19th Feb 2007, 09:59

Let me reword this a different way. Live in a area where they salt the roads to death and if you expect to get 250k+ you'll have a rusty POS. Wow 340K on a car..why? Sure any car or truck can in theory..How much are you willing to spend and plus I bet they are not the original owners!

19th Feb 2007, 10:23

Exactly which foreign car did you buy that is taking jobs away from Americans? Camry, Accord, Civic, Sentra, Altima, Subaru Legacy/Tribeca, Hyundai Sonata?

They are all made in AMERICA by AMERICANS.

And which "American car" do you recommend? The Mexican-made Ford Fusion, PT Cruiser? Or the Canadian-built Crown Victoria or Buick LaCrosse?

19th Feb 2007, 13:34

13:33 That was a good one! My eyes are watering. There have been a dozen Honda's and Toyota's just in MY family that have gone over 250-300,000 miles! That's not even counting other people I know firsthand. That would probably make three dozen more, and that's just me! Almost EVERY Honda and Toyota engine in the world can EASILY go 250,000; usually MUCH more. A good DOMESTIC can do this?! Maybe one in 5000, if it's babied it's whole life.

19th Feb 2007, 13:47

Having sat at my computer and watched my neighbor's nearly new Camry hauled away on a flatbed wrecker NUMEROUS times since they bought it, I have no problem believing the horror story of this review. We also have a good friend who fell for the Toyota myth and bought a Tundra a few years back. He has asked my wife on several occasions to give him a ride when it was in the shop for NUMEROUS repairs. We are more than happy to give him a lift in our flawless GMC or Pontiac, neither of which has ever had ONE SINGLE PROBLEM...EVER.

19th Feb 2007, 14:40

Gotta call "crap" on that one. I live across the river in Wisconsin, and I very rarely even see a Japanese car. Let alone making a statement like "Honda cars dominate the 15-20 year old segment of used cars on the road." No way! However, I could believe you if you live in Rochester, where kids are driving the second hand cars of their parents who work at the Mayo Clinic or something. People in Wisconsin and Minnesota as a general rule DO NOT DRIVE JAPANESE CARS. First off, they are considered effeminate. Secondly, they just don't hold up under the extreme weather conditions and general abuse of the country, people can't afford the more expensive parts, and they DO INDEED rust out fast.

19th Feb 2007, 21:36

Wow one bad camry and somebody goes postal... I cannot wait to see what happens when 100,000 domestic owners who have actually had problems do when they actually find this site and vent out.

20th Feb 2007, 09:12

14:40 is yet another example of the domestic car mentality. Now Japanese cars are considered effeminate? Really? Ever see the Fast and the Furious movies? Those are effeminate cars?

Around here, if you drive a domestic car most people assume you are in financial trouble and couldn't afford a decent vehicle.

And just because there aren't Japanese cars in your little corner of the world doesn't mean there aren't any. Think out it. The Camry and the Accord along account for something like 700,000 cars sold PER YEAR in America. And those cars are made IN AMERICA by AMERICANS, unlike a lot of the so-called domestic offerings.

20th Feb 2007, 10:05

Yeah, really. One bad Camry.

These Ford and Chevy fanatics should take a walk over to the Ford site and look at the sea of blue faces concerning Ford cars. Or for a better laugh, the endless list of horrid Windstars (or FREEstar now, but a piece of crap by any other name is still...).

Read some of the long, detailed comments written by housewives and mothers that have been stranded, and/or out of money after being towed to the Ford garage for the TENTH time. That's not to speak of all of the other Ford cars that perform just as unreliably.

There are NO Toyota threads that look even 10% as bad as those Ford sites, some "Big 3" guys have been posting bogus review just to make it LOOK like someone actually has a Toyota lemon. Check out the Chevy Blazer site. It's a disgrace. GM should have gone out of business voluntarily just to apologize for the Blazer. My sister has one with 32,000 miles on it, and the engine sounds like a Toyota motor with about 375,000 miles of hard off-roading under it's belt. This thing goes to the grocery store, and it sounds like it's going to come apart. Not to mention, during this cold spell in the Eastern states, it has failed to start a few times. When it DOES start, and you drive it, it feels like you're herding cattle, and all 4 wheels are trying to go in slightly different directions, not to mention the fact that it eats up brakes and rotors every 20,000 miles (not from any bad driving habits), just misaligned junk. And the PAINT job...

Oh well, I could sit here all day describing other issues. I'll take a Camry with 3 tires missing and no transmission before I'd take a new Ford or Chevy; it would still be worth more than both combined.

20th Feb 2007, 12:52

Some of the older Camry's did seem to be reasonably well built, but I've known of so many people having trouble with the Corolla since the 80's that it scares me away from ANY of their products. My wife and I have been stranded on trips twice, and both times it was while riding in a friend's nearly brand new Corolla. I don't think Toyota quality has EVER lived up to the myth.

21st Feb 2007, 11:49

Again, there is no myth. Toyota quality is everything positive that people rave about and more. If there are any myths, it's things like "like a rock", and "built Ford tough". But people are finally beginning to figure that out (hence GM and Ford's pathetic condition). Those two can hardly give them away lately, while Toyota's breeze right off the lot. Like any good business, they make a good product, and have loyal, satisfied drivers. GM and Ford however, like any bad business, have up to this point churned out as much crap as they can throw together, slapped a cheap sales pitch on them, and pushed them out the door as fast as they can. That kind of bad business usually comes back to bite you in the a@$; and GM and Ford both have the jaws clamped onto their behinds right now, while Toyota reaps the rewards of selling many years worth of quality products to the public. They grow, make positive progress, and people continue to buy.

21st Feb 2007, 18:18

Re: 10:05.

I agree with you to some degree, but when compared to an Odyssey or Sienna, the Windstar / Freestar and other domestic makes are about two thirds the price of the Honda and Toyota offerings. Personally, I know folks who've owned Windstars and in most instances, are very happy with their vans.

When you consider the overall cost of ownership, the domestic brands are a good value. Granted the Honda and Toyota garnish better reliability reputations, but I still see a lot of older model domestic makes on the road.

My last van was a 2002 Kia Sedona, a nightmare. I bought it because the media types said it was a better buy than any of the domestics. Let me tell you something. Never believe what these people say because it seems to me that they get paid to say nice things regardless of what's reality. The Kia was not a good van! Very expensive to maintain and it was in the shop every other week.

I've read of Odysseys having transmission failures and Toyota's having front end and steering failures. So it seems that every make is prone to criticism. Parts for these brands are expensive when compared to the domestics and still not readily available like domestic brands are.

People need to be objective when comparing makes and not be badgered by the hipe and misleading claims made by Toyota and the like. Let the truth be known, Toyota and Honda are not what they used to be.