2006 Toyota Tacoma SR5 from North America - Comments

The gas tank recall again does it apply to 2007? I have also had many recalls done on imports over the years including Mercedes and my latest an Acura TL type S. It was done at no charge. If a seat belt tensioner for example is fixed under warranty do you expect a reoccurence? That was one recall I had performed. Once a design glitche is discovered over many vehicles the manufacturer fixes it at their expense. I prefer my reasoning... boring sedans and trucks are not any value to myself. I have 100,000 mile warranties and love what I am driving a lot.

A best buy does not necessary mean best drive...

The final determination on any purchase is what is the most fullfilling to drive... I cannot see where such excitement over this vehicle is coming from.

I've recommended this site to a large number of people just to see what they're reactions would be to the numerous comments. After slogging through all the numerous comments, the reaction by virtually every single one has been: "I see only unfounded insults from import owners and actual testimony and valid facts from long-time owners of American cars". If people don't see facts, but instead see insults and mindless rants, they are overwhelmingly convinced that the more sane and fact-based comments are the real picture. I think this one review has helped sell a lot of domestic vehicles. I know after reading all the attacks and insults to American car owners on this site I'd never even look at another Japanese car.

You know, I was at the point of being willing to consider buying a Toyota. I looked at the Prius hybrid, and was also looking at a used Tacoma. However, after reading the arrogant comments from people who constantly say how anybody who doesn't agree that Toyota is the best vehicle in the world is an unintelligent redneck, the very name "Toyota" makes me sick to hear, and I wouldn't "join the club" if you paid me. Congratulations, you turned off a potential buyer with your elitist, immature spew.

The only "jealous and pointless rants" I have read in these postings are those from the Toyota owners. Any time someone who has never driven something presumes to be an "expert" on it it carries absolutely ZERO credibility. The OVERWHELMING majority of comments regarding domestic cars (or trucks) come from owners who have repeatedly stated that they 1) Have NOT had problems with their cars 2) Have driven hundreds of thousands of miles in these cars 3) Have also had experience with imports and in most cases found them to be no more reliable than domestics. How, pray tell, is that "jealous and pointless rants".

As for the Honda CRV being a good SUV, it isn't because it isn't an SUV, it's a front drive Civic with a slightly more roomy body. Driving it off road or towing anything larger than a child's toy wagon with it is out of the question. No true SUV is front drive.

The facts cannot be denied. You can talk about a CR-V towing children's wagons, or whatever other kind of childish response you want to make. None of it affects the fact that Toyota and Honda are the higher quality cars, trucks, and SUV's. And the person that decided to buy something other than the Tacoma: WHY? You based your decision not to buy a certain vehicle because of opinions you read written in by people you don't even know? It's like the old saying "cutting off your nose to spite your face". Buy something else if you like; it will be of less quality and you're only hurting yourself. Most of the comments here made by Toy./Honda owners contain statistics, actual data, and real evidence. Most comments to support the "Big 2 and half" are just random opinion. Yeah, Toyota's are boring, underpowered, appliance-like, ugly, unsafe; all just opinion that has no bearing on the quality of the vehicles. These foreign made vehicles are better made, that's the truth and more b.s. opinion and immature slander can't change that.

GM the worlds largest automaker sold 293,000 vehicles last month /Nov. 2006...Toyota 196,000...that's without adding both Chrysler and Fords monthly sales. Ford reduced their figures with rental fleets, but the facts are in the total sales figures. The larger SUV market is affected by fuel prices, heating and the softening housing market. The smaller SUVs are likely selling well for those that want fuel economy and utility. I like full size vehicles and feel fortunate that I can pick what I prefer driving. Total sales are the real indicator of what people prefer and are buying. If your sales are number one you can condescend on everyone if that's your thing, but you haven't reached that level yet. I would rather read a number of well informed reviews and test drive all vehicles. I suspect you haven't driven the latest domestics... but a lot of us have. And we are buying.

The idea that domestic vehicles are unreliable and Toyotas are can easily be refuted by reading the comments in various areas on this website and looking at the reasoning used by the various commenters. In one Corolla review, the owner states that the engine blew up at 34,000 miles, but that he'd buy ANOTHER Toyota!! This is far from logical reasoning. If I bought ANY new car, foreign or domestic, that only lasted 34,000 miles before major engine failure, I would definitely not buy another one. I see this sort of warped logic thruout the comments. If OnStar makes an incorrect restaurant reservation (as was stated in one comment) then the Toyota owner uses that sort of silliness to call GM cars "crap", but when an engine blows up in a Toyota at less than 36,000 miles (and I know THREE people this has happened to, incidentally) then they say "Well, we'd buy another one". It's no wonder people are being turned off by such irrational and illogical comments.

This has gone well off topic now, and I don't see anything being accomplished by leaving this review open to further comments.

I appreciate that lots of people feel strongly about these issues, so I'm not going to start deleting lots of comments, but it seems like the right time for everyone to move on.

Steven Jackson

steven@carsurvey.org