2007 Toyota Camry CE from North America - Off Topic Comments

I guess you had to 'Focus' on spending a lot of your time/and or money fixing a Ford. How unusual, (lol)! Why would anyone want to drive something that runs for 300,000 trouble-free miles, like a Camry, when you buy a Focus for cheaper? (Oh, wait, I guess if you add all of the trips to the Ford dealership, and the money you lose being late for work when the car breaks down, the Focus might actually be MORE expensive in the long run).

I guess all of my Toyota's, (which all cost me a combined total of $0.00 dollars to repair), must be exempt from Toyota's new "declining in quality" campaign. Maybe Toyota's must not be the best anymore because they have some recalls? (Oh, wait, EVERY manufacturer in the world does). Scratch that argument. I think I'll stick with Toyota.

<<And yes you can have 20 recalls, but what are they exactly?...such as a bad SUV tailight recall, window mechanism, factory radio with a CD repair, water pump bracket recall etc. which could be recalled, but is not serious or life threatening>.

<<Silly me, I guess brakes, flooding in the compartment, engine fires, and similar are considered "minor" by you. That's what my Focus had. Radio worked fine, as did the tailights. oh, the car was also in the shop 10+ times for reasons IN ADDITION to the recalls.>>

Your on the Cobalt site as well aren't you!

No one seems to understand the recall policies on import and domestic cars. Domestics do VOLUNTARY recalls for ANY problem at ANY time. I've had recalls for INTERIOR TRIM PARTS at 100,000 miles from Ford. 99% of ALL domestic recalls are for incredibly MINOR items such as tail light bulbs or trim items.

Imports, on the other hand NEVER recall a vehicle unless FORCED TO by MAJOR, LIFE-THREATENING SAFETY DEFECTS. They also never issue recalls once the warranty period is up. Even now Toyota is dragging its feet with some Highlander owners who have had brake failure.

There will ALWAYS be more recalls on domestics until the U.S. government REQUIRES imports to issue recalls for ALL defects instead of just MAJOR, LIFE-THREATENING DEFECTS. There is QUITE a difference there.

Hey now! I have 250,000 miles on my Honda and it drives better than our brand new '97 Ford Escort did when it was brand new. The Honda has not needed anything except for a hydraulic clutch pump and cooling system overhaul such as radiator and hoses and everthing else has been maintenance by the books... this car has a manual transmission and is very fun to drive. I used to think when I drove Fords and Chevy's that it would suck to have a car with over 150,000 miles cause my American cars were nickeling and dimming us by 70,000 miles. Well I guess I have to think it over again because the Honda keeps on going and it drives as if it has 100,000 miles on it when in all reality it has 250,000 miles on it. I liked it so much I bought a '99 Accord and a '97 Accord which have been just as tremendous. I would feel very depressed if I had to drive a Ford Focus or Cobalt everyday!!!

Yes, this dude visits every compact car review and tells the same story of the now 7-year-old Focus with the 20 recalls. Funny thing is that he finally admitted that it wasn't even his car, but a "friend's" car! Hard to believe that someone was so traumatized that they're compelled to talk about it seven years later. Sales must be slow at the Honda dealership where he works. "20 recalls, 20 recalls!"...Polly wanna cracker?

I do not think it's a honda dealership... might be a Toyota stockholder however. What gets me is that there is never any comments on the serious defect on the model being discussed. It reverts to another domestic model. Kind of like grade school... Johnnie did it so I am alright.

<<Yes, this dude visits every compact car review and tells the same story of the now 7-year-old Focus with the 20 recalls. Funny thing is that he finally admitted that it wasn't even his car, but a "friend's" car! Hard to believe that someone was so traumatized that they're compelled to talk about it seven years later. Sales must be slow at the Honda dealership where he works. "20 recalls, 20 recalls!"...Polly wanna cracker?>.

I see, so when people go bragging about great American car quality since time began I'm not supposed to tell my story? Yes, it's a very close friend's car, and it is 100% proof of what crap American cars are. And we are talking cars, not people, so I'm not "traumatized". I just tell my story to state why I will never buy American again under any circumstances. If you want to talk traumatized, suggest you talk about all the victims of Ford Explorer roll overs.

I don't work in the car industry at all, unlike most of the domestic-loving posters here. In fact, my last American-built Honda I should have lemoned lawed. I buy the car that is right for me, and that means not giving full time employment to American-car mechanics.

The Ford Focus is STILL the same design from the year 2000, so please tell me what has changed now that we are "seven" years later? In Europe, they are soon to be on version three (just revealed at a recent auto show).

<<No one seems to understand the recall policies on import and domestic cars. Domestics do VOLUNTARY recalls for ANY problem at ANY time. I've had recalls for INTERIOR TRIM PARTS at 100,000 miles from Ford. 99% of ALL domestic recalls are for incredibly MINOR items such as tail light bulbs or trim items.

Imports, on the other hand NEVER recall a vehicle unless FORCED TO by MAJOR, LIFE-THREATENING SAFETY DEFECTS. They also never issue recalls once the warranty period is up. Even now Toyota is dragging its feet with some Highlander owners who have had brake failure.

There will ALWAYS be more recalls on domestics until the U.S. government REQUIRES imports to issue recalls for ALL defects instead of just MAJOR, LIFE-THREATENING DEFECTS. There is QUITE a difference there.>.

You post this on every board and still no one is going to buy into it.

Funny the Ford Explorer never had a single recall on its design flaw that was killing more people than ANY other car sold in the US. And that design flaw existed for 12 years and is still on hundreds of thousands of Explorers on the road today.

Ummm no it is the domestics that have to be forced to recall their vehicles... Do you remember a man named Jaque Nasser from Ford a few years back? Well I was only 10 at the time, but I remember hearing in the news about being so hesitant to recall the Explorer or try and redesign it. I also as a kid remember reading about recalls on certain vehicles and I came to the conclusion that Ford vehicles burned the easiest because I would read and hear stories of malfunctioning fuel systems, etc. on the other hand, My Honda Accord has never had a recall at all, save for our '99 Accord which needed to have an interlock installed in the ignition system. IS this life threatening? Maybe for some child sitting in the car playing around and he some how pulled the car out of gear--but let me tell you at least the car did not burst into flames!!!

It always amuses me that import owners are so desperate for something to latch onto to criticize domestics that they will invariably go back to a THIRTY YEAR OLD PINTO as an example of a domestic safety defect!!!

In reality the Pinto was only one of a NUMBER of both foreign and import cars that used a rear fuel filler opening, and the only reason Ford got into the news about it was because of a very high profile lawsuit about it.

I'd much rather see some honest discussion about Honda's disastrous transmission fiasco, Nissan's near bankruptcy due to the problem plagued Titan and Armada, or Toyota's recent landslide of massive safety defects.

To 12:20 ;Well, you know, Ford owners tend to just step over or forget those kinds of facts, they like to believe that any recall an import has is "life threatening" when Ford has had countless more recalls, and far more serious ones. And thank you for reminding people that Toyota and Honda are much quicker to recall a vehicle than the Little 3, who do so generally when forced to, or when the cost of NOT fixing the problem is less than the cost of the recall itself.

12:20...well if your late model Honda/Acura V6 blows a trans with no notice with tractor trailers surrounding you with total power loss... you will pray you won't burst into flames. I sold my last one for exactly this very reason with 2 small children that I had totally loss confidence in the vehicle.

"Well I was only 10 at the time, but I remember hearing in the news about being so hesitant to recall the Explorer or try and redesign it. I also as a kid remember reading about recalls on certain vehicles and I came to the conclusion that Ford vehicles burned the easiest because I would read and hear stories of malfunctioning fuel systems, etc."

Making decisions based on something you heard as a kid? Don't you think it's time to reassess some information like an adult? Then again, having already learned the mantra of "Honda better" is probably already ingrained.

It's sad to see people continue to perpetuate myths about recalls day after day. OF COURSE the Accord has few recalls. It is JAPANESE and JAPANESE MANUFACTURERS DON'T ISSUE RECALLS!! Only domestic car makers issue VOLUNTARY recalls.

As for "childhood memories" of "maybe hearing about a Ford catching fire"...How ludicrous can you get?? Toyotas are killing people RIGHT NOW with defective brakes, steering, air bags and other major problems too numerous to mention, but all the commenter can come up with to bash domestics is a "childhood memory"???

Not sure whom to believe anymore...I'm in the market for a car for my mother... I saw one site about a Camry and everything was negative. I really wonder if this was not some kind of new job description from a competitor... bash a good car on a site and we'll pay you for your typing skills, or, lack thereof. It made me wonder because it seemed like every post was being "dumbed down" with plenty of grammatical and spelling errors.

Not sure what all the banter is about...let's talk fairly recent history, either one way, or another (Japanese or American.) The reason Japanese cars basically took over the market was because of the poorer quality of American cars. If this is a false statement, then why change to a Japanese car? Because, when your parents were paying for car repair bills every few months while the neighbors bought a less expensive Japanese car with few repair bills and then vacationed in Hawaii... you wondered what the parental arguments were about.

Don't get me wrong. I'm an American car fan... loved the muscle car era... owned a Z28...had to learn how to rebuild and modify a few V8's due to substandard machining and manufacturing standards from the factory, but when it ran it really ran.

America had to catch up... not sure where we are now. I've read negative reviews at both ends... everyone has an opinion... I just want a good car for my mother.

To the guy that lied about his 7 year old focus (his friends car), don't lie... credibility is now out the door.

To the guy that said no Toyota has ever gone over a million miles...wrong. I have a '78 Toyota truck that has just over that...don't spend a lot on the motor... usually peripheral parts i.e. a starter here and there, an alternator here and there etc.. My friends really appreciated the reliability when it was time to move.

As far as a certain American car company goes, there is one that I would never buy a car from... starts with a C and, I think the CEO's name was something that sounded like "I don't wanna choka." Girlfriend had her entire engine rebuilt... power steering and brakes would fail upon deceleration... almost killed a few people... took it to the dealership 5 times in three months... dealer mechanics said can't figure it out... finally did after it was out of warranty for one week... Huge fight to get that company to admit that the problem existed the whole time it was under warranty and the ineptness of that companies mechanics is no reason to charge $1000, or maybe they were just waiting for the warranty to expire.

American or Japanese...can't trust opinions, can't trust the internet, can't trust car companies... what happened to trustworthiness?

I don't know which car to buy...confusing.