Your view on Toyota...

[kamakiri]

Forgive me for doing a bit of market research here, but with our international community...I'm curious what the impacts of the recalls are.

Do you currently own a Toyota? A recall model?

Would you buy another Toyota again?

If you haven't ever owned a Toyota, what do you think of the company now?

All opinions welcome!

 

[TanteEdgar]

We should rename the movie "Total Recall" to "Toyota Recall".

 

[kamakiri]

We should rename the movie "Total Recall" to "Toyota Recall".

:lol: Thanks for the joke, but you're exactly the kind of member I want to hear from on this!

 

[ZoeRipper]

My mom has a huge white Toyota Sequoia. Not sure the year.

I like it because it's big and makes me feel safe, but the whole gas prices thing is a no go.

I prefer my bike.

 

[Rick]

Not a fan of foreign cars personally. However, I do like how they stepped up and admitted they screwed up. They are running a commercial that basically says they screwed up. That means a lot.

 

[revmdn]

I still like them.

 

[sbugir]

Not a fan of foreign cars personally. However, I do like how they stepped up and admitted they screwed up. They are running a commercial that basically says they screwed up. That means a lot.

Something the US cars still need to do :S.

Does anyone recall the 2001 Ford recall?

 

[batsofchaos]

I still like Toyotas, but I wouldn't buy one for a couple of years, not until they've had a chance to work the bugs out and make sure they're no longer selling death-traps.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sons got one a couple ;years old, is recalled, but gotta agree with Rick, better to fess up then try to hide!

 

[Opivy]

Yup, my friends new car was included in the recall =0

 

[PhilinYuma]

Yeah, I'm with Rick on this one. Anyone who is worried about getting a Toyota for the nex cupla years should definitely stay away from Ford. They have had 8 recalls since 1999 (the 2001 recall was just part of the series that caused recalls again last year, involving 14,000,000 cars). Chevy recalled over a million cars in 2008. I had dinner on Friday with a friend who is a service rep for Toyota in Phoenix and she was saying that all Toyota plants in the US will close for a week to tool up for the refitting. Mechanical things, like the NASA space shuttle, develop mechanical faults. Neither I nor my kids have driven anything but American cars, but it looks as though Toyota is doing the Right Thing.

Mantid Man: I'm not sure whether yr comment was pro or anti Toyota (though Total Recall was the worst adaptation of a Philip K. ###### story, ever), but if anti, do you plan on changing yr Lexus avatar?

 

[sbugir]

Haha, yeah MantidMan...? What's up w/ that?

 

[kamakiri]

Interesting. So most of the opinions are that it's not a really big deal?

 

[Katnapper]

I've never owned a Toyota... have always stuck with Chevy and Plymouth/Dodge. Take that back... I owned a Nissan Pulsar for several years at one point.

I agree that Toyota stepping up and admitting their faults in high profile, and working quickly to try to recall and fix the issues is a good thing. It makes me think I wouldn't hold it against them if I ever chose to consider buying a Toyota product in the future.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Last week I had a conversation with a UPS mechanic/friend that I trust and appreciate for his consistently great car advice/experience. He suggests that a Japanese car is good to 150,000 miles and an American to 100,000 miles (on average). He says sell them a bit before they reach these points or issues will begin to surface.

As for the Toyota issue, I'm saddened that they are going to lose so much money fixing 400,000 cars (yesterday's count on NPR which went up from 200,000 before Mr. Toyota gave a rare speech).

I currently drive a Japanese car (5 years now) and though I replaced the battery in it for the first time two days ago, I've had no additional issues with it. I've had a few Fords and lots of problems with them. The way I see it, it boils down to time. American cars are cheaper, but value deflates quickly and repairs are more common. I don't like breakdowns and I don't like taking my car to the shop. It pretty much evens out from a financial standpoint when you consider the US vs. Japanese vehicle. The issue of what purchasing an American vs. Japanese car does for a local or country's ecomony is another issue all together.

 

[Rick]

Yeah, I'm with Rick on this one. Anyone who is worried about getting a Toyota for the nex cupla years should definitely stay away from Ford. They have had 8 recalls since 1999 (the 2001 recall was just part of the series that caused recalls again last year, involving 14,000,000 cars). Chevy recalled over a million cars in 2008. I had dinner on Friday with a friend who is a service rep for Toyota in Phoenix and she was saying that all Toyota plants in the US will close for a week to tool up for the refitting. Mechanical things, like the NASA space shuttle, develop mechanical faults. Neither I nor my kids have driven anything but American cars, but it looks as though Toyota is doing the Right Thing.Mantid Man: I'm not sure whether yr comment was pro or anti Toyota (though Total Recall was the worst adaptation of a Philip K. ###### story, ever), but if anti, do you plan on changing yr Lexus avatar?

The only brand I would buy right now is Ford. They have really stepped things up. All car makers have recalls. And Ford didn't take any bailout money. But of course I am a Ford fanboy. They have so many nice things out right now.

 

[d17oug18]

i bought a toyota like literally days before the recall, it wasnt mine that needed to be recalled, used 2005 toyota corolla Xrs, but it still sucks that if i waited a few more days i could've gotten it a heck of a lot cheaper =/, the cars BB value was 12 and i got it at 13. By the way, WHATS UP YALL!!!!! sorry i disappeared for so long ^_^ MANTIS FORUM ROCKS!

 

[kamakiri]

Well, I'm pretty surprised by most of the responses.

I've only owned 1 Toyota...and it was a used '80 Celica Supra that I owned in the mid-late 90's as my surfer/beater car. I loved that car and it fit a 9'6" longboard just fine. I've respected Toyota for a long time. Read (most of) The Toyota Way and appreciate the general culture of the company. I've owned and worked on several brands of cars...computer controlled and carburated...foreign and domestic.

Anyway, I'm really *alarmed* by one of the problems. Now, I have been skeptical of 'drive-by-wire' throttle systems since I first learned of them...mostly from the fly-by-wire problems experienced by an Airbus jets that have crashed since the late 80's. So when I first heard of the problem with a Lexus killing a California highway patrol officer and his family(this story), I suspected the electronic throttle control system to be at fault. Learning that Toyota claimed the problem was from floor mats was just ridiculous to me. Seeing the proposed fix last week with shims to the pedal system is quite frankly disturbing. That's because the only way to rule out that 'fix' will be when somebody else dies in a car with that shim installed.

Last year, I witnessed an event in a parking lot with a Lexus SUV. It pulled into a parking stall and came to a complete stop. Suddenly, it lurched over the curb in front of it and hit a large date palm. The lady driving it looked confused that this happened. I asked her if she was okay and signalled with her hand that she was. I figured it was just her. And I was walking just on the other side of the tree when this happened.

When I put that incident together with the CHP story and the recall...I became very alarmed. After all the latest news, I can only think that they are still hiding the problem...even though they seem to be doing an excellent job at PR at the moment.

 

[TanteEdgar]

I have a Celica 2.0GT 1986mod. 1190kg of sh*t. It's worn out. But I'm looking for a Lexus IS200 so I'll stick with Toyota. I was looking for a Celica GT4 1992mod (the best looking body, ST18) but you pay the same for a almost 20 year old Celica as a 9 year old Lexus.... There is really nothing to think about...