"S.S." > wrote in message
...
> razz wrote:
>
> > My buddy is a mechanic at a Toyota dealership, they're not as reliable
as
> > people think they are. They have just as many problems as other
> > manufacturers.
>
> No car is going to be 100% problem free, but Toyotas and Hondas typically
> experience less non-routine problems than North American brands,
especially
> if regular maintenance is kept up. But even with regular maintenance,
North
> American brand cars tend to experience more non-routine problems,
especially
> when they are at least 5 years old and/or the mileage gets up there. And
> this JD Power survey focused on (I think) 3-year old cars.
>
> My '93 Accord has 223,000km (138,000 miles) and has been extremely
reliable.
> My father and brother both have Corollas ('04 and '05) with about 30,000km
> (19,000 miles) each so far, and as expected, both have been reliable so
far.
> But we have taken good care of our cars and kept up the regular
maintenance.
>
>
> > I don't subscribe to that mentality that most people believe
> > jap scrap is more reliable than other cars.
>
> Not all Japanese brands are reliable (especially Mazda, for example). But
> Toyota and Honda are typically more reliable than most others.
>
>
> > My wife's 97 ford contour has
> > had not one lick of problem up until this weekend, I changed the water
pump
> > at 90,000k's. We have had it since 98.
>
> You've been lucky. I know a lot of Contour/Mystique owners who had lots
of
> problems with them, including a few that had fires from under the hood.
>
>
> > I just worked on a supra not more
> > than two months ago which needed a new cam, worn lobes, warped head, so
> > don't tell me that they're more reliable.
>
> Since it's a Supra, perhaps it was not well taken care of. The only
common
> problem I am aware of (depending on the year) is the head gasket.
>
>
> > Same goes for our Honda accord,
> > replaced the cam at 130,000k's, again worn lobes. I quess they use cheap
> > metal.


> Since you appear to be in Canada (like me), I assume you are talking
> kilometers here? Anyway, that is rare for an Accord. But again, is it
> possible that it hasn't been well taken care of?
We had it since brand new, bought in 86, got rid of that scrap pile in 91
with a 130 k's on the clock. started to rust out pretty bad to. All routine
maintenance done by me ( worked for honda dealership at the time ). The shop
was well stocked with vehicles in for repairs and tsb's all the time. Same
as the Toyo shop across the lot from them at that time, no different from a
ford or gm or chrysler shop. Had just as many cars going through the doors
as any one else. And to this day, at the auto mall here in the city i see
the shops full of cars, Toyo's, Honda's, Gm's Ford's, and so on. I see no
difference in reliability or the number of occurances in these cars than
from any others.
> > I'm currrently trying a Hyundai sonota, and will never buy one of
> > those again, nice looking car, but never again. All of these cars were a
one
> > owner brand new off the lot vehicles. I'm currently looking for a new
car,
> > and may go back to a European car, particular a German made car.
>
> German cars are actually no more reliable than the others. Volkwagens are
> just plain junk, and apparently, Mercedes-Benz' quality has suffered since
> the DaimlerChrysler merger.
That may be true, but I've had no problems when I owned a volks or Mercedes.
But they were not brand new and were well into the hundreds of thousand of
miles on the clocks, they were a 60,61, 65. My 190 my dad gave me as a grad
present, had over 470,000 miles on the odometer, but I took the engine apart
for restoration. I figured I refresh it, did not need it, but I wanted to
bring this thing to brand new condition from a ground up restore. The hoses
and lines needed replacing to get it like new again. To bad it burnt to the
ground in a garage fire, it was a beauty, with ivory steering wheel and
cherry wood dash, and wasn't insured. But it was a slug, barely moved,
underpowered, but what a gorgeous looking car. Had no problems with it
whatsoever.