LC rated most reliable large SUV (1 Viewer)

[Arleaux]

That's why I put the smiley face in there, `cause sometime I write funny things...

BTW, I also contend that the iMacs and Power Macs that Apple built in Elk Grove, CA are also crap...

Damn, I forgot mine.

 

[dclee]

Huh? Timberland makes baseball gloves now? Sacrilege!

 

[dclee]

On a separate but related note, I almost had my parents convinced they needed a new Highlander hybrid (Mom felt the GX470 was too tall to get into), but what do they do? They pull some Mercedes ML350 crap on me! They were replacing a `98 ML, which I told them back in 1998 was a bad idea, but here they are again buying a first year ML. I can't wait to see what breaks on this one, though I gotta say Daimler-Chrysler has dramatically improved the quality of construction and materials in the new ML. Still looks like a minivan, though...

 

[a990dna]

So far so good with the first 320 miles on my LC. The only problem I've encountered is having two controlling females in the front seat, and at the same time telling me where to go and how to get there---my girlfriend and the navigation system.

I sense a cat fight coming soon.

Anyway, it's nice to know I made the right decision with my purchase.

Thanks for the info...

 

[rule303]

I continually see Toyotas ranked near the top in "consumer" ratings. And they probably deserve to be. But they are not without their problems and many who knock American brands haven't driven one lately. Toyotas cost more when comparing vehicles feature to feature, so they should be better. And the quality gap has shrunk to an almost insignificant amount in some models. I quit relying on consumer ratings like JD Power and Consumer Reports when I realized they penalize a vehicle just as much for a non-working power door lock as they would a blown head gasket. I consider a reliable vechicle something that gets me where I'm going. They all usually do that pretty well. The other differences are usually minor.
I've had better luck with domestics than with foreign cars personally. Just the luck of the draw probably. And I've owned them all. Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, Dodge, Porsche, VW. The Toyota was the worst of all. Just my luck. The VW and Porsche weren't great either. The best reliability I've had was with Ford, Chevy and Nissan. And I didn't have to pay a big premium for those over other makes like you do with Toyota/Lexus.
I still say Toyotas are good vehicles, but a lot of their reputation is pure hype, and folks fall for it every day. Who remembers the 4Runner's head gasket problem or the Camry and Sienna oil sludge issues? Those are serious premature failures. And Toyota wouldn't stand behind their vehicles for a long time with those issues. They also have the worst dealer network on earth. But you don't see people flaunting those horrible ratings they get for customer service. They're consistently ranked near the bottom in Dealer satisfaction.
The Land Cruiser is a hell of a machine. It does it all and does it well. But most of you didnt' fork out $55,000 plus for it brand new. I'm guessing if you did and had some of the well know problems with these vehicles( starter contacts, cat converter rattle, exhaust manifolds, warped brakes, premature tranny failure in 2000 models) you'd be singing a different tune.

 

[98LXand99LC]

I agree, the Armada is really cheap inside. I did not have enough interest to dig any deeper than sitting in one.

A friend of mine has an Armada, the thing is huge. I like it, the only complaint I would have is the ride is pretty harsh. Other than that I think they're nice. That being said, I wouldn't trade him for my 7/8 year old crusers.

 

[firetruck41]

I continually see Toyotas ranked near the top in "consumer" ratings. And they probably deserve to be. But they are not without their problems and many who knock American brands haven't driven one lately. Toyotas cost more when comparing vehicles feature to feature, so they should be better. And the quality gap has shrunk to an almost insignificant amount in some models. I quit relying on consumer ratings like JD Power and Consumer Reports when I realized they penalize a vehicle just as much for a non-working power door lock as they would a blown head gasket. I consider a reliable vechicle something that gets me where I'm going. They all usually do that pretty well. The other differences are usually minor.
I've had better luck with domestics than with foreign cars personally. Just the luck of the draw probably. And I've owned them all. Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, Dodge, Porsche, VW. The Toyota was the worst of all. Just my luck. The VW and Porsche weren't great either. The best reliability I've had was with Ford, Chevy and Nissan. And I didn't have to pay a big premium for those over other makes like you do with Toyota/Lexus.
I still say Toyotas are good vehicles, but a lot of their reputation is pure hype, and folks fall for it every day. Who remembers the 4Runner's head gasket problem or the Camry and Sienna oil sludge issues? Those are serious premature failures. And Toyota wouldn't stand behind their vehicles for a long time with those issues. They also have the worst dealer network on earth. But you don't see people flaunting those horrible ratings they get for customer service. They're consistently ranked near the bottom in Dealer satisfaction.
The Land Cruiser is a hell of a machine. It does it all and does it well. But most of you didnt' fork out $55,000 plus for it brand new. I'm guessing if you did and had some of the well know problems with these vehicles( starter contacts, cat converter rattle, exhaust manifolds, warped brakes, premature tranny failure in 2000 models) you'd be singing a different tune.

New car to new car the domestics may be getting closer, I would still place a big bet on Toyota over a domestic at 150k miles...
To me all the "little things" that you don't care about, are very important. I don't care about just "getting there". Rattling trim and power locks that don't work would be very frustrating to me, even if I could still "get there". My 93 LC w/200k was amazing and all it needed was routine maintenance.

 

[a990dna]

If you're that disatisfied, maybe its time to get rid of your LC... and buy a Ford that burns to the ground, or a GM that has ABS problems, or a Chrysler that needs a new transmission every 20K miles, the list goes on.

I myself have owned most the brands mentioned above and they all seemed to have problems, some more chronic than others...

Misleading or not, I'd rather own a vehicle documented on the "best" side, rather than the "worst" side... you can off-load it easier with a higher resale value.

There's always a bright side to your problem.

 

[macneill]

I continually see Toyotas ranked near the top in "consumer" ratings. And they probably deserve to be. But they are not without their problems and many who knock American brands haven't driven one lately. Toyotas cost more when comparing vehicles feature to feature, so they should be better. And the quality gap has shrunk to an almost insignificant amount in some models. I quit relying on consumer ratings like JD Power and Consumer Reports when I realized they penalize a vehicle just as much for a non-working power door lock as they would a blown head gasket. I consider a reliable vechicle something that gets me where I'm going. They all usually do that pretty well. The other differences are usually minor.
I've had better luck with domestics than with foreign cars personally. Just the luck of the draw probably. And I've owned them all. Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, Dodge, Porsche, VW. The Toyota was the worst of all. Just my luck. The VW and Porsche weren't great either. The best reliability I've had was with Ford, Chevy and Nissan. And I didn't have to pay a big premium for those over other makes like you do with Toyota/Lexus.
I still say Toyotas are good vehicles, but a lot of their reputation is pure hype, and folks fall for it every day. Who remembers the 4Runner's head gasket problem or the Camry and Sienna oil sludge issues? Those are serious premature failures. And Toyota wouldn't stand behind their vehicles for a long time with those issues. They also have the worst dealer network on earth. But you don't see people flaunting those horrible ratings they get for customer service. They're consistently ranked near the bottom in Dealer satisfaction.
The Land Cruiser is a hell of a machine. It does it all and does it well. But most of you didnt' fork out $55,000 plus for it brand new. I'm guessing if you did and had some of the well know problems with these vehicles( starter contacts, cat converter rattle, exhaust manifolds, warped brakes, premature tranny failure in 2000 models) you'd be singing a different tune.

Hype? What chu talkin' about Willis?

 

[tabraha]

Yes domestics have narrowed the gap, but by what means? Well for starters they subcontract design to the foreign companies to start with. Then they collaborate on the building of them as well. All of the most reliable Geo's were foreign cars. The cream of the crop Taurus SHO's were yamaha powered back in the day, the new compact chevy trucks have been isuzu collaborations for the last 2 generations and the ford ranger has been a collaboration with mazda for close to a decade now. The trailblazer/envoy is yet another vehicle with isuzu braintrust help. The first cadillac stab at sport sedan's (in recent history at least) was the catera which was even a lousy car for Opel standards.

I think the Ford Ranger is the best example of an American vehicle being able to compete succesfully with the foreign maker's specialty of efficient, reliable, medium size vehicles. But is it competitive because of Ford or rather Mazda? Either way it sure helps Ford's showing in reliability studies as does the S-10 ( now Colorado) for Chevy; but that doesn't mean they've closed the gap to me when another manufacturer has done a fair bit of the legwork. To me closing the gap is what the new C6 Z06 is doing, it is truly something Chevy has brought a long way to be a real player in the foreign performance car's specialty.

 

[SINCITY100]

Now that there is a little Toyota bashing going on, I must add my own observations from being a long-time employee in the automotive industry ... Yes, there is no question that Toyota needs a lot of improvement in the " Dealership satisfaction" department...There are times when I wonder why the manufacturer, sales dept, service dept, or any other person representing Toyota can fail to take care of a customers needs..but the fact remains that the FREQUENCY of a customer actually having to be subjected to poor or unsatifactory service is very, very low.

Just look at the number of vehicles (in an average dealerships`) service bays, and why they are there...just try calling a Chevy, Dodge, or Ford parts dept. and NOT be put on hold..Why do they stock 10 or more of (virtually) every part on any given model ?.. I see it every day..The vast majority of Toyotas in for service are normally for ROUTINE MAINTENANCE !

A much larger number of domestic, and for that matter other mfgrs` products are in their service dept for a major repair, or for a ridiculous (but common) failure.

Thats the nice thing about Toyotas....Generally, you dont have to worry about the "poor service" at the dealer...because your car (or truck) is rarely in there to begin with.

You have to give credit where credit is due...These " reliability ratings " are not based on opinion, they are largely from the experience of the actual owners of these vehicles !!

Just my .02 worth

 

[rzpapp]

SUV is just a cool word for station wagon... at one time... I think it was in the 50's the Chevy suburban was marketed as a station wagon. But now SUV is cool.... lets face it we are all just driving lifted 4x4 station wagon with big tires.

 

[SWUtah]

I think all of the newer vehicles are "good" but I am convinced that Toyota over the last 10 years is the very best. I have owned a lot of vehicles but mostly foreign, Porshes, Acura NSX, Z's, 4runners, Toyota trucks, LC's. I have owned a couple of Dodge CTD trucks in the last 7 years and the Cummins engine the problem was the truck they were attached too, poor engineering. I will stick with Toyota first, then the other Japan models next.

 

[NMuzj100]

Not everything Mr. T puts out is perfect. My V6 Camry is just so-so and has had it's share of problems. My 100 has had no issues so far.

Anyone know if Camry's can suffer from starter contact problems?

 

[ace10]

our LX has had more than it's fair share of problems. frankly i've been shocked at the number of items that have failed on our rig and as we approach 50K, i am scrambling to secure an extended factory warranty.

it's never left us stranded due to a mechanical problem, but every time it's in for service, there is at least one warranty issue, if not two or three.

$0.02

 

[schaff70]

SUV is just a cool word for station wagon...

Here's a wagon for you, built for the SEMA show & fully operational. Not much wheel travel due to the 20" tires, but a cool design. I'm a big wagon fan, having owned several Volvo wagons including my daily driver with 275,000 miles on it.

Personally I hate the term SUV. I refer to almost all of them as trucks if they're built on a frame.

Getting back on track, we did a lot of research before buying our Land Cruiser & reliability and longevity were the deciding factors. We had a hard time finding anything bad about them from previous owners.

 

[rule303]

Like I said, I still think Toyota is better than most domestics. Only the gap is not as large any more.
And some Toyota owners are much more willing to overlook glaring deficiencies in their vehicles. Its like proud parents who think their little brats can do no wrong.
My only reason for responding to this post about consumer rankings was to let someone know who might be considering buying a used LC, that they are not completely bulletproof and that if you justify spending a lot more for a LC just because of the reliability ratings, you may be very dissapointed.
Quite a number of folks on this forum have listed starter issues, failed throttle sensors, exhaust manifold cracks, etc. Some of which can leave you stranded in the boonies, and all of which generally cost much more to fix than on a domestic. Those who won't even consider domestic brands are living in the past and oversimplifying a complex issue.
The Nissan Titan was the worst rated Pickup, so you diehard Jap lovers can go kill yourselves now.

 

[rule303]

I stand by my assertion that Consumer reports ratings are goofy. Read the criteria they use for rating cars sometime. They rate the number of failures, not the severity. Frankly I weigh a transmissiion much higher than a radio for example. Your best bet for getting the real scoop on a vehicle is to read carreview.com or another site listing actual owners stories. I've always had good results with reasearching cars that way, and you can actually find out what fails and when.
Sure you will hear more bad stories about domestic vehicles. But there are a lot more of them out there too, and many forget that. They still outsell Japan in trucks by a long shot. So of course you'll hear more bad stuff about them. I think the market had done a perfect job of setting a price for Toyotas. They cost a little more, and they are a little better. Its that simple.

 

[macneill]

So you diehard Jap lovers can go kill yourselves now.

So would that make you a "Jap" hater?

 

[FirstToy]

The Nissan Titan was the worst rated Pickup, so you diehard Jap lovers can go kill yourselves now.

Titan is made in the USA, designed in the USA...