I've had a few comments or gestures directed at me over the years because of my ride. You'd think that southeast Michigan (colloquially and known more commonly around here as The Detroit Area) would be a hotbed of hostility directed at "rice burners" but no, not very often. Not too long ago, perhaps a month or so, I drove past one of those big Detroit 3 pickup trucks with a decal on the back window of Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) pissing on a Toyota emblem. Ha Ha, what a bunch of kidders! Anyway, this morning, I was at the dealership for an oil change and wandered around the lot looking at the new vehicles. I got out right next to the main drag in to town with cars speeding past about fifteen feet from me. I was looking at the HiHy that was out there when I heard "Toyota SUCKS!" shouted from behind me. I turned to look out on the road just in time to see a Mustang that had seen better days speeding off on its merry way. :lol: I just smiled big and turned back to the HiHy.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ Aug 24 2007, 09:27 AM) [snapback]501528[/snapback]</div> I have discovered that without my realizing it had happened, I have completly tranformed form an Ameican Car enthusiast to a Japaneese car enthusiast. I guess it is a common story. Many lost faith in the US Automakers during the lack luster 1980s while Japanese and others fine tuned their cars to the current reliability that has many going for 250,000 miles. I think a real turning point for me was one time I took my 1985 Grand Voyager in to a Plymouth service department and commented about how many little things were starting to go bad at 85,000 miles. The service writer came right out and admitted "They build them to go 100,000 miles and then you throw them away and buy a new one." Unfortunately, I didn't turn quick enough. Anyone want to buy a 2000 Grand Caravan? When young, my family only drove GM and Ford motor co cars: Dad and Mom: 1960 Ford Country Squire wagon 1968 Chevy Nomad Wagon 1963 Cadalac El Darado 1980 Ford Pinto Wagon 1982 Ford Courier Pickup My First: 1971 Pontiac T37 Brothers: 1968 Ford Toreno 1985 Chevy Camero 1988 + or - Pontiac Fierro Sister: 1975 Ford Pinto Hatchback Now, Everyone has nearly made the switch, except for a couple Dodge Grand Caravans and brothers new Ford Escape Hybrid. Mom and Dad: 1987 Honda Accord 1981 Honda Odysey Brothers: 1976 + or - BMW 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid (I'll have to work on him) 1976 + or - BMW Sisters Family: 2007 Honda Civic (gas) 2007 Toyota Tacoma (sister's son) 2004 Honda Civic (gas) (sister's daughter) 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan 1975 Honda Accord And ME: 2007 Toyota Prius 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid (sold) 2005 Honda Accord (sold) 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan
I too have discovered without realizing it had happened, I have completly tranformed form an Ameican Car owner, to a Japaneese car owner. Im finding it is a common story, Many have lost faith in the US Automakers due to their vehicles just dont last as long as they used to, not to mention the reliability issues... the Japaneese seem to build reliable vehicles. Why is it that the loudest voices that are against foriegn cars always drive P.O.S. that they are getting Fixed or repaired every month? dont they look at the made in _______ stickers on the parts? :lol:
In addition, I think many of the people who want to buy American, are begining to realize you have a better chance of doing that with Toyota or Honda. My brother is retired from Ford and told me he is seriously considering a US made Toyota over a Mexican built Ford for his nexe vehicle, regardless of the employee discount.
The first car I actually owned on my own was American. The odometer was a wheel setup and had five digits. It took me quite a while to figure out why. My wife's Buick will be replaced with a HyCam.
When I see a car broken down on the side of the road I always think to myself "They must have run out of Toyotas" Why else would you drive anything else? Personally I'd walk until they had one in stock. If it's a Toyota stopped on the side of the road I stop and ask if they would like me to run up the road for some petrol, they don't break down but they will run out of petrol. I feel like shouting out to non Toyota drivers but their life is bad enough already. Oh Adelaide is a major car manufacturing town in Australia, Holden (GM) and Mitsubishi have factories here.
A couple of years ago, I was listening to "Car Talk" on NPR, the two Tappit brothers, were commenting that Toyota owners are really disadvantaged, they don't get to spent their Saturday mornings in the various car parts stores and garages getting their vehicles repaired for the next week. They are in fact missing an entier subculture. :lol: Ahh, I miss those days, kind of like a toothache! :lol:
My daughter keens for a mini-cooper My wife talks about the Honda Fit I want a Tesla Detroit cars are just not in anybody's vocabulary at home. I bought my first car when I was about 28 years old. Models owned so far have included Peugeot, Mitsu, Subaru, Honda, and now Toyota. My personal favorite is Honda; fingers crossed they come out with a competitive hybrid system for the Fit ! If I had to buy a car today, Toyota and Honda would probably be the only two choices I would look at. For reasons I cannot figure out, I do not hold Ford in the same contempt I hold GM and Chrysler, but there are so much better choices available.
i'm seeing the opposite! a ripple effect... we used to be big american car fans. my in-laws are real toyota fans. when DH's saturn, and then his during-saturn-repair cavalier died, they gave him their 88 camry. that's all it took. neither of our toyotas has cost us much in terms of repairs (aside from regular maintenance, and the hit and run, of course) and people around me see that. many of my family members have gotten into toyotas too, or are looking at them for their next purchase.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Aug 24 2007, 01:03 PM) [snapback]501557[/snapback]</div> I don't remember the T37 and it's a Torino. After 1 Dodge, 1 Pontiac, and 3 Olds it was time to find something different. Better mpg, less maintenance, lower depreciation, higher reliability, better quality sounds like Toyota to me. If I'm going to buy a car full of foreign parts I might as well buy a good one.
We tried American cars - once. I had a Dodge Caravan, DH drove a Ford Ranger. The Ranger broke the day after we bought it - a busted hose that we had to wait 2-3 for a new part. We couldn't even move it out of the driveway! The Caravan lasted 60K miles. Then the tranny went out. We traded it in on a Sienna. We got maybe $2500 for it? When we traded our Sienna in on the Prius, it had almost 50K on it and we got $16K or so on it. We've been driving Toyota since 2003, and won't go back to an American vehicle unless there has been enough serious improvement to warrant the switch. Every year I look at the CR reviews and compare the black-dot US vehicles to the red-dot Toyotas.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EricGo @ Aug 25 2007, 01:53 PM) [snapback]502040[/snapback]</div> Recently, I was checking out a few of the competitors for the Fit, those being the Kia Spectra5 and Suzuki SX4. They seemed to be pretty nice for the price level (especially considering that the SX4 is AWD). Then I went back and looked at a Fit again. It's unbelievable how much better engineered the Honda is in comparison. The best example is how Honda packaged the folding rear seat. It's nothing short of amazing how much interior room a car as small as the Fit has, particularly when the rear seat is folded down. Hell, they even designed the rear seat headrests in a way that they don't have to be removed when you fold the seats down and fit underneath the front seat. That's attention to detail. My Prius is a fine vehicle but if the next gen small Honda hybrid is packaged anywhere near as well as the Fit, I'll probably be jumping ship to Honda. I also looked at a Ford Fockus, mainly because they're fun to laugh at since the dealer lots are overflowing with them. There was even a stripped, brand-new, beige 4-door (no A/C) that has to be the very epitome of the word 'loser-mobile'. Unless the 'brand-new' 2008 Fockus is a quantum leap forward (yeah, right), the domestics, although improved somewhat, continue to lag so badly behind virtually everyone else that now the Korean as well as the Japanese brands are better buys. My suspicion is this is the real reason that Chinese vehicles are on the way. Since they're so new at the game, at least they'll make the domestic brands look good (for a while, anyway).
