Toyota quality

Toyotas best paid and best treated employees work at that plant. Too bad the other US Toyota employees do not enjoy the same treatment and benefits, even though a similarly equipped VIBE can be driven home for much less than a Matrix.. If you doubt that, you can educate yourself on the subject by going to a Toyota dealer, get a TOTAL drive home price then go to a Pontiac dealer and do the same. ;)

mike hunt

"Philip" wrote:

It's what you have to do to American (Union built) cars...

Well.... FUNNY you should bring up that specific comparison. I DID discuss figures at Pontiac dealer in east Los Angeles and a Toyota dealer in the same area. This was back in August of 2002. My drive home price for a Matrix was about $200 difference. Both quotes were for a cash deal. Ultimately, I bought the Corolla because I didn't like the driving feel of either Matrix or Vibe and I saw right away the silly instrumentation was NOT for me.

It makes sense that there are Toyotas in a salvage yard, because these cars need to go somewhere. The thing is, when you have a Toyota, you can keep it longer trouble free and not have the issues you would with a domestic.

I have no reason not to believe your figures. You most likely resisted the smoke and mirrors add on that Toyota dealer are noted for. Generally it is closer too $1,200 on a cash deal. Thousands higher if the vehicle is financed. Zero interest on the VIBE versus 3.9% on the Matrix, higher for contracts over 36 months.

mike hunt

"Philip" wrote:

You forgot to say, in my opinion, since many domestic last a long time as well. I see a lot more old domestics, from the sixties and seventies, driving around than Toyotas from the same time period

mike hunt

"Dan JCS." wrote:

Weren't there a lot more domestics made in the 60s and 70s than Toyotas imported? In my opinion.

Bearman

That is one thing that Japanese will never do, is have a following for some older vehicle. Even restoring it, etc. I am just saying that if you take a domestic and a Japanese over 10 years, the domestic will have more problems.

In your opinion, that may be. My post is not my opinion but rather it is based on what I see in the current service records from our business on thousand of all brands of vehicles. There is little difference today, if any, among brands as to longevity when they are properly serviced and maintained. Even if what you believe were true most new vehicle buyers replace their vehicle in three to four years with less than 80K on the clock. Even if one is the type to keep a vehicle for ten year or more, is it worth it to have a car last a bit longer if the insurance cost is 20% higher for those ten years because of the price of crash parts? Is it worth it to have to replace an alternator at 120K rather than 100K, if the later is $90 less expensive and you sell the car at 150K? A more important consideration to a buyer should be the overall cost of accusation, insurance, operation, maintenance, repair parts and vehicle replacement. In that respect Toyota, or any Japanese brand for that matter, is not even close to the domestic brands and that was the point I was trying to make. Among the Japanese brands Honda does much better than Toyota.

mike hunt

"Dan JCS." wrote:

There's a guy in town that has a '67 Corolla wagon, from Japan, RHD! Iwould kill to get my hands on it.

Needs some body work, but runs well.

Here in the great Northeast, you don't see a lot of older Toy's because of the rust problem. Also, Toyota was slow in coming to this area, and didn't sell a lot in the early years. A lot of people around here just wouldn't have them....liked the bigger domestics.

Ummm, 1967-68 Toyota 2000GT? Commanding prices of a quarter mil + up...

Wrong, idiot. There's huge differences in the quality of design and engineering, even when comparing cars of similar prices.

How does the lack of Japanese cars account for all of the German a British cars in the northeast alongside domestics? They even have all British car shows. I never heard of a Japanese car show. I attend car shows all over the country, showing my old cars, and one rarely if ever sees a Japanese car from the sixties and seventies, except for a Z or a RX7 on occasion I even see many Italian cars. the Jap cars didn't rust as quickly as Italian cars and they sure didn't sell many of them either. ;)

mike hunt

HachiRoku wrote:

In your dreams maybe. The sport car list of the NADA Guide says, $130,400 is the highest price ever paid for one in concurs condition. I have never seen one, or any other Japanese car, at any concours event. I've seen several Stanley Steamers however ;)

mike hunt

HachiRoku wrote:

Specifically, what huge differences in design and engineering are you talking about?

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:34:03 -0700, "Steve" top posted:

The suspension design and quality is an easy place to find differences. Get down on your hand and knees to check them all out.

And YOU forgot to mention the relative population difference of domestics vs. Toyotas during the '60's and 70's.

OK, I'll take a close look underneath but help us out here. What exact design and quality differences are you talking about?

I have a '99 Dodge Cummins Diesel and even after 15,000km the oil comes out relativly clean. Its not all diesels that blacken oil, just the bad ones!