Jim Cramer says Toyota stock good bet. Big 3? Not so much

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NO! The Lexus LS 600h is aimed at the super rich. Which many will buy. In fact it is a matter of time before everyone in Hollywood owns one.Good deal for LEXUS/TOYOTA..

Lexus is going to start making a more affordable luxury hybrid.

Reply to
GO Mavs

OK, so it is Joke for idiots.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

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I would say it is a nice looking car, wouldnt you?

Reply to
GO Mavs

No one is counting them out. Just saying they wont invest until they come up with a better product. Let's face it. People don't give a shit about the Ford Focus, Fusion, Crown Victoria (outside of very old people and cops), or the five hundred. They have ugly cars, and their SUV's are only for those who can afford to feed them. When they come up with a better line of cars, then people are going to buy Ford.

Reply to
GO Mavs

That's your opinion. I have a different opinion on the cars.

However, a lot of people are buying these cars. The Escape SUV gets good mileage. Better, with the hybrid package.

Ford, GM and Chrysler all make good cars. They may not fit your tastes. But they do fit the tastes of lots of people.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Not enough people....

No, they make cars that break down and don't last 300 k like the Camry and other Toyotas and Jap cars. They are geared to the "always buy American" crowd and those who can only get financed through such local dealerships.

Reply to
GO Mavs

It is not an ugly car, but it still a joke. Anybody that spends that kind of money on a "hybrid" car is just trying to pretend to be something they aren't. Same as Al Gore and his energy pig of a home, or Arinna Huffington flying cross country in a private jet to attend an anti-SUV rally because SUVs are so wasteful. Trendy Hypocrites. I don't blame Toyota for catering to these jerks, but it is still a joke.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

BS. Any car can last 300k under the right conditions. And there are plenty of Toyotas in the junk yard with less than 100k. The POS Toyota I had was junk at 50k.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

but you're talking about hypcorisy on a great level vs. driving a nice luxury fuel efficient vehicle. My folks are fairly well off but live a fuel efficient life. They do not have a huge home, they use all new tech lights (Whatever they are called), they recycle just about everything and have decked out their property in trees. They also drive fuel efficient vehicles.

The car isnt necessarily selling its hybrid technology as much as it is selling its luxury. The vehicle has 70% cleaner emissions release than any other car. Is that at the least not a step in the right direction?

Also have you seen the GS and RX? nice vehicles.. nice emissions... nice mileage...

Reply to
GO Mavs

Ed, is the kind of person I am talking about, he is one of the few who can squeeze 300 thousand out of a Taurus and only gets 50'k lemon out of a Toyota...

ED, you remind me of this guy I know. Pollution is fraud, American cars are the best, Toyotas don't really get good life spans, we didn't land on the moon, and the earth is possibly hollow...

You probably are so enamored in your opinions that you don't even realize you contradicted your self in your above statement and admitted to being a bad car owner and not keeping your car in the "right conditions."

;-)

Reply to
GO Mavs

The hybrid version of the Lexus LX and GS models have been on the market for a couple of years already. The LS 600H will be the 3rd Lexus hybrid sold in the U.S.

Reply to
Ray O

I figured that out...

Reply to
GO Mavs

You forgot the JFK Assassination "Magic Bullet" theory Vs. the "Second Shooter on the Grassy Knoll" Vs. "It was a Mob Hit" debate.

Oh, and you also forgot the 'Elvis Factor' - a hair under 10% of the American public is totally convinced that Elvis Aaron Presley faked his death to get out of the limelight, and he is in deep seclusion in his retirement. And 8% of them think the U.S. Government and the Post Office are in on the scam and know where he is (because they still want to get their taxes paid), address a letter to "Elvis" and the USPS will get it to him...

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Ed: Any Car can go 300K Miles if well maintained, and any car can die at 50K Miles if beat to hell and never maintained. The tipping point is when the immediate repairs to get the car running again at any one failure are a lot more than the residual resale, scrap or trade-in value of the car. (And postponing needed but non-critical work until a critical breakdown happens is a fast way to get there.)

But all other factors being equal, by percentage of cars on the road far more Toyotas get to 300K than any of the Big 3 Detroit Iron does.

Toyota takes a little more time and trouble to properly engineer and debug all the component parts and systems to balance all three main goals: Ease and cost of assembly, long service life, and ease and cost of repair. So yes, a few things are going to wear out, but at a far lower rate and lover overall repair cost than the norm.

Detroit /still/ hasn't totally figured that out yet, even though Deming (an American) is the one that taught it to the Japanese in the first place - try replacing the heater core on some Ford products and it's going to take a pro wrench the better part of a day to totally dismantle the dashboard to change the core and reassemble, and an amateur will take two to three days.

Unless you want to cheat (and are ballsy enough to chance making things much worse with your "shortcut") and start cutting your way in with a Sawzall or a plasma torch...

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

I still want the Hybrid Tundra truck with the built in Arc/MIG/TIG Welder / 1Ph-3Ph Generator Option on the Hybrid Synergy Drive system. You already have 300+ volts of batteries there and some heavy-duty switching transistors, turning that power line into whatever flavor AC or DC output you need should be pure childs play.

Power failure? Need to run that electric Cement Mixer or Hole Hawg® drill, and there's no Temporary Power yet? No problem, dial up the voltage frequency and phase configuration you need, pop the little access door between the cab and the rear wheel, and plug your house or office into the truck. Putting up a wrought iron fence or doing Mobile Truck Repair? Pick your voltage and current parameters (CC or CV), plug in the welding cables and weld away.

And work with a company like VMAC Underhood Air Systems

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to easily bolt-on a smallscrew air compressor that can run anything from multiple framing orroofing nail guns to a 90-lb. pavement breaker... (Fast-Talking Announcer: "Power cords and Transfer Switches for generator output, Wire feeder and shielding gas bottles for MIG/Fluxcore welding, Stinger for Arc welding, Torch and Cooler and tungstens for TIG welding, Torch for Plasma Cutting, and air hoses and air tools are all sold separately. See your local welding or industrial supply for more information. VMAC Air system available as a Factory or Dealer installed option. Hole Hawg® is a registered trademark of Milwaukee Tools. All auxiliary power options stop automatically at 1/4 tank fuel level to allow you to drive to a filling station, see your Owners Manual for more details...")

They could sell a million of them to Electricians, Plumbers, General Contractors, and Maintenance Men (and Women) of all stripes who right now have to haul around a separate engine driven generator compressor or welder in the bed or on a trailer for work - just the fuel savings from the added weight alone, plus the Hybrid System already knows to stop the engine when the load stops and start it when work resumes...

Then you consider that most of those small 1 and 2-cylinder engines are loud, pollute like fiends and get rotten fuel efficiency, and the carburetors and magnetos give big problems...

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

Exactly where did I say that? I said any car can last 300k "under the right conditions." The right condition for the POS Toyota I owned would have been a transmission rebuild at 50K, an alternator replacement every August, a new starter every third year, a new paint job every third year, a front end rebuild after four years, complete replacement of all the interior plastic after four years, a new A/C condenser and receiver-dryer after two years, - i.e., basically rebuild the POS every third year. At least the engine ran OK. The rest of the car was total junk. And it was properly maintained (transmission fluid changed, regular oil changes, etc.).

I never said Toyota's don't have good life spans. What I said (or meant to say) was that I don't believe Toyotas have exceptional life spans. Unfortunately I don't have access to the sort of data that would be considered "proof." I can only go buy my own experiences and observations. I have owned Toyotas, my SO has owned Toyotas, her family owns Toyotas, I have friends with Toyotas, I have neighbors with Toyotas, etc. I have never seen anything that leads me to believe that Toyotas are exceptionally long lived. My SO had a generation 2 Camry. It made it to 8 years and 200k miles, but in the end was an oil leaking POS. The paint was gone, the interior was crap, the engine used oil, the transmission leaked so much oil she wouldn't park it in the garage, but it still moved (and she still loved it). She replaced it with Chrysler mini-van. It also made it to around 8 years and 200k miles and was actually in significantly better condition than the Camry at the same mileage, except the transmission failed. We can't prove it, but we both feel the transmission failure was related to Jiffy Lube servicing the transmission. Either way, she was ready for a new vehicle, so it was replaced with a new RAV4 (a very nice vehicle). Neither vehicle was particularly valuable at the end. The Camry would move and was sold for around $500. The Van was towed away for about the same.

I am not the sort of person who keeps a car forever. I've had five Ford products that I kept for over 100k miles (1978 Ford Fiesta - 11 years, 130k miles, 1992 F150 - 14 years, 100k miles, 1986 Mercury Sable - 10 years, 140k miles, 1997 Expedition 5 years, 150k miles,

2003 Expedition - 4 years, 100k miles). In every case the vehicle was running perfectly when I got rid of it. I just like to get new vehicles. The 1986 Sable was one of my favorite vehicles. When I replaced it, I sold it to a friend. He drove it to well over 200k miles, but eventually it was totaled when he ran it into a tree. Currently I have two relatively new vehicles - a 2007 Ford Fusion (6 moths, 8k miles) and a 2006 Nissan Frontier (15 months, 32k miles). The Fusion has not had a single problem so far. The Frontier has been back to the dealer 4 times for mostly minor things (2 recalls, jump seats that won't stay up, squeaky rear door). I'll probably keep the Fusion for 5 years and 100k miles more or less. I originally planned to keep the Frontier for at least 5 years and 120k miles, but I don't think it will make that without major problems, so I am thinking I'll replace it next March, assuming I can find a suitable replacement at a reasonable price. As of today the only candidate as a replacement is a Tacoma, but I despise the local Toyota dealers, so if the Tacoma is the only choice next year, I'll have to check out dealers in other areas. The revised F150 will be a possibility, but Ford needs to turn it back into a truck if they want me to buy one.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

I thought GM's hybrid trucks were supposed to appeal to contractors, but I guess their sale is being discontinued.

Reply to
Ray O

Have they been discontinued? The "Classic" versions are still listed on the Chevy web site. They are not really much of a hybrid in my opinion. More like a regular truck with a super heavy duty starter that makes it practical to turn off the engine whenever you stop. I think the big attraction to contractors is the fact that the truck are essentially portable generators.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

I read somewhere that the hybrid trucks were going to be discontinued, although I don't recall when that was going to happen. IIRC, those trucks got around 3 or 5 MPG better fuel economy but the big attraction was supposed to be the built-in generator feature. It was an idea that had good potential, but IMO, was not marketed well and so few people, contractors or otherwise, knew they were available.

Reply to
Ray O

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