Toyota owners "boring"?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
1,992
Location
Windsor,Ontario
A little article from an auto column in a newspaper I found amusing.quote"By and large people who buy Toyota models do so because they don't really like cars but they know they have to own one.They want an appliance that will serve their needs with maximum reliability and minimum angst."Then he goes on about the blandness of Toyota's line-up and how everybody is catching up and even surpassing in some area's and Toyota is getting worried...bla-bla.Then he says Toyota is trying to "get hip" with their vehicle line-up but found a survey of compeditors' owners say quote "Toyota line-up is boring and ,if you scratch below the polite surface,that the people who buy Toyotas are just as boring as the cars they drive."Then he goes on how Toyotas wants to battle this stigma and get "cool".I own two Jeeps and I know people think I'm a nut and I love it!
lol.gif
128.gif
 
There definitely seems to be an identifiable demographic amongst the owners of Camrys and Corollas, and I've noticed they seem to be a bit older and drive really slow. I am forever looking for ways to overtake Corolla drivers lollygagging in the left lane of Dallas highways. I do think there's a slower paced, laid back and 'older' appeal to some of their cars, but I can say that my older sister drives a 2001 Tacoma and she's crazy as ****. I guess it depends on which model you're talking about.
 
It was not boring driving the 4runner through the breakers at the beach. When we left some old man was standing there with his mouth open. Probably thinking that he needed to get rid of the camper.
 
I think Toyota's have the stigma of boring. However they have the reputation that is perceived and truthful of being reliable.
 
Poor Toyota. The company is crying all the way to the bank over the original article and this thread.

(Overheard in the halls of Toyota's upper echelons: "Theece auticoh say we buird boring cahz." "Who say, Toshiro?" "A clazy Ameleecan website, 'bobistheoirguy'." "Bob who?")
 
It makes no difference to me at all if they are boring, and the idea that it should matter at all if they are PERCEIVED as boring strikes me as bizarre. They go where needed, they are reliable, and they still can zip through traffic well enough if necessary. They are, in that sense, an automotive appliance, and that is exactly as it should be. Want to go on a track? Get a Porsche (or equivalent)--different kind of automobile with a different function. That's just how I see it.
 
I was at a stop light the other day. I was waiting in the middle lane, when two cars came racing up behind me to the red light. One car approached on either side of me. The lane to my right ended soon after the intersection in front of us.

Both cars had young teenagers in them. One car was a Honda Civic, and the other was a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Both cars were "Riced out". They had been racing for a few lights behind me.

Imagine their surprise when I blew them both away driving my Toyota Sienna with two kids in the back!!!

Of course I backed off when the racing became dangerous, but I am sure that those kids will look at Sienna's in a different light after that!!

BTW, here is a link to another boring Toyota.


http://www.pbase.com/nogaroblue/image/38950270
 
quote:

Originally posted by kanling:

quote:

They want an appliance that will serve their needs with maximum reliability and minimum angst.

Hey, that sounds like what any intelligent person should want in his daily driver.


Exactly. Different people have different priorities/needs. While personally I'd fall asleep behind a wheel of a Camry (esp. with an auto tranny), a lot of people need just that - reliable tool that gets them from A to B, day after day. You can slap a lot of the american sedans (Buick comes to mind) with the adjective "boring", too. But honestly, not everyone cares for a more sporty car with more character.

So, while the author stereotypes a lot, some of it is true, yet I don't consider it bad. People have different reasons for buying different cars.
 
And for the meager sum of $1.2 million, you too can drive in 105 degree temps without A/C, unprotected from rain or wind, having the ability to outrun everyone while you sit in gridlock rush-hour traffic, waiting for a semi or a dumb blonde in a Hummer to run you over because they can't see you in their mirror.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Bryanccfshr:
Same can be said about the entire standard sedan demographic. The agenda of the article is obviously to express Toyota envy.

Toyota driver?

I think a one Jeremy Clarkson said it best.
"Driving a Corolla is like eating flour. It's as interesting as the night sky when it's cloudy. In fact it is a cloud, a damp, white, shapeless lump. "

They really have no character to them. However, that doesn't stop the Toyota Corolla from being the best selling car ever. I'd still much rather drive something that has a soul though.
 
I stir up my Toyota owning friends by telling them they own "whitegoods on wheels"

All in good fun, of course.
Me, I'm a glutton for punishment and ridicule and drive a Land Rover Defender.
Make that a masochist.
lol.gif
 
I'll still take my Cherokee over anything I've seen yet, but I could care less if someone's in a Toyota or not. The ones who annoy me are the pricks in the expensive sport cars who think they own the road, and that their car looks cool, so it must follow that they are cool.
 
I love being boring...
tongue.gif


I love my 05 Corolla.
cheers.gif


I love getting 42-44 mpg real world MPG while driving back and forth to work. Overall my average gas mileage is almost 43 mpg in 50k. This is over 20 months in sub zero to 120 degree weather.

I love that in 50k miles not having to visit the dealer for anything.

I love that everything still works and looks new.

The car fits my large frame well and is a nice car to drive.

For an out the door car around $14k I don't think you can or will do better.
spaz.gif


I love boring. (and will do so for the next 250k miles)
grin.gif
lol.gif
gr_stretch.gif



Take care, Bill
biggthumbcoffe.gif


PS:
quote:

he ones who annoy me are the dorks in the expensive sport cars who think they own the road, and that their car looks cool, so it must follow that they are cool.

SO TRUE! I agree 1000%.. Also you can add the jacked up 4x4 morons... All they carry is a lunch box in their truck because they lifted it so much it's hard to use. Then they get a trailer to carry their stuff...
twak.gif
 
The only car I ever heard of that had a soul was named Christine.

I'll take my Toyota any day over her.

Sorry Raven, just teasing.
cheers.gif
I do understand your point.
 
Eh, I drive a Prizm, same internals as a Corolla and just slightly different body which I think actually looks better. Same 'boring' car. Nothing special about the interior but it's resale brought me a wonderfully priced car that I know I can get many thousands more miles out of with great gas mileage in comparisons to similar small cars at 35-40mpg. It has enough horsepower and with a manual it is generous enough to get the job done with plenty extra where it's desired. I'm definetly not one of the boring drivers however as I am the one passing the Honda's. It's all about the driver behind the wheel not the car, which is affected by demographical demand but in the end if it's a practical car for a practical person and the practical people are boring, then it's their boring choice.

Eh, I'm happy enough. I didn't like the way that the Honda's clutches felt and the gas mileage of the 92-95 Civic's according to forums that I visited and the EPA MPG ratings were worse and the Corollas front seat room was a little more and the interior didn't seem as cheap so thats how I made up my mind. Opinions vary greatly, I will probably get an Accord or Civic eventually when I move up the model years in the future as the tides seemed to have turned in terms of appearance, quality, and performance between Honda and Toyota. ...Who knows though I might consider a Nissan, Mazda, or Subaru. Or possibly an older version of an Audi, Mercedes, Lexus, or Acura.

Drive what fits
patriot.gif
 
If there wasn't Toyota where would a car buyer go for his next car after GM sold him or her
3.1 and 3.9 V6 coolant leakers, blown engines and Ford and Chrysler some ratty automatics.
I don't buy the boring stereotype - people buy these cars when their previous car maker sold them cars short on reliablity.
 
Toyota didn't get to be the #1 automaker by NOT selling lots of boring, reliable cars.
GM fell to #2 by doing the opposite.
(GM prior to 1993 was highly reliable, keep your blue-tips in the box.)
 
Toyota has quite the knack of taking any personality, driving character and charisma out of an automobile.

The thing is this sells and what I like does not.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top