Toyotathon - First Man to Stop Wins!
I have not yet commented on throttlegate or whatever the cool bloggers are calling it these days (I am not part of that crowd - more of the socially awkward corner of the blogoshpere - I like thinks such as "space," "gadgets" and "weird news" after all - and I believe in ghosts, aliens, capitalism, and the innocence of Milli Vanilli.. ok, not that last one)
So, toyota is pretty royally screwed in this country, and with good reason. Those of us who watch automotive news have seen these unintended acceleration claims for a while, but they were always pushed aside by the NHTSA. Turns out this was a pretty clear case of "agency capture" with ex-gov guys going straight to working for big T, and then lobbying to block investigations -- successfully.
The whole thing is covered so much elsewhere, I wont spend much time on it here, but a few thoughts:
1) I have never liked Toyotas and have never recommended them to anyone I know. Actually, no one that I am close to has one, which speaks to the quality of my associates. Actually, they are good cars, and I think this whole thing is totally overwrought, not to the same degree as the Explorer rollover BS of 10 years ago because this is not just driver error, but still, I think it is not that big a deal: there are very few cases reported, toyotas are safe reliable cars overall, and you can get it fixed in the next month or so. Statistically, it is barely a blip. The main reason I dont like Toyotas is because they are boring and designed by a committee, albeit a well functioning, efficient, organized and effective committee.
2) GO HYUNDAI GO!! WOOT WOOT. I have liked them for years - I called their rise to power when I was about 13. Ever since then I have been watching them with interest. And they build cars that are actually interesting, some of the time. The only Toyota I want to own is a MR2 - which was a total aberration for ToMoCo. Hyundai and Honda, not GM, will gobble up what Toyota looses. Hyundai is about to introduce the new and very good looking Sonata - watch the Superbowl for more updates - at what should be a very very good time to snag Camry owners.
3) Forget the rule of threes
4) Go buy a Subaru
So, toyota is pretty royally screwed in this country, and with good reason. Those of us who watch automotive news have seen these unintended acceleration claims for a while, but they were always pushed aside by the NHTSA. Turns out this was a pretty clear case of "agency capture" with ex-gov guys going straight to working for big T, and then lobbying to block investigations -- successfully.
The whole thing is covered so much elsewhere, I wont spend much time on it here, but a few thoughts:
1) I have never liked Toyotas and have never recommended them to anyone I know. Actually, no one that I am close to has one, which speaks to the quality of my associates. Actually, they are good cars, and I think this whole thing is totally overwrought, not to the same degree as the Explorer rollover BS of 10 years ago because this is not just driver error, but still, I think it is not that big a deal: there are very few cases reported, toyotas are safe reliable cars overall, and you can get it fixed in the next month or so. Statistically, it is barely a blip. The main reason I dont like Toyotas is because they are boring and designed by a committee, albeit a well functioning, efficient, organized and effective committee.
2) GO HYUNDAI GO!! WOOT WOOT. I have liked them for years - I called their rise to power when I was about 13. Ever since then I have been watching them with interest. And they build cars that are actually interesting, some of the time. The only Toyota I want to own is a MR2 - which was a total aberration for ToMoCo. Hyundai and Honda, not GM, will gobble up what Toyota looses. Hyundai is about to introduce the new and very good looking Sonata - watch the Superbowl for more updates - at what should be a very very good time to snag Camry owners.
3) Forget the rule of threes
4) Go buy a Subaru
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