5 ms·

I'm well over 200,000 miles on my '98 Land Cruiser and looking for a replacement, but frankly, Toyota's current offerings aren't looking too hot... The 200 ser

by wyager 10y ago

I'm well over 200,000 miles on my '98 Land Cruiser and looking for a replacement, but frankly, Toyota's current offerings aren't looking too hot... The 200 series land cruiser is trending towards a suburb-mobile and is basically unsuited for offroad use, whereas the 70-, 80- and 100-series are awesome for offroading, even in stock off-the-lot configuration. The 4Runner is a decent offroad vehicle, but doesn't have the same legendary over-engineering as the Land Cruiser. I might just try to keep my 100-series going for another few hundred thousand miles.

mulmen 10y ago
I am disappointed in Toyota's current offerings. Take a look at what is on the lot today and what was on the lot in 1997. 20 years ago you could pick up a world-class Supra or a proper Land Cruiser or a Tacoma or a Camry or Corolla that could practically be the last commuter car you ever need. All of them stubbornly reliable. many of the cars Toyota had on the lot in 1997 still sell for close to their retail price! Today what do you get? I guess the Camry and Corolla are still good cars but I'm not convinced the reliability is still there. The Prius is "innovative" in some sense but it isn't the kind of vehicle the Supra and Land Cruiser were. There doesn't seem to be anything interesting or exciting on the lot from Toyota anymore.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- pshposh 10y ago
  What about the Toyota 86? 2-door, rear-wheel drive. Other than that I agree with you for the most part. edit: http://www.toyota.com/86/ http://www.toyota.com/86/
  - mulmen 10y ago
    It's a Subaru Impreza with a different body. It's a nice car but it isn't a Toyota. They also tried to market it in the US as a Scion until that experiment also failed.
  - dgudkov 10y ago
    It's not a real Toyota - it was designed and built by Subaru.
    - WillPostForFood 10y ago
      It was designed by Tetsuya Tada at Toyota. Toyota had a complete concept car they were showing before they asked Subaru to get involved. Subaru ended up contributing the engine, but the rest is largely Toyota. They are built by Subaru though.
      - mulmen 10y ago
        The non-Subaru concept was the FT-HS which never made it into production. The Toyota 86 uses an Impreza chassis and engine. Mechanically it's a Subaru. AFAIK the Toyota/Scion versions may have a slightly different engine but it's still a Subaru boxer.
      - Yaggo 10y ago
        Also, Toyota owns significant portion of Subaru.
- bigger_cheese 10y ago
  I have a 2011 Toyota Yaris I've been pretty happy with it. I went from a four door 1.6L engine car (2002 Kia Rio) to the three door 1.4L Yaris. At the time I purchased the Yaris I was 50/50 toss between it and a Mazda 3. I ended up getting offered a good deal of the Toyota so went with it, no regrets since then. I'm single and live in the city so fuel economy and ease of parking trumps everything else for me.
  - mulmen 10y ago
    Yeah they make good commuter cars like your Yaris and the new Corollas have a lot of great features but take a look at what Toyota was building back in the 90s before they wanted to become the biggest in the world. They had a much more diverse offering with at least a few exciting if low volume cars.
  - chrisper 10y ago
    >fuel economy and ease of parking trumps everything else for me. What about safety? I rented a Yaris once and felt very vulnerable. Maybe it depends on where you live.
- BuckRogers 10y ago
  The Tacoma is still there? That's what I'm buying next time. According to all the studies, the reliability is still there too. It's all probability, doesn't make it a tank or bulletproof but Toyota is still the best bet other than Lexus. The models don't change much because that's a part of maintaining quality and reliability. The US companies are kings of constant rehashing and quality suffers. If I want a cool car I'll buy a Dodge Hellcat or a Tesla.. otherwise I'm going Toyota next time. Tip of the hat though to Kia (and Hyundai), they've really been giving everyone fits.
  - mulmen 10y ago
    The Tacoma is still available and still excellent but the Tacomas they built in the mid 90s are still in very high demand. My point in bringing them up is that they had a full lineup of truly excellent vehicles. The new ones are great pickups but they are expensive and like everything else awfully bloated. In the 90s you could get an all wheel drive turbocharged Celica or a twin turbocharged Supra or the lightweight MR2 which was also available with a turbo. All of those cars were still as reliable as you would expect from Toyota but weren't simple appliances to get from A to B. In the years since then Toyota has completely forgotten how to build an interesting car and has lost sight of what "car people" find appealing about cars. Toyotas aren't bad at all, the company just forgot about a bunch of the really cool stuff they used to do and I am disappointed about that because I think they could still do a lot of it. If Dodge can build the Hellcat and Chevy can build the ZR-1 why can't Toyota build a proper Supra? I guess Lexus had the house-on-wheels LF-A but that's not going to fill the gap left by the Celica, Supra and MR2.
    - BuckRogers 10y ago
      I've often wondered the same. I remember my doctor in the 90s had a Supra. But I've felt for a while now that the heydays of interesting cars are over. Where I'm at, most people aren't buying new cars like we were back then. I'm ok with Toyota's lineup because I just want the best possible chances at low to no maintenance. Excitement post 9/11 just means no WW3. But they could use a jolt for sure, they at least need the Supra though the 86 is a nice gesture. I don't understand what you mean by Tacomas being expensive or 'bloated'. The price seems about right and reasonable to me for a 4x4 pickup compared to their competition.
- patrickk 10y ago
  > 20 years ago you could pick up a world-class Supra or a proper Land Cruiser or a Tacoma or a Camry or Corolla that could practically be the last commuter car you ever need. All of them stubbornly reliable. many of the cars Toyota had on the lot in 1997 still sell for close to their retail price! The mid-90s to early 2000s were a golden era for Japanese cars. I dream of importing a Nissan Silvia S15[1] with the legendary SR20 engine. It's quite feasible, especially if you live in a left hand drive country (warning: it's complicated getting some of these cars into the US[2]). The Skylines of that era (e.g. the blue and silver one from the Fast and the Furious 2) still sell for insane money (around €35k-45k last time I checked, depending on the model and trim), they are really hot items to import from Japan. Also, the Hilux of the era is virtually indestructible. Top Gear famously demolished a building with a Hilux perched on top[3], and the engine still worked afterwards. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bcPNJzwtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bcPNJzwtA [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1627s5/iama_guy_who_imports_cars_from_japan_to_canada_ama/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1627s5/iama_guy_who_i... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk
  - wyager 10y ago
    Amazing! Thanks for the link.
  - mulmen 10y ago
    Exactly! In a past life I had purchased a 1973 S30 with the intention of swapping in an LS-1 from an old Camaro, GTO or Corvette. I quickly changed my mind on that and decided on an RB26DETT because it's still a Nissan motor and the price isn't much different. Life happened and that project had to be abandoned but I would really like to give it a go one of these days. At this point I think the SR20DET is the ideal motor for an S30. The RB26 still has a very strong appeal however... e: If you have not already seen them you may find Doug DeMuro's Skyline exploits entertaining: https://youtu.be/5eFA3cwfR3E https://youtu.be/5eFA3cwfR3E

by wyager 10y ago

mulmen 10y ago

I am disappointed in Toyota's current offerings. Take a look at what is on the lot today and what was on the lot in 1997. 20 years ago you could pick up a world-class Supra or a proper Land Cruiser or a Tacoma or a Camry or Corolla that could practically be the last commuter car you ever need. All of them stubbornly reliable. many of the cars Toyota had on the lot in 1997 still sell for close to their retail price! Today what do you get? I guess the Camry and Corolla are still good cars but I'm not convinced the reliability is still there. The Prius is "innovative" in some sense but it isn't the kind of vehicle the Supra and Land Cruiser were. There doesn't seem to be anything interesting or exciting on the lot from Toyota anymore.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
pshposh 10y ago
What about the Toyota 86? 2-door, rear-wheel drive. Other than that I agree with you for the most part. edit: http://www.toyota.com/86/ http://www.toyota.com/86/
- mulmen 10y ago
  It's a Subaru Impreza with a different body. It's a nice car but it isn't a Toyota. They also tried to market it in the US as a Scion until that experiment also failed.
- dgudkov 10y ago
  It's not a real Toyota - it was designed and built by Subaru.
  - WillPostForFood 10y ago
    It was designed by Tetsuya Tada at Toyota. Toyota had a complete concept car they were showing before they asked Subaru to get involved. Subaru ended up contributing the engine, but the rest is largely Toyota. They are built by Subaru though.
    - mulmen 10y ago
      The non-Subaru concept was the FT-HS which never made it into production. The Toyota 86 uses an Impreza chassis and engine. Mechanically it's a Subaru. AFAIK the Toyota/Scion versions may have a slightly different engine but it's still a Subaru boxer.
    - Yaggo 10y ago
      Also, Toyota owns significant portion of Subaru.
bigger_cheese 10y ago
I have a 2011 Toyota Yaris I've been pretty happy with it. I went from a four door 1.6L engine car (2002 Kia Rio) to the three door 1.4L Yaris. At the time I purchased the Yaris I was 50/50 toss between it and a Mazda 3. I ended up getting offered a good deal of the Toyota so went with it, no regrets since then. I'm single and live in the city so fuel economy and ease of parking trumps everything else for me.
- mulmen 10y ago
  Yeah they make good commuter cars like your Yaris and the new Corollas have a lot of great features but take a look at what Toyota was building back in the 90s before they wanted to become the biggest in the world. They had a much more diverse offering with at least a few exciting if low volume cars.
- chrisper 10y ago
  >fuel economy and ease of parking trumps everything else for me. What about safety? I rented a Yaris once and felt very vulnerable. Maybe it depends on where you live.
BuckRogers 10y ago
The Tacoma is still there? That's what I'm buying next time. According to all the studies, the reliability is still there too. It's all probability, doesn't make it a tank or bulletproof but Toyota is still the best bet other than Lexus. The models don't change much because that's a part of maintaining quality and reliability. The US companies are kings of constant rehashing and quality suffers. If I want a cool car I'll buy a Dodge Hellcat or a Tesla.. otherwise I'm going Toyota next time. Tip of the hat though to Kia (and Hyundai), they've really been giving everyone fits.
- mulmen 10y ago
  The Tacoma is still available and still excellent but the Tacomas they built in the mid 90s are still in very high demand. My point in bringing them up is that they had a full lineup of truly excellent vehicles. The new ones are great pickups but they are expensive and like everything else awfully bloated. In the 90s you could get an all wheel drive turbocharged Celica or a twin turbocharged Supra or the lightweight MR2 which was also available with a turbo. All of those cars were still as reliable as you would expect from Toyota but weren't simple appliances to get from A to B. In the years since then Toyota has completely forgotten how to build an interesting car and has lost sight of what "car people" find appealing about cars. Toyotas aren't bad at all, the company just forgot about a bunch of the really cool stuff they used to do and I am disappointed about that because I think they could still do a lot of it. If Dodge can build the Hellcat and Chevy can build the ZR-1 why can't Toyota build a proper Supra? I guess Lexus had the house-on-wheels LF-A but that's not going to fill the gap left by the Celica, Supra and MR2.
  - BuckRogers 10y ago
    I've often wondered the same. I remember my doctor in the 90s had a Supra. But I've felt for a while now that the heydays of interesting cars are over. Where I'm at, most people aren't buying new cars like we were back then. I'm ok with Toyota's lineup because I just want the best possible chances at low to no maintenance. Excitement post 9/11 just means no WW3. But they could use a jolt for sure, they at least need the Supra though the 86 is a nice gesture. I don't understand what you mean by Tacomas being expensive or 'bloated'. The price seems about right and reasonable to me for a 4x4 pickup compared to their competition.
patrickk 10y ago
> 20 years ago you could pick up a world-class Supra or a proper Land Cruiser or a Tacoma or a Camry or Corolla that could practically be the last commuter car you ever need. All of them stubbornly reliable. many of the cars Toyota had on the lot in 1997 still sell for close to their retail price! The mid-90s to early 2000s were a golden era for Japanese cars. I dream of importing a Nissan Silvia S15[1] with the legendary SR20 engine. It's quite feasible, especially if you live in a left hand drive country (warning: it's complicated getting some of these cars into the US[2]). The Skylines of that era (e.g. the blue and silver one from the Fast and the Furious 2) still sell for insane money (around €35k-45k last time I checked, depending on the model and trim), they are really hot items to import from Japan. Also, the Hilux of the era is virtually indestructible. Top Gear famously demolished a building with a Hilux perched on top[3], and the engine still worked afterwards. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bcPNJzwtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bcPNJzwtA [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1627s5/iama_guy_who_imports_cars_from_japan_to_canada_ama/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/1627s5/iama_guy_who_i... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk
- wyager 10y ago
  Amazing! Thanks for the link.
- mulmen 10y ago
  Exactly! In a past life I had purchased a 1973 S30 with the intention of swapping in an LS-1 from an old Camaro, GTO or Corvette. I quickly changed my mind on that and decided on an RB26DETT because it's still a Nissan motor and the price isn't much different. Life happened and that project had to be abandoned but I would really like to give it a go one of these days. At this point I think the SR20DET is the ideal motor for an S30. The RB26 still has a very strong appeal however... e: If you have not already seen them you may find Doug DeMuro's Skyline exploits entertaining: https://youtu.be/5eFA3cwfR3E https://youtu.be/5eFA3cwfR3E