The year of Toyota
A couple weeks ago, I bought a used Camry for the daughter. It runs well and was well maintained by its previous owner, who I know. I have a bit more work to do to it before I turn her loose on it, but I think it will be a good vehicle for her.
Last night I bought a Toyota Rav4 from Carmax, my fourth car from them so far. I can make a Ford last 400,000 miles,and I see fools driving toyota for as long while ignoring them utterly. So I hope I can get some miles out of both cars. A new Era for me. Wish us luck.
18 comments Og | Uncategorized
Congratulations on getting your car issues resolved … sorry it had to be that way. But now you can get from point A to wherever without worry.
Yes, I know a lot of people who run the wheels off Toyotas … literally. It takes a long time. This is in your favor.
Jenny
Good luck! And Merry Christmas to you and yours.
There’s a Top Gear episode where they try to kill a Toyota pickup, and fail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk
The Land Rover used to be the go-to vehicle for third world warriors, and it has since been replaced by the Toyota.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-toyota-pickup-truck-is-the-war-chariot-of-the-third-world-ea4a121e948b#.8huclp1cp
So if the Rav4 has pickup innards, you’re in good shape.
Change engine oil at proper intervals (and filter) use synthetic. Trans same same.
Don’t tow without a trans cooler.
brakes/hoses/belts as needed. **CHANGE radiator fluid every 3 years, regardless** (anticorrosives wear out) and eat head gaskets.
Not sure when the timing belt needs changed on that car.. Do it 10K miles before needed.
last you 300K easy.
My take on how different nationalities engineer cars. In all cases, let’s assume we have two parts that rub together.
1) Americans – Make one part out of very good (and expensive) steel, the other out of lesser (and cheaper) steel. Make cheaper part easy to replace, so every 25K miles you have a couple-hundred dollar repair, but more expensive part never wears out.
2) Japanese – Make both parts out of good steel. They last 100K miles, but then you have a $3,000 repair.
3) German – Same function done with 17 parts made of steel, plastic, aluminum, and unobtainium. None of which are available separately. The unobtainium part is back-ordered.
4) Italian – Paint it red and put a beautiful woman in the driver’s seat.
5) English – Doesn’t matter, car won’t start when it’s raining, and it’s ALWAYS raining. So parts never wear out, keep them oiled so they don’t rust.
This has been my experience as well.
BTW Og, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Welcome to the dark side. (evil grin)
And he shouldn’t be doing any towing in a Rav4 anyway, so no trans cooler needed.
two things about toyotas to my experience.
bad fuel economoy.
engineered to the T so there is no envelope to fail in. They are on the edge so if some part fails, it can cascade into an expensive fix, quickly.
they do seem to run forever with some care, just not with no care.
Hope they give you decades of good service and you get tired of looking at them before they die.
I have observed the same as you about Toyotas. It’s why I selected the Matrix over a Fit back in 2014.
I usually find Hondas more fun to drive but I was after the reliability more than anything else with this purchase.
You will love the RAV. Merry Christmas Og and Family!
No towing. And hopefully, I will take good enough care of it that I won’t have any worries for a while. The Camry is in good enough shape that I think it will be fine, and the Rav4 is under warranty for 3 years.
Most Toyotas have chain driven cams too so no belt to worry about most likely.
Merry Christmas, Og.
hoses are the weak point on Toyotas. Course the ones I had where half dead to start with so there is that.
I’m sure though if you got one with a warranty that is probably not the case here.
Congrats, Merry Christmas to you and yours! :-)
Merry Christmas.
2003 Mazda B3000 286,000 miles still going strong/Made in Dearborn ford plant.
2012 Honda civic 185,000 still going well bought for gas mileage as I average 35-40,000 a year. Have had Toyota’s and Honda’s mostly, both very good.