25th Mar 2011, 18:27
"Let's see, you keep your Toyota for 15 years, and have been driving for 30 years."
-Yes, the key part of the statement being "at a time", meaning we tend to keep our vehicles for 15 years at a time and have done so for around 30 years. We have owned Toyotas from the early 80's, and now own one from 2005, and a few from the late 90's. None of them have ever given us trouble. Thus I fail to see why we should switch.
26th Mar 2011, 11:45
"I have a history of buying new imports, mostly Hondas every 3 years."
No wonder you don't have problems with imports. Even a cheaply built import will generally last out their puny 3-year warranty!! If I traded every three years, I'd never have a problem either. Our current GM SUV is 8 years old and just shy of 100,000 miles. To date it has not even required brake pads, just one battery and one set of tires. I've never had a domestic require anything in the first three years. If you run synthetic oil, you can go three years in a domestic without ever opening the hood.
25th Mar 2011, 17:36
Everyone has their own experiences. My best cars have been imports from 30 years ago until now. I never see service centers, other than for free oil changes and other minimal maintenance items.
Domestics I have owned have all needed hefty repairs at low mileage intervals.
So, my experience is the exact opposite from yours. When will people get it that buying cars is a crap shoot, and you get what you get. Sometimes you get lucky and other times you don't. There are just as many posters on here that have had great luck with imports as domestics.