TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Disposable Toyotas

ADVERTISEMENT

Colin McClellan

Published: January 8, 2008

In the business section of a recent paper, it stated that Toyota might overtake Ford as number two auto seller.

Is the auto public crazy or just plain stupid? I own four older Fords, all in excellent condition, with very few repairs and low maintenance; they just keep running.

I owned a Toyota lemon once, a 1984 disaster, which was 6 years old at the time, and the starters kept jamming and burning out. Mechanics diagnosed an engine flywheel problem requiring a new engine. Thus I gave this useless car away.

The new owner, a part-time mechanic, determined that the key switch kept sending the wrong signal to the starter, so that it remained engaged with the engine running, and so burned out after a few seconds. This is a design problem that Ford, GM and Chrysler overcame in the 1950s, which I never suspected, as I didn't know that Toyota was 30 years behind U.S. car companies in technology. Toyota refused to compensate me for their incompetence, on the grounds that cars would be replaced every five or six years. My 1990 Mustang, 95 Gran M and 96 Crown Vic are excellent.

Is Toyota still 30 years behind U.S. cars in technology? Have you seen many 7- or 8-year-old Toyotas still running on roads? Why would anyone purchase a "throw-away" car, good only for six years, when they can buy, for the same money, a U.S. car good for 30 years? My 1979 Lincoln Mark 5 runs perfectly. Cars are too expensive to waste money on disposable Toyotas, when well-designed Fords, GMs and Chryslers are available. Cars should last 20 to 30 years without major repairs, and not just junked after only six years.

Colin McClellan
Lake Placid

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT