First really adventurous thing Toyota have done is the TRD – slow and steady seems to have been their main motto!

TRD is a good looking vehicle, goes hard and handles well. Handles a hell of a lot better than a V8 without any stability assistant on it at least… Frang a V8 commie or Ford around a corner same speed as the TRD Aurion… just try it…

FWD is providing a bit of torque steer, no denying that. but overall it is not enough to write home about and say its a bucket of puss… The handling side of things is good, cornering is good, take of is good.

A lot of the marketing needs to be better, and maybe a RWD option, but that just puts them squarely inline with the other big Aussie 6’s… What is pretty much every single new car for people these days? (usually I mean, majority wise)… a FWD…. Albeit, a smaller vehicle, maybe astra, getz, corolla, yaris or what have you… but FWD and therefore people becoming more and more used to, and familiar with FWD vehicles.

different driving feel and style is the main thing. Re-thinking your driving style a bit and just as much fun as flogging hell out of a top spec V8 ;)

(I’m coming from 4 commodores…. lol, wanna buy my VY??? )

no seriously great findings

Quality and reliability are 2 qualites of new cars which a 1 week road test cant measure. However they are extremely important considerations for buyers. Who wants to buy a bomb? NOT ME! OR YOU!

Both tend to be judged on the basis of brand reputation, which in itself is simply a long history, spread via word of mouth, media opinion and, in the case of luxury brands, by their own spindoctors. But how accurate are our accepted beliefs about the quality and reliability records of different brands and models and the countries in which they are made? Hmmmm inconclusive!!!!!

We turn to JD Power (American firm which surveys car owners in many countries to see which brands and models have the best quality and reliability records):

The 2004 Initial Quality Study (IQS) asked owners to report problems experienced in the first 90 days, and the 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), looked at problems that arise in the first 3 years of ownership.

Results for the 2005 JD Powers IQS and VDS surveys (conducted in USA) again saw Lexus top the rankings in both. Lexus has dominated the surveys for many years; in the case of the VDS, it has notched up 11 consecutive wins.

The IQS/VDS surveys measure problems per 100 (pp100) in new cars across 36 brands.

The Lexus SC430 convertible was the best performing individual car in the 2005 IQS, averaging 54 pp100.

The industry is certainly producing better quality cars over all, with the average IQS rate falling from 176 pp100 in 1998 to 118 pp100 in 2005.

Lexus, Jaguar, BMW, Buick, Cadillac and Mercedes Benz filled the first five places; Hyundai, Honda and Toyota are also better than average.

PAUL EVEN SAID THAT ALL JAPS ARE UP THERE. HA HA HA! Suzuki took last place, behind Mazda, Land Rover, Volkswagen, Porsche and Volvo. Surprised to find a few of these at the bottom end of the charts? I was! This is changing to be up to speed with 2007 but it is not clear cut as you Jap lovers spout forth declaring to all and sundry with much hoopla and noise!

In the case of Porsche, its result is due to problems with the Cayenne 4WD. The fact that the Cayenne is built on the same platform as VW’s Touareg is obvious from VW’s ordinary result also, although VW is a below average performer in both surveys, belying its reputation for building high quality, reliable cars.

The Cayenne’s influence on Porsche’s poor IQS result is confirmed by the brand’s reversal of fortune in the 2005 VDS survey, where it took second place, behind Lexus.

The VDS looks at problems in three year old cars – the Cayenne is not yet 3 years old. Real Porsches – the Boxster and 911 – give their owners little grief.

Also recording fewer faults than the 237 pp100 average are Toyota, Honda, BMW, Ford and Chrysler. THAT IS CLOSE PAUL AND NOT LONG AGO! YOU AND YOUR BULLETPROOF??? LOL

JD Power’s analysts singled out Hyundai’s improved performance for comment. Though still suffering more problems than the VDS average, it recorded a 31 per cent improvement on its 2004 result. Newer Hyundais show that the rate of quality improvement is accelerating, as evidenced by the company’s better than average result (110 pp100) in the 2005 IQS.

Last place in the 2005 VDS survey went to Kia, in a contest with Land Rover, then Mini, Volkswagen, Isuzu, Daewoo, Audi, Suzuki, Jeep, Saab and Mercedes-Benz.

So the next time a salesperson, or a know-it-all perhaps tells you that German cars are the highest quality or Jap cars are right at the top for most reliable vehicles in the world, ask to see the evidence.

Because when it comes to quality and reliability, the reality does not always match the reputation.

you know where you called me a liar because you were in denial of what you said!!!!!!

holy shit klink you can string up a good argument with out filling every second sentence with insults

Klink is right, Klink (or myself) has never said ford reliability is better than toyota. we are just defending your claims that “toyotas are bullet proof” and “fords are piss poor”.
that is 2 examples of overrated comments.
the difference is not light years as you guys like to suggest.

Blinky (or is it Dingo or Hilko??) mate who gives a toss if the manufacturer you buy cars from are regarded as a wealthy company?? who the hell buys cars based on their profit figure for the last quarter in zimbabwe??
i mean do you buy cars from them or go into dealerships to buy shares??

im not denying it and i have said it before the only thing that ford (and holden to a lesser extent) would mirror from toyota (and they are doing it) is adopt similar global strategies.

Klink raises a good point and i have raised it before too (but surprise surprise you guys dont want to hear about promising things from ford).
the point was that toyota is at the top with not much more share they can take, but on the other hand ford offers a lot less (in terms of range) and when they do get all their strategies in place (larger range, global unification etc) then id say they will move on up quite a bit. it seems ford have their head screwed on real tight at the moment so id reckon in 5 or so years they will be a pretty schmick company in the way they operate