As others have mentioned in other threads, you look at this site and you think that you are about to buy/already own some vehicle with crazy repairs - I don't actually think this is the case.
Some of the maintenance items (eg PHH) are suggested by list members at 100K miles (~160,000KM) for example. For me, that represents 8 years of driving. Similarly, nothing wrong with a birfield repack every 5 - 6 years. For some owners (ie the original owners of the trucks), they never had to worry about these repairs/maintenance items.
There is no doubt that the up front ('capital') costs of buying Toyota OEM are expensive - but - IMHO, often well worth the $. For example, the muffler is ungodly expensive, but mine has now lasted 8+ years in the salt and snow of Ontario. I have replaced my muffler on my Jetta 3 times over the same period. Great lifetime value (e.g., the same reason CHP uses BMW Bikes - expensive up front, but great in the long term). The fact that C-Dan is generous enough to offer steep discounts for OEM parts is a complete bonus - often making the difference in $ for parts vs non-OEM marginal at best.
The point that we also need to stress, is consider the maintenance and repair bills of running a Ford, GM, Dodge, etc SUV for the same milage (it gives me a heart burn just thinking about it) or, God help you, a Disco..... You can buy brand new GMs, Discos, etc and have no repair bills (that you have to pay), but you also get to pay the price of a new SUV...
Cheers, Hugh
Some of the maintenance items (eg PHH) are suggested by list members at 100K miles (~160,000KM) for example. For me, that represents 8 years of driving. Similarly, nothing wrong with a birfield repack every 5 - 6 years. For some owners (ie the original owners of the trucks), they never had to worry about these repairs/maintenance items.
There is no doubt that the up front ('capital') costs of buying Toyota OEM are expensive - but - IMHO, often well worth the $. For example, the muffler is ungodly expensive, but mine has now lasted 8+ years in the salt and snow of Ontario. I have replaced my muffler on my Jetta 3 times over the same period. Great lifetime value (e.g., the same reason CHP uses BMW Bikes - expensive up front, but great in the long term). The fact that C-Dan is generous enough to offer steep discounts for OEM parts is a complete bonus - often making the difference in $ for parts vs non-OEM marginal at best.
The point that we also need to stress, is consider the maintenance and repair bills of running a Ford, GM, Dodge, etc SUV for the same milage (it gives me a heart burn just thinking about it) or, God help you, a Disco..... You can buy brand new GMs, Discos, etc and have no repair bills (that you have to pay), but you also get to pay the price of a new SUV...
Cheers, Hugh
