15th Dec 2006, 16:20
My import repairs were also fewer, but much more costly. I disagree. American trucks are much more powerful, look better, have more sophisticated options, ride better, have more space, more versatile, more space and are a great value. Just a consumer not an auto plant worker. No longer caught up in the hype...
15th Dec 2006, 21:27
Exactly right. I've owned 3 Toyota's; a '93 Tercel that I sold, which was the dumbest mistake that I've ever made, a '95 truck, indestructible, and the '98 Tacoma that I now own. I beat the crap out of the first two, and drive the Tacoma (a 5 speed manual) like I am in a drag race every day, and my repairs for all three, in the last 13 YEARS have been exactly ZERO DOLLARS. Hell, I'm not sure that I EVER changed oil in the Tercel; I was 19, and I drove that car as hard as it is possible to do so and still come home alive, and it never broke. I think it liked it. The '95 truck was airborne in a quarry as much as it was on the ground, and it kept asking for more. I'm a little bit easier on the Tacoma, because I am a little bit older now, but I still run it hard when I am in the mood, (every day), and it is perfect.
15th Feb 2007, 20:57
"Sorry you did not get wise and buy an American built truck sooner."
For your information, buddy - "American" vehicles are assembled in Mexico. And Toyotas are assembled in Tennesee. So who do you want to give money to? American expatriot tycoons that move overseas to avoid taxes and lay off American workers? Or Japanese Tycoons that provide good paying jobs to Americans?
16th Feb 2007, 11:28
Don't forget "American" Chrysler just announced it is laying off another 13,000 people while Toyota said it is building five new plants in America.
GM also announced that virtually every vehicle it makes outside of its full size trucks will come from abroad if its plans go through.
17th Feb 2007, 14:31
I just heard the same thing; Toyota is investing big in the form of a plant in Texas, something like 5 billion dollars? This will finally end the foreign/domestic debate here; the best trucks around finally WILL be built in America! They're called Toyota's, just like they always were.
21st Feb 2007, 08:13
SO I just bought a used 2003 Tacoma Vt SR5 and it's awesome. Yeah, I have the dash rattle, but it went away with a small rubber bumper between the window and the dash. The mileage is 20 in town and up to 24 on the highway (which holds steady in 4wd in the snow like last weekend skiing in Colorado).
My last vehicle was a 2001 S10 ZR2 and it was a piece of garbage. There were rattles all over it with 1500 miles on it, the interior was cheap plastic with rough edges from the molding and the head gasket blew at 10k. I put 20,000 miles on it and got rid of it... and lost my butt becasue they don't hold their value nearly as well as a Tacoma.
I spent nearly the price of a new s10 on my Tacoma and am very confident that it'll be worth it for years to come. Hopefully my old 2001 Chevy is being recycled somewhere and being melted down to make some American made Toyotas!
15th Dec 2006, 14:59
If Toyotas were such wonderful vehicles, you wouldn't read about recalls for defective airbags, accelerators that stick on the floor, and about problems with rattles, defective brakes, automatic transmissions that shift erratically, pieces of interior trim falling off, and engines so underpowered (in Camrys and Highlanders) that merging into traffic is hazardous to your health. Ford is now rated as more reliable (and they have been more reliable for decades). It's good that people are finally waking up to how Japanese ad people have pulled the wool over the eyes of the public. Thanks for sharing your Toyota horror story. Believe me, there are PLENTY MORE of them out there (and on these sites).