But only in Oz

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...ID=43596&vf=12

Tch tch tch... to think that Toyota could rain in on HSV's parade with a HSV-priced, FWD Camry is pure arrogance... which is why I find it amusing.

 

OK - so I'll be the first to reply and throw the media-bias topic out on the table.

Funny how in OZ, a single vehicle has an engine problem at the dealership while in the hands of a salesperson, and it not only makes the news, but it gets it's own headline and story!

If that were to happen here, nobody would even know about it except the salesperson and the dealership that made the warranty claim to Toyota. Could you even imagine a headline here about a single Toyota vehicle with an engine problem? Much less to state in the article that it is a limited edition vehicle and only 150 of these vehicles even exist, mostly at dealerships and for testing.
Sorta makes you think there might be media bias the other way down there, huh?!?!
They have the guns drawn on Toyota while sort-of defending Holden, Ford, and other domestics on paper.

Now that the fun is behind me, I'll have to say that the engine problem itself is not overly concerning to me at this point. Sounds like this is a very limited run, it's a new configuration for Toyota with the SC, but the base engine it is on is an old stalthwart. I imagine they have some issue with boost an A?F compensation - maybe too lean under load or downstream sensor issues. The article does not clearly identify the problem, but I take away from this that they have missed some kind of detail and it bit them a little bit.

Will be interested in seeing how it plays out and what the problem actually was.

Does add yet another notch on the counting stick of bad quality for Tie-oda though - regardless of country or vehicle. I see a trend in their corporation that does not look like a good one.

 

Well... considering Toyota sells about as many vehicles as Holden and Ford combined BUT manufactures less vehicles locally than either of the two companies, there may be some bullets going Toyota's way.

Except for the SUVs/4WDs, the media here has never been kind to Toyota (as distinct from Lexus) as the vehicle must be more than just 'whitegoods on wheels' to excite the scribes.

That's the funny bit - Toyota want to shed their mundane image by venturing into the performance sedan market, which is dominated by HSV/FPV... then BANG! Toyota comes back down to earth...

In all seriousness, this news warrants publicity because Toyota are withdrawing a vehicle they were making a song and dance about...

 

Something about this whole situation just doesn't add up. How do you suspend sales of a entire model because of 1 engine failure?

Perhaps in doing the postmortem, Toyota found something REALLY wrong?

 

http://editorial.carsales.com.au/car...w/2810099.aspx

Good work on the testing boys It doesn't help that they are using a stock motor. (i'm not sure if they come ready to take FI from the factory or not, but I would guess not)

TRD Aurion is Toyota's way of saying "Look at me! i'm not boring!!". Yet it costs to much, the people it is being aimed at would be unlikely to cross shop it (it is a camry underneath it all) and the chassis, while doing a decent job is not up to the competition, mostly because they are AWD or RWD and the TRD Aurion is FWD with no LSD and an awful lot of power.

 

Exactly my point... up here in never-never-land, our press seems to gloat and flaunt the imports as "failsafe, bulletproof, top-notch, and perfect".

Bashing Ford and GM products is a fad up here, like gossiping about Britney Spears' performance the other night. It's just something that people seem to enjoy doing.

Up here, Ford and GM are the ones with "whitegoods on wheels", and Toyota and Honda are all the rage.

Eh... whatever rocks their boats.

As for this engine thing... wristpins - like promises - were not meant to be broken.
Somebody's **** will pay for that one when they get back to Tokyo...

 

You know, I think you guys somewhat miss the mark about what makes up this "perception of reliability".

If if I bought a new car and then they called up and said "Hey, we screwed up the engine, come get a new one". Would I think they had bad quality? Hell no! I would think "Gee, these guys really stand behind their product."

Likewise, recalls don't make that much of a perception difference, so long as they aren't excessive. You bring in your car for the X Mile service and they take care of it for no cost.

Likewise, things like the "JD Power Initial Quality" scores don't figure that much because most new cars are pretty trouble free.

What really makes a difference is years down the road when the car has 80K+ miles and is out of warranty. If it starts rattling and falling apart and needing major repairs, that is what affects people's perceptions.

Toyota/Honda have a great reputation because they built a lot of tanks back in the 80s/90s. However, people didn't know they were tanks until 10 years later. Is there current product still just as good? Nobody really knows, and they won't for many years, but people assume its the same.

So, when you guys benchmark this by the latest problem or news media story, I think you're kinda missing the point. The quality marker is what rolled out of the factory years ago, not what got built yesterday.

(Sorry, couldn't resist to stick my neck into this again )

 

You should, obviously the engien is bad quality. Your perception that they are bad quality is offset by the company telling you they are bad quality and trying to help you with it. That's good consumer relations, and bad quality.

 

So long BS story short, Toyota can **** up a motor, but as long as it's repaired under warranty, Toyota kisses your *** for it, and the car will make it to 80K, it's all good?

How good is a car with 80K that's on it's second motor? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of being "bulletproof" *until* 80K?

Why aren't "initial quality" ratings important? Are you saying that because "the domestics" are starting to win a lot of them lately?



I drive my 67 C-10 daily. Can't remember the last time I saw a 67 Toyota. Or an 80 Toyota.... So take that Toyota

 

Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying and you guys are fools to believe that this sort of minor incident is going to lift the veil and cause people to change their minds about toyota.

Not when the '97 Camry with 120K miles starts every morning it won't.

And GM has great loyalty among pickup buyers, so this just proves my point.

 

Call me a fool but I'm a big believer that GM's powertrains are at least as good as Toyota's. As far a big cube power is concerned... Toyota don't even come close. That's all that matters to me.

 

As mentioned sorta before, basically it boils down to this:

1) Good Consumer Relations
2) Poor Engineering (not quality)

I would not call a connecting rod/piston problem bad quality, that's bad engineering.

 

I don't know what the situation is in Australia, but there is virtually no such thing as "big cube power" in the American passenger-car industry, and thus to the average domestic customer, GM's V8 dominance never comes into play during the car-buying experience.

Ironically enough, Toyota kinda won the latest round of the pickup truck power wars as well. I think they dropped a bit of coin on the 5.7 to make it happen, but a win is a win. GM needs to get the 6.2 in its half-tons ASAP.

 

IMHO, the GM V8 is better than Toyota's V8. Whether it's 5.3L or 6.2L, GM V8s are made for cheap and effective power upgrades... and durability comes standard.

Would I place as much faith in a Toyota V8 as I do a GM V8 over the longer term... not a chance.

 

It's so great to see more people getting it nowadays!!!