Posted on 06/04/2009 5:30:27 AM PDT by CSM
Pollyanna, is that you? Have the unions moved out of Michigan?
Congratulations. Your post is the ONLY one to hit the nail on the right end. A car of any kind and size is for the purpose of going from Point A to point B and back again is safety, comfort and ease.
When I need to get “excited” I can look at a Victoria Secret catalog, when I want transport, I buy the car that meets my 6’5” height, my (lessening) overweight and hold all the junk I carry for my boat, and in SAFETY.
My father gave me a good piece of wisdom regarding a new car. “A new car is similar to a fine steak. And look how a steak ends up..in the toilet.”
The “NEW” American cars will be designed by lawyers, environmentalists, bureaucrats, Union heads, politicians and every now and then an AUTO engineer will be permitted a small input.
My parents (WWII generation) drove GM cars and seemed to spend a significant part of their lives getting their cars repaired. I have driven Toyotas (Tercel, Corolla and 3 Camry V-6) for the past 20+ years. They were all extremely reliable cars and worth the money. (The manual 4-cylinder Corolla drove like a BMW).
That said, the styling on the Camry is stale and the pricing on the Solara is too high. Although both are fine cars (and not being discounted these days), my wife and I (both Camry leasees) will be looking at the Mazda6 and the Honda Accord. Note that we will not even consider a car built by the UAW. Never have, never will.
My Lexus is going on 10 years and drives and looks as good as the day I bought it. Zero repair costs. I put on 150 miles a day plus 2 cross-country drives each year. It gets great mileage. I expect the car will easily outlive me. I look back on the crappy Ford and GM cars I owned before the Lexus and wonder why I ever bought those.
I can’t speak for the Mazda6, but I leased an ‘08 Accord EX-L V6 last August, and 10 months later I still absolutely love it. At end of lease it will possibly be worth more than the lease payoff.
He’s sort of right about this. Toyota has probably seen its best days, but not because of some great resurgence of GM and Chrysler.
The first thing is that Toyota grew too fast, and its quality, which was never as great as some claimed, is beginning to deteriorate.
Secondly, he’s right about Toyota’s product line. It’s boring, and is being surpassed by everyone else.
The third thing is the elephant in the room that he did not mention: Hyundai. Over the next decade, this is going to be the big challenge for Toyota. Hyundai is going to try to displace them entirely, and they already have comparable quality, and a much better product mix. Toyota doesn’t offer anything like the Genesis, and Hyundai is doing a great marketing job with that car.
What I would like to see is an explanation as to why there is apparent “price equity” between manufacturers, especially between UAW and non-UAW brands.
Why does a Toyota Camry cost about the same as a Ford Taurus when Toyota doesn’t have to subsidize legacy costs or union contracted pay-raises?
Yep. I'd buy a car from the "Chicoms" before I bought one from the fascists. GM is dead to me. Permanently.
Take a look at the 2010 Fusion. It’s far from boring.
Forgot the “Barf” alert.
>The taxpayers are paying for Fiat to develop cars for North America;<
Toyota is quaking in its boots.
Good comments, thanks for the feedback.
I have a 2000 F-350 Duel Rear Wheel. I've had all kind of problems with the engine. If Toyota imported a large diesel truck, the Ford would be gone, gone, gone. My T-100 is like the energizer bunny, just keeps on going.
This article couldn’t be more off.
Toyota, Honda and Hyundai will make a killing in the next few years because people aren’t going to want to buy Government built vehicles. Period.
Simply because the name is American, doesn’t mean it can’t be unAmerican. The business model for GM and Chrysler is not the government’s business model made for them. And THAT my friends, is anti-American.
Quality is the issue. We are about to trade an F-150 for a Toyota truck. We usually keep vehicles 9 or 10 years, but getting rid of this after 4.5 years (and less than 50k miles) due to ongoing problems.
They couldn't, and that sets Ford in the perfect position to go to court and dump the union.
Might be. I just did a Google search for Camry. Here is the 2010:
>The business model for GM and Chrysler *is* the governments business model...
It's continuous improvement versus continuous implosion. Guess who wins?
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