9th Sep 2011, 11:29
If we're talkin' transmissions, then I reckon we might as well talk about the new Ford Mustang with manual transmission. Guess what? The manual transmissions in those are from... drum roll... China! Yes - that's right, a Chinese transmission. So much for being an all-American car. And guess what? A lot of buyers are having major problems with them as we speak.
9th Sep 2011, 18:16
If you are talking about the famous 300,000 miles 98 Avalon, and the 243,000 miles 96 Tacoma, those were built before Y2K when the quality still had the upper hand. But after being in the automotive repair industry since the early 90's, I can personally agree that the quality of Toyota has indeed dwindled in the post 2000 years, and I'm not saying this because I don't like Toyota, I'm saying it because it's a plain and simple fact. Today's Toyota product has many issues that were never heard of in the 80's and mid-90's, and I'm not going to sit here and recite the entire list of problems. Honda on the other hand in my opinion builds a better vehicle outside of their transmission issues, but I still would never own one.
10th Sep 2011, 09:39
It still does not diminish the major issues that many of us are having. It's great that your family has had good luck and you have a few, not all. With due respect, I had issues and drive domestics. How many 2006 or newer Toyotas do you own? And no head gasket issues?
10th Sep 2011, 18:54
Wow, a whopping 9 people have reviewed their 2006 Camrys'. So if it is true that most people only write a review on something when it hasn't performed well, then I'd say the 2006 Camry is doing very well if only 9 people are unhappy with theirs.
10th Sep 2011, 19:07
People buying post-2000 Toyota products are very quickly changing their tune about how great Toyotas are. If 22 million recalls since 2009 (and most of those forced by U.S. law) is not enough to convince people that there are problems, then I guess it's a case of "Don't bother me with facts, my mind is made up."
11th Sep 2011, 09:06
Regarding the Ford Mustang: This one contains a lot of cheap 'n nasty parts. Cheap plastics that rattle when the car gets past 30K miles, and electrics and mechanical parts that all break well before 100K miles. Not only the manual transmission is cheap 'n nasty on this car. It's a "US built car" containing hardly any US parts, besides the engine block and the steel body.
11th Sep 2011, 20:08
Um, I'm sure there are more than 9 people that are unhappy with their 06 Camry, it's not like everyone who has a problem runs right to their computer to post a review. Also, if the 06 model is doing so well, where are all the positive reviews?
12th Sep 2011, 09:48
Again, here we go again with "Toyotas 'used' to be good and now they ain't" argument. There's not one iota of proof of this, and yes - my family owns quite a few post-2000's Toyotas and Hondas. We own an '02 Prius (one of the first), a 2002 Tundra, a 2007 Honda CR-V, and a 2009 Honda Pilot. So far none of these have proven to be any worse than the previous vehicles that we still actually own.
The Prius has so far not had any problems, which is amazing because virtually every other person I talked to about it when we bought it swore up and down that the battery would wear out in a few years and cost $10,000 or something crazy like that. 10 years later the original battery is holding up just fine. I've even found a few shops and companies that sell re-manufactured batteries, so even if the original goes, I can replace it with a new equivalent for not a whole lot of money. The car now has almost 150,000 miles on the clock. Given that this was the very first generation of this car and the car itself is incredibly complex, this pretty much sums up what I would expect out of a Toyota.
My Dad has his '02 Tundra. This was Toyota's first real full sized truck. Again - people just "couldn't believe" that Toyota could build a good small truck. We were told that surely it would fall apart within a few years. Over 250,000 miles later he still drives the thing. It has - just like everything else we've owned - been an almost flawless product. My Mom has a 2007 CR-V. Again - nothing out of the ordinary to report. It runs and has no problems.
Either way, I believe we can put this notion that somehow Toyotas and Hondas are "Now" bad to rest. The only reason this rumor exists is because it's simply undeniable that, yes - Toyota and Honda build fantastic products, and given that the vast majority of the cars and trucks they built 15-20 years are still on the road going strong, it's a bit convenient to simply brush all their new products aside.
12th Sep 2011, 10:42
How is it a fabrication when you spend 4700 on an engine failure? Or trans after trans on a 6 cylinder Honda VTEC? Laying this matter to rest, would be you paying for these out of your checkbook for an unfathomable occurrence to you? In the end, owners decide if they want to buy again. I have a new Edge AWD over 40k in a year. Fantastic. By now I would be nearing my second Honda trans, same mileage. The manner of your discussion ignoring thousands of others bad experiences is dismissing us without any empathy whatsoever
12th Sep 2011, 12:08
Actually I think it's a little bit fun listening to all the people bad mouthing the Toyotas, putting forward almost outrageous claims.
I've driven a wide range of cars, putting on at least 40K miles a year on my cars. Longevity is important to me on my daily commuter, and I simply demand that any car I buy should do 150-200K miles before anything major happens. I was a GM owner for many years, driving the medium range cars from Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and some Buicks. Besides a Buick Regal 3.8L I had, basically all GM cars I had were some pile of junk. But even this Buick was not fully fault free, at least nothing major broke down. But the I had ALL 4(!!) power windows go out within 2 years.
Just to mention some issues; I had engine break down on two cars before 100K miles, one being a Quad-4 Grand Am, another being the "indestructible" 3.1L V6 on a Corsica where major engine work was done three times (yes, you heard right!) before 100K miles, the last requiring a new engine when the rod bearing failed.
The last GM car I had was the Alero, that was truly a complete pile of junk, literally falling apart after a couple of years. But I had my senses, parting with it after just 3 years.
Now I and my family are happy Toyota customers, enjoying carefree car ownership. I don't have to walk around being worried about my cars breaking down. I leave that to the GM owners.
8th Sep 2011, 17:26
OK, now take a look at the Camry reviews from 2006, zero percent would buy another one. I never said domestic reviews were perfect, but yet you won't find a specific year on a domestic model where zero percent won't buy one.