a nice rust free example that exceeds the original purchase price many times over decades later.

21st Aug 2009, 00:08

It's because the import-lovers are not from that era. Most import lovers are still quite young, most ranging from there 20's to early 30's. Of course there is the occasional exception of somebody who is older liking imports, but the majority is in the younger population. Not to mention (and I myself am an import fan saying this) imports sucked in the 60's and 70's. That time period was when domestics were better than imports. That time is past now, the imports have surpassed the domestics in quality and reliability since the mid-80's. Which would explain the younger population being import fans.

21st Aug 2009, 20:56

"Most import lovers are still quite young, most ranging from there 20's to early 30's."

I think this is true. Most younger people know very little about cars, are easily misled by ad hype, and generally are not as patriotic as those of us who grew up with domestics and drove them hundreds of thousands of miles. I ventured into imports in the '80's, but none were very well built or reliable.

I also go to lots of car shows and I have seen thousands of incredible domestics from the '50's, such as Studebaker Lark V-8's, Packards, exotic Metropolitans with Ford drive trains and a whole host of Fords, Chevys and Chrysler products with a smattering of British cars thrown in. I have never seen one single Japanese car, not one, at any car show I have ever attended. In addition, I daily see dozens of pre-1980 domestics on our local freeways. Just today as I was cruising on the freeway at about 85 I was rocked by the wind blast from a 1971 Oldsmobile Delta 88 coupe blasting past me at well over 100. It looked like it just rolled off a showroom floor. I'm sure it was worth no less than ten times its purchase price new.

I'm very encouraged by the "Buy from American industry" movement. Just today I visited a friend at our local Ford dealership. I was shown three very recent trade-ins. One was a 2006 Honda Ridgeline. It was traded in for a real truck: The Explorer Sport Trac. There was also a 2006 Acura and a 2007 Accord. Both had been traded in on the top-rated Ford Fusion. Even import buyers are finally being swayed by enough patriotic feeling to stop sending our jobs and money to Japan.

On an even happier note, I discovered this week that the security company our office complex uses had switched from Toyota Tacomas to Ford Rangers. It will not only help our American industry, but will save the company thousands in both purchase costs and repair costs.