Toyota- Build Quality

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I have owned many Toyota cars. Even Some GM models. I have extensive work history working as a GM manager and a Toyota Manager. I presently own a 2001 Lexus Rx300 with 123 k Miles on it. Not one single problem with this car, I repeat not one problem. My other 2 cars are a 2004 Toyota Fourunner. I have 27k miles on it. It is a V8 AWD Sport model. The biggest complaint I have is the interior components. Everything seems to scratch so easy, not as durable it seems as before. Mechanicly the truck is like a rock. I also own a 2004 Chevy 2500 express cargo van. I only have 4k miles on it. The interior is nothing but a bucket of plastic. I am looking forward to seeing how the van holds up. It has the 5.3 V8.
 
Toyota and Honda are Good Well made cars. That is a generally broad statement of fact about the 2 companys.All car companys are under the gun since there is so much to compete against.I like the Honda Engines better but I like the Toyota cars style and dependability wise.Is the gap between Toyota and say Hundyi going to close as far as quality goes. I say yes for the $ the Sonota is a lot of car.Hundyi has been around long enough to make the changes needed to compete with the likes of Toyota.There is nothing like a V TEC weather it be Honda or Acura. They run so smooth like my Nissan.
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I was just thinking the other day that the quality of Toyota's owner's manuals leaves something to be desired.

2003 Toyota Echo, wanted to find out how much oil the engine holds. In one place in the manual it says "1.6 quarts". I know that's not right, so I flip to the back and there it gives a different number, "3.5 quarts" (or something close). Where did they get 1.6 quarts from? It wasn't a metric conversion error, the metric amount listed is equivalent to 1.6 quarts.

Flipping through the manual left me with the impression that those people who used to write motherboard manuals in the early 90s all got jobs at Toyota writing THEIR manuals.

On the other hand, why bother making an effort to produce something that few will read?

It's from a Ford owner's manual, by the way, that I learned about the "API Donut"
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Union busting? It is the unholy alliance between big labor and big business that contributes to the quality problems with domestic brands. Many, but not all, Japanese plants in the US are non-union.
 
I'm a GM guy. My family has worked for GM for a long long time. We have owned dozzens of GM's over the years and most of them have been good cars and trucks. We have had a few that were junk. A few foregin cars have found their way into our family(A coyple Toyotas and Hondas) and the Hondas were all JUNK. The 2 Civics fell apart with 1 going through 3 transmissions in under 10,000 miles. We has 2 Tacomas 1 being a good truck and 1 a piece of **** .

I feel all manufactures make good and bad vehicals. I buy American and I'm dam proud about that. I feel a GM car or truck will last as long and longer then a Toyota. Why? because I have seen 1st hand that they do.
 
I have had more GM's Chris than I have had Toyotas and I can honestly contradict what you said, the GM's were garbage! How many Toyotas have YOU owned Chris?

GM's I have owned:

1972 Camaro SS
1978 Trans Am
1985 Z-28
1991 Camaro
1992 Cavalier Z-24

You buy American huh???? Well the Tacomas that you just dissed are made in the USA! The design is from Calty Research in California. The body and parts are made in California. The engines are made in West Virginia. The whole vehicle is fabricated in the joint GM, Toyota plant, NUMMI in Fremont, California. These vehicle are more American made than your ride! Get your facts straight!

PS let me rephrase something since 650 has a good point. The GM's weren't garbage, they left alot to be desired!
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[ August 31, 2004, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Amkeer ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by Amkeer:
I have had more GM's Chris than I have had Toyotas and I can honestly contradict what you said, the GM's were garbage! How many Toyotas have YOU owned Chris?


I've had three GMs and two Toyotas. The GMs weren't exactly garbage but didn't hold a candle to Toyota quality or reliability.
 
Toyota's seem to have a better build quality. But they are about the most booooring vehicles available. Nothing exciting.

Personally I think you should buy what you like. I own a Subaru WRX, I love the performance however relability is only average. So what, its fun, a hatchback and suits my needs.

I previously owned a 95 Civic and never really liked it a lot from the day I bought it. It was decent to ok at everything but had no soul or life and was not a fun car even with the VTEC motor. It never gave me a problem in its 210k life but I just one day tired of it and placed a for sale sign and two hours sold it.

So the people who like GM great or Ford or American fine or their Toyota great, no one vehicle suits everyone no matter how much better its built or not built.
 
Rjundi,

I have lots of fun with my trucks! Never get tired of driving them! I even loved driving my 18 year old Toyota 4x4 after 18 years until I finally broke it, but even broken I had people lined up to buy it.
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quote:

Originally posted by rjundi:
Personally I think you should buy what you like. I own a Subaru WRX, I love the performance however relability is only average. So what, its fun, a hatchback and suits my needs.

I like my '96 Contour V6 for the same reasons. It handles very well, and acceleration isn't too shabby either. Reliability is average, but Ford's generally low parts prices make up for it (for the FEW parts that aren't available in the aftermarket).
 
quote:

Originally posted by Amkeer:
I have had more GM's Chris than I have had Toyotas and I can honestly contradict what you said, the GM's were garbage! How many Toyotas have YOU owned Chris?

GM's I have owned:

1972 Camaro SS
1978 Trans Am
1985 Z-28
1991 Camaro
1992 Cavalier Z-24

You buy American huh???? Well the Tacomas that you just dissed are made in the USA! The design is from Calty Research in California. The body and parts are made in California. The engines are made in West Virginia. The whole vehicle is fabricated in the joint GM, Toyota plant, NUMMI in Fremont, California. These vehicle are more American made than your ride! Get your facts straight!

PS let me rephrase something since 650 has a good point. The GM's weren't garbage, they left alot to be desired!
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Yes I buy AMERICAN, is GM not an American company? Yes not every part is made in the US but 80+% parts in most models are and most models are built in the US. Not all the parts of a "US made" Toyota have been made in the US, a lot are made in Japan. When you buy GM, Ford, Dodge the money stays here in the US and helps more Americans then when you buy a foreign vehicle. Americans build these Toyotas but most of the proffit is going back to Toyota a Japaneese company.

You asked how many Toyotas I owned....did I not just say 2? And 2 Hondas as well, try reading my whole post before you attack me.

You mentioned the models of GM's you have owned and all of them except for the 91 and 92 were all made durring GM's dark age when they had a real problem with quality so it is not fair to compair GM from then to what a GM is today. The 90's models were built when GM started to get their act together but were still not high quality made as they are today. Now go out and drive a GM truck or car and you will have a vehicle that is built solid has a very smooth ride, shifts seemlessly and will easly last 200,000+ miles and cost a lot less getting there.

So I have had 4 foreign cars to your 5 domestic. I had 1 good Toyota truck 1 bad one and 2 bad civics. I have owned 8 GM's and several others in the family. We had a problematic Silverado we got rid of and a problematic Saturn. That is out of over a dozzen vehicles and most hit over 100,000 miles some over 200,000 miles and still in the family and going strong. So in my expereance GM's have been the better make for me.

I know Toyota makes a lot of great cars as do other manufactures. I know GM produces many top quality vehicles as well as anyone else. So stop telling me to get my facts straight when they are. Stop trying to cram "GM is junk" down my throat when it is not or I might bite off your hand.
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You have you opinion I have mine we are not going to change each others minds.
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quote:

Originally posted by Chris B.:
Toyotas but most of the proffit is going back to Toyota a Japaneese company.

I wonder how many 401k accounts have Toyota stock in them vs. how many 401k accounts have GM stock in them.
 
I know GM has a very nice 401K and retirement package. My Mother and Uncle are both enjoying theirs after 30 odd years of service.
 
Chris,

How is that GM that had to be rebuilt after 12,000 miles?

I have seen firsthand the quality that Ford, Chrylser and GM puts out since my Parents and In-Laws have had dozens over the years that I have had 1 Toyota! I prefer to let others results determine my future decisions. As of my last purchase in 2003, I saw no reason to buy a GM, Ford or Chrysler. I will reasses in another 10-15 years when I will need to make another buying decision.

How do you come up with the big 3 costing less to maintain over 200,000 miles?

You have owned 12 vehicles in how many years?

We, family, could me more than one person, right? So don't jump down my throat!

[ September 02, 2004, 06:31 AM: Message edited by: Amkeer ]
 
All this about where the profits go (GM 'Americans' vs. Toyota 'Japanese') is pretty irrelevant. If a company employs a ton of US people, (assemblers, parts manufacturers etc) that's where the rubber really meets the road.

Any very large company does a certain amount of reinvestment in this country, and tries to avoid paying taxes as best they can. I could care less which company's 'suits' are retiring more comfortably...buy a car that's made here of primarily US parts if 'domesticity' is important to you.

Would you feel like you were doing your neighbors a favor if you bought a car assembled overseas of foreign parts, just because the profits were going to guys in GM/Ford who were already rich? Probably not.

I'm perfectly content driving my American Honda and Canadian Chevrolet. Maybe I'll get a Korean car next time...they have to eat too.
 
Well, I'm reluctant to fan these flames, but since I have an impulse control problem, here goes. Since many have posted individual experiences from which they draw general conclusions, I will indulge in the same (while acknowledging that we should see that this is statistically questionable). In my quarter-century of car owning, I've had (as best I recall), a VW Beetle, four GM cars (two early 80s models, two late 90s, the second a lemon replacement for the first), a Dodge, a Mercury Sable wagon (wife's car), a Honda Civic, several Toyotas, and now most recently, an Inifiniti G35.

As much as I don't like admitting it, the imports have had a clear edge in quality. Even my 98 model Buicks, which were made after GM claims to have turned a new leaf, were frankly awful. The first got taken back and replaced after 10k miles for numerous ills. On the other extreme is our 2001 Toyota Sequoia (which replaced the 1990 Mercury Sable). This truck has been amazing. Until a couple weeks ago, simply nothing had gone wrong with it, ever. Then, horror of horrors, the power connection for the passenger power seat came loose. I fixed it in about two minutes (gain access, push, click, close, done). Simply put, this truck is put together like nothing I've ever seen, and especially like none of the detroit products I've owned. Yes, the gap between US cars and imports has closed significantly, and I see this in the rentals I use when traveling. But last week, when I had a rental GMC Envoy that had a floppy sun visor and a couple loose switches, it reinforced my belief that there's still plenty of gap there.

[ September 02, 2004, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: ekpolk ]
 
I see at least an equal number of imports broken down on the side of the road as American cars. I have been completely satisfied with the quality of my GM and Chrysler vehicles over the last 20 years. No major repairs on anything except for a head gasket on a 1993 Cavalier. BTW the head gasket job cost 400 bucks, which is about the same as a routine water pump/timing belt job on a Honda. Keep in mind the domestic manufacturers use higher paid union labor and American makes generally have a higher US/Canadian parts content. God bless America and buy American while we still can!
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I hasten to add that the Sequoia I'm so happy with, while wearing the "Toyota" name plate, was manufactured here in the United States. American workers, given the right tools, raw materials, and designs, can build the rest of the world into the ground.

I'm very encouraged to see the increase in quality ratings on the domestic vehicles. Finally, they seem to be getting it. That said, I'm flabbergasted that it was Buick leading the GM pack. After a few months owning my 98 Regal GS, I realized that I had until then not understood the true purpose of a rearview mirror. It's actually to keep track of the parts as they fall off in the road. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much with this car.
 
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