5th Jan 2007, 22:22
Any time a foreign based company sells products to Americans it hurts the American economy. Regardless of the fact that Toyota has plants in this country, it is still a Japanese company and takes money away from hard working Americans. Ad hype or not, I'm buying domestic. Besides, with all the recent news about Toyota having problems with defective air bags (note this reviewer's comment on that one!!), defective brakes, sticking accelerators and faulty transmissions I'd feel far safer in a domestic than in one of these death traps.
6th Jan 2007, 06:46
Those who buy foreign vehicles want whats best for their money... is it best long term however? You may have gotten a good buy short term for just yourself. But it may cost you and many of the rest of us by reducing our spending power and increasing taxes by doing so. I have been downsized twice because of plant shutdowns. The more American industries we lose the more it will cost us with higher costs and interest rates. Losing a plant involves tax loss, unemployment that costs you and every other taxpayer, large utility consumption that leaves us to pick up with higher rates, harming other local businesses that also buy utilities support workers etc. I was guilty myself buying luxury imports for quite a while. But I realized that I am not doing right long term for everyone especially my children.
If you do not like a large % of your money going out of the country give all of this some thought. You paid more for your foreign vehicle then you realized and we all paid a bit for it as well.
6th Jan 2007, 12:06
So we shouldn't buy Camrys or Accords? Oh, wait, those vehicles employ lots of Americans as they are designed, engineered, built, and sold here.
How about the Buick LaCrosse? No, wait, that car doesn't employ Americans as it employs Canadians.
How about the PT Cruiser? No, that employs Mexicans.
HMMMM, glad you made a choice to "keep jobs here".
Bet you shop at Wal-Mart, too! Keep those Chinese in business.
6th Jan 2007, 17:20
"The imports are safer, more reliable, superior cars and trucks."
Ah yes, more factual, well-supported statements from the "Toyota is better because I'm 19 and love my Corolla" crowd. Give it up.
6th Jan 2007, 18:20
If 100% of the import money remained in the U.S.A. great... not shipped back to Japan headquarters. Do your homework find one 100% made here and a domestic model. It was nice having vehicles that were not made of scrap steel.
6th Jan 2007, 21:09
There is no distinction between "foreign" and "domestic" in this country anymore. It doesn't exist. Almost everything you can buy is somehow a combination of the two. So, I will continue to buy the best; that being Toyota's, or maybe Honda's, depending on my mood at the time. And the guy that thinks that I am 19 is just as far off about my age as he is about choosing quality vehicles. Wrong on both counts.
7th Jan 2007, 01:11
I had 2 Mercedes in the past that I could barely afford because I felt they were better and my ego (at the time) required it. I thought they were better. I saw a lot of high repair bills. I went to Japanese and found they were in the shop with major repairs. I have finally found that there are some really nice domestic vehicles that are a better value.
7th Jan 2007, 06:42
We criticize them because they suck. It's funny to read comments made here by people who drive Fords and Chevys; they get so mad when someone that drives a Toyota lets them know that almost any import is a better choice. They respond with a "No they're not!", like a spoiled 7 year old kid, mind you when ALL the evidence, not worth repeating again, shows otherwise. Now there's a myth: Big # quality. Those of us that drive Toyota/Honda/Nissan, KNOW that they are the cream of the crop. We're all "brainwashed" in believing that we can drive something better than a Chevy, so that's what we do. It's pretty funny actually, because you guys that would drive them; well that's punishment enough for getting fooled into buying something so crappy! I so much enjoy seeing that dozens of domestics broken down on the side of the road every time I take a trip somewhere, especially when it's some big, expensive Tahoe or something. Almost never a Toyota or a Honda; if it is, it's an '82 Civic that probably has 400,000 miles on it and finally had a minor breakage. I hope you guys continue to buy that Big 3 crap, because if we all bought Toyota's, price would go up, and I have some mechanic friends that probably would be starving for business whereas now they make their bread and butter putting head gaskets and radiators and transmissions in Fords and Chevys. So, you big three guys, keep telling yourself that you drive something decent, keep buying them, and that way I can be entertained on my road trips when I see some guy in a Dale Earnhardt t-shirt standing on the side of the road with steam shooting out from under the hood of his cavalier.
7th Jan 2007, 08:01
"FORGIEN"??? Did you mean fur'n as in Imported??? or maybe you meant "Forgiven" as in you forgive it for not being American?
7th Jan 2007, 12:36
Comment 06:42 is typical of virtually EVERY comment I read in this site from import owners. It is totally lacking in any facts, shows not a shred of technical knowledge regarding automobiles, quotes not a single reliable source (brochures from Toyota dealers don't count) and is written by someone who has never owned or probably even ridden in one of the vehicles he is bashing. I suggest you go to the Silverado site, look under the 2004 reviews under one entitled "Don't buy GM" (a suspected bogus review written in all probability by a Toyota salesman on his lunch break) and read comments 13:29 and those two or three following it. It is a VERY well researched, factual and ACCURATE comment showing tremendous knowledge of things automotive and evidence to support the commenter's position. It is typical of virtually EVERY review on here by an owner of domestic vehicles. In addition, some of the comments from people immediately following comment 13:29 are from people who have ACTUALLY OWNED imports. This kind of FACTUAL, ACCURATE information is far more convincing than the comments from the high school kids whose first (and only) car is a Corolla daddy bought them, and who don't even know what "front wheel drive" or "OHC" means.
5th Jan 2007, 20:04
Lets be serious here about the issue. Even if they did make more profits by us buying their cars they would still complain because they are not making the grade and not able to compete with competition. I know of a fact that Target has had to make cuts to health benefits so that they can better compete with walmart. It is just the way business goes: make more profits for the company no matter what it takes. Even if we had bought out Ford of all their Taurus's they would have still moved production to Mexico to make more profit. By the way, as the midsize car was forgotten in Detroit, the Japanese were able to take over what they knew how to do the best: the automobile. No body wants to buy American cars because they are upset over how they were neglected in the 80's and 90's.