$108

[ericsmith32]

Bought an air filter, cabin filter, spark plugs and gallon jug of Maxlife for my mom's Vibe (Toyota built). Good grief I could of did 2 air filters for the Festiva or the Escape, 2 of the cabin filters for the Escape and every other vehicle in the family spark plug wise. This is why I hate Toyota. They maybe reliable but does the parts really need to cost that much? On top of that a few plastic pieces broke.. I swear it's like working on the wife's old Corolla all over again.

[m715]

Think that's bad? The Corolla was bought in September so I could quit trying to keep up with Rasta's problems.....
700.00 for snow tires/rims, 60.00 in misc emblems, 25.00 leather shift knob, 150.00 TRD springs,160.00 TRD strut & rear bars, 250.00 Pioneer 5.8" DVD player/cd,210.00 Injen CAI, 330.00 Borla exhaust.....all installed by...........well, you know who......, and yes, I have likely forgotten a couple of things.
........But Wait!!!!!! Toyota Care means free maintanance for 2 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bravekozak]

Any car is a money pit.
I saw a guy driving an old Rambler Ambassador wagon on the highway today.

[m715]

Ain't it the truth!

[Rocketman]

Any car is a money pit.

Wisdom.

[ericsmith32]

Any car is a money pit.
I saw a guy driving an old Rambler Ambassador wagon on the highway today.

You could say that but some are alot worse than others. It would be interesting to see just how much that guy has in the Rambler. I bet it's alot cheaper than a new car! It was actually $112.40 all figured up.

[m715]

You can believe a PCM, TCM, SCM, SRS module etc is astronomical! I thought to myself as I cleaned up the stainless muffler section off the Corolla before I put it away..... I would hate to have to buy one of these through the Dealer!
It's come a long way from mid 60's full size GM's for me, but then again, a '66 Impala like I had in New Mexico now would probably go for $20,000. today too!
Hard to believe....

Michael

[Aspire]

Toyota/Japanese parts are usually expensive because they last longer & are built better.

In 3rd world countries, you always see Toyotas (Mercedes, Land Rovers, etc.), you never see a Dodge, Chevy or Ford (unless it's built by their foreign plants, which then it's already not really the same). The fact is that the extra cost on an occasional part pays for itself when you have a reliable, quality built vehicle.

I've owned Chevy V8's & it was nice to pay $1.69 for a spark plug....but it adds up after you have to replace a few sets of plugs on the Chevy by the time you replace your first set on the Toyota at 100k. Just saying.

[ejp2fast]

don't get me started... i have to buy some parts today for my sister in laws Benz SLK320 tonight which I am working on... of course i'll forward the bill to her, but still...

[m715]

I understand where you are coming from, and there *were* instances that was true of US models.... but..... as an example we had a Gen 2 93 Taurus that everyone I ever talked to would tell me was "nothing but trouble" "Bad Transmissions" "What a POS" Etc. The car went 110,000 + relatively trouble free miles with the worst things happening a couple of things like I replaced the brake bias valve(strange set up) and rear cylinders, and it had a cold solder joint in the wiring harness that was a PITA to find because it was an intermittant open when the car was new. The difference between ours, and the others? Maintanance, and quality of parts. The car is still on the road today, as I sold it to a friend who DESPERATELY needed a car. It has started downhill now, I can tell. The difference? I don't maintain it anymore. This car has never even had the R12 topped off and has well north of 135,000 on it last I looked.
The rumors are that Asian cars last forever and are better built. The ones that REALLY last are maintained like the manufacturer specifies. Some of their componants are better quality, but there isn't really that much difference in most. Look at the Corollas around 2007-8. They have PCM's that are failing like crazy right now, and the people over on Toyota Nation are screaming for Toyota to issue a recall on those 500.00 + computers. How about the old Previa vans that were all wheel drive, and as a result had no spare tires, but run flat tires with TPS to "safely back it up" People were having blowouts by the time the TPS showed a problem, then were faced with replacing ALL FOUR tires because of the all wheel drive requiring 4 matched tires at over 1000.00. That is an expensive flat tire! On and on.
As far as Europeon makes, if you performed all the maintanance they call for, you would be broke within the first year of ownership ( or at least I would) trying to keep up with their checklist. Sure they can be million mile cars..... all you have to do is all that maintanance. So would your Ford or Chrysler product if you did that! (except if you have a 2.7 Litre, that is).
Sorry if it seems like a rant, but let me close with this thought.... My sister in laws 09 Camry just had the water pump replaced...... it has 19,000 miles on it. Only reason I didn't do it? Still in warranty. Hope they torqued it correctly..... spec is in inch lbs for two of the fastners.

Michael