2007 Toyota Tundra from North America - Off Topic Comments

********************

steven@carsurvey.org

********************

There's no policy operating that favors particular manufacturers, and despite numerous checks, I have no evidence of any organisation or individual trying to manipulate the content of carsurvey. org right now.

In the past, some individuals (not organisations) have tried to distort the content of carsurvey.org, and those people have been blocked from posting content to the site.

Anyone with particular concerns should contact me via email. Alternatively, I'm open to having a public debate about this on my blog in the interests of transparency, but the comments of particular reviews is not a suitable place to make accusations of this type.

Steven Jackson, CSDO Media Limited.

16:44 The real, honest information is being spoken. No, Japanese cars aren't perfect, they're simply a lot closer to it than American makes. Sorry if you can't handle the reality of this, but in typical, good old USA fashion, our automakers have not given much thought to long term quality, they just want to make a dollar right now, and who cares about the future?

Problem is, their 'future' is now. People are tired of buying GM, Ford, and Dodge junk; they've seen the repair shop too many times, and have had their wallets bled dry too many times. Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda spent the time and money to make a reliable, long-lasting product.

Now, they knew that they weren't going to make a lot of money right away, and they didn't. GM just kept pumping out Cavaliers that were slapped together as quickly as possible, and they made a lot of money. But now, the past has caught up with them both, good and bad.

Toyota made solid, one step at a time progress, never losing sight of quality or cutting corners, and now they are on top. GM and Ford have finally burned enough consumers that their reputation is burying them.

I'm not pro-Japanese, and not anti-American. I don't care if Toyota's are made here, in Sweden, in Iraq, or anywhere else. It makes no difference. The fact is that when I see a car with that symbol, or the word 'Toyota' on it, I know it's the best make of car or truck on the road, and that's what I'll continue to buy unless and until something even better comes along.

Like it has been said, Toyota could have a recall on 100 cars and the domestic crowd will use this as facts that Toyota is going down hill, just as a government can get 'facts' to go to war. I believe only 30k Tundras are affected. So what is your point? The facts are still that 49% of domestic buyers would buy their Chevrolet or Ford again. What do you think about that?

I have a Tundra; it is the best truck I have ever owned. Period.

10:42 Don't believe a word of it. Just another comment from a Ford guy that hasn't yet awoken to the fact that Toyota has been making better vehicles than Ford from day one. Before imports started selling well in the States, all of the domestic automobiles were REALLY bad. Why? There was no competition, so Ford, GM, and Dodge just kept pumping out junk as fast as they could and people kept having to buy it for lack of anything else.

Then in the '80s Honda and Toyota started making their way over here in a big way, and they were so much better than the Big 3 that it was embarrassing to Americans. Then the Big 3 scrambled in an attempt to catch up to Toyota and Honda, which they've been doing ever since.

First actually, they tried to bribe the US government to raise tariffs on imports so they wouldn't sell over here, and they (the big 3) could just keep making the same junk and not have to spend any money making a better vehicle. Same thing happened to Harley Davidson in the '80's. Honda bikes were so much better built it was a joke. Harley tried the tariff thing. It failed. So, Harley actually started making bikes that were decent to compete with far superior Japanese models.

Domestic automobiles have slowly improved, but are still many years behind in quality. They still show little concern with making fuel efficient vehicles, and that will ruin them eventually. They now have a couple of models like the Chevy Aveo and the Ford Focus, but they're ridiculous next to 30 years of engineering put into cars like the Corolla and Civic.

Toyota may be fairly new to the full size truck game, but as always, they're clearly making a better vehicle than the Big 3. Before you buy, look into these issues. Toyota is always a smarter buy than Ford, GM, or Dodge when it comes to anything in a half ton truck or lighter.

I agree with the above comment. The Toyota is vastly superior to anything GM, Ford, or Dodge could ever hope to build. It is also more American as well; all you have to do is watch a Tundra commercial on TV to realize that.

'people who are smart enough to buy a Toyota are also smart enough NOT to ever buy a Chevy'

That statement boggles the mind. You keep making these statements, yet your the only proof to back it up is Consumer Reports!

You can bury your head in the sand and just say the problems with Toyota's are just 'a story somebody made up', but I do know people who have had major problems with these cars!

You can say we're making this stuff up, but then what's to stop us from saying your stories about people with domestic cars are rubbish as well?

And I don't care what CR says, they'll tell you to buy anything that came from Japan.

Consumer Reports holds some truth guys. You have to admit that GM and Ford have let some pretty big stinkers out onto the market. Toyota has just now put some stinkers out, but that was only for 2007, as I hear the problems were resolved. Now let everyone be calm and go and watch football again.

11:01 My comment IS true, like it or not. GM and Ford have never made any vehicle that is comparable to a Toyota. That's just the way it is. If you actually research this without bias, you'd have no choice but to agree. There's decades of proof to back me up. Consumer Reports is just one small piece of the whole that proves me right.

18:59.

I agree, let's be calm. Even though we may disagree with what another person is saying, we do not have to be disagreeable about it.

Certainly every manufacturer has put out stinkers, as you say, but Toyota has been putting out stinkers since long before 2007. The sludge problem has been going on since 1996, and began at the same time as has the evaporative emissions control problem. The evaporative emissions problem has been resolved, but I have not seen any evidence that the sludge problem has. The braking and suspension problems with the Tundra too, have been around since day one. Perhaps they have been resolved in the new model. Time will tell.

The camshaft snapping problem in the new Tundra v8 is just joining us for 2007, but Toyota was not able to conceal that problem, and/or blame it on its customers like they did for so long with the sludge problem. Toyota would like people to think it this is just an isolated incident of a lapse in Toyota quality, but it is not. Thousands of people have have had had Toyota engine failures throughout the late 90's and this decade thus far. Just take a look at Consumer Affairs and this website, and you will see many years of documented Toyota problems.

Now Toyota has finally had to cut production to try and get a handle on all of the problems, but that does not mean problems had not been occurring for years. It just means they finally feel compelled to do something about it because people are starting to realize Toyota's of late have not been living up to all the hype. I see nothing about their track record that gives me any reason to believe they will get their act together any time soon.

OK, explain to me why Ford has not recalled the cylinder heads on the 5.4 triton? What about GM recalling the plastic intake manifolds on many of its vehicles. Yeah the domestics are so much better.

The warranty is better on domestics, and it sounds like import or domestic you are going to need it.

To 11/2 @ 17:05...

"Domestic automobiles have slowly improved, but are still many years behind in quality. They still show little concern with making fuel efficient vehicles, and that will ruin them eventually. They now have a couple of models like the Chevy Aveo and the Ford Focus, but they're ridiculous next to 30 years of engineering put into cars like the Corolla and Civic."

Um, the domestic automakers may still have some catching up to do, but they're not "many" years behind as you say. As for their "little" concern over making fuel efficient vehicles, GM is now building hybrid versions of their full size SUV's. I don't see any Japanese automaker doing that yet, not with a large SUV anyway! I also don't see the domestic auto industry neglecting their car lines for the most part. There's been a lot of activity in the fiercely competitive mid-size segment recently.

You import fanatics might want to reconsider your willingness to write off the domestic auto industry. Things aren't what they used to be!

To 4:10; I don't think the mid-size car market is competitive at all; the Accord and Camry are still wiping the floor with everyone else, as usual. Only this year has GM finally began to consider making cars that someone might reasonably consider buying at today's gas prices. No way are they going to be a threat to people that have been buying Civics and Corollas for decades. The Aveo was a nice try, but it lacks all the refinement the can be found in a Civic or Corolla. I've driven the Aveo. It just feels like a small, cheap car, which is exactly what it is. The Civic is actually fun to drive, it corners well and engine is a pleasure to hear and feel. As usual, the GM product feels sloppy and cheap. They have a LONG way to go.

If you want to talk about recalls and flaws in automotive corporations, then I can't think of a worse case than that from GM. The single biggest problem GM has had, and continues to have is that they use Dexcool in their coolant systems.

This is the red, high mileage 150,000 mile stuff. Anyhow, the coolant has a tendency to collect and accumulate after 2-3 years on interior metal and plastic parts. As a result, it clogs heater cores, radiators, and narrow water outlets in the engine block. This is a major problem and as far as I know, GM hasn't recalled this despite the super-easy fix of simply changing the fluid.

So go on- bring up the 300 car recall from Toyota again... we're listening...