2002 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - All Comments

13:44 go to consumeraffairs.com at least once and review Toyota owners issues. It's easy to forget us that have had a number of imports over the years.

Another issue is to consider that saying all are bad is a broad sweep of the brush. If you were specific comparing exact model to exact model, it goes both ways. Unless you are personally going to buy all models, I fail to see the comparison.

I would love to show you my bills.

Again, an automotive "expert" who test drives a car for 20 minutes for a magazine article has absolutely NO way of projecting how "reliable" it will be. It is a purely objective view based on how many cute little gimmicks the car has.

ONLY frequency of repair records can indicate reliability, and no one has provided them.

A Camry owner who has had two transmission failures and part of the bumper falling off in less than 8,000 miles, but who feels the car is "great" is hardly objective. Neither is a Corolla owner who had to replace the engine in the first 20,000 miles but "loves the car and would buy another".

And of course let's not forget the thousands of Tundra owners who had engine failures due to all those bad cams that were mysteriously installed by evil elves without Toyota's knowledge.

Lastly, we even have testimony on this very review from a Tacoma owner whose truck broke in half due to a defective frame, but rants that "Toyota is the best".

Sorry. I've owned dozens of domestics that never had a single problem, and 3 imports that were all total garbage. Car's that fall apart in less than 100,000 miles don't deserve to get rave reviews, and every one of our imports did just that. You won't find a "yes" on any of our import reviews beside "Would you buy another car from this company", unlike most import reviews.

OK yes I agree they are websites that provide opinions. I have showed you 5 websites based on opinions that say imports are better. Can you just tell me ONE website that gives an opinion that domestics are better!?... bet you can't.

And for whoever information that was telling me Jamaicans can't afford American cars... we bought the 2003 Ford Escape for 1.1 million Jamaican dollars, and a 2003 CRV is going for 1.7 million, which is like a 10,000 dollar US difference... hmmm but still people buy the CRV because it's better :-) and you're saying we can't afford better... Come to Jamaica and see how many BMW X5s are here, Mercedes even, many Range Rovers, and the most common SUV in Jamaica is the Toyota Prado, which if you buy brand new in Jamaica is 80,000 US!... but people know they are worth it so they buy it.

Why do any of you care what someone else's opinion of different makes of cars is? Can't you just be happy owning what you like, and letting others like what they have? What exactly is the point of your debating? To convince someone else to like what you like? Why?

You like Ford, buy one. You like Hyundai, buy one. Who cares.

Still waiting for those articles about how domestics are more reliable. All I've read so far is opinion that adds up to nothing.

I can show years and years of reviews that place Toyota and Honda on top, year after year.

Still waiting for a valid argument from a domestic owner.

I won't hold my breath though, because there aren't any.

In reviewing some of my past issues of Motor Trend and Car and Driver, I find not one single instance of ANY domestic being shown in any objective way to be more reliable than an import. What I DO see is a lot of "oh, gosh, it has more gadgets" and "the 4-speed GM transmission (or 3.8 V-6) is antiquated". I see NOT A SHRED of evidence supporting RELIABILITY, only gushing over electronic gadgets and 6-speed automatics in "sophisticated" (read that "expensive and complicated") imports.

My family currently has 4 GM vehicles with the "antiquated" 4-speed automatic. 2 of these have over 250,000 miles on them, and those "antiquated" 4-speeds are still working perfectly with never a repair.

As for the 3.8 V-6 (as well as Ford's 3.0 V-6), car magazine writers are far more impressed with the fact that the imports are more complicated and loaded with gimmicks, and ignore the fact that in terms of reliability, the GM and Ford "outmoded design" is still going strong and has proven INCREDIBLY reliable.

I hear this "repair records prove that imports are more reliable", but I'm still waiting to SEE them.

12:43 More stories..."my family's domestics have 900,000 miles and no repairs". And more of YOUR OPINIONS about GM and domestics in general.

Well, you certainly are entitled to your opinions, the problem still remains that you are incorrect about reliability concerning imports and domestics.

Need I be specific AGAIN? Pick up ANY issue of Consumer Reports, Edmunds, etc. over the last... (ohh, I'll be conservative here)... let's say 10 years, in which they give overall ratings of auto manufacturers in terms of quality or reliability. Whether they give it a number, assign it a rating of 'stars' 1-5, or whatever, you WILL read that Japanese-manufactured automobiles have ALWAYS topped the lists. Consistently.

Let me make this clear again: YOUR STORIES about your family's domestics, their non-existent repair records, etc., don't mean anything.

So, I'll ask again, as another commenter did: show me ONE article, anywhere credible in a major publication, that rates ANY domestic automaker as higher in quality than Toyota or Honda overall. (This doesn't mean picking out ONE vehicle by Ford/GM that received a higher rating than ONE particular Toyota).

You will find that Toyota and Honda, overall, are rated, by experts, as being higher in quality than Ford, GM, or Dodge every time. Period. No more stories about Ford mileages and repair records that are impossible to prove. Show me ONE article to the contrary.

15:50 makes the most sense. Sounds like an extremely satisfied GM owner.

15;50 Exactly right. I am a Toyota owner, this is a Toyota site, and I read here because I have an interest in Toyota trucks.

If you want to drive a piece of crap GM or Ford, so be it. I don't care. If you want to discuss crappy Ford and GM trucks, go do it on a Ford/GM site, where somebody might care about that junk.

I drive Toyota's because I know they're the best vehicles on the market alongside Honda's. I don't care about how many miles are on a junk F-150 or that somebody thinks it's a better truck than a Toyota. It isn't, I know that, but if you like them, drive them. Your loss, not mine.

The GM 3.8 V6 is one of the greatest engines. I have had them in Pontiacs and even my first 21 foot Starcraft boat. Extremely thrifty and bulletproof.

My 6000LE and 90 Bonneville (still owned by a friend) are still doing long commutes to work. I think the Pontiac 6000 was built too good with its great drivetrain.

As far as transmissions, GM's 6 speed manual cruises with high mpg for hours on trips. Even mated with a large V8 the engineers know how to bring the RPM down to barely lope on the interstate. And much more fun to drive.

To 14:30: You requested one article proving domestics are reliable. This article has been referred to DOZENS of times (and always ignored by import owners), but the October 2007 issue if Consumer Reports features cars (and trucks) that have gone over 200,000 miles with no problems.

True to its obvious bias, Consumer Reports chose to show a Honda Civic on the cover, which actually had the SHORTEST life of any of the featured cars. The "star" of the article inside the magazine (where casual browsers in a book store would never see it) was none other than a FORD RANGER with 488,000 trouble-free miles. It had the LONGEST life of any vehicle featured. Then, true to its obvious bias, Consumer Reports OMITTED the Ford from its list of "cars likely to go 200,000 miles". This is typical of ALL car magazines, which HAVE to acknowledge that domestics are more reliable, but REFUSE to do it in an honest an open way.

This issue of Consumer Reports is a typical example of the kind of designed-in bias in reporting that fuels the myth that imports are somehow better. Magazine reviews and owners surveys are NOT objective or reliable. When a biased magazine like Consumer Reports lists the Ford Fusion as the most reliable car, that is a miracle and on a par with the parting of the Red Sea, and HAS to be taken as true. When they show a Honda Civic on the cover of a magazine touting 200,000 mile vehicles when it had the SHORTEST life of any featured in the actual article, THAT is business as usual.

I'm still waiting for those non-existent frequency of repair reports that import companies will never DARE release. Don't give me biased opinions, give me real data that was NOT on some form filled out by a Toyota owner who has replaced 3 transmissions and two engines in the first 20,000 miles but thinks the car is just Heavenly.

I'd much rather take a long trip in a new Ford F-150 Harley Davidson Edition Pickup than some light bouncy bare bones Tacoma.

Another interesting bit of news: Consumer leasing rates the resale value of the Tundra LOWER than the Silverado, and the sales of the Ford Focus last quarter went up by a greater percentage than Corolla and Civic COMBINED. I guess fewer people are being taken in by ad hype.

17:02...please go to consumeraffairs. com and look at Toyota/Honda issues. I know you refuse to look. What's with the head in the sand import attitude? The only way it sinks home is when it hits hard personally.

I see the reliability below average and parts and labor high. I no longer see the import cachet or whatever you wish to call it as a reason to remain today.

13:14 Well, I asked a domestic owner for a review from a credible magazine that states that domestics are more reliable than imports, and what you gave me is yet another article that PROVES ME RIGHT. A Honda Civic on the cover, and more articles that explain the obvious fact that imports are more likely to go over 200,000 than domestics. I already know this fact, and the article you presented me just backs that up!

Well, that is the way it is. Honda's, Toyota's, Nissan's, etc. ARE more likely, and almost always DO get more mileage than domestics. Unbelievable; the article you presented us all with SAYS THIS.

I suppose I'll ask AGAIN: show me an article in a major publication that states that domestics are of higher quality or reliability than imports. ONCE AGAIN, you can't, because it isn't true.