Toyota Widens Lead Over GM, Ford By Boosting Quality

Bloomberg ^ | 05/11/04 | Bloomberg

[bmwcyle]

Monroe part for shocks and brakes last twice as any other parts I have put on it.

[1rudeboy]

Mexico is cheap, but the labor is not as good as Japan.

Did you mean to say that Mexican labor is not as good as ours in the U.S.A.? Or do you believe that every Toyota on the road is manufactured elsewhere?

Source

[Future Snake Eater]

In fact it's our '87 Supra.

Now there's a car they need to bring back--the Supra. What a hot car. I wonder why they stopped making them? Especially after all the great publicity from "Fast and the Furious."

[Bernard Marx]

When I was briefly in the car salesman field, I met customer after customer whose perception was that Japanese cars were of better quality than American ones. Perception is reality, whether we like it or not.

A few years ago I deliberately bought a Ford Taurus instead of a foreign product to support American industry. It was painfully, unbelievably bad -- the worst car I've ever owned. My daughter did the same. They both self-destructed at 60,000. I now drive a trouble-free Toyota Camry and will never buy Ford again.

Sadly for car salesmen, reality is reality. BTW, Ford was entirely unwilling to own up to the fact that these two well-cared-for cars were absolute junk: nasty people to deal with. So now I don't deal with them.

[jalisco555]

A few years ago I deliberately bought a Ford Taurus instead of a foreign product to support American industry. It was painfully, unbelievably bad -- the worst car I've ever owned.

I did the same thing a few years ago and then had the same regrets. I needed to buy a minivan since I was in several kid carpools so I bought a Dodge Grand Caravan (pre-Daimler merger). What a nightmare. Brakes, transmission, electrical system, you name it, they failed. The car would mysteriously shut itself off while I was driveing on busy streets, a disconcerting experience. I got to be on a first-name basis with the entire service department, not a good thing. Finally after five years I ditched it for a Lexus. Believe me, I would have paid Lexus to take it from me.

[TXBSAFH]

We have a saying in my family (the guys buy jeeps and dodges, and the women buy jap cars), "Friends don't let friends buy fords."

[TXBSAFH]

Take a look at Chrysler now. The quality and the engineering has gone up way up.

[SevenDaysInMay]

I am impatiently waiting for HP turbo-diesels in Toyotas: Camry, especially Tundra, 3/4? pick-ups and Sequoia.

Toyota marketing lurkers, get busy with the engineers to import these. $3/G. fuel is in the USA to stay, even without the DNC-Politburo destroying our Constitutional Republic.

[jalisco555]

Take a look at Chrysler now. The quality and the engineering has gone up way up.

The styling's not bad but I don't think I will ever trust Chrysler again. My minivan was once in the shop for three months. They had to practically rebuild the entire engine, couldn't find the right parts, one thing after another. Luckily I had the good sense to get an extended warranty or else I would have been out over $4,000 out of pocket.

I'm sorry but there are too many better alternatives on the market.

[dc27]

I have 200,000 miles on my 95 VW Jetta. Changed out the timing belt and water pump at 100,000. That is the only major work done on the car.

[RayChuang88]

I absolutely agree. The current Toyotas I've seen on the dealer lots are paragons are quality engineering and workmanship.

I'm real tempted to trade in my 1998 Honda Civic HX CVT coupe for a 2004 Toyota Corolla LE sedan. Anyway, one thing Toyota could do to really make money is to bring over the Corolla Verso tall wagon to the US market, something I've heard that Toyota is seriously considering. The Corolla Verso will be a bit larger than the Matrix, but the US version will likely use the 2.2-liter version of the engine now found on the Corolla or even possibly a variant of the Prius hybrid drivetrain.

[jennyp]

Now there's a car they need to bring back--the Supra. What a hot car. I wonder why they stopped making them? Especially after all the great publicity from "Fast and the Furious."

As hubby tells it, in the early '90s they redesigned the MkIII Supra into the "MkIV" Supra, an ultra high-end sports car. It was very expensive and they didn't sell many, so I guess it wasn't much of a profit center for them. I don't remember if they even sell them anymore or what.

[jennyp]

Since then I've been buying Tauruses one of whom I got over 200,000 miles with (did have to get a new tranny after 100,000 miles).

Was that a regular Taurus, or did it have some letters after it (like SHO or something, I forget exactly)? There was one variation of the Taurus that was actually built by a Japanese company - and which I hear held up much better than the standard Tauruses.

[staytrue]

I've got a mexican made buick. It's ok, about 10k cheaper than the comparable jap car. You can tell it's mexican and not japanese though. Have had some problems.

[Prince Charles]

Avalon XLS bump...