Posted on 08/09/2006 1:53:27 PM PDT by Zakeet
DETROIT — Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) won top honors in eight categories of a closely watched vehicle dependability study, more than any other company, while mainstream brands closed in on luxury nameplates, J.D. Power and Associates said Wednesday.
Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand, was the top-ranked nameplate for the 12th consecutive year. It was followed by Ford Motor Co.'s (F) Mercury and General Motors Corp.'s (GM) Buick and Cadillac.
Last-place Land Rover, which is owned by Ford, lagged far behind the second-to-last brand, Saab, which is owned by GM. Land Rover owners reported 438 problems per 100 vehicles, while Saab owners reported 326.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Loooove my Tundra.
Not surprizing.
Poor Saab. I owned 2 pre-GM and loved them both.
After 30+ years of driving Chevy's and Fords,my wife and I recently bought our first foreign cars (Mazda and Hyundai). Our reasons ..better quality and value. Our last US cars were trouble prone and when we looked at US made replacements we found that quality had gone down noticeably. When a US maker can barely offer a 36,000 mile warranty and Hyundai offers a 100,000 mile warranty it says a lot about what the manufacturers themselves think of their products.
Doubt any Toyota owners will be surprised. I've owned mine since 1997, it's been in the shop exactly zero times other than routine scheduled maintenance. Even counting maintenance it's been unavailable to me for a grand total of about 7 hours in the 9 years I've owned it.
They never drove mine...
Love My Camry, Bought it new in 1997 Just replaced the front brakes for the first time at 165K miles and to add I am a woman driver! HA!
"Poor Saab. I owned 2 pre-GM and loved them both."
They also made great SCUD missile launchers!
Mine was recalled so they could check the child safety door lock. That's all. I could start to list the things that began to break and fall off the Chevy one mile after the 60,000 mile warantee ran out, but it would take a while to list all the parts in the car.
I have to agree that the American cars are starting to make a come back, and that quality may be better than impression.
However, I don't own any (Honda for life) and have zero intention of ever buying any. I soured on the American cars watching my dad replace multiple bad transmissions. That impression implanted is permanent.
The only major thing that went wrong with my 1994 Toyota Camry was that the ex got it in the divorce!
I really don't understand why any automaker cannot give a bumper-to-bumper 100,000 mile warantee.
36,000 mile warantee? I hit that driving off the lot.
FYI - Ford offers 5 year powertrain coverage standard now. And Mazdas and Fords share innumerable parts and components. If you bought a Mazda6, for example, the Ford Fusion is VERY similar. Same platform, same engine. The Ford Mustang even runs on a modified Mazda platform. The European Ford Focus runs on the same platform as the Mazda3. The DISI Mazda tech is from Ford.
As for Hyundai, they're vastly improved. But don't forget that warranty is non-transferrable. Not even to family members anymore, from what I understand.
And my Taurus was recalled because the headlight aiming instructions in the manual weren't clear. And people tell me it must have been recalled 1000 times by now.
Which is more serious?
(actually, the child safety lock recall may not have been that serious, but you get the point, right?)
I hope for your sake you don't have a 1998-2001 Honda Accord or a 2001-2004 or so Civic.
Honda completely forgot how to build reliable automatic transmissions for a few years, but the public has been remarkably forgiving.
How dare you say something like that? /sarc
Toyota not only had their recalls double - in 2005, Toyota was second behind just Ford in terms of % of vehicles on the road which were recalled. And they were a VERY close second.
On the other hand, considering that all Toyota and Ford brands finished above average (with the exceptions of Volvo and Land Rover, which being recent acquisitions are still works in progress), maybe recalls aren't so bad?
I see more of the latter cars on the roads these days than the former.
I used to be sad about this but now I have come to realize that the Japanese version of the Big Three is probably more American than what they make up there in Detroit.
The Detroit Big Three may be improving, as you point out, but the Japanese Big Three would have to stand still for a few years for Detroit to catch up. This just isn't going to happen. Especially when Detroit is still saddled by the UAW whose leadership is about as far to the left as you can get.
At least the Nissan I drive is made in a red state (Tennessee) by non-union Americans who aren't being pressured by bosses to vote the "straight Democratic ticket."
It also helps that my Nissan never goes into the shop except for routine maintenance. I've been thinking about cancelling my AAA membership because I haven't needed a tow since I owned a Ford. But I still rent cars from time to time so it might still come in handy if I ever get stuck with a Ford Taurus.
I bought 4 new Toyotas in the 80s. I quit because I could no longer put up with sleezy Toyota dealers. In a sleezy business, Toyota dealers manage to somehow go a little further.
2-1/2 years into my Hyundai Sonata, I have found Hyundai dealers to be a nice improvement. They certainly learned more about how to treat customers. My Sonata is a good as any of the Toyotas I owned. And was about 5 Grand less than a comparable Toyota.
Depends. If a car company frequently issues recalls for minor potential problems before they become widespread in the wild, that speaks well for their commitment to quality. If a company is ordered to issue a recall, or issues one only after receiving hundreds or thousands of complaints, not so much.
Suppose that my car has five recalls in its first few years, none at all urgent. I get them all fixed (for free) when I take the car to the shop for scheduled maintenance, having not needed to take it to the shop before then. I would certainly have a favorable view of that car's reliability.
I have a '99 Chrysler Sebring Convertible that I bought in early 2003 with 30,000 miles on it. It now has about 75,000 (I love the car, and take it on a lot of rod trips). I've only it in the shop twice -- once for the 60K scheduled maintenance, and once in Wilmington, NC to have brake pads and a radiator hose replaced. The latter was pricey, which was mostly my own fault, because I should have had it checked out here in town before embarking on a 1,000 mile road trip.
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