you forget that in Europe and other places people don't buy many Toyota, they're not often seen. Often is a VW if they want best reliable transport.
mopeds,
Aug 3, 4:37am
Toyota are in decline, have been for a decade, their cars used to be great, over engineered, solid, but they've been trading on that heritage for a long time.
thejazzpianoma,
Aug 3, 4:42am
Wish I had kept a copy of the article, it stuck in my mind as it was such an enormous figure. This was the total budget for the entire new range that came out around the time of the MK5 Golf. So all the FSI technology from scratch, the DSG transmission from scratch, all new electronics, platforms, physical car platforms, body styling, new tech diesels, etc etc. Not to mention a massive amount of testing.That range took them from nice examples of mainstream tech to blowing everyone else out of the water and introducing a heap of new tech to the mainstream.
If anyone spots the article in their travels, please post a link. It was a very interesting read. I think this might have been the one that talked about Hyundai and how they used the Golf as their benchmark for design as well. not entirely sure though, I read it some years ago.
Incidentally, I seem to remember doing the NZD conversion myself with the exchange rate of the day. This was the late 90's so 1NZD may have only bought 45c us. I would have looked it up properly though.
Exactly. In spite of all their advertising spiel, the overall reliability of VW's is quite abysmal.
321mat,
Aug 4, 7:59pm
And, many of the dealers are very uncooperative when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to fix problems, even under warranty.
berg,
Aug 4, 10:01pm
And after 5 pretty much trouble free Suzuki cars (1 set of leads and 1 exhaust manifold over about 400,000kms of Suzuki car ownership) and another heap of Suzuki bikes all trouble free I will continue with buying Suzuki. Woth any luck Jizz will scare more people away from them and they will become even cheaper.
marmar1,
Aug 5, 12:09am
After having two Subarus in 16 years with minimal problems (both turbos) I will be getting my next turbo legacy sometime soon.
kazbanz,
Aug 5, 1:41am
THIS year and I think next year Toyota are going to be down on total numbers. As will every manufacturer supplying into the Jap domestic market. The change in tax laws specific to cars has really kicked the jap consumers.
rob_rooster,
Aug 6, 6:17pm
I never thought I would ever say this but my most reliable car was a 1996 Subaru WRX wagon import. Stock standard, drove the pants off it for three years and never gave me any trouble, don't know why but I traded it on a 2005 Nissan Maxima which was also reliable but so boring I sold it after 6 months.
mrcat1,
Aug 6, 7:20pm
Just because Toyota or VW are number one in sales doesn't mean they are any good, just means more people got sucked into their advertising propergander. The fact that they are underpowered like the hilux or don't have a good reputation for reliability and parts and servicing are expensive like the VW doesn't seem to come into it when people are trying to keep up with the neighbours.
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