Toyota.

On the web, Aging, boring lineup of cars called problem for Toyota

I am not bashing Toyota.I saw that article at,

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(Business section) cuhulin

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cuhulin
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Toyota, the new Oldsmobile?

quite possibly... wasn't the Cutlass the best selling car in the US for several years back in the 70's?

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Toyota, Blue Springs,Mississippi new factory (near Tupelo, I think) will soon be turning out some Toyota cars.I hope they are not too boring.

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cuhulin

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cuhulin

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.newsguy.com:

I don't think so. Olds was just one of five GM divisions. Increased foreign competition eventually made Alfred Sloan's original vision impracticable, and some of those divisions had to go.

Toyota only has three divisions, with one of them very distinct from the others marketing-wise (Lexus). If anything's going to die for Toyota, I think it's going to be Scion.

But Toyota has /never/ had the most exciting image. They did go postal with the original MR2 and the FX-16, but kinda lost the plot after that. If you buy a Toyota, you're looking for boring competence: cars that just run and run and run and run.

Yep. Those were /everywhere/ for a long time.

Reply to
Tegger

The point that I was trying to make was that somewhere along the line Olds went from having a home run hitter (in the Cutlass - and even before it was a best seller, it was still a contender - I remember seeing lots of the 68-up ones on the road as a kid, along with other A-bodies, and our own family car was a '67 which my dad had bought new) and the 88/98 were solid options for larger families. Then somewhere along the way everyone looked at Oldsmobile and just went "Oldsmobile...? meh." They weren't particularly *bad,* but they had all the excitement of low-fat vanilla pudding. And nobody but nobody bought them. Hope that doesn't happen to Toyota, but frankly, most of their current cars have that effect on me.

I would really like a twin-turbo Supra, but there's two problems: 1) they don't sell 'em here anymore and 2) I *hate* F&F-loving ricers, so the styling of the last generation was a huge turnoff to me. They look reasonably OK without the basket handle though.

Even an old RWD Corolla holds more interest to me than anything Toyota currently makes...

always wondered if a Supra drivetrain transplant into an old Cressida sedan would work? :P

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:

I think I know what you mean. You're thinking of the Alero, the Aurora, and other cars whose names make you say "Oldsmobile WHAT?". Who remembers them?

Since the platforms are all shared between divisions and between many models, the difference must come down to styling and marketing. Maybe GM just gave up on Olds but was reluctant to actually pull the trigger.

Just about everything from GM has had the same effect on me since about

1975, so maybe it has to do with where you're coming from.

"F&F"? What's that?

The Supra, like the MR2, was sort of out of Toyota's oeuvre.

I think sales were falling for years, to the point where they couldn't charge enough for the cars to make them worth any kind of payback. Same reason the MR2 was eventually killed.

And the last gens of each were both kinda caricatures of what they originally were, akin to the last of the '70s "muscle" cars.

I had three of those, two of them TE72 Liftbacks.

And this is how dull I am: I bought them not because they had blistering acceleration or stuck to the road like glue, but because they HELD LOTS OF CARGO! Like a Pinto wagon, but more reliable.

Reply to
Tegger

Starting a little over 30 years ago GM decided that they could go clone and buyers wouldn't notice. The problem is they noticed. The middle divisions became more expensive chevies and lost their unique and better quality engines and other aspects. Attempts to reverse this didn't really take.

Reply to
Brent

I think maybe you forgot one....! ;)

Actually, you left off the Supra and the Celica, too. They were both fun cars to drive with a sporty personality. They may not have been as edge-pushing as some Nissans and Mitsus, but a lot of them are still running after the other two have blown motors or fallen apart.

Yeah, I definitely think the one word summation for Toyota right now is BORRRRRING!!!!!!!!

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

It is hard to improve on perfection, that's all. Toyota hasn't had to upgrade, it was already far superior over most of its competition (at least in the car market, not truck) and well suited for the majority who want quality and practicality over flashy, and dashes jam packed with crap toys they will never use, such as the overpriced junk found in most recently released Ford's and Chryslers.

The main reason we bought a second Yaris over the Fiesta is in the Fiesta we were being forced to pay for a bunch of junk we didn't want if we upgraded to the model with the few features we want and use often. Those basic features were bundled in the same expensive package that included toys we didn't need or want, but we could buy each feature we wanted separate on the Yaris which made for a huge savings..

Econo-cars

Reply to
econo_cars

At one time Pontiac was the number 3 in sales nationwide. Now it's gone. It was because of the people who developed the Pontiacs made them cars people wanted. Then They let the bean counters take over.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

What you are saying, I guess, is that bad management killed them.. I would agree.

When you stop listening to your customers, you have no customers.

Reply to
hls

My Supra (88) isn't even a turbo, has a sluggish AT, but is STILL a blast to drive.

I had to bring the Hachiroku in for service the day after the "new" Supra was released in '93 and there was one on the showroom floor. WOW! But with a sticker of $36,000 the best I could do was ask to sit in it. Fit like a glove.

Toyota is a long, long ways away from the fun cars of the 80's...

Um....you realize the Supra drivetrain IS in the Cressida, right...?

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

I bought them because they looked sorta cool, were good on gas, and were TOYOTAS.

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B wrote in news:oPMZo.19$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe06.iad:

I also liked their looks, plus that little "pillarless hardtop" side window that nobody else seemed to have.

And since the rear end was a coil-sprung live axle with ordinary shock absorbers, it didn't intrude much into the cargo space, so the interior was VERY efficient for space-usage.

Problem was, the Liftback looked vaguely like the Hyundai Pony, and people sometimes made the mistake of thinking I had a Pony. What an insult.

Reply to
Tegger

Not the twin turbo, nor a stickshift :)

I always wanted to build a "Fairmont GT" as well, so maybe I'm just a little warped in the head. (not the one that's bolted to the block, either.)

nate

Reply to
N8N

As in the fox platform ford of the US or some aussie falcon variant or other ford from down under? I could understand the later, not really the former.

Reply to
Brent

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B wrote in news:jf6_o.8313$a snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:

The window immediately behind the door windows? It rolled down, and ALL the way. The Liftback and the Notchback both had that.

The Coupe had a thick black pillar behind the door windows, and a much more steeply-slanted hatch. Not nearly as useful as the Liftback.

The AE86 was the generation after the TE72.

Close to mine: Mine was a metallic blue SR-5, and had the "petal" wheels with trim rings. Got photos somewhere...

The Notchback:

The Coupe:

The AE86:

The AE86 was pretty much an updated TE72 Coupe.

Oh yeah. If I wasn't in the rust-ridden North-east, I'd seriously consider getting another TE72 Liftback.

Reply to
Tegger

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B wrote in news:%L6_o.8319$a snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:

Mine died of rust. That's the only reason I had to buy something else, which turned out to be the Integra (which is 20-years-old this year!).

Guys used to laugh when I told them my Japmobile had a Hemi... But it was TRUE!

That fast? Mine never managed anywhere near that.

Take a look at this photo, snapped at-speed in 1987 in a Liftback: The car was maxed in 5th gear. Nothing more left.

Care to take a guess at decoding the Claybrook speedometer? Hint: It ain't impressive.

I'm in Ontario; never been anywhere close to Vancouver. My Usenet provider is in the Puget Sound area, though, hence my west-coast IP address.

Reply to
Tegger

Why?!?!?!

Wasn't the Fairmont based on the Mustang of the time, or vice-versa?

I rented a Fairmont when my Hachiroku got boosted until I was able to put it back together. As much as I disliked American cars, it wasn't bad.

Wasn't GOOD, just not too bad.

My parents had a Zephyr, 1980. Just to show the "attention to detail", the driver's side had chrome door mouldings. The passenger's didn't.

Three transmissions later my Mom was pulling into the worst intersection in town when the tranny slipped. She turned around, came home and parked the car and told my stepdad she was NEVER driving that car again. A week later there was a Camry in the garage.

It's still there with a whopping 84,000 miles on it.

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

Now, did the wndow roll down on yours, or fixed? I had the "Trueno" (what later became the "Hachiroku") that had the fixed windows behind the doors.

That car cemented my relationship with Toyota. I traded it in '86 with

244,000 miles on it for the Hachi.

They need to get back to that way of building cars.

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

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