2002 Toyota Tundra from North America - Off Topic Comments

My next door neighbor's "happy" Toyota engine just gave out (again), and the vehicle (a Tacoma regular cab) was hauled away on a flatbed tow truck. Between my neighbor down the street with a Camry and the people next door with the Tacoma, we see a lot of the towing service people.

23:45.

Funny you should mention that.

I was in a big traffic jam heading home on the Garden State Parkway last week (not an uncommon occurrence for the GSP). After sitting in traffic for a few miles, I arrived at the source of the catastrophe. What was it? A motionless late model Camry broken down in a traffic lane. A tow truck had not yet been able to get to it because of the same gridlock I was in.

What was ironic about the whole thing was not that I saw a Toyota broken down, because I see that all the time, but I was delayed to a lesser degree THAT VERY SAME MORNING on the way to work by a Toyota Sienna broken down on an exit ramp, which everyone had to slow down to take a look at.

Needless to say, I was not very happy with Toyota that day, but probably not as unhappy as owners of those broken down Toyota's.

I've not only been delayed by broken down Toyotas (usually Camrys or Tundras) but we've also ended up stranded when traveling with friends in their nearly new Toyota. There should be a law against littering the roads with these things.

I have had a few GM big blocks just begging to go beyond 6000 rpm. In all my years of driving and racing, I have never heard of a "threatening engine" unless its meant to intimidate the driver alongside.

As far as engines go, any new domestic I have had has easily gone well beyond 100,000 miles; it's no tremendous feat. Nowadays how many people even pull the plugs prior to 100,000 miles, most barely showing minimal wear.

Since the discussion is trucks... is your 2500-3500 rpm under load or just another empty import tooling down the interstate. Pull a real load on that engine... carry full rated capacities in the bed or tow consistent loads on the back of your pickup long distances or in heavy traffic. I suspect empty loads... big deal. Put a consistent load and get back to us with a transmission durability review and or engine durability indicating loads on it. I wonder how smooth the towing and hauling is when I have discovered how springy the ride is already. Maybe loading it down makes it ride better, but let's see how long the drivetrain endures. And spinning on the dirt is not pulling or having a full bed on long trips. Only you know ultimately if you are towing and loading the same...... I would love to see your truck equal mine in any category.

Yeah sure, broken down Toyota's everywhere but the GM's just keep running. Gimme a break. As if there aren't 50 broken down GM's on the highway for every ONE Toyota.

Just because the one Toyota owner has not had issues yet with a relatively low mileage vehicle does not mean they are immune. It could be alongside the road with many others at any time. Not wishing that on anyone, but it's a reality. When you own more new or newer ones after 2000 instead of just one vehicle to ever report on.

I actually just bought an import for my youngest son that just got his license. A 1999 Honda Civic 2 dr. coupe. Note that it's not an after 2000 model when every one my wife had failed on her. My son still likes Hondas them so I bought him one. I have no qualms on the older imports.

I currently have 4 vehicles...3 GM and 1 import. I have a daughter almost 15 and she will be driving no doubt in another year as well. I have a lot of vehicles to at least know of what is holding up. I will not even evaluate the 99 Honda even with relatively low mileage as I did not purchase it new and cannot realistically know its mechanical issues. It could have been cleaned up after driven hard but appears to be in excellent condition.

We buy a lot of new vehicles and I will comment on them good and bad. I am open minded or would not have bought an import again. I firmly believe that late 70's to late 90's the imports we had beared out the fact they were dependable and reliable. We had 4 after 2000 enough to indicate it wasn't just a couple lemons they all needed work. My wife has not changed her driving habits; in fact being over 50 she is not up for going into service shops and wasting her time.

I hope my son's Honda lasts for a while and gets him through college later. It has no warranty so if it breaks down that's the issue with buying a used car. We had good luck with our late 90's however.

Come up with am extremely impressive Tundra and I will buy one. And I do love going out looking around; it's a lot of the fun getting out seeing what's new and driving one home. The manufacturers are not buying our vehicles, we are, and I buy the best at the moment. I love my Silverado and tomorrow it will will be pulling my boat and it runs well and has a far better warranty. I cannot chance breaking down along the road and leaving my boat unattended even briefly along the road. It has to be extremely dependable and it is. Build a great performing handling strong Tundra with 100,000 mile warranty and I'll buy a new one if it's a nicer truck.

22:16.

No, I see mostly Toyota's broken down on the side of the road, by far. Most of my friends who have Toyotas have also had serious problems with them. That may be contrary to your beliefs about Toyota, but it is the truth.

Since there are about 100 GM's on the road for every Toyota, that's still 2 to 1 in favor of GM.

I'd love to know how you came up with those statistics. 100 GM's on the road for every one Toyota. Must be the same book that says GM's aren't scrap and that Ford's are built 'FORD TOUGH'.

I'll still be driving my 10 year old Tacoma when the new GM's on the sales lot are breaking down along the highway.

I question how 1998 Tacoma ownership actually completely qualifies one to even begin to offer a complete 2008 full size domestic new truck analysis? Indicating that you do not have to have any first hand experience with anything newer is ridiculous in my opinion. You can buy a brand new model based on my experience that literally has no issues and then buy another 2 years later that completely dispels that experience. It happened me with imports. Same car, same model, same drivetrain. You could buy a new Toyota truck and someday you probably will and it may enlighten you on this possibility. If you want to keep talking about 15 year cars you owned, whatever relevance that has in 2008, we will still read them. It will not have any effect on my purchases; I look at recent ownership of models I buy.

At any rate, I am not going with low mile warranties anymore, it doesn't make sense why any manufacturer does not have the confidence in their products to be equivalent. It would be like my saying nothing in the world is better than buying a 1995 Honda, it's better than any vehicle past or present in 2008. But then I bought new ones that kept getting worse and worse with egg on my face. May happen to you.

The domestic vehicle owners commenting here are simply unwilling to admit what the general public knows is true. Toyota has and does mean 'quality', and to hear the words 'General Motors' brings to mind a company in serious financial trouble that has made sub standard vehicles for years and years. They write in with story after story about their neighbor's bad Toyota, or have seen a bunch of them broken down on the highway.

I am a member of an off-road club, we do serious rock crawls and so forth, and guess what? Of the 12 or so guys that I drive with, there isn't a single Ford or Chevy in the group. Why? They're junk. They're not built well and simply do not hold up under any kind of abuse for very long. Everyone there drives either modified (suspension) Toyota's, Nissan's, or Jeeps; and only then because of the wheel base.

And guess what again? Of all the times we've been out, never yet has a Toyota or Nissan been pulled aside with the hood up because of some issue; only the Jeeps.

"2nd May 2008, 21:43.

I'd love to know how you came up with those statistics. 100 GM's on the road for every one Toyota. Must be the same book that says GM's aren't scrap and that Ford's are built 'FORD TOUGH'.

I'll still be driving my 10 year old Tacoma when the new GM's on the sales lot are breaking down along the highway."

You know, that's great that you like your Tacoma so much. But come on, making such a big fuss over a 10-year-old pickup? You need to get over it. There are also lots of people driving 10, 15, 20, and 30-year old Fords, Chevies, and Dodges that are just as proud of their vehicles. Yours is not better, even though you believe it is.

In the past 30 years GM has sold many times the number of vehicles Toyota has sold. GM has had 6 different car lines, each selling anywhere from 4 to 8 different models. You still see an awful lot of both GM cars and trucks built in the 80's still on the road every day. I can't recall seeing a first-generation Camry in many years, but my neighbor still drives the Buick he bought two years before Toyota even built the first Camry.

Considering the average life span for a Ford or GM vehicle is 25-40 years compared to 8-12 for Toyota I'd say the figure of 100 times as many GM's on the road as Toyotas probably is NOT accurate. It is probably more like 500 GM's to 1 Toyota.

07:50.

This thread about full size trucks. A full size truck is not an optimal vehicle for off road no matter who makes it. Of course a short light weight vehicle is better suited for that. You are comparing apples to oranges.

I am sure you would agree your compact Toyota is not suited for hauling heavy loads, nor even the size loads (gag) a Tundra can haul.

As far as durability is concerned, my brother's Ranger (which he takes off road and on the beach) has 400k+ miles with no problems, while I have always run every single one of my domestic trucks (and I have had them from Chevy, Ford and Dodge) well past 200k miles with no difficulty. They have been absolutely perfect. Thus, I do not agree with any suggestion that they are not reliable.

I wonder how many individuals go to their new truck dealer on here to join an off road club. I see a grand total of one Toyota daily lined up at the contractor supply waiting in line with Ford F250-350's,Silverado Duramax and Rams however. I'd rather not crap up my new truck spinning mud and going into creeks; if I did I probably would buy an H1 and pass everyone. Again why compromise on anything you buy... buy the best a heavy duty domestic full size pickup. I'd rather tow out a few nice dirt bikes or 4 wheelers to play off road, and I did years ago, except we simply used a Ford full size Van to go to the few off road sites that are not even legally around anymore. I did see an off roader recently in our park driving around the ball field bases in his truck, which seemed kind of foolhardy. I'll pass.