Another Example of Poor Build Quality

Too much electronics. Computing power is nice on a 777 airliner but not on cars. All things equal less parts that can fail means less parts to fail.
Without these electronics you won't get the drive by wire fuel economy saving, nor the hybrid power train, nor the ABS and traction controls that save your lives, pop your air bag faster than you can ever do it yourself, shift your gear for you in traffic jam, adjust your air fuel ratio so you have 20mpg instead of 10mpg, or so you can have a crew cab instead of a station wagon for the same mpg.

You owe these electronics a lot, you just didn't realize it.
 
I've been hearing about "cars these days too complicated, you can't even work on them" etc for at least 30 years... they might finally be right, though!

As well as, "domestic cars USED to be junk, but now they are a match for the imports"... not so sure about that one, but I buy well-used cars.
 
Crazily my highest build quality vehicle so far has been our 2018 VW Tiguan made in Mexico. VAG beat out Honda, Acura , Subaru in first 100k of our ownership new….
 
I've been hearing about "cars these days too complicated, you can't even work on them" etc for at least 30 years... they might finally be right, though!

As well as, "domestic cars USED to be junk, but now they are a match for the imports"... not so sure about that one, but I buy well-used cars.
It's not complexity. It's proprietary stuff.
 
Goes to show that PDI inspections at many dealers are a pencil whip exercise.
When I worked at the dealer, all a PDI was to insert the fuse to wake up the systems that were disabled for transit, initialize the TPMS, learn the idle and drive the car down to the gas station for $10 worth of gas. Honda wanted a few other things done too like test and document the battery but we didn’t do that.
 
I guess this is why people buy 4Runners with a million miles on them. hahaha. From what I've seen spending time on the Colorado forums, it is hit or miss. I find that interesting. How can one guy with the same components get trouble free mileage for years vs someone that has their truck in the shop nonstop?
 
I guess this is why people buy 4Runners with a million miles on them. hahaha. From what I've seen spending time on the Colorado forums, it is hit or miss. I find that interesting. How can one guy with the same components get trouble free mileage for years vs someone that has their truck in the shop nonstop?
I think the motion of Toyota quality is overrated - the Toyota of now is not like the Toyota of the 1970s-early aughts. The Prius(which IMO is to Toyota like the Taurus and Crown Vic was to Ford) and the introduction of US-specific models(Tundra/Sequoia/Sienna/Venza) marked Toyota’s foray into “throwaway” cars, cheaper materials and cost-cutting moves. Sure, it can be worse - FCA and Tesla but Toyota’s resting on their laurels. Much like the old adage in IT, no one’s gotten fired for buying IBM(Lenovo) or HP LaserJets.
 
The old days and fix it yourself are gone for now but they may return very quickly when the Russians or the Chinese Use an EMP bomb on us. All the new technology will be totally useless. That old Nova will be worth so much that you may need to sleep with it and a shotgun.
This brings back some memories from the past ...

I have a collection of '50s and '60s LIFE magazines, mostly involving the space race. One from about 1965 included an article about hydraulic logic gates, being developed as a hedge against an EMP knocking out semiconductors.

And the other one involves one of the novels in Harry Turtledove's alternative history "Balance" series. The premise is that this incredibly technologically-advanced but very methodical and slow-to-change alien race scopes out Earth c. 1000 a.d. and finds it ripe for colonization.

They return in 1940 prepare Earth for the colony ships, and are shocked by the incredible strides humanity has made in "only" 900 or so years. It's inconceivable to them that the inhabitants, who so recently were fighting with swords and lances on horseback, have now discovered gunpowder, powered flight, and are on the verge of splitting the atom.

The aliens drop themselves into WWII, and various strange alliances result. The humans were not the pushover the aliens had anticipated.

All that to say that at one point the aliens are shocked when their sophisticated weapons don't take out the sensitive guidance systems in the humans' bombs and shells. But of course the humans are not using smart bombs, so they're impervious to the aliens' EMP anti-bomb defences.
 
I guess this is why people buy 4Runners with a million miles on them. hahaha. From what I've seen spending time on the Colorado forums, it is hit or miss. I find that interesting. How can one guy with the same components get trouble free mileage for years vs someone that has their truck in the shop nonstop?
4Runner owned by a guy at work had the exhaust manifold problem just like our RAM's. Unlike the RAM's, apparently updated studs aren't the fix and if you put on a new OE manifold, it will do it again. Ended up getting a set of stainless headers for it from Summit in hopes to avoid having to do it again.
 
I think the motion of Toyota quality is overrated - the Toyota of now is not like the Toyota of the 1970s-early aughts. The Prius(which IMO is to Toyota like the Taurus and Crown Vic was to Ford) and the introduction of US-specific models(Tundra/Sequoia/Sienna/Venza) marked Toyota’s foray into “throwaway” cars, cheaper materials and cost-cutting moves. Sure, it can be worse - FCA and Tesla but Toyota’s resting on their laurels. Much like the old adage in IT, no one’s gotten fired for buying IBM(Lenovo) or HP LaserJets.
I think throwaway when I borrow parents 2000 Tundra 4wd with glass smooth V8 still. They have had very few issues in 22 years. Not sure you’ll find a big 3 vehicle with same record….
 
The systems that left people stranded when the module suddenly failed with no warning? That wasn't a rare event with early electronic ignition systems.
Ahh, the GM HEI module.
My dad and I suffered that one in our 1976 Caprice Estate wagon while parked in front of my cousin Jamie's house.
In New Brunswick, Canada.
We had just finished driving all the way up from NYC the day before.
660 miles from home.
That was fun.
 
I think throwaway when I borrow parents 2000 Tundra 4wd with glass smooth V8 still. They have had very few issues in 22 years. Not sure you’ll find a big 3 vehicle with same record….
The newer Tundra has been a disappointment - Toyota got the recipe right for the 1st gen. The 2nd gen had an identity crisis and before the 2014 refresh, had an atrocious interior that made even Detroit’s trucks feel like a Rolls-Royce. The new 3rd gen is basically a Land Cruiser 300 Series/Lexus LX600 with a bed - and Toyota has given up on competing with Ford/GM/Ram - they’re targeting the Lexus/Mercedes/BMW/Audi/Range Rover crowd - they want something to take to Home Depot/Costco or soccer practice but a Ridgeline or Tacoma ain’t gonna cut the mustard.
 
Ahh, the GM HEI module.
My dad and I suffered that one in our 1976 Caprice Estate wagon...
That was fun.
Yeah, that's one good example, among many. The Hitachi "igniter" of my Mazda abruptly ceased functioning on a hot day on I-85, and I didn't have a spare one in the car. The next time that happened, I did.
 
Yeah, that's one good example, among many. The Hitachi "igniter" of my Mazda abruptly ceased functioning on a hot day on I-85, and I didn't have a spare one in the car. The next time that happened, I did.
We had two igniters fail on my wife's '82 GLC. Both times they went intermittent before failing completely. Bought a used distributor each time.
 
Goes to show that PDI inspections at many dealers are a pencil whip exercise.
I can attest to that. At least the tires were overfilled by 18psi. Better than underfilled by 18psi.
A pencil didn't even hit the checklist on mine. The PDI checklist was left in the glove compartment.
 
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