Yesterday I took my 2018 Tundra (purchased new in January) in for its first oil change at 4400 miles. I ended up leaving the dealer in a rental car because they found an oil leak at the sending unit. They will be ordering the part and fixing it next week. I was pleased with the service experience and glad they offered the rental so no issues there, but very disappointed as I guess I had bought in to the Toyota reliability myth.
You see, in 20 years I’ve purchased 12 vehicles (10 of them new). Among the first 10 were 5 Fords, 2 Rams, 2 Hondas and a Mazda. The last two were Toyotas: a 2015 Camry and the 2018 Tundra. The Camry has been ok mechanically but just feels cheap and has two distinctive rattles since new that the dealer was unable to fix. On the annoyance scale, both these rattles top anything I’ve experienced in the other vehicles. Until yesterday I had been very pleased with the Tundra aside from gas mileage. Having an oil leak has only occurred on one of the other vehicles - a 2006 F-250 6.0 diesel which I traded for the 2006 Escape after the dealer kept replacing parts without fixing the oil leak(s). Except for the F250 my other vehicles have been decently reliable, so I expected at least the same from a tried and true Toyota.
I realize I may be some kind of statistical anomaly, but that type of luck always seems to follow me. A similar thing happened to me once in 2003 with a set of brand new Michelin tires on my wife’s Honda Accord. You seem to run into a lot of people who swear by Michelin tires, much like Toyota vehicles. So l bought the most expensive model available in the size to fit her car. Well they kept blowing out for no apparent reason, leaving my wife stranded and luckily not in an accident. This happened twice within the first 5000 miles. Of course I was blamed for low tire pressure which is absolutely false. I would see similar comments on Tire Rack for a few days before they were deleted. I left a review on Tire Rack that was also deleted. I’m convinced there was a manufacturing defect that Michelin didn’t own up to. They were so pricey that I think they were low volume and therefore did not get a lot of publicity. I ended up buying another set of brand new tires to replace those practically brand new Michelins.
I think both these experiences have taught me to just buy what I like, within reason, and not worry so much about what ABC magazine or Consumers Report says. I know so many people including coworkers and family members that won’t buy anything but Honda or Toyota and Michelin tires. My experience with them is they are not that exceptional.
I bought the Tundra ironically based on price and features and Toyota reliability was just an added benefit, so I thought. I really wanted an F150 supercab Lariat, but refused to pay more than for a crewcab Lariat. Whether true or not, Ford dealer told me that Ford did not discount the supercabs as much. So I got the Toyota which has a perfect sized double cab IMO and is priced cheaper and with more features than the Lariat supercab.
You see, in 20 years I’ve purchased 12 vehicles (10 of them new). Among the first 10 were 5 Fords, 2 Rams, 2 Hondas and a Mazda. The last two were Toyotas: a 2015 Camry and the 2018 Tundra. The Camry has been ok mechanically but just feels cheap and has two distinctive rattles since new that the dealer was unable to fix. On the annoyance scale, both these rattles top anything I’ve experienced in the other vehicles. Until yesterday I had been very pleased with the Tundra aside from gas mileage. Having an oil leak has only occurred on one of the other vehicles - a 2006 F-250 6.0 diesel which I traded for the 2006 Escape after the dealer kept replacing parts without fixing the oil leak(s). Except for the F250 my other vehicles have been decently reliable, so I expected at least the same from a tried and true Toyota.
I realize I may be some kind of statistical anomaly, but that type of luck always seems to follow me. A similar thing happened to me once in 2003 with a set of brand new Michelin tires on my wife’s Honda Accord. You seem to run into a lot of people who swear by Michelin tires, much like Toyota vehicles. So l bought the most expensive model available in the size to fit her car. Well they kept blowing out for no apparent reason, leaving my wife stranded and luckily not in an accident. This happened twice within the first 5000 miles. Of course I was blamed for low tire pressure which is absolutely false. I would see similar comments on Tire Rack for a few days before they were deleted. I left a review on Tire Rack that was also deleted. I’m convinced there was a manufacturing defect that Michelin didn’t own up to. They were so pricey that I think they were low volume and therefore did not get a lot of publicity. I ended up buying another set of brand new tires to replace those practically brand new Michelins.
I think both these experiences have taught me to just buy what I like, within reason, and not worry so much about what ABC magazine or Consumers Report says. I know so many people including coworkers and family members that won’t buy anything but Honda or Toyota and Michelin tires. My experience with them is they are not that exceptional.
I bought the Tundra ironically based on price and features and Toyota reliability was just an added benefit, so I thought. I really wanted an F150 supercab Lariat, but refused to pay more than for a crewcab Lariat. Whether true or not, Ford dealer told me that Ford did not discount the supercabs as much. So I got the Toyota which has a perfect sized double cab IMO and is priced cheaper and with more features than the Lariat supercab.
