Toyota

hey guys. i've been thinking this for a while now but does anyone else feel like Toyota have lost their way??? i mean they have no sports cars (even though they seem to think the solara is a sports car?), 2 trucks (of which the new tundra is poorly made... good first full size effort but they kinda missed the boat in many ways), 1 mini van and 6!! SUV's. just seems like both in quality, style, and the fun factor they have become extremely complacent. Even some Lexus's now are getting below average in quality tests... this from the brand that has destroyed just about every other brand (other then Porsche) in quality for 10 years or more. i think its kinda sad because they have no current cars that i wish i owned just the older ones (aka supra, all trac, MR2). i could go on for quite a while about this but what do you guys thing about it??

 

Did you know, that in the developments, they have a super hybrid? Something sports like, but with a hybrid electric motor? It's supposed ot be faster than the nissan altima hybrid, or whatever it is... They say they have a hybrid that has 200+ hp... SO, what will toyota come back with? The future might seem bleek as the present, but never fret!

 

It's really sad that Toyota had to even spend the money, to cater to the rich, and carry more into the family driven line. Toyota has always had a pretty good reputation for giving us. "that feeling" but lately have had issues giving us more, than a meer headache! I see a lot more people, with much more money, than when they were in highschool, when at the time they could only afford an 83 corolla... These same people can now afford a sports car, and where do they turn? In 98, the SC300 was a bad ass car, and it had the styling and class that the Lexus line was pretty well known for, just a few years before. I believe it ran off the supra drive train? I am probably wrong there, but either way, it packed a punch, that we have yet to see again...

Of course, luxury is a top priority to the wealthy, but when you can pay less for a BMW, or mid class Mercades, where would you go? Beings that Lexus has made a pretty good name, backed up with a reputation of high quality cars, of course they can slack off a bit, and give you a car that looks like it's high class, with sub par standards, and people will buy it up! People who purchase Lexus, had a Lexus previously, or just recently fell into money, and want to be just like everyone else.

The scion brand, though still new, has built a pretty good street credit amongst the younger crowd, with the inception of the XA, and XB lines. Thus leading way to a tuning sector of people, drawing a much wider crowd of people. Pretty great for Toyota's marketing, but then again, you still have your older group of people trying to regain their, "hip hop" lifestyles, and buying up all the XBs available. Is it just me, or are there more older people driving those, then young people?!

Back to the imperical Toyota original line. They catered to the sports car, and sub sports car scene for over a decade, maybe even 2 or more, and are looking to the future, and seeing themselves as a more family oriented company. They are taking on a market, that not even Honda, or other companies are, and dropping certain cars. I can't blame them for wanting to make the money, but at what expense? They still build cars, like that in the rolex 500, under the Lexus name... So why can't they spend the time, and effort to keep the younger men, and women whom don't have families, happy? Really mind boggling now that it's thought about... But then again, we as a society, are more driven to see fuel economy, and reliability, over thrills and fun. Have you ever heard what we say about the gas lately? "It's getting rediculous that we have to spend 30 bucks to fill up a tank of gas, when it used to only take 20, or 15!" We bitch and complain, and Toyota has been right there listening, and producing economy cars for the average joe, whom can't spend 100 to fill up the Hummer, or Suburban...

Better fuel economy, and luxury, will always be a part of society, as long as we have gas, and ego issues! It's just how the world works. Have you ever been to a grocery store, or somewhere else, and been laughed at because your car is old, and not quite perfect? I have, it's not embarrassing to me anymore, as I let that go, but before, it was like I had to have the newest, most expensive cars on the market... As time went by, I came to see, that it's not what makes the public around you happy, it's what makes you happy! I find that tinkering on the weekend, or punching out a dent, is much more fulfilling than paying $40+k for a car, that I would be afraid to take out of the garage, due to fear of scratches, or other drivers! Money is endless, projects are priceless!

 

i put this up to see what all your points of view are thats y i havn't made any comments since i posted this, but i find it interesting that no one has said anything about their dropping quality and reliability. and no every report like that about celica's or supra's have been false. 2009 is too soon for them to not have a near production model out for the world to see, and they dont so thats prob just more false stuff flying around (aka they have production examples of the 09 corolla, 09 matrix/ pontiac vibe, and 09 venza... cauz they apparently needed another crossover/ suv lol)

 

That's not too bad... My gf's Acura Integra loses about a quart of oil every 500ish miles... Really weird, but she can run the thing down to almost no oil, and it still runs smooth... Funny as hell! lol

 

first off i'll say that my direct family (aka parents) have had at least one Toyota of their two cars my entire life. we had a 92 camry that did 320,000km before a gasket blew and we got rid of it, we had a lexus my sister had a camry wagon and now they have a corolla so u get the idea. Also my grandpa has had toyota's my entire life i cant remember them having anything else, and right now he has the new camry hybrid. but the reason i brought up reliability is cauz my roommate's mom has a corolla and her trans blew on them this past summer, but it was under warranty still (lucky for them). Also recently toyota had to totally retrain their north American work force because they were having so many quality issues. Also toyota/lexus had a few cars that ranks below average in quality tests including the new Tundra (ya the truck thats changing it all hasn't really changed anything...), the lexus GS350 AWD and i believe a camry model (forget what one but not the hybrid which is still made in japan) which is unheard of for them. To go along with that there is yet to be a prius model made that hasnt had a recall which kinda shocked me. From my view it looks like toyota has held status quo, so they havnt really done a lot to improve quality or reliability since the late 90's early 2000's which was fine because GM and ford were just raking in money off of truck and SUV sales. So when gas prices started to go up, neither had anything to compete with toyota or honda in cars. Now both companies have very much woken up, (i'll focus on ford cause i know more about them) i know ford has built a brand new advanced facility specifically for quality and durability. In fords case they also appear to be doing more research into what people want and need their vehicles to be (aka the sync system which reviews have said is the best system they have ever tested). Neither Ford or GM are sitting back like it now appears Toyota seems to be as the new world number 1. So all im really saying is that toyota needs to come back into the game, because Ford and GM are back so its about time that the richest car company in the world shows people what they are. show some engineering passion for goodness sake they've had the same lexus SC430 on the market since 02, its now 08 and it still pretty well the same car even with all of those sweet looking concepts. a $65000USD base price lexus should be their very best effort and its just not.

lol make sense?? i tried to condense it as much as possible since no one wants to spend all day reading this.

something like toyota has stopped progress and its let the big american companies do some big steps to catch up.

 

i will say that they might be slowly realizing ppl want some performance because lexus is coming out with the IS-F which will be the new fastest car in the lexus line up (formerly was the GS450H lol ya a hybrid was the fastest lexus for like 2-3 years). they built the IS-F to compete with the M3, C63 AMG, audi RS4. its got a 5.0L V8 417hp 371lbtq 0-60 in 4.6 sec top speed is restricted to 170mph, it has an 8 speed Sport direct shift transmission this trans is packed with technology (and its the worlds first sport 8 speed auto). the worlds first 8 speed reg auto is in the lexus LS. watch the video on edmunds if you wanna hear a little about it... it has also been on the lexus website for a few months now under future vehicles.

comparison edmunds did between the RS4 and the IS-F... you can make your own opinions.
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontaine ... l=IS%20F#1

 

haha ya join the club, its suppose to be around the same as the M3 and the other high end performance cars in that class. so whats that, like $60,000+ depending on how heads up they wanna make it against audi, bmw and merc. i dont think many ppl will buy it unless its cheaper since its pretty hard to beat the BMW driving experience.

 

You mean that weird, ill-designed european feel? Woo hoo.

I can't agree with your argument against the SC430. Yes, its over due for a redesign, but it's not supposed to be a sports car, it's a touring coupe. Marketed towards old people that can actually afford them. That's also why it's only available with an automatic trans.

I would have to say that Toyota quality is still top notch, way better than the little 3 can offer. Every car can't be made perfect, but ford is not a shining example of quality. The focus is the most recalled car of all time.

 

first off if thats what u think about BMW then apparently every review that has ever been written on them is wrong... so ive got a feeling someone else is wrong in this case... also apparently you didnt read what i actually said about ford, you are just assuming im saying ford is the greatest thing ever... which i didnt... ps the toyota sequoia was the second most recalled car of 2007 with over 530000 units recalled. also i totally understand what the SC430 is suppose to be, however look at what Mercedes or bmw offers for the same price range with the same intent... aka the 6 series and CLK550. And yes i do know what im talking about... anyways not important read below


i think this is a very good article and well worth the read for anyone whose interested in toyota. as this article says they havnt forgotten about quality, but sometimes there are factors out of the companies hands that hurt you quality, especially when you are as big as toyota.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/editor ... is-job-two