Toyota not as good as they were?

I have owned a Toyota of some sort for the last 40 years, several 4x4's pickups in in the 80 and 90's (That great little 22R engine was bullet proof!)
Corollas, RAV's, 4 runners etc. drove them til the bodies became unsafe

I only own 3 vehicles now:
2002 RAV4.............. 122,00 mi
2008 Tundra..............80,000 mi
2016 Corolla..............9,000 mi

Rav doin great because they are provin
Tundra I see seems to have alot problems on this site
My Corolla is about as cheesy made as they come, hope I never hit head on
I m starting to think about weaning off this brand.............at least the new stuff
The way Toyota located the alternator on the Tundra!!!!!!
The cost to replace it! something that use to take 30 minutes
Don't seem to be dependable any more ...............as I once felt years ago
your thoughts?

 

If you think this site shows a lot of problems - go check out an F150, GM, or Ram forum website. Most of our posts are introductions or modifications, the other brands it's rattles, broken parts, shop time, and some modifications.
And why should an alternator be easy to replace? It shouldn't be replaced in the first place (until years later at least)
And as for a cheap car having a cheap feel - go drive any other competing car, either they are cheaply made as well or are not as dependable as the others. If you are concerned about an accident go watch the crash test of multiple competing vehicles.

 

lots of problems???? Where? I've seen a few issues but NOTHING like the big 3. Most of the talk on here is mods done, places to go, intros, meet ups, etc. Think the biggest issue I've seen is the cam tower leaks other than that.... small issues easily fixed.

 

So, a 2008 Tundra’s alternator lasted basically 10 years or more, depending on if you bought the truck in 2007 and you are complaining?

 

Forums are the first place folks go to complain, if your looking for a place to see all the great luck folks have had good luck with that.

 

My alternator is 11 years old and still going strong. When goes...I'll replace it myself. Same with water pump. The starter? Still contemplating that...

 

My 2008 only thing replaced has been one water pump that was starting to seep the other was belt tensioner truck has 125k miles

 

I have had Toyotas going back to a '77 Celica. Never had any real issues unless you call my '94 80 series "defective" head gasket failing at 17X,XXXk. 3k of while you are in there that could have gotten away with just doing the 400.00 head gasket and at 297k it's running strong.

We also have a 127k 2007 Camry hybrid, (hybrid battery failed 3k & 6 months out of warrenty and Toyota good willed it) 177k 2010 5.7 CrewMax, 2017 Camry & 2015 Prius none with issues so I don't know.

I forgot my 2000 Tundra longbed V6 5speed that went 240k with no issues before being totaled by a drunk driver.

 

LOL, so you're having issues with people asking for help with their vehicle after 10 years of ownership? So my thought is....your an idiot(busting your balls here). To be quite frank, shit breaks down over time. When I bought my vehicle, I never saw anything about a lifetime warranty for all parts on this thing. That being said, my Tundra (and previous Tundras) rock. You know what they say about don't sell anything to family? Well, I sold my last truck to my mom because the the thing had not given me issues. But, stuff does break, thus the reason why Toyota dealerships have repair shops. Wait, is that Tesla's repair model?

 

This is foolish nonsense.
My brother had a 1200cc and my first Harley was bigger. My first Toyota truck had the 1600.
If you believe what you said has a fraction of truth, please get rid of your Toyotas and stick with Ford, Chevy or fiat.

 

I noticed my water pump has been sleeping a little for quite some time. I topped off literally a couple ounces of red coolant for the 1st time in the four years I've had my Tunny. I have a replacement in the wing ready for me...

 

Why diss fiat with that group.....heh..heh

 

Is OP just trying to start a discussion......

 

The post made no sense to me.

 

Nope, me either! Other than he feels that they are not as dependable. He ended it asking for thoughts. So he has been obliged.

 

Is just open ended discussion where he is not stating the facts aside from alternator is not at the right place.

 

Huffing catnip can do that..

 

Nor contributing to the discussion

 

I immediately watched a utube video on replacing the alternator and it is stupid difficult, probably a solid hour of work for a good mechanic. About all day for me. It got me thinking though about how complex and different our trucks are compared to what we (at least me) grew up with. I was a wrench turner for years, replaced diodes in alternators, rebuilt diesel injectors, shim ring gears etc, etc.
Now I’m not really comfortable doing a whole lot, so much electrical interconectivity and computer controlled systems. One mistake and you’re fucked.
That’s a big part, I think, of why we’re driving Toyotas. Most reliable vehicles ever made and showing every indication that they will stay on top.

 

He did at that..

 

For what it's worth...the alternator won't be easy, but a piece of cake compared to the stupid, idiotic, moronic starter location. I do have a super high amp alternator in mind. Hope I bookmarked it.

 

Toyota are not as reliable as they once were, are they still the most reliable brand over all today? YES.

Today's cars have more electronics then ever, hence reliability has gone down.

In the early 2000s Toyota management shifted it's focus to gaining the #1 spot in cars sales. This can can seen with new generations of cars released after 2006. They are all decontented vs their previous gen version to maintain msrp and therefore increase sales numbers. Combine this with the mass retirement of their core engineers and engineering teams (they had all been with Toyota 30-40 years) and the focus on lowering manufacturing costs, each team was no longer responsible for one chassis line (X10 line all aspects ) but now focused only on a specific function for all car lines (steering and suspension for all lines, X30, XV40, S190 etc). This was done so the engineering could be outsourced, unfortunately these outsourced engineers were not indoctrinated in the reliability is #1 culture but rather cost savings is #1. I have yet to see Akio Toyoda right the Toyota ship since he became president but do have hope they will return to their roots and let quality govern sales instead of price.

 

No manufacturer is perfect, but Toyota is still on top, in my opinion. I've owned 4 Toyotas:

2004 Tacoma TRD Off Road 5 speed manual
2010 4Runner
2016 Tacoma TRD Sport with the infamous 6 speed auto
2018 Tundra that I have now.

I can say without a doubt that the closest Toyota has had to a misfire was with my 16 Taco, and that truck wasn't "unreliable", I just hated the way it was designed. I had it for 41,000 miles and while I did have it in a couple times for warranty work, it was for bad sensors (technology) for the SRS system. The engine and transmission held the line. The 4Runner was sold after 98,600 miles and I only ever had one issue, which was the steering shaft getting bound up at 78,000 miles, but that was covered under warranty.

 

I will probably always own a Tundra after buying my first one but what the I guess I don't like reliability.