Toyota's high reputation

Sadly Toyota stopped selling the Corolla in European markets in 2007 replacing it by the Auris, so it is possible that they it might be knocked of top spot one day. I had an 8th generation liftback Corolla and when the 9th generation came out I looked at it, but found it to be dark inside, and the bootspace with the rear seats folded down seemed far shorter than on my 8th generation. The Auris does have a bit more space but is too wide for my garage. I therefore kept my Corolla having told Toyota salespeople at the when I inspected both models that I would continue to keep it until Toyota could produce a car that had the length that I required in the boot. The Prius meets those requirements, if it didn't I would still have the Corolla.

I agree that reliability is a key factor for me, but I for one am picky about having a car that can easily behave like an estate car when required, without the exterior length of one.

As for fun to drive, some people like high revs and noise and fast acceleration, I don't. I found that my old Corolla would sing when driving at 50mph in 5th. That was relaxing. Relaxation is fun.

With my Prius, I am now finding with the warmer weather the enjoyment of driving with radio off and the window slightly open and hearing silence, apart from other cars emmiting noise pollution

This afternoon I went to our local supermarket and for the first time this year I was able to drive to where I wanted to park without the engine kicking in. Seeing the surprised looks on some shoppers that a car was passing by in silence - now that WAS fun!

 

That's why I read Automobile and not Car and Driver. To each their own!

 

One way to look at it might be to realize that Toyotas are for people who value substance over style.

Apparently Honda is a very good car, with style. Toyota is like driving a "refrigerator," as Jeremy Clarkson once put it.

As my primary requirement for a car is reliable transportation, a Toyota is a very good choice. I'm not trying to impress people I don't know with a lot of chrome or bling. My best friend has a Maserati, and several other friends have Ferrari sports cars. They're beautiful, showy, and ridiculously bad cars.

Among the hybrids, I've driven the Honda Insight, the Ford Focus, and the Toyota Prius, and I can say that the Prius feels and drives like the most refined and finished car...mature might be a good way to put it. The Insight felt flashier...the Prius felt tighter and more refined. Heck, even the dashboard was more refined and sophisticated, compared to the visual jumble presented in the Insight and the "grow a tree" video game in the Focus.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm no longer 16 years old, but excitement is not something I seek from my car.

 

My apologies, you are of course correct. I had mixed up the Accord and Acura.

 

Ralph Nader thinks you should expect excitement from those nasty computers in your Toyota...LOL.

 

Ralph Nader. Yeah...there's an exciting dude. Makes Ben Stein look like Pinky Lee.

 

Well said..+1

 

Thanks for pointing me to it ...
2010 Toyota Prius - Toyota Hybrid Sedan Review - Automobile Magazine

"Central to the Prius critique is the notion that it, along with most vehicles with hybrid gasoline/electric powertrains, is no fun to drive and is simply not a match for a well-tuned car with a conventional internal-combustion engine, preferably one mated to a slick-shifting manual transmission. Indeed, there is more than a germ of truth to this. The outgoing, second-generation Prius suffers from an indifferent chassis; vague, lifeless steering and braking responses; weak accelerative power; and an utter lack of visceral, sensory feedback. The main fun to be had in the 2009 Prius is in monitoring the energy-consumption display and trying to increase the average miles per gallon, one tedious digit at a time...

...Let's be clear. The (2010) Prius has not been transformed into a sport sedan, but it's no longer a penalty box to drive. "

Edmunds has said "... apparently some people are willing to pay $30k to be uncomfortable ..." as they show the Prius rounding a corner.

I can relate.

 

The consumers allow it through what they purchase and who they vote for. The US has been economically raped for two plus generations.

 

But consumers still happily allow it to happen

 

Yeah true, GM even turned to Australia to produce one model line, Mexico for some, Canada for others and I wonder how many US GM models are built in South Korea?

 

Stop it with the nonsense. GM and Ford still build by far the most vehicles in the US even after their US operations are a third of what they once were. GM and Ford do build vehicles in Canada and Mexcio but they also sell thousands of vehicles there. It is toyota who is predatory in the US market when it comes to selling vehicles built out of market not GM and Ford. toyota imports a few thousand aveos from South Korea that is it. Again stop it with the nonesense.

Which country exports more than twice as many vehicles from its home country than are sold in that country. which company is by far the largest factor in that stat. I rest my case.

 

My GF just bought a refrigerator. It is a KitchenAid, which is an "American" brand. It is made by Whirlpool which is US company. The refrigerator was made in Mexico. So was every other "American" brand that we looked at. They were all made in Mexico except for the Korean brands, Samsung and LG which were made in Korea.

Did we decide to move refrigerator manufacturing to Mexico? No. The CEO and board of directors of the "American" brands decided to move the manufacturing to Mexico.

 

"We" decided by allowing the US to be raped and pilfered by foreing countries and the CEO's and boards of directors of companies. It is all pathetic. Let's create another "jobs' bill, what a bunch of bullshit that is. You want good jobs deal with what is happening at the ports or in the case of the refrigerators at the point of entry along the border.

 

things have gotten really off topic folks

 

My parents had a 1988 Pontiac 6000 STE and almost literally every part on it broke. I remember being a kid (10 yrs old) riding in the back seat and when I shut the door, the door panel cracked and got wedged in the door opening causing it to jamb. Sunroof failure 4 times (complete replacement) power seat motor & frame (serviced as all one unit) 3 times, ignition lock cylinder 4 times, power door lock for drivers door twice, the load levelling system compressor twice, a/c compressor and a line or two. Imagine how much GM spent on repairing just that vehicle alone. Oh yeah, and did I mention they drove it to the Toyota dealer I currently work at (which by the way, I'm an American that IS employed because my car company doesnt make crap for vehicles) and traded it in on a 1993 Camry just 5 yrs later!?!?!? For the next 14+ years, she drove it, and at 103,000 mi. in 2007, the drivers side window regulator finally broke. I'm not exaggerating when I say that was the ONLY part that broke on that vehicle in 14+ years. She had such good luck with that vehicle, that she traded it in on a 2007 Camry...Yes the one that's involved in the recall. She still loves it , and believes it is a better car than her "S*&#-box Pontiac, and because of that experience, I will own nothing else for the rest of my life as long as I continue to have good reliability. Prior to the S*&#-box, they had a 1978 Caprice Classic Wagon (hoo-rah) and prior to that, a 1974 Caprice Classic Wagon. Both had engine failure. (Malorn)--if your stupid Chevy/Cadillac union had built better cars, the whole country (i'm sorry to say) would be in a better state. All hail the UAW!!!! They've single handedly ruined the U.S. Automarket. Maybe when GM bought Hummer, the kid fantasies should have been about longevity and not acting out as their child-hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. And P.S. Screw GM and everything they stand for.

 

UAW been a problem, but they have no responsibility for the dozens of other industires that have been destroyed by foriegn countires, poor decisions, bad and dishonest politicos and such. There is much more to the disintegration of American manufacturing than the UAW.

 

Talk about nonsense...

(A possible SUFS; Sudden Unintended Factual Slip... no doubt the cause lies
deep in the software.)

At least as far as the bail-out goes, isn't the gumint "in bed" with GM?

"...70% of female rape victims knew their rapist
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003) WikiAnswers

Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing, the enemy within.

 

What a crock. GM chose to set up manufacturing shops in Canada, Mexico, China because they could build their stuff cheeper. Then you come here to cry about outsourcing? hub boy. What really cracks ME up is that now ... when GM has defects, and GM gets fined ... we, the post bankruptcy owners get fined for THEIR mistakes. What an irony.

.

 

GM is the reason this country has been raped econmically since the mid 70's? You are kidding aren't you. Who has the US had the largest trade deficit with cumulatively since the 1970's? What is that country's largest export cumulatively? Who has been the largest contributor cumulatively. You want to talk about GM building cars in Mexico? That is the problem in this country. there is so much misinformation that lies become the truth.

Answer one question for me, who imported the most cars into the US in 2009? How about 2008? How about 2007......How about 1999? It goes on and on and you blame GM for the economic chaos that is engulfing this country because the wealth has been exported?