2002 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - All Comments

"Honda and Toyota make a superior product, hands down, end of argument."

I'll keep that in mind as I continue to drive the same Dodge that I've been driving for over 20 years. Yup, those lousy Dodges sure are unreliable. My last one only lasted 21 years and 260,000 miles before I had to sell it, and my current Dodge is only 35 years old with god knows how many miles. Yup, I sure wish I could find a more reliable car. Maybe I'll look for one in another ten years when my current Dodge quits. Should I look for a Toyota? No... I've had pretty good luck with Dodge. Sorry, no sale, 'yo.

"I also would like direct late model Toyota comments, addressing actual owner issues on consumeraffairs. com as well. Even better, look at features and benefits of domestic and import full size trucks by test driving them. By saying"

OK, well if direct ownership is more telling and you want more "proof" from more recent Toyota model owners since the new theory amongst domestic owners is that new Toyotas aren't as good as the old ones, I have several cases for you.

First, my Mom has a 2007 Honda CRV. She has a long commute and so far has put over 60,000 miles on it. So far so good. No problems. Not even in need of brake pads.

Second, my Dad has a 2001 Tundra - which according to you all are the "bad" Tundra. He uses it as an actual work truck. So far, it has 210,000 miles. Again - zero problems.

Third, My Uncle who after owning nothing but Fords for 50 years bought a Honda Pilot. They put 40,000 miles on it. His Wife had a head-on collision in it, totaling it. She was totally unscathed and got another one.

Fourth, me and my Wife have a 2002 Prius - the first generation. It spent the first 6 years in rural PA, in sub-zero winters. So far, no problems. It runs great and is just as reliable as all the other Toyotas we've owned.

Lastly, even though it's older, my 96 Tacoma has 230,000 miles. No problems. Runs like it was new.

What more can I say?

To 17:15. Well, your Dodge was SORT OF reliable. A co-worker of mine drove his old Plymouth 410,000 miles before that unreliable piece of American crap fell apart. Gosh, you can't even get a mere million miles out of most of this domestic junk.

This is for comment 11:58 who claims he is a mechanic and car enthusiast. I am not going to argue about what you said, but to correct you on what you said wrong. The best selling vehicle in America has been the Honda Civic, then Toyota Camry, then Toyota Corolla, then Honda Civic; if you want proof here is the link to the website :-

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080604-Honda-Civic-Now-America-s-Best-Selling-Vehicle/

And yes, you did say it may be knocked off by fuel prices, and well yes I think that is the reason it got knocked off top position, but why couldn't a domestic fuel efficient car make it in the top 4!? Look at all the cars in the top four - they are Japanese! So many people could not be wrong, there must be something that Japanese automakers are doing better than domestic - oh I know! Making better cars.

Oh and you love your Fords, look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB0araA0T_k&eurl=http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/the_bestselling_car_in_the_world_uhoh_9225.asp

It seems like a 2000 model Ford F-150, hmm sure wouldn't want to be in that.

Why is Toyota the number 1 maker? Is it because a majority of consumers can't see domestics are better as you claim? No that's not the reason, it's because it is better! If it was not better, Toyota wouldn't be the number one automaker. I am sorry but the domestics you owned back in the 60s are not the same now, they are worse.

11:16 Toyotas sales are way down from a year ago... What's your point? My last imports have been crap and expensive to repair.

I think there should be archived forums for the import owner with his head in the sand for ancient ownership issues. I would love to see this person ever read or comment on specific late model Toyota issues on consumeraffairs.com. As usual they point the finger the other direction rather than address the sludging, braking, air bags and engine concerns. It's OK to have these issues on Toyota because Ford had a faulty fuel filler design in the past.

The best selling full size truck is not a Toyota. The actual topic of the review. Maybe we can tow a small Toyota car though.

To comment 10:43. I heartily agree that ownership is one of the best indicators of quality and reliability in any vehicle. We owned imports during the era when they were supposed too be "good". During that time we also owned domestics, as we are a multi-car family. Only one import made 100,000 miles without rather major engine or transmission issues. None of our domestics ever required even one engine or transmission repair. We traded our last import for a Ford in 1999. I doubt we'll ever buy another import again.

Pretty soon there will be no such thing as a domestic car anyway, since both Ford and GM announced today that unless they get government funding, they will be out of cash by early 2009. Of course much of this was caused by the credit market. But GM and Ford have been bleeding money for years, and from none other than having a poor product portfolio for years and years. They focused entirely on large trucks and SUVs.

GM makes the claim that they would've been stupid for not providing what the consumer wanted at the time. But they also failed to update their midsized and compact car segments. Back as recently as the early 2000's, their small car offerings were cars like the Cavalier, Corsica, and Buick Century. These cars were jokes and had zero appeal whatsoever, which was fine at the time since they made up a tiny segment of GM's total sales and profits. So they were ignored. In the meantime, Toyota and Honda have always kept a fairly trim, well-developed lineup of cars and trucks ranging from the Camry down to the Scion line. All with value built in, and more importantly - a better choice over what GM offered at the time.

GM and Ford have sort of gotten their act together and have a decent lineup. But for one thing, they made such garbage for so many years that those who might have been buyers long ago have written them off and largely ignore what they have now. Secondly, it's simply too late and the credit crisis is a real threat. I hope for the sake of the US economy that they get that cash infusion. But if they do, they are going to have to make nothing but extremely high quality, value-added vehicles.

In regards to "Imports" being unreliable, it's funny how all of these supposed factual anecdotal tid-bits claiming that every import they ever owned was a piece of junk. First of all, the same posters have this undeniable love affair with anything domestic, hence why would they buy an import since it violates their taste? Secondly, I don't know hardly any people with Toyotas or Hondas that have had any major problems with them. Most just drive them and do so for years and years without even worrying about it. I don't buy it.

I don't know why Ford and Chevy owners insist on trying to sell Fords and Chevy's to Toyota owners on a Toyota thread. Nobody I ever met that owned a Toyota EVER switched back to a domestic. Every time, it's somebody who is tired of Ford's breaking down and finally buys something well built, like a Toyota or Honda. Seems like every domestic owner that posts here gets 3 or 400,000 miles out of a Dodge or a Ford. You'll have to excuse me for not believing a single word of that.

I've never met a person that got within 200,000 miles of that out of a domestic. OK, my buddy has a Dodge Ram with a 318 that has a little over 200,000 on it. Just one domestic. The rest of the examples of seen, hundreds of them throughout my lifetime, never got there. 200,000, that's it... That is nothing for a Toyota owner. EVERY old Corolla, Tercel, Camry, etc. can do that and far more with no trouble. I've seen dozens of old Honda's, Civics and so forth with well over 2 or 300,000 miles. Not domestics.

Sorry, Ford, Chevy and Dodge just don't design or build them well enough to do that. If it happens, it's a fluke. So go ahead and tell stories about high mileage Fords. I'll believe it when I see it. I HAVE seen countless Toyota's and Honda's do it.

17:28 2 questions... care to once comment on late model Toyota actual mechanical issues on consumeraffairs.com and why are most import manufacturers standard new factory warranty only half or less? The excuse that it is not necessary to sell when in the same vein you are purporting high quality does not add up. It seems like the manufacturer may be dodging high warranty costs and expecting the consumer to carry low mileage major issues. That is why we are not buying them now and we bought many new ones.

I wonder how many individuals buying have been long term repeat import buyers vs. newcomers? I switched lately after owning new imports since the first gas crisis in the early 70's due to quality and mechanical concerns with newer Japanese models. There may be a lot more newer buyers entering and maybe a lot of us older ones dissatisfied leaving.

It would seem to reason that it comes down to who has the most complete lineup of fuel efficient vehicles with gas pricing. Lately the pricing has come down, and personally I prefer a roomier more comfortable vehicle with children involved. Being squeezed up and staring at a fuel gauge is not everything. But with the tight economy, it's definitely a factor.

"Back as recently as the early 2000's, their small car offerings were cars like the Cavalier... These cars were jokes and had zero appeal whatsoever."

You know the Cavalier was the best selling small car in the country into the 2000's don't you?

It seems the Tacoma guy can't get his time machine out of the 1980's. If you look through these reviews, you'll find HUNDREDS of former import owners who have switched to domestics because the newer domestics are MUCH more reliable, have better warranties, and are far more comfortable.

He may not know anyone who has swapped a Toyota for a Ford, GM or Chrysler, but I know quite a few. 99% of the ones I know traded a Camry for a Fusion or Chevy Malibu. One of them traded a Camry for a Ford Escape.

As comment 03:11 makes a VERY good point. If Japanese cars were so reliable, why on Earth WOULDN'T the manufacturer give them a good warranty? Sounds like fear of too many repair issues to me.

22:32 It also seems like it should only be full size pickup truck comparisons on a full size pickup truck review. The import owners keep switching to very small car comments. If you are commenting on a Tundra, Ford F Series, Silverado, Titan, Ram models and less about Prius, Tacomas and especially cars over and over it would make the most sense. I would like to see everyone buy a new vehicle and stir up and stimulate the economy import or domestic. I find little benefit reading about small cars when the focus could be on load carrying, towing, warranty and full size mechanical issues on new full size pickup trucks. And again who is the first import owner that is ever going to comment on consumeraffairs.com with Toyota late model issues? Its there.

3:11 The warranty argument DOES hold up, plain and simple. Toyota doesn't need to offer the same kind of warranty GM does. People buy Toyota's knowing they're extremely reliable and are not that concerned about the warranty. GM doesn't make good enough vehicles to pull that off; that's it. People know they won't last nearly as long as a Toyota and will only concede to buy one if GM offers a long warranty.

If I'm the guy that owns Toyota, I'm offering a 36,000 mile warranty, and STILL outselling GM, why am I going to spend more money offering a longer warranty when I don't have to? It's common sense.

If I'm the guy that owns GM and I see Toyota kicking my a** around the block because I know my company has a reputation for making disposable cars, what are my options? I don't build them as well as Toyota, so my only option is to offer a longer warranty for when they DO break down. Again, common sense.

It's sad really. When GM goes under, it's going to put a small dent in the economy, and as an American, that bothers me. It's only a matter of time. They can't keep losing billions of dollars and stay in business. In fact, the last article I read on my homepage said that GM is at the point where they have just enough money to function. It bothers me that an American automaker doesn't care enough to make a car, or truck, that can compare with a Japanese automobile.

This is no ones fault but theirs. Make a decent product and people will buy it. That is what Toyota and Honda have proven. GM's constant losses prove that if you make junk for long enough, Americans get tired of it and look for a better product, even if it's from a foreign company.

I know where the money goes when I buy a Toyota. Overseas. I also know that I'm going to keep buying them because they don't break down like the garbage Fords and Chevy's I've owned. What am I supposed to do? Buy a GM out of patriotism and have it empty my wallet with repairs in the long run? When I can buy a Toyota, do routine maintenance and drive it for 300,000 miles without a single issue? That's an easy decision for me. I work too hard for my money to trade it for a junk GM or Ford when Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and even Hyundai offer a much more reliable product.

"When GM goes under, it's going to put a small dent in the economy... It bothers me that an American automaker doesn't care enough to make a car, or truck, that can compare with a Japanese automobile."

GM's problems are NOT vehicle related, but management related. It has to be the worst run company on the planet. It is way too top heavy with too many managers, has too many brands and too many long term expenses (i.e., health care, pensions, etc.).

If you want to bash GM for the way it is run, I will do so right along with you, as it is appalling. But do not say GM's problems are vehicle related, because that is just not true. By contrast, it is Toyota that is having significant issues with quality control (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota_engine.html), and people are finally starting to catch on whether you want to admit it or not.

Likewise, you might have also seen that Toyota's sales are way down too.