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I'm pretty dealer agnostic, but Toyota has been cemented in my mind as the car brand I can trust the most. Have been in Toyotas my whole life (first car was an

I'm pretty dealer agnostic, but Toyota has been cemented in my mind as the car brand I can trust the most. Have been in Toyotas my whole life (first car was an 89 Camry Wagon, rip), now I drive a 4Runner old enough to drink, and my partner is in a Highlander. No matter how many times we look elsewhere, we always end up back in Toyotas. Hoping their EV R&D shows promise soon.

steve_adams_86 5y ago
Likewise, Toyota has been a rock in my car experience. We got a 2017 highlander and apart from the god awful infotainment system it has been amazing. Sort of like computers these days, I find myself wondering when I’d need or even want to upgrade. It hasn’t really needed service yet after 80,000km. Everything is running well. My mechanic says I must be taking excellent care of it, but I’m not doing anything I haven’t before. This thing just seems to be better designed than any VW or Ford I’ve had. Our previous Toyota was OLD but similarly rock solid. I’ve come to like their cars a lot. A friend has a 4 runner as well that has been going strong for around 15 years. I think what’s remarkable isn’t necessarily having something incredible to say about their cars. It’s more so that I just have nothing to complain about.
- datavirtue 5y ago
  The reliability stems from not touching the power train design (for 20+ years). It is also the cause of the dreadful effeciency one experiences with a Toyota. I shopped Toyota for a trucks several times and was appalled by the MPG ratings. When a Tacoma is getting far worse MPG than a F-150 it's time for an update.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    >The reliability stems from not touching the power train design (for 20+ years) Why isn't the Dodge and lineup regarded as reliable? Ford E-series is how old? Most of Nissan's sedans are pretty long in the tooth now that I think about it. A large part of why Toyota stuff is so reliable is that they're expensive up front both new and "newish" used. They also won't finance just anyone with a pulse like the "unreliable" brands will. So the people who get their hands on them can afford to maintain them on schedule and can afford to treat them well. You'll never see a newish Sienna owner stacking one floor to ceiling with bags of concrete to avoid paying for the Home Depot truck rental. You'll never see a newish 4Runner bouncing down the road with an out of round tire. You'll never see a newish Camry dragging ass hauling a family of 5 and all their luggage (the person with that use case in the Toyota tax bracket can justify/afford a Highlander) Can't say that about a Pacifica, Patriot or Altima. Refinement certainly helps but Toyotas are reliable because any car would be reliable in the hands of Toyota owners. Any car would routinely make it to high mileage if they got babied for their first 100k (or so)
    - cowanon22 5y ago
      >Refinement certainly helps but Toyotas are reliable because any car would be reliable in the hands of Toyota owners. This has not been my experience. Toyotas are just better built coming out of the factory. In the past I've had newish Chevy, Ford, and Nissan cars, and after about 30-50k miles each of them started having various small noises/rattles that built over time until something failed. The Toyota is just smoother overall out of the factory, and parts wear out more slowly.
- lightsighter 5y ago
  In my experience, the whole 10 year warranty seems a bit excessive for vehicles that are nigh close to indestructible [1,2,3]. My parents have had multiple Toyotas that made it to 300K-400K miles. My brother's Corolla was rear-ended by a semi doing 30mph and wasn't even close to being totaled. Eight years later and he's still driving it through swamps in south Florida. They are impeccable feats of engineering. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTPnIpjodA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTPnIpjodA8 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnVZXQD5_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnVZXQD5_k
  - sharkweek 5y ago
    As a Toyota owner, one of my favorite Onion articles: Toyota Recalls 1993 Camry Due To Fact That Owners Really Should Have Bought Something New By Now https://www.theonion.com/toyota-recalls-1993-camry-due-to-fact-that-owners-reall-1819577805 https://www.theonion.com/toyota-recalls-1993-camry-due-to-fa...
failwhaleshark 5y ago
Scotty [0] would tell you to buy his Toyota Celica or maybe a used Toyota Corolla, but "all the new ones today are plastic crap." 0. Scotty Kilmer - internet famous mechanic in Houston TX - https://www.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer https://www.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer Well, they did come up with the Prius, so I think they might have a shot at EVs.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  Scotty knows his stuff about cars but he is an entertainer first and an informer second. If you don't hit all the tropes and get people to share your content and get all the resulting clicks the algo will bury you.
  - failwhaleshark 5y ago
    Scotty has those ironic clickbait titles down.

steve_adams_86 5y ago

Likewise, Toyota has been a rock in my car experience. We got a 2017 highlander and apart from the god awful infotainment system it has been amazing. Sort of like computers these days, I find myself wondering when I’d need or even want to upgrade. It hasn’t really needed service yet after 80,000km. Everything is running well. My mechanic says I must be taking excellent care of it, but I’m not doing anything I haven’t before. This thing just seems to be better designed than any VW or Ford I’ve had. Our previous Toyota was OLD but similarly rock solid. I’ve come to like their cars a lot. A friend has a 4 runner as well that has been going strong for around 15 years. I think what’s remarkable isn’t necessarily having something incredible to say about their cars. It’s more so that I just have nothing to complain about.

datavirtue 5y ago
The reliability stems from not touching the power train design (for 20+ years). It is also the cause of the dreadful effeciency one experiences with a Toyota. I shopped Toyota for a trucks several times and was appalled by the MPG ratings. When a Tacoma is getting far worse MPG than a F-150 it's time for an update.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  >The reliability stems from not touching the power train design (for 20+ years) Why isn't the Dodge and lineup regarded as reliable? Ford E-series is how old? Most of Nissan's sedans are pretty long in the tooth now that I think about it. A large part of why Toyota stuff is so reliable is that they're expensive up front both new and "newish" used. They also won't finance just anyone with a pulse like the "unreliable" brands will. So the people who get their hands on them can afford to maintain them on schedule and can afford to treat them well. You'll never see a newish Sienna owner stacking one floor to ceiling with bags of concrete to avoid paying for the Home Depot truck rental. You'll never see a newish 4Runner bouncing down the road with an out of round tire. You'll never see a newish Camry dragging ass hauling a family of 5 and all their luggage (the person with that use case in the Toyota tax bracket can justify/afford a Highlander) Can't say that about a Pacifica, Patriot or Altima. Refinement certainly helps but Toyotas are reliable because any car would be reliable in the hands of Toyota owners. Any car would routinely make it to high mileage if they got babied for their first 100k (or so)
  - cowanon22 5y ago
    >Refinement certainly helps but Toyotas are reliable because any car would be reliable in the hands of Toyota owners. This has not been my experience. Toyotas are just better built coming out of the factory. In the past I've had newish Chevy, Ford, and Nissan cars, and after about 30-50k miles each of them started having various small noises/rattles that built over time until something failed. The Toyota is just smoother overall out of the factory, and parts wear out more slowly.
lightsighter 5y ago
In my experience, the whole 10 year warranty seems a bit excessive for vehicles that are nigh close to indestructible [1,2,3]. My parents have had multiple Toyotas that made it to 300K-400K miles. My brother's Corolla was rear-ended by a semi doing 30mph and wasn't even close to being totaled. Eight years later and he's still driving it through swamps in south Florida. They are impeccable feats of engineering. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTPnIpjodA8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTPnIpjodA8 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnVZXQD5_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnVZXQD5_k
- sharkweek 5y ago
  As a Toyota owner, one of my favorite Onion articles: Toyota Recalls 1993 Camry Due To Fact That Owners Really Should Have Bought Something New By Now https://www.theonion.com/toyota-recalls-1993-camry-due-to-fact-that-owners-reall-1819577805 https://www.theonion.com/toyota-recalls-1993-camry-due-to-fa...

failwhaleshark 5y ago

Scotty [0] would tell you to buy his Toyota Celica or maybe a used Toyota Corolla, but "all the new ones today are plastic crap." 0. Scotty Kilmer - internet famous mechanic in Houston TX - https://www.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer https://www.youtube.com/user/scottykilmer Well, they did come up with the Prius, so I think they might have a shot at EVs.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Scotty knows his stuff about cars but he is an entertainer first and an informer second. If you don't hit all the tropes and get people to share your content and get all the resulting clicks the algo will bury you.
- failwhaleshark 5y ago
  Scotty has those ironic clickbait titles down.