I don't persoanlly but much stock in the CR survey, but they do show the Prizum to have an "exemplary reliability record." It is as good as any Toyota (and better than the Camry or Tundra for instance).
Ed
And you don't think the interior in a 4Runner is a basic plasticky interior? In my life I have had two cars where the interior plastic turned white with age - one was an Audi, the other a Toyota. The cheap plastic in the Toyota started cracking in less than 6 years. At least the Audi's did crack (but then I only kept the car for three years). The plastic in my sister's Honda ('97 Civic) is also starting to look bad and it has turned brittle in spots (like the sun visor mount that came off in my hand).
Ed
What about Toyota's UAW union shop assembly plant in California? The current CR. list the Buick Regal as better than the Camry, Accord or Taurus. ;)
mike hunt
"C. E. White" wrote:
The Prizum is built in the California plant.
Ed
I read that CR report. The author implied that had numerous other real life ownership factors been included in the Regal evaluation that it would NOT have surpassed Camry or Accord.
Well, they ARE budget cars. That's the problem - and why Mitsubishi, Honda, and Toyota are suffering lately. They are putting all of their real quality and value into their real badges/names(their upper lines) and the lower basic lines are just that - their equivalent of Timex watches. Well built, but not a Seiko or Citizen.
Honestly, 20K is a lot of money. You should get more than a $50 plastic dash that looks like it came out of a Neon. The new Camrys are not made as well as the previous generation. My neighbor has had an older Camry and a nweer one - and the newer one is almost twice as expensive per year to maintain and impossible to work on. He says it's the last Toyota he buys.
If I was to buy a new car, I'd go with a maker that only makes one line of vehicles. Their "top" omodels are exactly that and the technology and interiors of their midrange models shares a lot of simmilar traits.
BMW and Volvo are prime examples of this. Subaru and Nissan are more budget minded versions as well. All make good vehicles that range from budget to luxury, as well as sporty.(much droolage over the Z)
The PRIZM ... was .. built in Fremont, CA. 2002 model year was the last Prizm.
"C. E. White" , being of unsound mind, did utter in news: snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com:
That's the corn starch that is used to make the plastic less shiny.
Volvo is just one line of the Ford family of vehicles (including Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Mazda, Jaguar, and Land Rover).
No wonder they're such lemons!
Andrew
IS, you mean "was"
My '92 Corolla interior is as good as new. No cracks.
Scott in Florida
And scott is in sunny FL
Heh. It sounded like sour grapes to me. They finally, begrudgingly had to admit that GM was making a car equal to Toyota. Factor in the incentives and a possible GM credit card rebate, and it comes out a bit ahead.
Toyota is suffering the same thing Volvo did in the 90s - they were the safest but everyone else started catching up while they enjoyed being on top and failed to innovate half as much as in the past.
Currently, they still have their own design teams and a full range of models. This may changfe in a few years, but one reason they made good vehicles was because they had only one line of products.
Not many are left now, though, that are independant. I do know that Porsche has stated that they will never be bought out - so that's some good news. Actually, I suspect they will be making racing engines for spacecraft in a few hundred years.
Do you think 600K is a large survey? I don't, not when you consider over 18,000,000 new vehicles are sold in the US every year. According to what I saw on TV the other night over a million people believe in flying saucers. ;)
mike hunt
Harrier AWD wrote:
Policitical polls sample a small fraction of a percent of the voting population, but are accurate to +/- a few percent. If CR samples 600K people are year (I can't confirm this number but it sounds about right), then this is very much a stastically valid survey.
- Mark
If you can find a larger survey, I'll sure be looking into it.
You are an idiot. You have already demonstrated that you know nothing about statistics and the above statement proves it once again. 600K is a huge survey and the number of cars sold per year is irrelevant.
Do us all a favor Kunt. Next time you get a blood test at the doctor's office, point out that he is only sampling a fraction of a percent of your blood. Insist that he take at least 4 pints to get a good sample.
failed to innovate? seems theyre the only ones with the knowhow to build a unique hybrid, and make money off of it.
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