Reliability

[ftpiercecracker1]

Parents have an 00 tundra (4.7 v8) with 330k extremely hard/neglected miles on it. Called me today trying to figure out a noise coming from the engine bay. Turned out to be the idler pulley. . . . . . . . . . . did I mention its the factory original idler pulley? 

 

After 330k miles it's the first thing to finally give out in the serpentine system. Dare I say I think the friggin belt is original too. 

 

I love my jeeps, but d**n if toyotas aren't well made.

 

 

 

 

[AeroNautical]

It's a luck of the draw often times, too. My buddy has an 08 Tacoma 4.0 v6 with 130,000 very well looked after miles with a rod about to throw. Shortly after replacing faulty factory driveshaft U-joints. I like my Japanese cars, some of the best made in the modern world, but I think he just got unlucky. 

[ptjideri]

I had an 05 rundra.  Drivetrain was great, body great. Frame rotted with only 68k on it.

[DirtyComanche]

Lots of XJs in the boneyard with factory starters, alternators, idlers, etc with that many miles.

 

Toyota reliability never impressed me, honestly.  If you're not changing the engine, you're changing the frame.

[13 Legion]

I think it’s literally the luck of the draw with makes and models. I will say this though. When I was growing up looking at cars if someone said it’s got a 100,000 miles on it, I wouldn’t even bother looking at it....Now? It only has 100,000 miles? It’s just a baby!

[mjeff87]

^^^how true

 

The "hallmark" of cars when I was coming up was the 100K mark.  It was a real achievement to make it there, especially living in southwest PA in the snow and rust belt LOL.

 

Every vehicle I've ever bought has been used, and I usually run them to about 200K before trading them in now.

 

 

[schardein]

I've owned three used Toyotas, and they gave me a fair amount of problems.  Granted, the first was pretty modified, but the next two were stock, and gave me the most trouble.  So much so, that I swore I'd never buy another.

 

I'm talking used, I think that a used car's reliability has a lot to do with not only original build quality, which could vary by day of the week, but also how it was driven, and especially how it was maintained.  I think the last two I bought were on the 3rd or 4th owner, where they were pretty neglected and had problems caused by the last owner doing their own version of "repairs".

 

Maybe Toyotas reputation for reliability is justified, and first owners benefit from that.  My experience is a used buyer does not.

[Keyav8r]

I have to agree that Toyotas in general are reliable vehicles.  The original small Toyota pickups were extremely hard to kill and their current  models seem to hold up very well mechanically.

That being said, I’ve had good success with some American iron.  My ‘01 Sierra had 330K on the odometer, with no engine or transmission work, when It was rear-ended and totaled (should have bought that one back from the insurance company).  The replacement, an ‘06 Silverado had 100K when I bought it and around 230K when I traded it in on the ‘14 Ram. Again, no engine or transmission problems, just routine maintenance, regular oil changes and 100K mile tuneups.  I hope the Ram goes that long.

Maybe mine were flukes.  I’m not easy on vehicles, but I don’t abuse them.  I believe the key to long vehicle life is regular maintenance.  It’s worked for me when I’ve done it and bitten me in the butt when I didn’t.

[gogmorgo]

Pretty sure the idler on my ZJ will last the life of the vehicle...

With factory a/c delete the belt touches it just enough to keep the pulley clean, but it puts so little pressure on it that I can easily and comfortably slide my fingers between the belt and pulley, without it even coming close to pinching or squeezing. It it almost makes me think it's only there cause it came with the a/c/alt bracket on the assembly line. 

 

Reliability really does seem to largely be down to maintenance. Regular fluid checks, replacement, etc. The thing about Toyota reliability is that while yes there's a reputation, there are two sorts of people buying them. Type A is the owner who wants their car to retain as much value as possible. They may not be doing strict by-the-book every single item maintenance, but they are having them looked after. Type B is the people who don't want to worry about maintaining a car, so they buy a Toyota on their reputation and then expect it to last on near-zero maintenance. Almost all the "they didn't change the oil in 80,000 miles and wonder why it won't start" posts on r/justrolledintotheshop seem to be Toyotas, or other "reliable" makes.

 

On the other end of the scale, Ladas weren't the best assembled, but they were simple and built out of reasonably solid materials. In Canada, they were dirt cheap, so they were mostly bought by people who didn't want to spend money on a car, and those sorts of people also don't maintain them. They built themselves a reputation for being terrible cars. In contrast, a friend of mine is Bulgarian, and her grandparents put 450,000km, 280,000 miles, on their Lada before passing it down to her brother because it's still a functioning car. In Bulgaria, Ladas were the good cars, and so people looked after them. Here in Canada, it's rare to see one with more than 100,000km/60,000miles because no one cared enough to look after them. 

[ftpiercecracker1]

Every brand has its lemons, but on the whole Toyota vehicles have proven themselves, at least with my family, time and time again.

 

Actually we did have a first gen Tacoma that had trans issues, but I was quite young and don't remember much about it. But other than that every Toyota we have owned or a family member has owned has been a cherry in term of reliability.

 

There was one incident where an uncle of mine took a Toyota car, don't know the model, and the engine blew up in fantastic fashion during the test drive. Quite hilarious.  As I said, lemons exist in all maks.

 

It's curious some of you mention frame rot. My parents Tundra (330k) and my Tundra (216k) don't have so much as a speck of rust on the frame. And my parents live in Middle TN, slush country.

 

On the topic of maintenance, my parents are famous for vehicle neglect and abuse. Trans oil has never been changed.

 

Along with the tundra they also own two Toyota tercel wagons (85 & 86). Each one has about 250k on the clock, both are daily drivers. 5spd manuals, manual 4x4 too.

 

I should probably stop talking so highly of Toyotas on, of all things, a jeep forum, probably bad juju.