24th Aug 2009, 14:17

A lot of people are saying you don't see many 80's Toyota's and Honda's around anymore. I beg to differ. I see more 80's imports on the roads than 80's domestics. But I don't plan on seeing much of anything left from the 80's, domestic or import. This Cash for Clunkers deal is eliminating a lot of them. I find it to be good and bad. The good is that it helps people who are having problems with their older vehicles, by helping them get a new car. It also takes the older vehicles, which have less emission controls, off the road. Which in turn does help out the environment. However, a lot of the 80's vehicles are still in decent running condition, and really don't need to be removed from the roads. Also, when you trade in a "clunker," it is immediately sent to a crusher. It may still have perfectly good parts to be used on other vehicles. Maybe your engine is barely clinging on, but perhaps your transmission is in pretty good condition. That transmission could be used again in another vehicle. They say they are "recycling your ride," but they are really just throwing the whole thing away without actually recycling the parts that are still in decent condition.

24th Aug 2009, 16:51

I checked the percentages of people who would buy another Toyota or who would not buy another Toyota, same with Ford, Chevy, and Honda. Compared apples to apples, ALL YEARS of the Toyota Camry, ALL YEARS of the Honda Accord, ALL YEARS of the Ford Taurus, and ALL YEARS of the Chevy Malibu.

For the Honda Accord:

77% of people said they would buy another Honda.

12% of people said they would not buy another Honda.

This means that 11% of the people are unsure on whether or not they would by a Honda again.

For the Toyota Camry:

75% of people said they would buy another Toyota.

16% of people said they would not buy another Toyota.

This means that 9% of the people are unsure on whether or not they would buy a Toyota again.

For the Ford Taurus:

51% of the people said they would buy another Ford.

32% said they would not buy another Ford.

This means that 17% of the people were unsure on whether or not they would buy a Ford again.

For the Chevrolet Malibu:

38% of people said they would buy another Chevrolet.

41% of people said they would not buy another Chevrolet.

This means that 21% of people were unsure on whether they would buy a Chevrolet again.

These are the FACTS taken directly from THIS SITE. Don't believe me? Take a look at them for yourself. Just choose the manufacturer, and then model, when you get to the screen that has the model year, just look up in the top left corner, it tells you the percentages of people who would and would not buy that specific vehicle again right there. This looks pretty conclusive to me. The imports clearly have the upper hand. By the way, I looked up these percentages on August 24, 2009. So the percentages may change over the years. REMEMBER, these are the percentages for ALL OF THE MODEL YEARS, not one specific model year.

24th Aug 2009, 16:56

I think it is pretty silly trying to convince one another that a certain brand of car is better than another on a forum like this. Frankly they are all pretty equal these days.

I buy Buicks because I want a traditional, comfortable, and roomy car. Toyota buyers buy them because they are reliable. In my experience all of my Buicks have been very good cars. I have never had an engine issue but have experienced some minor electrical issues. I may spend a few hundred dollars more than the average Toyota owner in maintenance each year, maybe not, but Toyota doesn't offer the type of car I want. Buy what you like and allow others to do the same.

24th Aug 2009, 19:35

No, domestic owners get mad because of constant insults and unfounded claims that Japanese cars are better. This site DOES NOT indicate that AT ALL. For an example, check how many reviewers of 2006 Camrys would buy ANOTHER one. The answer: ZERO!! Don't believe it?? LOOK IT UP!! The lofty Honda Accord for 2006 reviews doesn't even get a 50% approval rating. The Ford Taurus beats them by a HUGE margin, as does the Pontiac Grand Prix.

Oh, and I'm a mechanic and have owned a Civic. It was one of the most poorly built cars I have ever seen. It was falling apart at 40,000 miles and junked before 100,000. New GM's are in warranty that long.

25th Aug 2009, 11:36

19:35, you should try looking at the percentages for ALL model years of the Toyota Camry and the Ford Taurus, not a single model year. If you do that, I think you'll realize that the Camry beat the Taurus once again in owner satisfaction.

23rd Sep 2009, 22:26

I own a 1989 Toyota Corolla with 218,000 miles on it. It keeps getting me around no matter what. I do the regular maintenance like oil changes, tires, battery and muffler. I also have had to change the alternator and starter, but other than that nothing major.

5th Oct 2009, 05:35

I don't know whether new Camrys are as tough as they were back in the eighties or nineties, only time will tell. But so far I chose to trust Toyota.

All I know is that I've had some seriously good Camrys in the past. The kind of stuff legends are made of. People really don't believe me when I tell them how good the old Camrys were. Like the one that was in our family for almost 14 years even if we bought it second hand with 80.000 miles on it. My father used it for commuting for almost ten years adding 200.000 miles. Then I used it for leaflet distribution for a couple of years adding another 50.000 miles. Then my brother used it for almost a year, adding 20.000 or so miles on it when he wrecked it against a fence.

That's more than 350.000 miles having almost no repairs. Compare this to some seriously bad Fords I've driven, and to me it's a clear cut decision. I really don't need some guy on this forum bad mouthing the Camry and sweet talking the Fusion or whatever. I do my own decisions based on my own experiences. We've had a Ford Taurus with more problems during 2 years of ownership than 14 years driving a Camry. Very funny selling this 2 year old Ford with 50% deprecation. Nobody wanted them since they were so bad. Worst deal we ever did.

23rd Nov 2009, 23:47

How about you guys write your comments in your reviews and stop bickering about who makes a better car? Every Make and Model on here has the yellow smile face, the white middle face, and the blue frown face meaning that people have obviously had good, mediocre, and bad experiences with a particular car...

I especially like the comment from the person who commutes 125 miles a day and has a long list of vehicles that states both good and bad experiences (thanks) about each showing that reliability isn't always based on the make of the vehicle.

I do have to say that I see the majority of brand bad-mouthing on Toyota reviews, and I do not feel the need to project my views on what I think is reliable... in my reviews, I just state the facts and usually in my comments, I help when people have questions in their reviews about problems they have been having, or to receive insight about undiagnosed problems I might be having or things to watch out for (the life of some alternators or water-pumps can be predicted by reading these reviews, independent of the cars official reliability rating).

This just teaches us that the extended warranty option when purchasing a new car is a good buy, no matter what brand you buy... it also teaches us to take advantage of warranty services before the car goes off warranty!

I have seen cars come into my shop from friends of mine who have been having problems for months, and the problem goes undiagnosed and something like a car needing a new timing chain turns into a whole new engine that isn't covered under a warranty.

If your dealer isn't getting the problem solved, call the customer care line (I've had to do this with my '05 New VW Jetta, and that did the trick, all was fixed when Customer Care came into the mix) or switch dealers, any Toyota (same with other makes) dealer is certified for warranty servicing so take advantage of that notion if you don't like your dealer.

Also, come on people, let's get back to reasonable comments.