Veda – glad we agree.

jackjimturkey – its a matter of preference. The current accord is beat by the camry, but the new civic beats anything of itsize over at Toy. Simply put, if you want a car go to honda (plus CR-V for some) and if you want a truck go to Toy. Of course, when it comes to trucks I would always go domestic on that one bcuz if the Big 3 kno anything, its how to build a truck. I myself can’t see why you’d go for the Tundra (big incentives perhaps?) when the domestics have been building trucks for more that 3/4 of a century, but its america. Do what you want. Did you at least consider Sierra/Silverado/F-150/Ram? And the titan too?

I’ll be driving the new Tundra later. For work.

Many consumers think every Big 3 made car is the ‘82 citation.

never mind some of the great (if boring) american cars of the last decade or so.

Same goes for Toy, the number one thing driving people into their showrooms is their perceived reputation. That’s all theyre riding on. Honda makes better cars that Toy, even Hyundai, and yes, sometimes even the big 3 in certain segments. Just as it took a long time for GM to “fall” it will take a while but one day their dumbass little prius will run outta gas and people are gonna WAKE UP. Like masteryoda said, people are gonna try out all cars and make a desicion that way, not run into the first Japanese showroom they see like their neighbors told them to.

GMCsyclone#478: No, far from a Toyota worshipper, I will probably never own a boring ass Toyota for personal use. But on the reliability note, I’d admit that their newer models like the new Camry sucked when it comes to initial quality and I will also admit that I fear these newer models will be just as unreliable as Toyota’s competitions. However, I stand by the fact that their previous models are built to really withstand abusive use.

Commodore: You talked about style and excitement which is clearly something we can’t all agree on ever. You said GM makes good product which could be true but a good product that’s expensive when compared to the competition is not a very good product. Unless of course you’re talking Ferrari, Lambos, etc… Plus 5yr/100000 mile warranties don’t do you any good if you have to keep coming back to the workshop. It’ll still pisses you off…

jackjimturkey: You can go to Chevron now and ask them what cars they use for their overseas operations. Your list doesn’t make sense and two of them upgraded to more expensive cars, so if they’re not getting a better car then they’re truly idiots. Plus you can just make up stuff lists like that anyway you want. I have the facts, if you care enough once again go to Chevron and ask them.

So is that to say that Toyota was inferior all the years that it was behind GM in sales? Your reasoning is simplistic. There are many factors involved in sales numbers, the least of which is not image. If you’re old enough, you should remember how fast the tides can turn.

Veda also wrote, “the ‘perceived’ reliability is not just perceived, it’s seen through and through.” Come on Veda, you remind me of early 1990s domestic loyalists that (being blinded by devotion) wouldn’t admit that the Japanese brands had become true competition in the auto industry.

According to Consumer Affairs (I know, I know, but numbers are numbers http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/07/toyota_recalls.html), “Toyota has now recalled almost 800,000 vehicles in July” and “Last year, Toyota’s recalls in the U.S. more than doubled as the number of recalls industry-wide registered a slight decline.” Industry-wide recalls declined, but Toyota’s more than DOUBLED. Now that’s a trend worth watching.

In Toyota’s rush to sell sell sell and be number one, it doesn’t seem like they are putting the consumer first. According to MSNBC, “The automaker has received reports of 11 accidents and six injuries connected to the recall [of 533,000 Tundra pickup trucks and Sequoia sport utility vehicles], said Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong.” Good job Toyota.

Random Jerk (nice username, very befitting), obviously Toy drops a few dollars of profit while they are building their camries here in the hopes of swaying minds to buy camries. But that little boost is NOTHING compared to what GM could do if it made as much profit as Toy. You are right that foreign companies invest in Toy, so to others in GM (take the Russian guy that just bought 5% of GM) but the OVERWHELMING majority is put back into America. You said it yourself, “not ALL the money goes back to Japan”. Key word is ALL..yes, not all..but a WHOLE LOT of it does.

Veda – I’m not making excuses for GM. I don’t need to. I was just pointing out all the difficualties GM (and the Big 3) have to overcome in the hopes of you people not calling them “idiots” and “theres another stupid thing GM does..cant wait to see them go under”. Have you tried any of GM’s new offerings? The Aura certainly isnt an inferior product, neither is the upcoming Malibu (the interior is very competitive). The Fusion from Ford is also very good. I drive an 06 Mustang right now – what does Toyonda offer that is even minorly exciting? Auto-parallel park? Thanks, but Bill Gates and the other geeks can pick up that one. The Corvette is AMAZING, so are the Solstice and Sky. The Enclave, Outlook, and Acadia are great looking and very fuel efficient for what they do (And they are not badge-jobs). You certainly can’t call the Edge or the Escalade/Yukon/Tahoe/Subrban/Silverado/Sierra inferior productions? The new G8 that’s coming out looks very promising, as does the new CTS. Do I have to keep going? Although I admit there are some GM products that are not competitive, all the ones I just mentioned should definetely be on your list to at least CONSIDER when you are shopping for cars similar to them. I see no reason why you people have to worship Toyota when theres a perfectly good American product (with the new 5yr/100000 mile warranties if youre worried about reliabilty) out there.

Toyota, like GM and Ford is a publicly owned company. Anyone can buy a share. Now, I know most of you children don’t own any mutual funds or other investment vehicles, but if you did, chances are pretty good YOU would own Toyota stock.

Here is a list of Toyota’s top shareholders as traded on the NYSE: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=TM

With names like CITIGROUP INC. and FIDELITY DIVERSIFIED INTERNATIONAL FUND on that list, even 1487_GM_SALES can see that the all the money does NOT go back to Japan. Keep in mind that these companies shares spread even wider.

Now comes the real mindblower children. Do you think every share of GM and Ford is owned by Americans? Of course not, so GM and Ford PROFITS (what little there have been recently) ARE LEAVING THE COUNTRY!

Mom, cousin: toyota to ford
Me Toyota to chevrolet
Aunt Toyota to cadillac
Uncle: Toyota to Jaguar.
In every case, we all realized we bought the wrong car the first time

Veda: are you a lady? I knew a girl named veda, and I’m kind of having trouble reading your name without visualizing her. That’s not an insult or anything, I just don’t like to be wrong

Yea, I still don’t understand why the same idiots think they have the right to moan and bitch like a used chick in sites like this because of their single bad experience with a particular brand/item/whatever…

You hear this stuff OFTEN and still don’t get it?

Comment by Jordan, posted on August7 at 3:15 pm
There’s absolutely nothing wrong the the people of Mexico.”

Are you gonna say that too when you start talking about buying the :uber cool environmentally friendly Prius; built in Japan?? Who gives a **** where its built. What matters is where the money goes. If you buy a JAPANese car the money goes to JAPAN. If you buy a car from an US carmakers, regardless of where its build the majority of the money goes back to America!

Why do you think Toyota builds their most popular car, the Camry, in the middle of the USA? So ignorant people like you feel better about buying a foreign car, because they think they are being patriotic for buying a US-made car! So why does GM build cars in Mexico? Because in Mexico they can escape from the UAW (Toy doesn’t have to worry about Unions at all). O, and I’m sure you’ll point out that GM also builds cars in Canada under the CAW..that’s because they don’t have to pay healthcare costs to their employees there (Canada has universal healthcare) since healthcare is by far the most expensive thing GM has to pay US workers that Toy DOES NOT. So why does GM have to use lower quality materials in its cars that Japan? Because of the economic difference – GM can’t afford to use high grade materials in its cars without going WAYYY over the price of imports in which case people will still buy imports because they would have the same quality materials but be a few thousand cheaper. GM has $1000s of extra cost per car they build, its just ridiculous.

Damn right… Most likely because nobody wants to buy their used ones so they’re stuck with them for life.

By the way, I am so sick of these articles about Toy and their ‘predictions’. And crap about consumer reports and the Tundra. Leftlane is really one sided.

I’ve had about 3000 Toyotas that I’ve owned and maintained in my workshop for the the past 34 years so I know damn well how good they’ve become in the last decade or so. Their el cheapo tincan minivans and pickups still work decent after 100,000 miles in heavy duty semi-offroad oil field operations at Chevron. The ones that don’t make it were the Opels and Ford Rangers (can’t stand mixed diesel). Ask why an American oil company trusts Toyota more than GM for their business operation. So don’t give me that single car individual purchase experience BS I hear so often about. Not that I would buy a Toyota for personal use, but you idiots fail to see that increasing sales = doing the right thing meaning durability in most people’s mind.

Not very good for a salesman. But then what do you expect of one?