20th Jun 2012, 16:27

My Ford Focus was a total heap, and had its transmission fail after 60k carefully driven miles.

You do Toyota (I own a Corolla now, which is a gem) a total dis-service by mentioning Ford in the same sentence.

21st Jun 2012, 14:17

Yeah, my grandmother just bought a new Corolla. I really liked Toyotas up until the last few years... this car is a piece of junk!!

21st Jun 2012, 23:33

Lots of luck with that poorly built Corolla. I worked on one on Tuesday, that was only three years old, regularly serviced and never wrecked. It had a cracked radiator fitting (it's all hard, brittle plastic), the A/C was not working and the "check engine" light was on. In addition, an alignment shop had told the owner that the car could not be aligned because the suspension had sagged simply from the car's weight (a common issue with Japanese cars). Where the idea of "quality" or "reliability" comes from with these pieces of crap is beyond me.

Oh, and now the "Recall King" is having an investigation into several million MORE cars because of fires. That on top of the all-time world record of 23 MILLION already. And people actually think these things are better than Ford or GM? Give me a break, please.

22nd Jun 2012, 10:12

I sense that the record is once again skipping on the record player, because once again we have the exact same comments of "Sagging frames", " Ad Hype", and so on.

22nd Jun 2012, 15:42

I promise myself from this day forward, that when I read a comment that includes the term "ad-hype", I'm going to skip over it.

I don't even own an import, much less a Toyota, however constantly reading basically the same negative comments over and over are just a waste of my time.

24th Jun 2012, 06:27

10:12. It amazes me that you gloss over owners very negative experiences. I would rather know these before I buy another new car.

I had great Hondas in the 80s and 90s, and bought some later with failed transmissions. I thought maybe a couple were bad, and the next would be great. Sounds like the case here, only it's Toyota. At least I found Car Survey, and it's been helpful.

24th Jun 2012, 17:24

I don't think it is "glossing over" as much it is weeding out multiple comments, apparently by the same person, many sometimes in the same thread, and uses terms such as "ad-hype" and talks about his friend's cars (not his).

This to me makes me wonder whether those might be part of a smear campaign, rather than a legitimate comment. Similar to political tactics.

And although I've never owned a Toyota, I can only come to the conclusion that if somebody works this hard on a smear campaign against Toyotas - they must be pretty darn good automobiles, and the competition is getting very nervous that they might reclaim their market share, and then some.

In any case, my advice is to take these comments with a grain of salt. I personally put more stock into balanced reviews, which describe the good & bad attributes of a particular automobile. To me, the more knowledgeable the reviewer appears to be about his/her vehicle, and the longer the reviewer owned the vehicle, the better.

I don't believe everything is as black & white as some would like us to believe, and I certainly don't believe there is a huge difference in quality between most automobiles, regardless of what country their company happens to be based in.

24th Jun 2012, 19:59

That's right... when it concerns an import, apparently everyone is lying when they tell the truth about the reliability of the car. It's a conspiracy!! LOL.

I agree, Hondas and Toyotas were better cars in many ways throughout the 80's and much of the 90's, but their only competitive advantage now is their reputation... which is rapidly diminishing.

25th Jun 2012, 13:34

It can be very black and white, when it is very specific with model and model year.

25th Jun 2012, 20:10

Our imports from the 80's were not as reliable as our domestics from the same era. Recalling 23 million cars is hardly the mark of a good car company.

Now I read that the government will probably force the recall of yet another couple of million Camrys and RAV-4's, because they burst into flames.

26th Jun 2012, 10:17

But again - the issue I see with a lot of these "import" comments is that so many of them are entirely vague and lacking any real specifics. For starters, the term "import" is thrown around generically. That means basically any car that I assume is not made in the US, and is instead brought INTO the US. So if that's the case, then does that also mean the many US branded cars that are actually made in foreign countries - of which MANY qualify are "imports?" Does that automatically mean they are inferior? What if it's a US branded car that is composed of 50% foreign components? What if that same car was actually designed or engineered in a foreign country? Again - these comments lack any real specifics.

27th Jun 2012, 08:41

Nothing is THAT black & white - unless we are talking about the colors of the cars themselves :)

Seriously, I just wish folks would lighten up a little, and keep this the informative & enjoyable site Mr. Jackson created.

29th Jun 2012, 15:49

My best friend called me yesterday to ask me if I thought his three-year-old Toyota was safe to take on a 150-mile road trip this weekend. It has had so many problems since the warranty expired, that he is afraid of the car. On the other hand, my wife, who plays in a rock band, routinely takes her 10-year-old GM with well over 100,000 miles on it on road trips without a second thought. It has never been in the shop for anything.

30th Jun 2012, 12:23

The parent corporate headquarters are the determination of the import domestic definition.

Also, cars are built to manufacturers specification, irregardless of who turns a wrench.

Lastly, cars have to meet a specific countries safety and pollution controls. A simpler way is where the profits go; where the parent headquarters are.

Hope that helps.

2nd Jul 2012, 15:45

Funny how it is always a friend of yours, and they always ask for your seemingly biased opinion.

3rd Jul 2012, 12:32

It was nice he had that friend to pick him whenever he broke down alongside the road. We had a friend with a Camry that called us. I wished she joined AAA.

3rd Jul 2012, 19:37

12:23 pretty much settles the import/domestic question. It is where the company is located that matters. Buy Ford or GM; your money stays in the U.S. Buy Honda or Toyota; you're helping the economy of Japan. There is no way around that. That is just common sense.

2nd Jan 2013, 19:58

What do you call all the cars GM builds in South Korea and Canada for import to the U.S.?? And all the cars Ford builds in Mexico, for import to the U.S.???

Who makes money on those cars... the UAW worker??? (no). How does Ford and Chevy re-patriot the profits from their foreign operations? (Opel, Holden, etc...) Oh, they don't.

So when will all the everyone realize Ford and GM are "imports" too!

3rd Jan 2013, 12:12

Some people just don't get it, Ford and GM are American brand car companies, no matter where they are assembled.

3rd Jan 2013, 12:19

To answer your question, the profits, meaning the biggest return to United States, not Korea or Japan.