Post by ben91932Hi Ed... et al
"I don't think Toyota builds bad vehicles"
My father once told me that you cannot win an argument over religion,
politics or homosexuality; and I'm amending that to include car
brands!
Everyone has their favorites and most cant be dissuaded...
The Toyota/Lexus techs I know spend about 75% of their time on
customer pay jobs; routine maint. repairs etc.(I'm sure that will not
include the throttle recall madness)
The Ford/Lincoln techs I know spend 75% of the time doing warantee
repairs (99% of which are not recalls)
It is a completely different corporate culture. Ford is perfectly
happy shipping a car with a bunch of issues and then pay the dealer to
fix them. Toyota strives to make them right out of the factory door.
I know these observations are a tad dated but it still speaks volumes
about the way the companies think.
Ben
PS I own and drive a Toyota, Dodge, Chevy Nissan and Lincoln
I can't speak for all cars, just the one owned by me and close relatives. My
parents owned Fords for most of my life. I can remember one bad Ford in all
that time, and "bad" was relative to the others. It had a weird noise that
sounded like an exhaust leak. The dealer spent months and never fixed it.
Eventually it was discovered that a portion of the sound deedening material
had been damaged. Once it was repaired, the noise was gone. Now my Mother,
Sisters, SO, and SO's daughter all own Toyotas. None have had any
significant problems, although the SO's RAV4 has a couple of minor issue
(bad cruise control and non-operable rear compartment rear seat back
releases). But then the last three Fords I have owned have had zero
problems. I have a Fusion with 70,000 males and it has not had a single
repair. Most significant trip to the dealer was to have the ATF changed. My
F150 did have a problem with a tire pressure sensor, but I suspect that it
was damaged when I had a flat tire fixed (dealer replaced it for free
anyhow). I've only owned two GM vehicles, a Saturn Vue and a beat up worn
out Firebird (my son's car, bought with 140,000+ miles showing on the
odometer). Neither were great, but I didn't think either was terrible
(although after my son started driving the Vue did start to take a real
beating). I've owned Ford, Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans, and an assortment of
British Cars. Family members have owned Fords, Toyotas, VWs, and Hondas. My
only concrete rule coming form my personal observations is, stay away from
VWs. Otherwise I've not seen much difference in reliability or longevity
between the various major brands. I've considered several Toyota models in
the past (most recently a Tundra) but generally mark them off the list
because they never seem to fit quite right, and they often have horrible
control layouts. I am tall/large person, so I suppose I am outside of
Toyota's target Customer Group, or at least it seems that way - especially
when I end up driving one of the three RAV4's in my immediate family (how do
they make a car so big on the outside and so cramped on the inside?). I can
get in almost any American or European designed car and find a comfortable
driving position. Even Nissan and Mazda seem to make cars I can fit into. On
the other hand the only Toyota I have driven recently that I was truly
comfortable in is my Mother's Highlander (actually a very nice vehicle that
has remarkable power considering it has a 4 cylinder engine and had fuel
economy as good as my AWD Fusion).
My point is, it you buy a Toyota because a bunch of Toyota enthusiast over
hype the quality of the vehicles, you are setting yourself up to be a
sucker. There is no way a Camry is worth thousand more than a Fusion or a
Altima. Even if you believe the most pro-Toyota statistics, the differences
between the brands is trivial. The prices often are not. Buy based on your
needs, not on some silly claims that Toyota are especially good. And BTW,
the same surveys that often claim Toyota cars have better quality also claim
Toyota has poor Customer service...go figure.
Ed