2002 Toyota Tundra SR5 from North America - Off Topic Comments

Of course it's an anti-domestic review. He drives a Toyota. I was anti-domestic after the first day of driving my first Toyota over 15 years ago. It's immediately apparent how much better they are than a domestic. And they keep proving it to you year after year.

The drop in quality even over the last 5 years by Toyota and Honda to for that matter is quite evident throughout this site and all over ConsumerAffairs.com. That is why we quit buying them. I'll still look at new ones, but no basis is influencing a current purchase from a vehicle 15 years ago. I doubt you have driven a single 2008 domestic to even offer a basis in comparison. Try driving both and owning quite a few more in recent years, then reply unless you are into a personal archive comparison... again drive the new imports and new domestics. I do and buy the best at the moment. Right now it's certainly not a new import. I do not have faith they will hold up......... maybe 15 years ago you had a point, but you have lost sight of current ownership to qualify a new import/domestic purchase. Too far out of date.

I think a lot of people fail to really read the reviews and comments here as well as items in various automotive sources. There is no question that Toyota quality has gone down, but the odd part is, it has really not gone down all that much in regards to the late 80's through the 90's. Even then the quality of most Toyotas was in a decline, especially Camry. There were a handful of Tacomas and 4-Runners that actually lasted to 150,000-200,000 miles. These were the exceptions, and very rare indeed.

I've never seen a Toyota that went as far as the Ford Ranger featured in last October's Consumer Reports (just under 500,000 miles). To last that long without an engine repair requires very good build quality. Toyota hasn't had that in decades.

Yet another review that's turning into a foreign/domestic debate. If you drive a Ford or Chevy, and are happy with that, good for you. Some of us want better and buy Toyota's. Read the headline, it sums it up: no more GM. I said good riddance to domestic years ago, and have a lot less headaches and a lot more money in my wallet driving imports; specifically Toyota's. No one is going to convince me that GM, Ford, or Dodge makes or a better car or truck than Toyota, because I know from experience that they do not.

And that experience was 15 years ago. Read the collective late model import reviews and Consumer Affairs; it may enlighten you to keep your older import and drive it lightly, so that it will not need a newer replacement.

I read a lot about vehicles. Just read today that Ford has recalled over 600,000 F-150's for a faulty vacuum hose that could lead to failed braking. Typical Ford, with safety issues and typical Ford unreliability. Of course, domestic owners will just bring up Tundra recalls that have long since been solved, handled properly, and nowhere NEAR in number what this Ford recall entails. Chalk up another 'negative' in Ford's column. This kind of thing is just one of the many reason's I stick with Toyota, or most any import, instead of cheap Big 3 crap.

OK, let's DO discuss Toyota recalls. For starters, non-deploying air bags (a life-threatening issue). Then how about Tundra's front suspension failures (another life-threatening issue). How about Tundra's defective brakes? (ditto). Of course engines that don't run are not life-threatening, so import fans just brush off the entire huge run of Tundras that had defective engines as "not Toyota's fault" (the engines apparently were secretly assembled behind Toyota's back in a hollow tree by evil elves).

12:44 Any Ford that makes it to 500,000 is a miracle. In fact, any Ford that makes it to 200,000 without any major work is a miracle. If you don't know of any Toyota owners that have gotten 200,000 or better, then you must simply avoid them all.

I just took my Tacoma in for a recall on '95 -99 models, and I stood under the truck with the mechanic for a while. This was a Toyota dealership. He said my truck was about the 60th one he'd seen since the recall was issued, and he could not remember seeing any of these trucks come in for any service other than oil changes and so forth; not a single mechanical issue. He also said he could not believe how many of these 10 to 13 year old trucks came in with 200, 250, and upwards of 300,000 miles on them and had no service record. This is simply what Toyota drivers expect and receive over and over. They came in with 280,000 miles or so on them, running just fine, and left.

Fords and Chevy's don't do this. Period. And in the extremely rare occasion that they do, then I agree, someone should write a story about it because it is an oddity.

I just read the latest Tacoma review on Car Survey (many owners) and I know I made the right decision not buying any Toyota truck. Also Tundra sales are down and were no threat anyway whatsoever to Fords #1 full size truck satisfaction for years. A recall can be positive what isn't positive is paying out of pocket personally for a measly 36000 mile warranty on many imports. That's a joke in 2008. GM is also excellent with the Silverado pickup. Far superior pickup in 2008 as well.

OK so the only vehicle to buy is a little 1995-1999 Tacoma, never a new full size truck... it seems like it's Tacoma Tacoma Tacoma from 10 years ago. How can one objectively comment on any Tundra or new Ford or GM in 2008? This review is on full size trucks anyway. I am not downsizing, reducing my capabilities and certainly not the lousy warranty anymore. Look at all the major Toyota issues posted. Sorry its 2008 and I am not buying one especially the little trucks that are useless to the full size market. A decade ago or longer is in the past. Why comment on new vehicles if you cannot objectively critique them. Why not compare to the Model A,bicycles or horse and buggies next? My new computer is better than the one 10 years ago. The point is review apples and apples. Full size truck owners and buyers want comparisons on same class vehicles close to the year under review not long long ago and not even the same size. Maybe the S10 or small Ranger owners might like the comparisons though.

05:38 OK, let's talk full size trucks. Fords and Chevy's are still junk. There you go. Driven them both, looked at them both; not to buy, just to look.

Let's start with the Ford. The first huge, glaring problem is that it's a FORD, which, as most people know, means it won't run well for very long, will doubtless have serious recalls at some point (such as the 600,000 recalled F-150's recently, the cause of several accidents already), and is simply an inferior truck with an inferior to Toyota engine and drivetrain.

GM is much worse than Ford, which is hard to imagine but true. GM trucks don't have any good points at all. Zero. Still a crappy GM engine, with a crappy, cheaply made body and bunch of components surrounding it. Just park it next to a Tundra and look at the obvious differences in build quality. The Toyota, of course, embarrasses it. See for yourself.

For instance, follow any new GM car or truck down the road, and watch the muffler and tailpipe sway back and forth with every bump. Follow a Toyota. You can jump it off a pile of dirt and it won't move. Believe me, I've done it. That's just one of many examples.

I don't even mention Dodge usually because they're so pitifully terrible that everyone should know not to buy one.

Moving away from trucks, let's mention the Durango's brakes for example. There were so many lawsuits over those pieces of junk that auto parts stores stopped carrying their brake pads because they wanted nothing to do with Dodge brakes. You have to go to the Dodge dealership when your brakes fall apart to get new pads.

Let's talk about my good friends brand new F-150 that had a bad hesitation from day 1 and still does because Ford says it's SUPPOSED to do that. Or the six other times he's brought it back so far because it had multiple recalls on the brakes AND airbags. Good combination there. That's even worse than the Ford engines out there that have badly machines heads and the spark plugs blow right out of the head while you driving. Look that one up. I myself have seen it happen on a Ford boxtruck we drove for a company I worked for. Spark plug was still attached to the wire but just hanging loosely out there in mid air. Good old Ford quality; (or lack of it of course).

Anyone even heard about the Tacoma recall?

Anyone who blindly picks a vehicle because of the badge on the front is making a mistake. Every car from every manufacturer is different. If Tundras are "good" it means nothing about Camrys or Tacomas. If F150s have a recall it says nothing about the Ranger or the Focus. Different assembly plants, and a different design team.

The Tacoma recall (rusting frames - 80% of recalled vehicles being CRUSHED) is such a huge deal. Where is the media coverage? The mighty Toyota screwed up so big, they are buying these old trucks back from customers to avoid the lawsuit that would have occurred.

17:04 The joke about the warranty is that GM makes such a crappy product that they MUST offer a 100,000 mile because nobody will buy them otherwise, and even that is a scam. What's 100,000 miles? It's nothing anymore. Even a junk GM will usually limp along to 100,000. What happens after that? Then you're stuck with an out of warranty vehicle that's about at the end of it's life, in the case of a GM. Buy the Toyota and you still have probably 200,000 more miles to go. Toyota doesn't offer that warranty because they don't have to. Plain and simple. People buy them on the well-earned reputation that they're actually built right and won't fall apart such as a GM would.

19:30 Yeah, I've heard about the Toyota recall. My truck is one of the ones being bought back. Guess what? As usual, Toyota is handling the problem and taking care of their customers. I'm getting 150% of Kelly Blue Book RETAIL (the highest), value (excellent condition every time, no matter what your Tacoma looks like), for my truck.

So basically, I bought the truck, drove it for three years, and am now getting back a few thousand more than what I paid for it. Basically, they PAID me to drive it for 3 years. What do you think Ford/GM would have done in their shoes? I'd be part of some huge class action lawsuit, and they'd have done nowhere near enough if not NOTHING; probably claiming that because I live in the snow belt and they salt the roads here, that it's my problem.

I'm getting enough money to buy a brand new Yaris (with additional rebates included for buying Toyota again) and I'll have NO PAYMENT on it. This is one of the many reasons I'm glad every day I don't own domestic. They NEVER would have treated me this well.

What's 100,000 miles? Well, more than the average driver ever keeps a new vehicle for one. Now days people trade more often, so having a car with a 100,000 mile warranty means never having to worry about it. Most people buying new cars today are looking at ride, reliability, fit and finish, convenience and safety features and overall build quality. In other words, they're looking for domestics.