Umm, the first "article" you linked to was an editorial by this guy:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-...6/07/frank.jpg

Looks like a Toyota fan to me...

The second guy is a stock analyst. I'm not saying there aren't issues, but this still feels like schadenfreude to me. And perhaps we should compare percent recalls for Toyota v. GM v. Ford over the past 20 years.

No, the first article was by Reuters for CNN. Are you saying they have a bias? No, the second was www.consumeraffairs.com which has, historically, favored Japanese brands as most consumer organizations do (for good reasons).

The THIRD article (of five) was by www.thetruthaboutcars.com and it's okay if you feel they have a bias. So do many 'enthusiast' publications like Car & Driver, Road & Track, Autoweek, etc.

The last two articles were by industry analysts in response to Wayne's post about stocks. The last one was a little more bullish on Toyota. Wow. In what appears to be a closed-minded statement, your own arguement supports the articles. It wouldn't be news-worthy if GM or Ford posted recalls. We know their long-term record. Toyota's RECENT trend IS news, only because it is NOT characteristic of their long term (20 year?) record.

Schadenfreude you say? The facts are still the facts.

E

GM Death Watch: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?cat=45

TTAC has, as of this posting (08/29/06), published 88 articles in a series they call "GM Death Watch" by Robert Farago, the founding editor of The Truth About Cars.

This appears to be the epitome of taking pleasure from someone else's misfortune (schadenfreude).

I think toyota has built a reputation and they now count on it, the cars seem to be made cheaper and not as well as the ones in the past. My dad is very Toyota loyal and has owned a Celica, One of thier small trucks, a Camry, a Carolla and a Matrix.

The Carolla he dumped after 2 years because of the problems he was having. Bad tierods, brakes needing replacement after 35,000Km etc. The Matrix at 110,000KM has had the Cat replaced when it became clogged, front wheel bearings a month ago and now the rear wheel bearings are shot. Both the Matrix and Carolla are '00 cars where as the previous cars were all 90's cars and seemed much better. The Camry has 170,000KM runs flawlessly and has had minimal problems in the last 9 years.

Obviously this is a rather small sample size but I think my dad is now contemplating looking beyond the Toyota dealer for the next DD car.

I used to share this same sentiment. I've owned 5 Toyotas built in 1989 or older and I currently own two 2001 models. The 2001 models are not built as "heavy duty" as the older ones. Specifically the 1983 and 1984 Toyota 4wd pickups I owned were the most rugged, over-designed vehicles I have ever seen. It was almost laughable. For instance, the rear axles were larger in diameter than the legendary Ford 9" rear axles...

But...the 2001 DoubleCab I have now (owned since new almost 6 years ago) has been absolutely flawless. Nothing has gone wrong with it. Not a single thing. We bought our 2001 4Runner about 2.5 years ago and it now has 60k+ miles on it and it has been perfectly flawless also. Not even a burned out light bulb on either of them.

So, while Toyota isn't "building them like they used to", the quality does not seem to be suffering. At least from my experience.

Mike