Toyota is hurting bad

[cougartex]

[Pete92FS]

but now I gotta go see how bad those Toyota guys are hurting. Might find a hellva deal on a Tacoma!

Don't count on it. My wife and I thought the same thing this past summer about GM after they got their bail out money. We went to two dealerships in Houston to try to make a deal on a Buick Enclave. One dealer acted like he was doing us a favor just to even acknowledge we walked into the showroom; it was early on a Friday afternoon and we were the only people there. He wouldn't come off the sticker more than whatever rebate they were offering at the time. The particular vehicle we tried to make a deal on had already been sitting on their lot for over 90 days; it finally sold after being on their lot for five months. The other dealer thought we were going to be stupid enough to pay over $70,000 for a $42,000 vehicle at "Zero" percent interest. Needless to say; we did not and will not purchase a GM product.

We currently have an "06 Toyota 4Runner and it is the best made and most dependable vehicle I have ever had and I've had various vehicles from the Big 3. Even with their current problems I would not hesitate purchasing another Toyota product. Luckily the 4Runners have not been included in the accelerator recall as they are still made in Japan. It's not saying much for the quality of the products produced in the USA as the vehicles in qustion were made here and the faulty part in particular was manufactured in the US. I have not heard who the actual manufacturer of the accelerator assembly is but it makes you wonder what other vehicles mqay be affected as I noticed on the news this morning that the Pontiac Vibe was added to the list.

[shortysboy09]

My experiences with Toyota have not been very good as far as coming off their price. They three times I have went they have refused to budge at all. I dunno if that will change now, but it's worth a try. I ended up with a Nissan Frontier Nismo edition. I am really impressed with the truck and it hasn't had to have any maintenance beside regular stuff like oil changes, air filters, and tires.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

SmoothFox:
If you are into the most powerful V6 small/medium truck, you
need to go with the Nissan Frontier. At 261 HP, it beats the 236 HP
Toyota Tacoma.

The Nissan 6 cylinder engine has been a consistent winner on "The World's 10 Best
Engines" list. <Compiled by Ward's, IIRC?>

I had a 1997 Nissan Maxima engine with this same basic engine. I drove it hard
and fast. At 282,000 miles it was as fast as when new, did not burn oil, got
great gas mileage, and never had taken a timing chain. Unfortunately 1st and
2nd gear in the stick shift went bad ($1800 to fix), plus I would have spent $800 on some gizmo
that would shut off the "Check Engine" light in order to facilitate a successful
inspection. I put my $2600 towards my Ford Ranger, but I would have preferred a Frontier.

Pete92FS:
Some data from a few years back, possibly still accurate, showed that the Toyota 4Runner
retained the highest resale value of all vehicles sold in the US. You picked well, grasshopper.

SIA

[The Annoyed Man]

One of the ladies in our Bible study sells cable TV advertising for a living, and Toyota is her largest account. They informed her yesterday that they were stopping ALL advertising in all media, nationally until this issue is resolved. For her, that means an immediate 30% reduction in her revenues.

This is huge. Toyota does not yet have a solution for it, so they can't even retrofit recalled vehicles. Since none of the affected models can be sold until retrofitted, dealerships are going to have to layoff salespeople. Since they can't sell those vehicles that are affected which have left the factory, and since they don't have a solution yet for the assembly line, all U.S. production of the 8 affected models has stopped. That means layoffs at the factory. And layoffs at the suppliers which keep the Toyota factories in parts, etc., etc. We can rest assured that Toyota is focusing all of its considerable resources on finding a fix, but even if they come up with one in the next few days, there would be a protracted ramping up period to get the modified parts manufactured and distributed before the dealerships can retrofit existing vehicles and get them sold, so that the factory can recall laid-off assembly line workers and put them back to work, so that their suppliers can recall laid-off workers and put them back to work.

Incidentally, one of the crashes alleged to have been caused by the accelerator pedal failures happened locally here in Southlake. The affected Toyota models are:

• 2009-2010 RAV4
• 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• Certain 2007-2010 Camry models (I believe that those Camrys built in Japan are not affected; one can tell by the VIN number whether it's an American or Japanese built car)
• 2010 Highlander
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia

+1 on the Nissan Frontier.

[Oldgringo]

...y'all might want to add all of affected Toyota owners to the hurting list...

Me? I glad I'm driving a Dodge Cummins built in good 'ol Mexico.

[Pete92FS]

One of the ladies in our Bible study sells cable TV advertising for a living, and Toyota is her largest account. They informed her yesterday that they were stopping ALL advertising in all media, nationally until this issue is resolved. For her, that means an immediate 30% reduction in her revenues.

This is huge. Toyota does not yet have a solution for it, so they can't even retrofit recalled vehicles. Since none of the affected models can be sold until retrofitted, dealerships are going to have to layoff salespeople. Since they can't sell those vehicles that are affected which have left the factory, and since they don't have a solution yet for the assembly line, all U.S. production of the 8 affected models has stopped. That means layoffs at the factory. And layoffs at the suppliers which keep the Toyota factories in parts, etc., etc. We can rest assured that Toyota is focusing all of its considerable resources on finding a fix, but even if they come up with one in the next few days, there would be a protracted ramping up period to get the modified parts manufactured and distributed before the dealerships can retrofit existing vehicles and get them sold, so that the factory can recall laid-off assembly line workers and put them back to work, so that their suppliers can recall laid-off workers and put them back to work.

Incidentally, one of the crashes alleged to have been caused by the accelerator pedal failures happened locally here in Southlake. The affected Toyota models are:

• 2009-2010 RAV4
• 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• Certain 2007-2010 Camry models (I believe that those Camrys built in Japan are not affected; one can tell by the VIN number whether it's an American or Japanese built car)
• 2010 Highlander
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia

+1 on the Nissan Frontier.

The following were added to the list this morning per ABC News:
2008-2010 Highlander
2009-2010 Venza
2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.

[A-R]

SmoothFox:
If you are into the most powerful V6 small/medium truck, you
need to go with the Nissan Frontier. At 261 HP, it beats the 236 HP
Toyota Tacoma.

Yes but the Tacoma runs on regular unleaded (saving you 20 cents per gallon or more over Nissan which requires premium gas), and the Toyota gets its 236 HP at 5200 RPM (vs 5600 for Nissan) and has nearly the same torque (266 ft lbs vs 281 ft lbs) also at a lower RPM (3800 vs 4000).

Not a huge difference between the engines' performance, but the Nissan is higher reving to get to its peak power and requires premium gasoline to do so. That spells more potential trouble down the road to me.

Also both can tow roughly the same weight (Toyota* 6,500 pounds; Nissan 6,300) when compared apples to apples *Toyota must be equipped with "towing package" to pull this weight, but that just evens out its price with the Nissan which comes with the same towing equipment standard (save for the hitch, which some dealers add as an extra price option, thus making the Nissan more expensive than a comparably priced Toyota).

IANAAM (I Am Not An Automotive Engineer)

But I did look at both trucks extensively in 2005, finally deciding to buy the Toyota. Neither truck has changed much in 5 years (and both are probably due for updates soon).

[A-R]

...y'all might want to add all of affected Toyota owners to the hurting list...

Me? I glad I'm driving a Dodge Cummins built in good 'ol Mexico.

Tacomas are made in Mexico too.

[shortysboy09]

I drive an 06 Frontier and havent put anything but Regular in it for 100000 miles. It runs just fine still.

[USA1]

Well, it seems Toyota has finally found a cheap fix for the problem..Make the horns much louder.

Seriously though, they have come up with adding a (postage stamp size) piece of steel to the existing pedal assembly .

[samobius]

Don't forget there's a Toyota plant in San Antonio, which I believe builds the Tacoma. So you're helping our local economy

I have a Camry Hybrid not affected by the recall, and I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVE it. When I got it, there were very few other true hybrids around and I would always tell people they wouldn't find a car with more luxury, as much performance, or as good of mileage for the price. We're getting ready to start a family and know we'll need to upgrade her 2 door Honda Civic, but other than a Highlander Hybrid, I have no idea what else to even entertain.

[The Annoyed Man]

I drive an 06 Frontier and havent put anything but Regular in it for 100000 miles. It runs just fine still.

I drive an 02 Pathfinder SE, essentially the same motor, and it has used 87 octane for 117,000 miles now.

[C-dub]

The supercharged Nissan engine is the one that requires premium gas. I had the first crew cab long bed with the supercharged engine and it was a great truck. After three years Nissan made me an offer to buy it back and I took them up on it trading it for a Titan for $40 more a month. Titan runs on regular 87 octane gas, tows more, more interior room, and MORE ponies. We just made the last payment on the Titan two weeks ago.

With all the problems Toyota is having and it is spreading to cars sold in Europe that aren't sold here you couldn't pay me to drive one. I heard on the news last night that some people have even continued to have throttle problems after being "fixed" by Toyota.