ORIGINAL: RLSH700

I'm talking about Toyota's massive oil sludge problem that effected most of their engine line from 1997 to 2001, yet they have a flawless reputation according to the reliability statistics for those years. On top of this Toyota has had a lot of transmission issues with their new 6-speed automatic in the Camry, yet the press doesn't focus on that either. Not too long ago Toyota had one of the worst recall issues out of every manufacturer, yet we don't hear about how unreliable Toyotas are. That new Toyota 3.5L rattles something awful but you won't hear about it. If you believe everything you read, you would believe that God himself made the interior in the Camry for the last ten-fifteen years, yet it is nothing to write home about. Hard plastics like everyone else, yet domestic models like say the Intrepid that had softer materials were called cheap.

Read the service guide and you will figure out why they have such a good reputation. They replace things a lot more often in Toyotas. A friend of mine paid $1200 for her 90K service. Mine was less than half of that.

Ha! J.D. Power hit a new lower level in relivance if they honestly want us to believe that Porsche is reliable.

Now how about the Ford-Firestone scandal. The media smeared Ford up and down over what was actually the fault of Firestone who has developed a reputation over the years for making junk tires (namely the Firestone 500). There are tons of automotive reviews where the press will in a comparison bring up the question if the domestic model is reliable enough to consider, yet they will rubber stamp any Toyota model as being perfect when the fact is there are no guarantees no matter who makes it despite popular belief. Toyota will follow the Big Three's decline when the press turns against them and reminds people of Toyota's flaws like they enjoy reminding people of the Big Three's flaws.