Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Toyota halts sales of vehicles due to safety defect

dmr727 said:
Here's the thing though - the Fusion hasn't been around long enough to change my perception yet. I'm not saying the Fusion isn't an excellent car, but come back to me with a ten year old Fusion sporting 200K miles, and at that point I'll form my own conclusion.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The American cars we had problems with were fine in the first few years of ownership. It's when they got older that they started going downhill.

My mom has a 2004 Hyundai Sonata. It's the oldest car in the family at 6 years old, 60k on the clock, and hasn't needed anything except regular maintenance. Every American car we ever owned had multiple repairs within the first 6 years.
 
yg17 said:
Agreed. The American cars we had problems with were fine in the first few years of ownership. It's when they got older that they started going downhill.

My mom has a 2004 Hyundai Sonata. It's the oldest car in the family at 6 years old, 60k on the clock, and hasn't needed anything except regular maintenance. Every American car we ever owned had multiple repairs within the first 6 years.
Click to expand...


Next time you park in a large lot, take a look around you.

What do you see?

How many 10+yr old AMERICAN cars do you see?

How many 15+yr old JAPANESE cars do you see?

How many 5+yr old EUROPEAN (assuming you are in the US of course) cars do you see?

Theres a reason for the large discrepancy. The domestic/EU cars broke down and required enough repairs to the point of worthlessness to their owners, and were traded/sold/destroyed. I havent seen a Jetta or Passat in years. Audio A4? Nope. BMW 325, not in a long while. Camaros...only driven by old ladies who barely drove them in the first place.

Plenty of people drive 1990-era Civics, but no one drives a late 90s Ford Mustang. And its NOT because they chose it that way.


:rolleyes:
 
Sdashiki said:
I havent seen a Jetta or Passat in years. Audio A4? Nope. BMW 325, not in a long while. Camaros...only driven by old ladies who barely drove them in the first place.
Click to expand...

I see European cars all the time, both old and new. I drive a European car and it's given me no problems at all.
 
yg17 said:
Agreed. The American cars we had problems with were fine in the first few years of ownership. It's when they got older that they started going downhill.

My mom has a 2004 Hyundai Sonata. It's the oldest car in the family at 6 years old, 60k on the clock, and hasn't needed anything except regular maintenance. Every American car we ever owned had multiple repairs within the first 6 years.
Click to expand...

My brother has a 2000 Ford Taurus with 125,000 miles on it that my parents owned before and it has never needed a major repair. Of course, my father is pretty much a maintenance freak and always ensured all items were well maintained. Maybe you can drive a foreign car for 125,000 miles and never change any fluids, spark plugs, etc. and they will just keep going fine, but I think maintenance also plays a role in how long your car will run without trouble. I am not saying you did not maintain your cars properly, just saying that I have seen American cars that have ran well even after 10 years.

Every case is different. We have ran several F-150's to 150,000+ miles without any major issues. I see a lot of 10+ year old high mileage F-150's still running down the roads. I have a 32 year old F-150 I still use as a second vehicle. Sure it has needed maintenance, but it still has the original engine. I had to pull the transmission and replace seals because they do go bad after 32 years. It is a low mileage survivor, but still it proves that some American vehicles can last and last a long time.
 
Abercrombieboy said:
My brother has a 2000 Ford Taurus with 125,000 miles on it that my parents owned before and it has never needed a major repair. Of course, my father is pretty much a maintenance freak and always ensured all items were well maintained. Maybe you can drive a foreign car for 125,000 miles and never change any fluids, spark plugs, etc. and they will just keep going fine, but I think maintenance also plays a role in how long your car will run without trouble. I am not saying you did not maintain your cars properly, just saying that I have seen American cars that have ran well even after 10 years.

Every case is different. We have ran several F-150's to 150,000+ miles without any major issues. I see a lot of 10+ year old high mileage F-150's still running down the roads. I have a 32 year old F-150 I still use as a second vehicle. Sure it has needed maintenance, but it still has the original engine. I had to pull the transmission and replace seals because they do go bad after 32 years. It is a low mileage survivor, but still it proves that some American vehicles can last and last a long time.
Click to expand...

I still see tons of old Saturn S-Series cars as well.
 
Looks like I have to throw in another €0.02 of comments:

1) I myself drive a 1998 Honda Civic HX CVT coupe. It's got a 108,000 miles on the car, and thanks to US$2,000 worth of maintenance work done last November (it took two days of labor to get it all done!), it drives really good nowadays with 32-39 mpg fuel economy (really good for a ten-year old car). Sdashiki is right--you see a lot 1996-2000 model year Civics still on the road, and many Civic fans consider the six-generation Civic (EJ/EK/EM body style) to be the best Civics ever.

2) As for Fords, look at the current Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan sedan, probably the best four-door sedan sold by an American company nowadays. I've test driven a 2010 Fusion 2.5SE sedan with the Duratec 25 I-4 and six-speed automatic and was very pleasantly surprised by the strong engine performance and really slick 6AT automatic. If I were to buy a new Fusion 2.5SE right now I'd be put on a waiting list--that's how strong demand is nowadays.

I do think the new Fiesta is going to be HOT seller, despite what yg17 says about the styling. ;) Ford masterfully kept the "feel" of the European version as much as possible, and 40 mpg based on the current EPA 2008 test is definitely within reach.

3) As for the Malibu, poor GM! The Malibu is a VERY underrated model, and it's probably one of the best sedans produced by GM in many years. The current 2010 model with the 2.4-liter Ecotec I-4 and the six-speed automatic has superb freeway fuel economy, and quietly has become a good-selling model.

Anyway, getting back on topic, :) there is now increasing concern the problem may be caused by the Engine Control Unit (ECU) computer itself, if this story from Autoblog.com is still true:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/22/abc-news-expert-says-electronic-design-flaw-to-blame-in-runaway/

That could tell me the Toyota ECU may not correctly cut the throttle or the fuel supply in some conditions, which could lead to a potential engine runaway. If that is the case Toyota may have to replace several MILLION ECUs, and that could be a recall so expensive that the Japanese government may have to step in to help pay for it.
 
I don't know how many of the problems with Toyotas are real (I expect that a lot of the so-called incidents are just people trying to cash in on the company's problems) but I just don't like the way that the company seems to be handing (or mishandling) this situation. I was in the market for a new car recently and would have considered a Toyota except for this. I bought a Mazda Miata 2 weeks ago and couldn't be happier (BTW, Toyota doesn't make anything even close these days). My wife did buy a Scion xD last year that I hope does not have any of these problems, but it did refuse to start a while back and had to be towed to the dealer (they said it was a known problem and they fixed it - we shall see).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back