siegen

"Hello Mr. Smith, this is John with BMW customer care, it looks like you need an oil change. When would you like to schedule your appointment with your local dealership?" Mr. Smith: "Actually I just got my oil changed at Jiffy Lube." John: "Well I'm sorry sir but your warranty is now void. It looks like your engine will also have to be replaced because of a bad o2 sensor, and your tires need to be replaced, along with your rear windshield. When would you like to come in?" :lol:

I like the look of the Ridgeline, as long as it has the Hood Rack, Running Boards, and extra front grille lower guard thing =) It is a great utility truck. It handles great too, much better than any truck on the road today. It's just too bad not enough people are willing to give it a chance.

I personally do not like Toyota at all and I do not believe their reliable either, at least in their newer models. I think you mis-understood my post, the only JDM manufacturer I believe lives up to their reputation is Honda, and most people have their own personal grudges with them anyhow.

Let's not bring up personal cases. Everybody is going to have different experiences and there will be USDM cars that last a lot longer than 100k miles, and JDM cars that are troublesome (that is a Toyota though, don't know about them... <_< ). I could bring up my experience with cars and everybody else could and we wouldn't get anywhere. Timing chains are a good thing, a lot of new Honda's (maybe all of them I don't know) come with timing chains. 60k miles is pretty low for a timing belt replace, most Honda's since the mid '90's are on a 105k schedule for timing belt replacement, with the ones before that being 90k I believe. Not a huge deal since most will last well over 100k miles for non-aggressive drivers. Either way, I suppose that is an advantage, although I don't know of any disadvatages to using timing chains (noise?) since I haven't researched them. Show me a maintenance schedule on a new GM that shows nothing but oil/filter changes for the first 100k miles.

So far Detroit has yet to prove itself, and in a lot more models than just the Cavalier and Windstar. Don't get me wrong, I want to see Ford, GM (well maybe not Chevy), and Dodge really become competative with the Japanese, otherwise they might start charging too much money <_< Although that 500 timing belt charge probably includes the water pump as well, and possible 1-3 accessory belts, it is under a $100 for the do it yourselfer (or $2-300 if you take it a shop and not the stealership). It is only a once every 100k mile maintenance anyways, most domestics won't last that long anyhow, lol j/k. :lol:

I think he was refering to the whole dash setup as a whole and not just the digital speedo, lol. :unsure:

Toyota is an evil empire, and that's all there is to it. Everybody stop buying Toyotas and tell your friends and family to stop buying them as well (and their friends too).

No one can.

Looks like a cross between a Toyota and a Buick.

I can understand if a Hybrid gets insane gas mileage, that it would be worth the extra money to buy one and the possible extra costs for maintenance.. But if it gets the same or barely more then why bother? I looked at the Prius and a few different websites and reviews, and it looks like 45-50mpg is a very common mileage for most prius owners around town and hwy driving.... Wait a minute... 45-50mpg?? That isn't incredible like Toyota advertises it to be! What the hell? You listen to these commercials and they make is sound like this Prius is so amazing you'll never half to fill up or something, and that their hybrid-Synergy is the answer to all our problems. I can buy a base model 6-speed TSX (IE: no weight adding accessories like navi, cargo net, trunk tray, etc), and with proper driving habits get close to those numbers, yet it's twice as fast and maintenance is a breeze (among a million other advantages). I have a feeling those numbers are similar to the estimated MPG. I'm sure in real world driving, the Prius would put out more pollutants. Also, what are they comparing that to? The "average" gasoline car, which is what?

What's going on with these tail lights? I mean, original yes, good no. Do they really stick out 2 inches? The rest of it looks pretty plain to me. The head on view looks kinda cool, but from a diagonal POV it looks like every other one, which isn't bad. I wouldn't call it original.

... I don't really understand the purpose of that site. I looked through all the sections and popups, and I just don't get it. I looked at the site map, and it looks like Toyota is still stuck in 2004: "Our entire lineup for 2004 can be found here."

The car isn't that bad minus the headlights, at least for what it is. They're trying TOOOO hard with that video, I mean they really went over the top. I can't tell if they're trying to market this vehicle to normal people or fashion models. Typical Toyota marketting, they're all about fads and it really pisses me off. I'm 21, I snowboard, I play guitar, and I listen to rock, alternative, and hip hop, and I wouldn't be caught dead in that car (although I don't own an iBook and iPod, maybe that's why?). I would take a 01-05 Civic Si over that POS anyday.

A faulty switch may not be a "big" deal, but it is when it happens to so many vehicles. Toyota should have discovered this problem and fixed it before any of the cars hit the showroom.

You're right, 85 US gallons.

I wasn't quoting Honda's advertised MPG (now that I look at their site, looks like they don't even quote it that high). The insight does get good MPG in real world situations. Have a look at this article (102mpg on a non stop run around UK, including time spent in traffic and in-city). I was also comparing it to say, another 2 door small economy car. Obviously that size car isn't for everyone, so comparing it to a full size or mid size sedan is mute. Have you ever sat in an Insight or driven one? They may not be as unconfortable as you think (for 2 people only of course). Aside from mileage, the insight will put out about a 1/3 the emissions your impala will over the course of their lives, maybe even less depending on driving style. No need to replace timing belt on the Honda til 100k, not that it costs much anyway. The battery is warrantied for 8 years on the Insight, the assembly is replaceable as a single unit, which is estimated to be around $1226.75 USD (that includes the battery cells, along with temperature/current/voltage sensors and other components like the junction board) - source.

How come when one asian manufacturer does something stupid like Nissan with their dumb commercials or Toyota with their overly-hyped hybrids, automatically every Asian manufacturer is out to kill us Americans? As far as I'm concerned, Japan's big 3 (Toyota, Honda, and Nissan) are just as different from each other as America's big 3, specially in how they do business and their goals. And as far as hybrids go. Maintenance costs are mostly overrated. Take a look at this Edmunds article, and scroll down to maintenance (give the rest a read too). The hybrid components are meant to last for as long as the vehicle. Most owners shouldn't have to spend an extra dime for hybrid related (battery, electric motor, etc) costs for at least 100,000 miles. I understand though that some outfits may charge extra to work on a hybrid just because it's a hybrid and supposedly more complicated (even for simple tasks like Oil Changes and valve lash adjustments). But that is of course their price gouging and taking advantage of consumer's stupidity. Take for example Honda's insight, 60mpg city 68mpg hwy (64 avg), and compare it to 30mpg city 40mpg hwy (35 avg) for a typical economy car. If you do 100,000 miles in both of the cars, with an average of $2.50 per gallon of gas, you will have spent $7,142.50 with the economy car, and $3,905.00 with the hybrid. That's $3237.50 in savings from gas over the course of 100,000 miles. Some people will do 100,000 miles in 5-6 years, depending on how much they drive. Is that worth buying a hybrid? In my opinion yes, specially since you are going to be producing less emissions at the same time.

This confuses me. Yes, it "could" happen to any car. But the fact that it ONLY happened to Toyota Prius and not any other 2004-2005 new car. I think he's just trying to redirect some of the blame, lol. Because it "could" happen to any vehicle then it is obviously the fault of cars in general, and not Toyota directly. com·mer·cial, adj. 1) Having profit as a chief aim. So we could say that the Prius was the first mass-produced hybrid car with profit as a chief aim? That sounds like Toyota. The Insight was the first mass-produced hybrid car in America. I thought it was for the world to? Am I missing something here?

I never liked Toyota <_< The reason they're not recalling them is because they most likely cannot isolate the problem to a certain run of cars (using the serial number in the VIN to track the bad ones). It's not like they used a bad part in the manufacturing process, I'll bet it is an inherent design flaw with their system in all 2004 and 2005 cars. This could have probably been worked out with more testing, but we all know Toyota's #1 priority now is moving new car models and redesigns quicker than any other manufacturer. So now is it not only the ugliest hybrid car, but it shuts down on you randomly, which apparently isn't a big deal, because the 10hp electric motor will get you out of harms way no problem!

As far as I know there is only the sedan for Japan, and the 5 door Hatch for Europe. The Coupe and Si were actually designed in America (and the USDM sedan is a variant of the JDM Sedan) and are not available anywhere else in the world. I do not know when Honda of Japan will design any more body styles, but I'll bet they'll make a Type R or a Coupe next year. The main reason I assume for not having a Coupe this year, is that they probably didn't want to hurt 4th gen Integra (RSX) and Integra Type R sales in Japan by releasing a Civic Coupe there. As you know, Acura is owned by Honda and is U.S. only, so they can get away having a Civic Si and an RSX Type S, since besides the small price difference, they are under different divisions (it's all marketting). But in Japan, both the Civic and Integra/RSX are under the same name, and may conflict in sales. To recap: USDM has Coupe, Coupe Si, Sedan, Hybrid Sedan. JDM has Sedan, Hybrid Sedan. UKDM (Europe) has 5 Door Hatch. UKDM Civic has 11 different models (check out www.honda.co.uk), of which I'm sure there is a Diesel version and maybe a hybrid version. They also have a 2.2 liter engine option, which is neat, as the USDM only comes with 1.8 liter (and 2.0 liter in the Si).

For those of you who don't frequent www.vtec.net (which I would assume is most of you), you're missing out. The guys over there recently posted a compilation video of the Si they have, which shows it cruising through some winding roads and on the track. The noise the engine and exhaust makes is incredible (if you watch the video, don't judge it by when he's revving it in the garage, wait for the racing footage). Also, there's a picture of the Mugen tuned JDM Civic sedan, which looks really good. You can go and register at the Temple of Vtec to download the video, or you can download it from my server here: 06project_si-01.wmv - 14MB WMV 0-60 times are still hard to come by. The 0-60 run they do there is really messy, lots of wheel spin and rev limiter in 1st (damn FWD =P). And here is the pic of the Mugen Tuned JDM Sedan, I wish we had this over here. The USDM sedan is nothing compared to this:

Which is why Honda created Acura for the american market, so that people WILL pay 40k+ for a Honda :)

No doubt, the new F22C is a faster engine than the F20C. They simply adjusted the rod and stroke to make it appeal to American buyers who need this low end torque. They also adjusted the gear ratios and made modifications to the intake camshaft, but that's besides the point. They didn't admit to any mistake, they mearly gave us what we wanted, low end torque. Where do most of the super cars in the world come from? Italy, Germany? The S2000 still has a 2 liter high revving engine over there, as well as everywhere else in the world. By bumping up the displacement in this way, they sacrificed the R/S ratio, which will increase piston sideloading and wear on the sidewalls of the combustion chamber. With such a well designed small engine, this isn't really going to effect it under normal circumstances though. It would still be better for a car that sees a lot of track time to have the better R/S ratio.

What makes you think an RL isn't a real car? Take a look at this Detroit News review. They liked it and they are definately a domestic biased magazine. The RL is a high tech car. It handles among the best for it's size, it's fast due to it's light weight and high output engine, it's roomy, it's everything a high class Luxury sedan should be. Some people don't like its looks. I think it looks great because it isn't incredibly flashy or laden with chrome.

I think you're looking at this from too much of a muscle car point of view. How many times are you at the low rpm's when road racing or going around a track? Oh wait, you probably only care about straight line acceleration and drag racing, right? Yeh, there's the problem right there. Another thing, you don't floor it at 2krpms when launching from a light. If you want to go fast, the S2000 can get into the upper rpm's within a split second. Where do you think it gets its 0-60 times from? And lastly, most race cars and drag cars have horrible low end torque as well, and most don't idle too well at these rpms. No race car utilizes low end torque. It is better to make torque in the high rpm's than the low rpm's, and anybody will tell you this. The s2000 is a car designed for the track that can be used on the street. It is a true sports car.