Can Anything Stop Toyota?

Not Yamaha. That engine remained exclusive to the Taurus SHO of years past. The 4.6 SOHC V8 is the same one in the Mustang GT and now in the Explorer too.

Reply to
Neo
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Ahem, it's about sending CKD kits for sale in SE Asia...

Reply to
Neo

If you put a lot of stock in Consumer Report Ratings, the TOyota are nothing special. Toyota has only a very few first place vehicles. For family designs the Camry, Accord, and Passat are tied (hard to believe that anyone would buy a car that was only as good as a VW). The only US car listed in this category is the Taurus. It is listed as good (almost very good, but not quite). The Avalon is the top rated "large sedan" but is virtually in a dead heat with the Buick Park Avenue. I can't imagine anyone confusing an Avalon with a large sedan, but that is the way Consumer Reports sees it. To me it is just a stretched Camry. I can't imagine anyone that wanted a large sedan like the Park Avenue would go anywhere near the Toyota lot. In CRs small car ratings the Ford Focus and Honda Civic are ahead of the Corolla. The Toyota Echo is near the bottom of the "fuel efficent car list" (they don't have the Pirus listed - yet). In the sporty car category, the Focus SVT is tops, the Celica is mid-pack behind a host of others. The MR2 is mid-pack in the "roadster" category. The Matrix is below average for the small wagon/hatchback category (well behind the Focus SE wagon). The Sienna is the top scoring mini-van, but essentially in a dead heat with the Odyssey. The RAV-4 was out scored by the Forrester in the mini-SUV category. In the compact truck rating, the Explorer SPort Trac was number one. The Tacoma was mid-pack. The Tundra was outscored by the Silverado in the large truck category. None of the various Toyota SUV scored particuarly well in the SUV category (number one was Audi Allroad - I've never seen one, but I don't consider this to be an SUV). CR scored the Sequoia Limited and Suburban essentially the same.

Admittedly, none of the Toyta products was at the bottom of any category. However, Ford had as many vehicle that rated number one in a category as Toyota did.

Persoanlly I don't put much faith in CR ratings. They look for different things in a car than I do. They have alway tended to prefer dull, uninteresting cars. Becasue of this I was not surprised the Camry is a favorite of theirs.

I did not see anything that said they preferred the Regal over the Camry. However, I did see that in the reliability raings, for 2001, 2002, and

2003 Regals had more solid red dots than Camrys. Again, I don't but much faith in CRs reliability ratings, but i do think it indicated that Toyota is nothing special.

I wonder why people buy Toyotas in exactly the same way I wonder why people buy hamburgers at McDonalds. They aren't particualrly cheap and they aren't particualrly good, but people line up to buy them - go figure.

Regards,

Ed White

Reply to
C. E. White

This is based on the results for the third quarter only. For the model year Ford is still ahead. It is possible that Toyota might overtake Ford for the model year if Toyota has a very strong fourth quarter, but it doesn't seem likely given the strong sales of the new F150. Third qurter truck sales for Ford were somewhat depressed becasue a lot of people were waiting to see the new F150. The biggest thing hurting Ford car sales is the lack of new models. They won't start appearing until next year. Toyota may finish #2 for the year or they may not. If this happens the Ford execs only need to look in the mirror to understand why. Instead of spending money to develop new vehicles thye bought Volvo. t wasn't profitiable before Ford bought it, and probaly never will be.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

No. The Kelly Blue Book assumption IS that you bought NEW and kept the vehicle for 5 years and then traded it in. As I stated (and you trimmed from the original post), the figures with detailed definitions are available on Kelly Blue Book

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What you want to "bet" just ain't so unless you adjust the ownership parameters. That is what you would like to do now.

Reply to
Philip®

Joe... I want you to identify the actual source of your assertion that "75-80% of Crown Victory sales are to these customoers (state, municipal, taxi). I want to see your information for myself ... that's all.

At least 10 years ago.

Reply to
Philip®

In news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, Neo being of bellicose mind posted:

One of Ford's "modular" designs?

Reply to
Philip®

Would it be fair to you to say that high end models subsidize entry level models? Chinese made Caddys would make for a better economy car without raising the retail price commensurately. Hmmmm!

Reply to
Philip®

In news: snipped-for-privacy@enews3.newsguy.com, Rich being of bellicose mind posted:

Is FORD in Dearborn MICHIGAN still? The stats I quoted are nationwide, courtesy of JD Powers on Kelly Blue Book's website. And is there perhaps a wee bit of prejudice against ANY foreign brand name in FORD's home turf? Just asking! :-)

I'll bet the Ford dealers wish they had that kind of enthusiastic foot traffic waving cash around like the Toyota dealer did. LOL

Reply to
Philip®

In news: snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com, C. E. White being of bellicose mind posted:

Thank you, Ed. This morning I looked up and posted some details about the "modular family" of 4.6 liter Fords.

Reply to
Philip®

The motor in the Explorer is from the same family but it has an aluminum block, The Crown Vic and Mustangs get cast iron blocks (except for the Mach 1 - DOHC Aluminum Block for that).

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Thanks. For a second there I was worried. :)

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

One thing they missed, though - the new 2003 > 4-Runner is the best large SUV for off-road use. My friend bought one and it equalled the Land Rover in heavy off-road use. That's impressive, since the Land Rover was always the king of the off-road hill. Toyota quality, and good off-road as well.

Their MR2 is nice as well - and of course the Prius is like cheap candy - gobbled up as fast as they ship them.

The others - yeah - I consider the Avalon a Large car like a CV or Park Avenue. Lol. Oh - the LeSabre edged out the Avalon as well, which is nnot surprizing - it's a massive update of the old designs. read: interior and handling that don't suck - a GM first)

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

No, *MY ORIGINAL ARGUMENT* was that you bought both 2-3 years old and calculated from there. Only a fool buys a new car that depreciates as much as these two do.

Long-term, I bet there's not a large difference.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

Bull. This is as flawed as "trickle-down economics" The reality is that the shareholders and executives keep the extra money and don't pass it on. With profits shrinking, you can bet they are looking at their jobs more than their product.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

Joseph Oberlander wrote:One thing they missed, though - the new 2003 >

4-Runner is the best

Well I don't know about that. From what I've seen it is the same old technology wrapped in a new skin. All the Toyota SUVs seem dated but that is just my opinion. Hopefully the revised 4Runner won't be the death trap the old 4Runner was. I never understood why the press made such a big deal about the Explorer, when the 4Runner had a rollover death rate about 4 times higher.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Yeah, but Cadillac is "union" and you must buy union!

Reply to
MDT Tech®

The new 4-runner Sport with the reactive suspension is amazing - my friend was going around corners at 40mph and it never lost a bit of traction.

The other models - not as good - the suspension is an amazing difference.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

Oooooooo... shouting! Take your Zestril and a couple days off from usenet forums. ;-)

Reply to
Philip®

From time to time Oberlander, you know from "reality." The rest of the time, not.

Reply to
Philip®

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