It’s relevant because you were the one who brought up Toyota’s image problem. And it does have sort of an image problem, as you said.
Other car makers have certain things that they’re known for, that they can always fall back on in the marketing/nostalgia department. The Big 3 have historic muscle cars (which they’re trying to bring back, stylistically, with the new Mustang, Charger, upcoming Challenger and Camaro, etc.) Honda has the import sport-sedan racing image covered, thanks to the popularity of Fast and Furious type movie. Nissan has historic sports cars in its lineage.
Toyota has none of these. Its image, as you said, is that of a pedestrian and rather boring carmaker. Barring the vintage Celica, Supra and MR2, most people’s conception of Honda is kind of a bland one.
But the one thing Toyota has in its history are the most rugged off-roaders of all time, save for maybe Land Rover (and even Land Rovers are notorious for mechanical problems with age, whereas Land Cruisers are not.)
Thanks for the link. These folks aren’t whorish anti-Americans seeking to protect their Japanese ad bucks; nor are they knee-jerk doctrinaire anti-Americans like Consumers Union. They stick it to EVERYONE who’s made a dicked-up decision like this xB thing.
The FJ has vision issues, but what’s wrong with its offroad capabilities? This is the first I’ve heard of it having issues. It did survive the Rubicon, as I understand it.
Heh. My muffler got a hole in it early on and they replaced that, saying the replacement part was guaranteed for life, and I wouldn’t have to pay for another one EVAH (labor not included I’m sure). Why didn’t they promise that from jump? No, they had to get the money for that replacement. Four weeks later the middle part falls off (“Oh, it must have been rusted and got disrupted by the work on the muffle”)–again, I’ll never have to pay for another one. How do you not notice the middle part if about to fall off when you’re working on the muffler?
Anyhoo, that’s the only trouble I’ve had so I am still considering a Honda for the next car.
We (a reporter friend and I) used to drive an old bare-bones G-Wagen from the late-80s. Looked like something you’d see in a war. In fact, we’d often get mistaken for military (our military stickers helped, admittedly) and would get waved on through borders in Eastern and Southern Europe sometimes. It was the toughest vehicle I’ve ever driven in. (I’ve driven FJs, Land Rovers, and G-Wagens. I’m not an offroader–my friend was–but I enjoyed the Land Rover the least of these three). Plus, the model we drove came standard with both front and rear differential lockers, which is pretty important for serious off-roading. I didn’t realize they stopped making them. Tough vehicle. Not cheap to maintain, though.
