Hondas, Toyotas and the brainwashed

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
One of my all time favorite cars!!



Yes, cool car indeed. The picture looks like a silver T-Type which you didn't see many of. Dad bought the owner's demo so it had about 3000 miles. Emerald green, moonroof, Bose, wire wheels and vogue tires. The tires looked good but were a pain to clean even with Westleys Bleach White. Dad nicknamed it the Teal Mobile. It start to have a whine when accelerating, sounding like it was coming from the trans.

Parent's neighbor has a black 87 Regal T-Type that he bought new. Only drives it in the summer so very good shape and has a nice growl to it. Looks just like a GN which I thought it was at first. No T-tops and the seats are different.

 

[Californiabob]

I find it interesting that the comparisons are not quite apples-to-apples.

I've had 5 different Chevys and 2 each (Nissan, Toyota, Mazda ), 2 Saabs
and a Suzuki jeep (yes, the CR rollover model).

no comparison none of the Chevys made it to 100K, none of Japanese were less than
100K. and the Saabs died (lung, heart, liver) at exactly 100K.

the real reliable models haven't been mentioned: Lexus and infiniti.

I know about 6 people with lexus ls400, one with 400K and going strong.

my personal experience is with a G20 (inifiniti not the chevy truck/van)
and one and only one major repair - starter in 204K miles. didn't need to
wash/wax car for first 6 years - really hard clearcoat. no oil consumption
and due to great design - no need to wheel alignment.

unfortunately they discontinued the G20, if it were available, I would
pay 5K over list for a new one.

and if I wanted a new car that's reliable, I would buy a Lexus
or Infiniti. If I couldn't afford one, I buy Mazda, Nissan, Toyota
in that order.

 

[wheelman1991]

Originally Posted By: Californiabob


the real reliable models haven't been mentioned: Lexus and infiniti.

and if I wanted a new car that's reliable, I would buy a Lexus
or Infiniti. If I couldn't afford one, I buy Mazda, Nissan, Toyota
in that order.


You do realize that a Lexus is just an "upscale" Toyota right?

 

[wheelman1991]

For example, my 1999 Toyota Camry is the same car as........ The 1999 Lexus ES300 they are one and the same. It's just plain old fashioned badge engineering.

 

[Californiabob]

Ok - I'll bite - which Toyota has the lexus V8 that runs 200-400K miles.
and which Nissan has that V8 that infiniti had in their older big boy.
having ridden and driven both and compared them to their "common" brothers,
there's a noticeable difference. the infiniti Q ship had butter soft seats
that made 150 mi roundtrips a dream - the ride was almost as good as
a 7-series Bimmer.

just because they're owned by the same company doesn't mean it's just
a rebadged low-end model. but yes, the Toyota-badged Mazda do ride the same.

not that everyone should believe CR but their latest issue has
a list of cars making it to 200K. almost all Japanese cars
with several American entries - trucks.

And to mention one of the Chevys - a vega!!!! horrors
and haven't seen one on the road in 30+ years here in
California.

and after 5 chevys and 6 different Japanese cars - for me there's
no comparison. I am too old, shaky, and tired to have cars that
I need to fix on any kind of basis.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

In the last 40 years I've owned 2 Datsun's and 2 Toyota's they have all given me great service. The only negative I have on my Toyota's their paint sucks! Everything else has been so far above American manufacture spec its unbelievable. If Toyota had a diesel PU I like would have never bought my Duramax although its been trouble free so far.

 

[HondaRULZ]

My transmission went out on my 06 Accord V6. Stay away from Honda automatics.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: HondaRULZ
My transmission went out on my 06 Accord V6. Stay away from Honda automatics.
That's a car from 11-12 years ago. It's about ready for Junior High school!

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: HondaRULZ
My transmission went out on my 06 Accord V6. Stay away from Honda automatics.
That's a car from 11-12 years ago. It's about ready for Junior High school!


Ha! I'm sure someone in this thread mentioned the Vega.

 

[HondaRULZ]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: HondaRULZ
My transmission went out on my 06 Accord V6. Stay away from Honda automatics.
That's a car from 11-12 years ago. It's about ready for Junior High school!

Check your use of analogies and metaphors. There is no correlation in the one you utilized.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Aichiguy
This is just my experience. The tranny went out of our 99 Taurus at 107k so I spent $1810 for rebuild and thought I would drive for several years to amortise the cost. A few months later the heat quit working and I was looking at a $700-800 repair. Decided to trade for newer Camry and have never looked back. In the last 12 years we usually had 4 Toyotas in the family and the most expensive repair I have made or had done is $130. A/C recharge and alternator replacement. I've had good Ford's and Chevy's but none were reliable like our Toyotas.


You had a bad year. The transmission were much better in the 4th gen 2000-2003 Taurus. Then they got worse again in 2003. It can sometimes take a while to figure out what's a good year and bad. I had a '95 Contour at one point, when it came out everyone was saying how great it was and then by the time the run ended, it was probably one of the worse years. Mine didn't even make it to 100k before I got rid of it.

 

[Silverado12]

It's pretty much a given that domestic trucks are better. I have a 2012 Silverado and had one $30 sensor go bad. Other than that, it's been reliable and gets an average of 18-19 mpg; 21 on a trip.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Our 2 toyotas from the past decade were not reliable.
Rav 4 and Yaris.

Rav 4 had blown rear shocks, leaky water pump, rusted out exhaust, failing clutch, engine eating oil and clattering. All at 2-1/2 years 57K miles.

Wifes car who is a conservative driver with MAINLY highway miles (80/20) @ 65 MPH.

Mobil oil changed at 5k +/- and Toyota OEM filters.


My last two cars have been Toyota Corolla's the first one gave me 130,000 low maintenance miles and I gave it to my stepson. The current 2004 Corolla is at just a little over 112,000 miles. Standard maintenance issues like tires, brakes and battery. Before I changed over to synthetic oil the oil changes were regular at 3,000 miles. Now I follow the factory suggested 5,000 mile change on synthetic. If I don't get tired of driving the same car I suspect this thing will still be delivering reliable service in 2030. I need reliable transportation not a status symbol.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
That's because the BMW is 10 times more complicated than a mid-90s Accord, late-90's Toyota minivan and a 2000 Toyota Echo combined.

Even if that were true it is because the "superior German engineers" made it that way. There are many things on even this old BMW that are needlessly complex and as a result fail much sooner than do the Japanese counterparts.

The BMW components always feel heavier, look more substantial and seem like they are better than the Japanese ones. But guess which one fails first?


BMW's are designed to be dealership only maintainable!

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
That's because the BMW is 10 times more complicated than a mid-90s Accord, late-90's Toyota minivan and a 2000 Toyota Echo combined.

Even if that were true it is because the "superior German engineers" made it that way. There are many things on even this old BMW that are needlessly complex and as a result fail much sooner than do the Japanese counterparts.

The BMW components always feel heavier, look more substantial and seem like they are better than the Japanese ones. But guess which one fails first?


BMW's are designed to be dealership only maintainable!


I don't think people realize that superior engineering is actually less complex. It's easy to start out with something complex, but as refinements are made, it becomes simpler.

But I've noticed that certain things Mercedes does, regular cars don't do and it just adds to the to the total cost. The biggest laugh I had was when someone said that the car must be super reliable if the list price was over 60k, but I just said that it means it has a lot of luxury options, but it actually doesn't make it more reliable, probably less.

 

[4WD]

Yep - around our office see more folks start to lease the German cars -
One said love to drive them but don't love to own ...

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Yep - around our office see more folks start to lease the German cars -
One said love to drive them but don't love to own ...


Well it's been 3 years for me and I still love driving them. Been ok to own. I'm just a gadget guy so I love all the gadgets, I just keep wondering why I didn't get one sooner.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
That's because the BMW is 10 times more complicated than a mid-90s Accord, late-90's Toyota minivan and a 2000 Toyota Echo combined.

Even if that were true it is because the "superior German engineers" made it that way. There are many things on even this old BMW that are needlessly complex and as a result fail much sooner than do the Japanese counterparts.

The BMW components always feel heavier, look more substantial and seem like they are better than the Japanese ones. But guess which one fails first?


BMW's are designed to be dealership only maintainable!
The POS i3 I'm giving back to the dealer in a couple of days was a real lemon that the dealership itself couldn't handle. I swear, during the lease that car spent more time at the dealer than in my hands on the road. BMW is on my 'sh' list now. The coup de grace for that car was needing a complete battery replacement at 15,000 miles. The entire EV battery. That's a $16,000 repair out of pocket. Their cars are only good during dealer test drives; they turn into pumpkins (lemons) on the drive home! Oh, and about paint quality - it seems like BMW is using eco friendly paint formulations that are extremely fragile and razor thin. The smallest scratches on the i3 go straight through to the underlying (plastic) panel material. But hey, at least the steering is nice and sharp, right? What a joke. Oh, and the rear tires are completely bald at 22,000 miles. And the only kind of tires that will fit those weird 19" rims are the OEM Bridgestones, yep, you'll need to budget for tires where you used to budget for gasoline on that car.
I got such a bad taste in my mouth from the brand's new cars that I'm thinking of dumping my E30 convertible so that I don't have to see that propeller badge in my driveway anymore.

 

[stockrex]

Honda - My 2010 Honda Fit will be my last honda ever, I am done with honda, both mechanically and service dept wise.
I drive a rental car nearly every week of the year and I have driven just about everything they have out there. Toyota is light years ahead of honda and so is kia.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: stockrex
Honda - My 2010 Honda Fit will be my last honda ever, I am done with honda, both mechanically and service dept wise.
I drive a rental car nearly every week of the year and I have driven just about everything they have out there. Toyota is light years ahead of honda and so is kia.


I also rent lots of cars and I would have to agree with you that Honda has fallen behind other manufacturers.