2007 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - Off Topic Comments

20:09: What year American cars have you owned lately? And no more I had an 80 model and it was not the best car. I have gone back and forth import... domestic many times.

I am not driven solely by price. I currently have 2 new high end GM's and they are outstanding; both my SUV and my truck...

I have owned Toyotas, Acuras and even Mercedes in the past, due to an ego and the fact I wanted a convertible. The import cachet, if that is what it is, only maintains the image if they do not break down.

My current vehicles have been as reliable as our new Acura Legends we once owned. They were the best but what happened? The 90's are over and every import we have had since has been lousy.

Again, what new domestics have you owned within the past 5 years that gives you the authority to condemn an entire industry?

As they do not buy my cars, I am the most fickle owner that has to be treated the best at the service department to see us return. At this point and time GM has picked up all the slack, and I have nothing but praise.

If things were so great with imports, why am I not driving 2 new 2008 models today?

It would be interesting to follow your next 2008 import purchase and track the repairs for 250,000 miles, if you in fact go that long again. I couldn't even make it 50,000 miles.

I could be driving a old Legend with 200,000 miles no doubt, but find me a new RL (the Legends replacement) that is as durable?

15:44 I haven't owned any new 'American' cars lately because I refuse to buy junk. I'm not buying another one of those pieces of scrap only to find out that it IS in fact just another Big 3, cheaply made piece of scrap. I'll stick with my much more reliable, much better built, much higher quality Toyotas.

16:21.

Thank you for enlightening me. I still had some of those 1955 views and did not realize Toyota was the savior of us all.

You are right, helping Japanese companies and buying Tacomas like you is a lot better in the long term than helping American companies. What would even be best, is if there were no American companies at all. Then the Japanese with all their plants they have here (subsidized by the US government) would own our country. That seems like what you are cheering for.

You call 10:02 a flag waver. Which flag are you waving?

My '03, Chevy has 80% domestic content and is assembled in the USA. The Northgate computer that I am typing on is made in the USA. The solid state technology in the computers that everyone here is typing their posts on, which is responsible for the technological revolution we are all enjoying; the Japanese did not invent any of it.

The only reason why many high tech products are being manufactured by Asian companies now is because their governments insisted that American companies assign those companies a portion of their intellectual property rights to those products as a contingency for them being sold in those countries. Then, once that (the first phase of their scheme) was completed, they took over the market with predatory trade practices; the American government, who was totally asleep at the wheel, let them get away with.

You helped them get away with it too by buying your Tacoma. Nice going.

6:14 is a cop out. They once owned domestics and refuse to acknowledge any far superior technological advances, superior handling, ride, room and twice the warranty of a Tundra. I doubt they drive a late model import as well...

Stay in the 90's for a long time... but at some point you may become a former import owner when you buy newer and they fail. I bought frequently, not the staunch holdout... I could go out and buy a Checker cab and drive that forever for whatever analogy that may present. The buy American only comment actually does not apply in my case... it was disgust that prompted my return to domestics. I had zero issue imports as far back as 30 years ago.... why in the past 5 were mine so lousy? It is not an isolated lemon situation either. The garbage comment to me is any new late models that have major engine/trans failures in under 50,000 miles inexcusable.

It is interesting to use the word scrap... I always liked high quality pure domestic steel, vs foreign lesser quality scrap steel.

"3rd Apr 2008, 06:14.

15:44 I haven't owned any new 'American' cars lately because I refuse to buy junk. I'm not buying another one of those pieces of scrap only to find out that it IS in fact just another Big 3, cheaply made piece of scrap. I'll stick with my much more reliable, much better built, much higher quality Toyotas."

Wow, these die-hard import fans are really getting desperate to resort to this kind of blind, vitriolic rhetoric. I guess they are beside themselves now that American companies have regained their rightful place as the leaders in automotive quality. The "American junk" rant certainly isn't supported by anything that J.D. Powers or Consumer Reports has been saying. The term "Japanese quality" is a term that died with the new decade.

Apparently the superior quality of the Toyota Tundra is the reason why Consumer Reports just rated it the #1 Pickup. Oh, wait... that's right, Consumer Reports gave that honor to the Chevy Silverado, citing the Tundra's poor reliability. Oops.

There is not a shred of data to indicate that ANY import (Asian or European) is any better built or more reliable than any current domestic vehicle. To the contrary, virtually every reputable source, without exception, is giving extremely good reviews to Ford and GM products.

Chrysler is building good vehicles too, but seems to be suffering not from reliability or quality problems, but uninspired (or downright ugly) styling.

Consumer surveys indicating the reliability of the owner's vehicles currently show domestics to be ahead of almost all imports. The high-ticket ego-mobiles such as Mercedes and BMW have several models rated MUCH worse than average in reliability. Toyota is reported to have an "uncharacteristic lapse in quality" (talk about UNDERSTATED!!) and Honda (and Acura) has yet to lose its reputation as a member of the "transmission of the month" club.

It seems that outspoken individuals who have owned ONE Toyota that actually made it past 100,000 with less than three engines have appointed themselves authorities on "reliability". To speak about problems with a domestic vehicle, it behooves one to have at least ridden in one. There are countless testimonies on here from individuals who have owned a large number of domestic vehicles that were totally trouble free. I think that carries a bit more credibility than one rare example of a 100,000 mile Toyota.

Google toyota oil gel program.

How about a 1970 Chrysler Newport 383 V8 touching 300,000 miles. My father would never sell... rides great, freezing cold a/c and a great American V8 with no emissions. My imports I sell every 3 years the warranty is up and repairs add up.

Despite the domestic owners trying to save their failing companies such as GM, who lost more money this year than ever before, and Dodge/Daimler/Chrysler, or whoever's willing to buy them this week, imports are still of much higher quality than domestics ever were.

And I've owned 3 Toyota's and 4 domestics. The Toyotas have never cost me a nickel in repairs, and every domestic but one sapped my wallet because of all the cheap materials, such as the engine and transmission, breaking down bi-monthly or whatever. Could never get a Ford to run right for a month straight.

I just got back from a 1500 mile trip, most of it running my Tacoma at 90 mph and 3300 rpms the whole way. It just hummed happily along. Any domestic I ever owned would have blown parts of the engine all over the highway in a fraction of that many miles. Couldn't get them to run right in town just babying them. There's your 'proof' of Toyota quality. Go ahead and tell more stories about domestic quality that doesn't and never did exist. I know better, and so do most people that make it a point to understand the mechanics of automobiles.

A co-worker put 410,000 miles on a 1967 Plymouth Valiant with the 225 C.I. slant 6. It never had an engine rebuild or a transmission rebuild.

16:27 you have owned 7 vehicles... I have had over 30 new ones; some company cars, but driven no differently. I have also had a number of used cars, but I am commenting only on vehicles I have had first hand knowledge since time of purchase.

Since 2000 I have 6 new vehicles; the last 3 have been domestics. I have seen Honda really go downhill mechanically. In turn my new domestics have had no issues.

I do not drive 90 mph as you seem to deem necessary... especially having a factory GPS it seems the quickest and safest means to go from I point to another in a safe manner.

I wonder of your 7 vehicles how many you actually purchased new, or did you buy someone else's problems? I never comment on vehicles that could have had no preventive maintenance done prior to my ownership.

I can give first hand knowledge on late model vehicles I have owned that have relevance to new purchasers however. You may not want to hear it, but my newer imports are not not anywhere as good as before..... that's the way it is. I call it as it is, and I am commenting on the present, not the 70's, 80's or 90's....

I drove a Dodge Viper at the speed limit on the interstate legal at only 1500 rpm slightly above idle; what's your point? Of course I can go 0-60 in first gear with 5 more gears left... what scares me is drivers such as this guy driving a top heavy non aerodynamic truck at 90 mph!

Way back in 1965 a team of totally stock Mercury Comets (made by Ford and containing 100% domestic parts) logged 100,000 miles at Daytona International Speedway at an average speed of 100mph. Proof that the myth of domestic unreliability was a myth over 40 years ago. Since my new Ford only turns 2600 rpm's at 90mph, I'm sure it could cruise 100,000 miles at that speed very effortlessly. That's barely a fast idle.

Incidentally, I've never even met anyone who had to replace an engine or transmission in any Ford vehicle before 200,000 miles.