Toyota #1 Volkswagen #2 GM #3 The New Order

[joemd11]

I have a 99 VW Passat with the V6 and 5 speed manual transmission. Fun car to drive. Every winter I had to replace the brakes due to the pads freezing to the rotors. I went to a ceramic pad and that seems to have solved the problem. Even though the car sits outside and has gone thru many winters, the body is still solid. Amazing considering the amount of salt they use around here. It has developed some interesting electrical gremlins lately. Just the other day I was driving to the store and the sunroof opened on its own. Overall it has been a pretty good car.

 

[kiotiken]

We have two Toyota and one GMC, no repairs on the Toyotas, but the transmission in the GMC went out at 28K. FIL always bought GMC for his business and personal use and traded every two years, he liked their dependability, not hard if you keep them two years.

I do think from discussing it with others and looking at them that Ford and GM products have vastly improved over the years and may well match or exceed Toyota, Honda etc.

BMW and Mercedes use to be the pinnacle of quality but my daughter had both and had problems with them, now drives a Toyota.

Our 2009 Toyota Sienna AWD van spit the tranny out in the middle of an intersection about a year ago. Toyota said they've never seen such a catastrophic transmission failure (aw shucks, I'm sure they say that to all they're tranny customers). Anyway, it would have been close to $10K since it is AWD and shares fluid with the transfer case (requiring it to be replaced as well), but thankfully it was still under warranty.

We currently own Toyota and Volvo and have owned GM (5 of them), VW, Subaru and Mitsubishi in the past 15 years. They've all had their issues, our 2000 Jetta and 2001 Malibu being the most problematic, but each of the others have had many thousands of dollars in warranty claims as well. They don't last long in my driveway when the warranty is up and so are the repair bills.

 

[Bob77064]

My 2007 Toyota Tundra 5.7 4x4 has just over 118k miles. The water pump had to be replaced at 86k miles, that is the only repair so far.

 

[Peacock]

My '95 Accord has 298k on it. Other than wear items and maintenance the only parts that aren't factory original are a clutch master cylinder and both rear calipers. All shocks, tie rods and ball joints are original. Even the clutch!

The body is starting to rust a bit but the engine, transmission and suspension are still tight.

I bought it off the original owners last year and they provided extremely detailed service records.

 

[TripleR]

Our 2009 Toyota Sienna AWD van spit the tranny out in the middle of an intersection about a year ago. Toyota said they've never seen such a catastrophic transmission failure (aw shucks, I'm sure they say that to all they're tranny customers). Anyway, it would have been close to $10K since it is AWD and shares fluid with the transfer case (requiring it to be replaced as well), but thankfully it was still under warranty.

We currently own Toyota and Volvo and have owned GM (5 of them), VW, Subaru and Mitsubishi in the past 15 years. They've all had their issues, our 2000 Jetta and 2001 Malibu being the most problematic, but each of the others have had many thousands of dollars in warranty claims as well. They don't last long in my driveway when the warranty is up and so are the repair bills.

I guess they all have their problems, we just seem to have had more with GM products, my brother has had his GMC transmission rebuilt twice, ours once and a GMC S15 in the shop more than on the road. We keep our Toyotas a minimum of ten years, 200,000 miles; hate buying new vehicles and get attached to the old ones too. I'm not saying Toyotas are better than anything else, just what we have been buying. As mentioned other manufacturers are improving all the time and I don't know if Toyota is keeping up or their quality is slipping, our newest is five years old. If someone makes one better my mechanic brothers will let me know and I may buy one some day. One of my brothers owns a Kia, two Toyotas, Mercury, Cheverolet and Ford while the other owns two Cheverolets, one Ford, Honda, Toyota and Mazda.

 

[kiotiken]

I guess they all have their problems, we just seem to have had more with GM products, my brother has had his GMC transmission rebuilt twice, ours once and a GMC S15 in the shop more than on the road. We keep our Toyotas a minimum of ten years, 200,000 miles; hate buying new vehicles and get attached to the old ones too. I'm not saying Toyotas are better than anything else, just what we have been buying. As mentioned other manufacturers are improving all the time and I don't know if Toyota is keeping up or their quality is slipping, our newest is five years old. If someone makes one better my mechanic brothers will let me know and I may buy one some day. One of my brothers owns a Kia, two Toyotas, Mercury, Cheverolet and Ford while the other owns two Cheverolets, one Ford, Honda, Toyota and Mazda.

I agree completely, even though we had the tranny blow up in the Toyota, it's been flawless otherwise and so much more reliable than any of the GMs I've owned. The fit and finish is just so much better and stays that way as opposed to the shakes and rattles I battled and never won with the GMs. Before the bumper to bumper ran out, I did my best to find something wrong with it to have it taken care of. Didn't find anything then and still haven't, other than the tranny of course.

I'm getting more and more interested in Kia. I watched a show on their manufacturing process, very interesting and impressive. I also got one as a rental a few years back and was quite shocked at how much I liked it (my impression of Kia wasn't great back then). Has your brother had any complaints?

 

[joemd11]

We had a 2001 Toyota 4Runner that we bought when it was turned in from a lease. It had 18000 miles on it and was spotless. We loved that car. Then the wife totaled it and we purchased a 2008 4Runner new. It has been a great car. Only problem so far is that the CD player sometimes spits out CD's while going down the road. I've had a few GM products, in the past, with varying degrees of reliability. Based on passed experience, I feel more confident in Toyota products than GM. I know Toyota holds much more resale value as compared to GM. YMMV.

 

[TripleR]

I agree completely, even though we had the tranny blow up in the Toyota, it's been flawless otherwise and so much more reliable than any of the GMs I've owned. The fit and finish is just so much better and stays that way as opposed to the shakes and rattles I battled and never won with the GMs. Before the bumper to bumper ran out, I did my best to find something wrong with it to have it taken care of. Didn't find anything then and still haven't, other than the tranny of course.

I'm getting more and more interested in Kia. I watched a show on their manufacturing process, very interesting and impressive. I also got one as a rental a few years back and was quite shocked at how much I liked it (my impression of Kia wasn't great back then). Has your brother had any complaints?

I really wanted/want a Sienna, but we have the big GMC conversion van and I can't get my wife to look at anything but an Avalon, her present car.

My brother has the Kia Soul and loves it, he has had it a couple of years without any problems. Locally they are selling like you wouldn't believe. I never liked the Kia or Hyundai, but people I know swear by them. Like others their quality seems to have improved over the years.

We had a 2001 Toyota 4Runner that we bought when it was turned in from a lease. It had 18000 miles on it and was spotless. We loved that car. Then the wife totaled it and we purchased a 2008 4Runner new. It has been a great car. Only problem so far is that the CD player sometimes spits out CD's while going down the road. I've had a few GM products, in the past, with varying degrees of reliability. Based on passed experience, I feel more confident in Toyota products than GM. I know Toyota holds much more resale value as compared to GM. YMMV.

My oldest brother bought a Forerunner new in 1986 and still uses it quite often especially in bad weather. Those were pretty basic and ride like log wagons. My daughter has owned a couple of new ones built on the bigger frame and they were really nice, her husband traded often so resale was important and was always really good.

 

[TripleR]

I agree completely, even though we had the tranny blow up in the Toyota, it's been flawless otherwise and so much more reliable than any of the GMs I've owned. The fit and finish is just so much better and stays that way as opposed to the shakes and rattles I battled and never won with the GMs. Before the bumper to bumper ran out, I did my best to find something wrong with it to have it taken care of. Didn't find anything then and still haven't, other than the tranny of course.

I'm getting more and more interested in Kia. I watched a show on their manufacturing process, very interesting and impressive. I also got one as a rental a few years back and was quite shocked at how much I liked it (my impression of Kia wasn't great back then). Has your brother had any complaints?

I really wanted/want a Sienna, but we have the big GMC conversion van and I can't get my wife to look at anything but an Avalon, her present car.

My brother has the Kia Soul and loves it, he has had it a couple of years without any problems. Locally they are selling like you wouldn't believe. I never liked the Kia or Hyundai, but people I know swear by them. Like others their quality seems to have improved over the years.

We had a 2001 Toyota 4Runner that we bought when it was turned in from a lease. It had 18000 miles on it and was spotless. We loved that car. Then the wife totaled it and we purchased a 2008 4Runner new. It has been a great car. Only problem so far is that the CD player sometimes spits out CD's while going down the road. I've had a few GM products, in the past, with varying degrees of reliability. Based on passed experience, I feel more confident in Toyota products than GM. I know Toyota holds much more resale value as compared to GM. YMMV.

My oldest brother bought a Forerunner new in 1986 and still uses it quite often especially in bad weather. Those were pretty basic and ride like log wagons. My daughter has owned a couple of new ones built on the bigger frame and they were really nice, her husband traded often so resale was important and was always really good.