2nd Feb 2012, 14:08
There is no need for a "doctoral candidate in psychology". As a lifelong owner of Toyotas - as are my parents and brother as well - the reason Toyota owners like us are loyal to the brand, is because they are GOOD. The fact that I bought a Toyota truck in high school, and am now in my mid 30's and own the SAME truck, and have had zero issues with it, other than a clutch that needed replacement at 200,000 miles and a faulty front wheel bearing, is just one of many reasons why I and others are loyal. My brother just a few months ago traded in a 12 year old Toyota Avalon. I don't remember the exact mileage, but it was way over 300,000 miles. He didn't exactly take the best care of it either, and yet it just ran and ran and ran. Heck - we didn't even replace the timing belt until it hit 270,000 miles - which I don't recommend, but given that the belt lasted several times over the period it should have, is just more proof that their cars are extremely well-engineered.
I could go on and on. But people generally buy products that leave them with a good ownership experience. I have yet to have a bad experience with Toyota, and thus me and millions of others will continue to buy them. Now - I don't doubt that there are other brands that make good products. But why should people like me switch if we have no reason to. If owning a well-engineered, reliable, highly competent vehicle is deemed "mediocre", then I guess I'll keep on buying "mediocre" cars.
30th Jan 2012, 20:39
Hmm, where are you getting this? Are you just hard of hearing perhaps?
We have an '09 Camry and an '06 CR-V, neither one has excessive road noise, and especially not to the point of having to yell to carry out a conversation. My mother (the owner of the CR-V who is completely deaf in her left ear) has never once complained of having a hard time hearing me in either her car or mine.
My son's '96 Corolla with its snow tires on is quite loud, but once we put the regular summer tires on it, even it goes back to being fairly quiet (for a 16 year old econobox with 198,000 miles).
A good friend of ours recently traded in his '06 Toyota RAV-4 for a brand new Toyota Tundra. He loved his RAV-4, but wanted something bigger. I rode in his RAV-4 dozens of times, and not once did I have to yell to carry out a conversation with him. I've ridden in his new Tundra as well; by far the most comfortable truck I've ever been in.
I haven't ridden in or driven any of the new domestics, so I cannot comment on them, however, I must say that I completely disagree with your assessment of today's imports.