Trading a tacoma for subaru….

Driving a 21 taco with 90k miles on it. Currently commute about 45 each way to work. Need something with better gas mileage. Drive to and from a national forest for work, needs to be able to go in snow. Looking at a new forester. Retarded idea or not completely retarded?
Run this calculation. Should help with the decision.
 
I'd +1 to the comments thatSubaru crosstreks...actually drive really well offroad, and I wouldn't take this part for granted at all. However, I'd also watch some you tube videos on basic Subaru maintenance...:ROFLMAO:

These are a couple good ones to start...


 
Buying a car to save gas milage is typically false economy. You have a truck that'll work for the next 200k. It's probably paid for.

If you want to save money, buy a 6k Corolla, drive it for the next 5-10 years, and sell it for what you gave for it.

2 years ago, I bought a 60K miles Accord for $9k. It's about to hit 100k. It's 45 or so MPG.... reliable as hell. I call it my "WalMart Warrior." It's paid for itself in gas savings and mileage reimbursement. And probably go another 100K without an issue.

Front wheel drive and I put on studded snowtires and run summer tires in... summer. It goes up my insane icy driveway like a mountain goat. It's cheap, reliiable and crappy. But it does well.

There is a lot to Arab's point. Buying a car to save$$ can be a really false economy. Me... was not just trying to save gas... but to keep miles off a very spendy diesel pickup. And have a sort of 'blend in' vehicle. Nothing more blend in than an old Accord.

So... just some thoughts.

I'd have bought a Subaru, a Nissan or a Toyota.... but this landed in my lap from a friend.

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
I’ve had two Subarus, an Impreza and an Outback, across twenty years of driving. They’re the highest maintenance vehicles I’ve ever owned. My mechanic agrees.

Never say never, but I doubt I’d ever buy another. Back to Toyota I think.
 
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Your answer is the Ridgeline. Very capable AWD, comfortable, truck enough to all the truck stuff that 95% of truck owners need.

My sister had one for awhile. The Tacoma is twice the truck, with roughly the same fuel economy.

You could get a fullsize Chevy 1500 and get the same fuel economy also. But have a drivetrain capable of light work.

That Honda couldn't even haul a few pavers without doing a wheelie.
 
Bullshit, the honda has a bed capacity of 1500 pounds, which is best in class(medium truck). It has a towing capacity of 5000 pounds.
It's a honda, it will run forever.
95% of truck owners don't do any serious hauling
Chevy trucks are trash. Ram trucks are trash, Ford trucks are trash.
Toyota trucks are awesome. I had a Tundra, 2wd, loved it. My honda gets better gas mileage than it did.
Tacoma are great trucks, no headroom and currently way overpriced.
The honda gets much better gas mileage than any v8 or turbo charged v6 full size, maybe if you're talking about the 4 cylinder Chevy 1500. Then you have a four banger that will self destruct sooner rather than later.
The original ranger was all the pickup most needed, then they went and fucked it up with the shitty turbo charged 4 banger.
My son has a maverick, it's an awesome little truck, ford got that one right, but they are way overpriced.
 
I rented an Outback to drive my dog from GA to MN. I was impressed by how comfortable and well driving. It had all the creature comforts like adaptive cruise, lane assist, moonroof, leather heated and cooled seats, etc. They even gave me a flannel to wear while driving it. (OK the flannel wasn't really included, but I had to go there)

1000045473.jpg
 
I will add, prior to this, I drove the wheels off 2 Honda Civics.

Commuted in the CO winter over a 11,300 ft mtn pass known for big snows 2 days a week and never once had issues with traction with studded snows.

Subarus do better in crashes, so with the sucky drivers around here, that weighed on my decision.

Not in Denver or crowded metro full of libtards?
I would get a used Civic and drive the wheels off it.
Cheap set of steel wheels for the snow tires and just swap em quick at home.
2 sets of car tires have always been a hair cheaper than 1 set for my full size truck……
My civic has 425k and still runs like a top
 
Man this post is REALLY weirding me out from a timing standpoint - just last week I traded a 2023 Sub Forester for a 2020 Toyota Taco TRD Off Road. The Sub had all the bells and whistles; the Taco has some of the bells and whistles. Subs have way too much tech on them for my taste; electronics out the gazoo. I'd even purchased the extended warranty on the Sub. I'm hoping and praying the Taco lives up to its reputation of being a workhorse.

Longevity was my primary reason for trading. I mean think about it; all those Somali and Houthi skinnies drive "technicals" and what are they? Toyota Hiluxes (Tacomas). If Toyotas are tough enough for people who never changed oil in their truck (hell they probably don't even know there is oil in their engines) in their life they should be good enough for me.

The other reason I traded for a Taco was, I guess, vanity. Whenever I'd see another Forester it was being driven by an old person. Or a woman. Or a woman who wanted to be a man. Man I had mine plastered with so many "HK" and "Sig" and "S&W" stickers I couldn't see out the back window.
 
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If you’re going to buy another car, buy some cheap econo-shitbox to do all your commute/errand fuckabout with and save the truck to do the truck stuff in the woods. Bonus points if it’s a 4cyl turbo diesel with a manual transmission and gets 60mpg
 
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Chevy trucks are trash. Ram trucks are trash, Ford trucks are trash.
Blasphemy. With the numbers sold plenty of tards got their hands on em...

Moving on...

Subaru has a decent little niche in the market, my only dis like is the Boxer engine. The CVT trans have had enough R&D to get most of the bugs worked out but be ware of buying any of them before 2018. If you get the 2.4 Turbo be sure to keep the Oil changed regularly and don't modify it. Keep it stock.

I personally think sane decent people should take the subi back from the dikes... they should have stickers that express this...
 
These threads always show who works in automotive and who doesn't lol. I could probably count the number of decent rock solid vehicles sold on the US market on one hand.
Please share the 5 solid vehicles? I know that GMC is not one - I have a low mileage 2019 GMC Sierra AT4 with 6.2 sitting at a dealer for 30 days now waiting a simple sensor that GM cannot supply. My 2019 Subaru Outback 3.6R Touring has been flawless.
 
These threads always show who works in automotive and who doesn't lol. I could probably count the number of decent rock solid vehicles sold on the US market on one hand.
With the micromanaging and bullshit mandates of the EPA, there probably aren’t even that many. All cars can be rolling heaps of garbage if they’re not maintained properly -or- reasonably reliable if maintenance and/or problem spots are taken care of before they become problems.
 
List please!

Other than metal Tonka toys from the 60 and 70s, your list would be BS!
Ridgeline (since they swapped transmissions again)
4Runner (not the brand new one)
CX-5/CX-9 (CX-9 discontinued 2023 unfortunately and replaced by the far more complicated pile that is the CX-90/70. The CX-5 and CX-9 are tanks)
GM express vans (especially with the old V6. I've beat the ever living fuck out of these for years with no major issues cept one that kept eating rear ends)
Toyota Prius (at least up until the most recent, that one is too new to claim either way. These have been bulletproof for over a decade)

bonus: Honda manuals hold up for a long long long time if properly maintained. I've seen multiple manual Civics over 500k miles.

Maybe you could put the GM or Ford 2(3)500 class trucks in there but I've seen plenty of issues with those too. The truck market is a complete shit show. Supposedly the latest Frontier is still based on the previous model which was known for years as a reliable if lacking small truck.

Toyota has gone down hill massively in the last several years. Honda has started having some pretty concerning hiccups. Nissan other than the Frontier continues to be a joke. The big 3 are all garbage in different ways with large swaths of issues across their lineups.

Mazda has actually gotten more reliable over the past decade and we see extremely few issues with them outside their warranty periods and routinely see them over 200k with no major issues.

Honda/Acura are still pretty solid overall but like I said, they have had some pretty concerning problems recently from the previous Ridgeline transmission being garbo to BCM failures with their cars to high oil consumption in their newer turbo motors.
 
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I was driving a 1st gen taco, 4 banger 5 speed, but previous owner was not good with maintanence or correct ways to fix things, so the head gasket went(technically it went a while ago, but he put in stop leak, which eventually let go and continued eating coolant. I decided i wanted something real fuel efficiant and comfortable. Got an Accord hybrid. Netting 49.1 average, mostly highway, no traffic and no stop lights on my commute. Hell, only 1 stopsign in my 45 minutes each way.
 
Forester is good. Mine is a 2001. 5 speed manual. 193k and running good.

I drive mine in Birkenstocks and tie dye. Or pink chuck taylors.
And a cooler full of tofu, hip vegan snacks, and White Claw of course!!
All while packing a g19 and have a full party kit in my pack behind my seat.


I do have a full size truck. Sucks running errands around town and the garage at work.
I get nearly 2x mileage with the Forester.
White Claw FTW.

One of my favorite bon mot quips is, "White Claw? That's nice. Do they sell men's drinks, too?"

Extra points if you pull that on a guy who has a man-bun.
 
Ridgeline (since they swapped transmissions again)
4Runner (not the brand new one)
CX-5/CX-9 (CX-9 discontinued 2023 unfortunately and replaced by the far more complicated pile that is the CX-90/70. The CX-5 and CX-9 are tanks)
GM express vans (especially with the old V6. I've beat the ever living fuck out of these for years with no major issues cept one that kept eating rear ends)
Toyota Prius (at least up until the most recent, that one is too new to claim either way. These have been bulletproof for over a decade)

bonus: Honda manuals hold up for a long long long time if properly maintained. I've seen multiple manual Civics over 500k miles.

Maybe you could put the GM or Ford 2(3)500 class trucks in there but I've seen plenty of issues with those too. The truck market is a complete shit show. Supposedly the latest Frontier is still based on the previous model which was known for years as a reliable if lacking small truck.

Toyota has gone down hill massively in the last several years. Honda has started having some pretty concerning hiccups. Nissan other than the Frontier continues to be a joke. The big 3 are all garbage in different ways with large swaths of issues across their lineups.

Mazda has actually gotten more reliable over the past decade and we see extremely few issues with them outside their warranty periods and routinely see them over 200k with no major issues.

Honda/Acura are still pretty solid overall but like I said, they have had some pretty concerning problems recently from the previous Ridgeline transmission being garbo to BCM failures with their cars to high oil consumption in their newer turbo motors.
4 runner and Taco's are very similar...

So is a gas 2500 and an Express van...

Fords F-250's with the 6.7 have been good, beyond some minor DEF/ DPF issues, generally just the $200 dollar heater.

Ford Expeditions are solid, so are the 5.0 F-150's.

Seen plenty of GM1500's run hard and hung up wet.

Tundras

Camerys

Civics...

Its a shame the stopped making Grand Marquis and Crown vics. My Grandmas nearly 30 year old Grand Marquis runs like a top and drive like a pillow.

Ford Mustangs if you don't beat them to death.

Mazda Miata will run if you don't beat them to death.

There are plenty of solid cars out there.

Fuckin Pokemon...
 
Driving a 21 taco with 90k miles on it. Currently commute about 45 each way to work. Need something with better gas mileage. Drive to and from a national forest for work, needs to be able to go in snow. Looking at a new forester. Retarded idea or not completely retarded?

I'm doing the exact same thing but for different reasons, an SUV just makes more sense. The forester is good in snow and it sits surprisingly high off the ground if you actually look at one. Good gas mileage too.
 
4 runner and Taco's are very similar...

So is a gas 2500 and an Express van...

Fords F-250's with the 6.7 have been good, beyond some minor DEF/ DPF issues, generally just the $200 dollar heater.

Ford Expeditions are solid, so are the 5.0 F-150's.

Seen plenty of GM1500's run hard and hung up wet.

Tundras

Camerys

Civics...

Its a shame the stopped making Grand Marquis and Crown vics. My Grandmas nearly 30 year old Grand Marquis runs like a top and drive like a pillow.

Ford Mustangs if you don't beat them to death.

Mazda Miata will run if you don't beat them to death.

There are plenty of solid cars out there.

Fuckin Pokemon...
I would add Crv ,accords, siennas and corrollas and anything 5.9 Cummins because they all run forever
 
Forester is good. Mine is a 2001. 5 speed manual. 193k and running good.

I drive mine in Birkenstocks and tie dye. Or pink chuck taylors.
And a cooler full of tofu, hip vegan snacks, and White Claw of course!!
All while packing a g19 and have a full party kit in my pack behind my seat.


I do have a full size truck. Sucks running errands around town and the garage at work.
I get nearly 2x mileage with the Forester.
I went into Walmart the other day bare foot.

My 2015 Forester 6 speed only gets 24mpg.
 
4 runner and Taco's are very similar...
Completely different platforms so no they are not
So is a gas 2500 and an Express van...
Again, not entirely. The Express van uses older more proven parts and some of the engines offered in the Express vans are not available in a GM truck.
Fords F-250's with the 6.7 have been good, beyond some minor DEF/ DPF issues, generally just the $200 dollar heater.

Ford Expeditions are solid, so are the 5.0 F-150's.
Not in my experience at all. Not great not terrible but not what I would call rock solid.
Seen plenty of GM1500's run hard and hung up wet.
Yeah so did I. Pre 2010.
Awful. The 5.7 was decent but it was not as reliable as the 4.6/4.7. Those ran like clockwork as long as you replaced the timing belt and water pump every 100k.
Used to be great. Toyota has been having all kinds of issues recently.
Civics...
I already mentioned Honda.
Its a shame the stopped making Grand Marquis and Crown vics. My Grandmas nearly 30 year old Grand Marquis runs like a top and drive like a pillow.
The Panther platform cars were great.
Ford Mustangs if you don't beat them to death.
Mostly.
Mazda Miata will run if you don't beat them to death.
I already mentioned Mazda. Nearly all of the Mazda lineup uses the same two 2.5L engines. Turbo and non-turbo. The engines are nearly identical minus the turbo/intake and the turbo using 5w30 and non uses 0w20.
There are plenty of solid cars out there.
Theres only a few I would call rock solid like I said. And that number is rapidly dwindling.
Fuckin Pokemon...
Yawn.

I work in this field. I have a lot of contacts with dealerships for Toyota, Hyundai/Kia, Cadillac, Honda, Nissan and directly work with units for GMC, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford and Mazda. I do parts and service. I see this shit every day. I have to hear it every day. And live it every day. And the reality is that modern cars blow fucking hot ass.

Cars peaked in the 90s and have been slowly driving off a cliff since 08-09.
 
Completely different platforms so no they are not

Again, not entirely. The Express van uses older more proven parts and some of the engines offered in the Express vans are not available in a GM truck.

Not in my experience at all. Not great not terrible but not what I would call rock solid.

Yeah so did I. Pre 2010.

Awful. The 5.7 was decent but it was not as reliable as the 4.6/4.7. Those ran like clockwork as long as you replaced the timing belt and water pump every 100k.

Used to be great. Toyota has been having all kinds of issues recently.

I already mentioned Honda.

The Panther platform cars were great.

Mostly.

I already mentioned Mazda. Nearly all of the Mazda lineup uses the same two 2.5L engines. Turbo and non-turbo. The engines are nearly identical minus the turbo/intake and the turbo using 5w30 and non uses 0w20.

Theres only a few I would call rock solid like I said. And that number is rapidly dwindling.

Yawn.

I work in this field. I have a lot of contacts with dealerships for Toyota, Hyundai/Kia, Cadillac, Honda, Nissan and directly work with units for GMC, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford and Mazda. I do parts and service. I see this shit every day. I have to hear it every day. And live it every day. And the reality is that modern cars blow fucking hot ass.

Cars peaked in the 90s and have been slowly driving off a cliff since 08-09.
Dwindling my ass... Peaked in the 90's my ass...

Also on your list is the worst selling truck in the nation. While I don't deny the honda 3.5 v6 is a solid engine. It would make sense that you rarely see them because there are very few of them on the Road, Sans the Dodge cam lifter re align ment with the cylinder deactivation chewing cams the Big 3 all make solid Trucks and have for decades.

Get the fuck outa here with that bullshit

There is a special place in hell for people that work in Dealer service departments.
 
Trade one of the most reliable vehicles on the road in for one with mediocre reliability? How about no.

As long as you haven’t lifted your taco and ruined its fuel mileage you’re probably talking about a 10mpg difference at best so in other words you’ll use about 3 gallons of gas round trip instead of 4. So ask yourself this, is $3 a day savings in gas worth owning a shitty vehicle and looking like a faggot?
 
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Many of the ladies here at work love them but are not happy with the local dealership. I considered briefly and went with an Escape (seem to be a Ford family). Now wife’s car is an Edge for civilized driving and I have a F150 for landscaping supplies and hunting and my daily driver. I always felt that a paid off car was money in the bank
 
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North east US

Every snow storm you’ll see pickups in the shoulder with a Subaru going around them.

Now most have gray haired lesbians driving them but they package that Subaru has figured out over the last 20 years is very hard to beat cost or capability wise.
 
North east US

Every snow storm you’ll see pickups in the shoulder with a Subaru going around them.

Now most have gray haired lesbians driving them but they package that Subaru has figured out over the last 20 years is very hard to beat cost or capability wise.
That's because pickup trucks are actually terrible in the snow. You have no weight over your drive wheels. I did the same thing when I drove a Toyota Yaris lmao.

You can get an AWD Mazda that's just as capable in shitty weather as a Subaru but will last longer and have more trouble free miles.

Dwindling my ass... Peaked in the 90's my ass...
You clearly don't work with vehicles day in and day out. In the 90s we had just about the perfect balance of annoying mechanical systems replaced with electrical systems that were very simple to work on and easy to diag (FI vs Carbs for example). The electronics were very simple. Most makes in the 90s were either reliable enough or easy/cheap to fix. We didn't have tons of unnecessary bullshit in the vehicles. Build quality was fairly good for most makes.

Yeah they peaked in the 90s. The vast majority of modern cars suck to work on, are harder to diag for issues because there's so many electrical systems all interconnected. The build quality is questionable to poor from most makes. The quality of the parts has slid downhill massively across all manufacturers. Plastic everywhere. Thinner and thinner sheet metal. Nickel and dimming for features that should be standard.

AND THE MASSIVE FUCKING SCREENS IN EVERYTHING.
Also on your list is the worst selling truck in the nation. While I don't deny the honda 3.5 v6 is a solid engine. It would make sense that you rarely see them because there are very few of them on the Road, Sans the Dodge cam lifter re align ment with the cylinder deactivation chewing cams the Big 3 all make solid Trucks and have for decades.
Except they don't. GM even admits they don't design a transmission for their trucks to last past 100-120k miles. And they don't in my experience. I see them replaced every day. Lifter failures left and right. 6.2L has had failure after failure since it came out. Headlight issues. Module issues. Issues that GM can't even solve so your truck sits on the lot for 6 months with no solution.

Ford I see less of but from what I'm told isn't any better. Just different issues. I know we have replaced several headlights on resale F-150s all within 2-3 years old for water intrusion and the headlights all cost over $1000. That's absurd.
Get the fuck outa here with that bullshit

There is a special place in hell for people that work in Dealer service departments.
Special place in hell lmao. Yeah man everyone that turns wrenches doing your recall campaigns and dealing with the general retardation of Joe Blow Moron deserves to go to hell.

As much as people bitch about dealerships I can say that out of the 4 around me I have bought vehicles from I have never had an issue. And I know that my employer doesn't go around fucking people either.

You have poor quality techs (which is a problem regardless of where you go, and the biggest retardation I've seen comes from small garages), you have poor service writers, and you have the OEM that sets the standards and policies that dealership units have to follow. If you get fucked over it's because you're either
A. Ignorant
B. The manufacture is cunty (and the big 3 all are)
C. You dealt with a shitty employee or sales manager, in which case, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Bitch hard and loud enough and it's amazing what a dealer will bend over backwards to fix.

If you don't work in automotive you don't know shit as far as I'm concerned. I've seen and heard so much shit over the years from people who don't work in this industry and think they know jack when the reality is they don't know their asshole from their elbow.
 
Driving a 21 taco with 90k miles on it. Currently commute about 45 each way to work. Need something with better gas mileage. Drive to and from a national forest for work, needs to be able to go in snow. Looking at a new forester. Retarded idea or not completely retarded?
Well I know which I would choose 😉

2014 …5,202 miles
1998….362,460 miles

Edit : have a buddy with a Subaru Outback. It’s sweet !
I gots to have a 4x4 with a bed. Do wish I had a 6 ft bed.

If I had a car or SUV , I’d look at Subarus



IMG_1742.jpeg
 
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North east US

Every snow storm you’ll see pickups in the shoulder with a Subaru going around them.

Now most have gray haired lesbians driving them but they package that Subaru has figured out over the last 20 years is very hard to beat cost or capability wise.

Whenever it snowed I would put some bags of cement in the back of my truck otherwise it was all over the place.

With truck prices being as crazy as they are a crosstrek or a rav4 starts to make sense.
 
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Had 2 Tacomas, poor gas mileage, but damn did they get around in the crappy stuff with good tires. I now have a Tundra @ 12-14 mpg.

Bought an Outback Wilderness with the bigger turbo engine/slightly higher ground clearance last fall. 25-29 mpg on the highway, heated seats, has done okay in the snow, (I haven't tried anything stoopid) comfortable for my 6'2 frame. We have been happy with it so far, about 12k miles on it.

I am old school and don't like all the computer touch screen shit, but have figured out enough to manage it. Factory warranty I believe is bumper to bumper 36 months, but I am planning on getting an extended warranty. I call it my coyote mobile, but I don't save the carcasses.
 
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What a topic for the bear pit.

We looked at the small suv's a couple pre-covid and the crosstrek was the one we liked most. We ended up finding a 07 taco with 50k miles on it, so went that route for our teen to taxi his brothers around in.

My wife drives a '22 6sp taco now and it's pretty easy to get over 20mpg. Around, countryside, town if you baby it it's gotten as much as 27mpg.

I drive a 5.7L tundra and it's been pretty reliable. Oil changes suck, and you damn near have to take the whole front end apart to change the headlight bulbs. However the Crewmax is really nice for legroom.
 
Keep the car that is paid-for. I'll assume you made payments on the Tacoma, which means you already paid off the interest on your Toyota loan. if you start all over with a new Subaru and loan, you will be starting all over paying interest on your loan before you get to the actual car itself. Probably $3-4 thousand dollars you will pay in interest.

How many gallons of gas could you buy for the Toyota for the $3-4K in interest you are giving away on the Subaru loan?

Or

Buy whatever makes you happiest since you only live once and can't take it with you.

Or you could throw financial-common-sense out the window and lease a new car every two years so you always the newest, nicest, coolest vehicle.
 
Personally, if I were in your shoes, I'd keep the Toyota and take the money each month you would have used for a car payment and start investing it. $500/month begins to add up over the years.
 
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Driving a 21 taco with 90k miles on it. Currently commute about 45 each way to work. Need something with better gas mileage. Drive to and from a national forest for work, needs to be able to go in snow. Looking at a new forester. Retarded idea or not completely retarded?
Why do you "need" to get better mileage?
That's because pickup trucks are actually terrible in the snow. You have no weight over your drive wheels. I did the same thing when I drove a Toyota Yaris lmao.

You can get an AWD Mazda that's just as capable in shitty weather as a Subaru but will last longer and have more trouble free miles.


You clearly don't work with vehicles day in and day out. In the 90s we had just about the perfect balance of annoying mechanical systems replaced with electrical systems that were very simple to work on and easy to diag (FI vs Carbs for example). The electronics were very simple. Most makes in the 90s were either reliable enough or easy/cheap to fix. We didn't have tons of unnecessary bullshit in the vehicles. Build quality was fairly good for most makes.

Yeah they peaked in the 90s. The vast majority of modern cars suck to work on, are harder to diag for issues because there's so many electrical systems all interconnected. The build quality is questionable to poor from most makes. The quality of the parts has slid downhill massively across all manufacturers. Plastic everywhere. Thinner and thinner sheet metal. Nickel and dimming for features that should be standard.

AND THE MASSIVE FUCKING SCREENS IN EVERYTHING.

Except they don't. GM even admits they don't design a transmission for their trucks to last past 100-120k miles. And they don't in my experience. I see them replaced every day. Lifter failures left and right. 6.2L has had failure after failure since it came out. Headlight issues. Module issues. Issues that GM can't even solve so your truck sits on the lot for 6 months with no solution.

Ford I see less of but from what I'm told isn't any better. Just different issues. I know we have replaced several headlights on resale F-150s all within 2-3 years old for water intrusion and the headlights all cost over $1000. That's absurd.

Special place in hell lmao. Yeah man everyone that turns wrenches doing your recall campaigns and dealing with the general retardation of Joe Blow Moron deserves to go to hell.

As much as people bitch about dealerships I can say that out of the 4 around me I have bought vehicles from I have never had an issue. And I know that my employer doesn't go around fucking people either.

You have poor quality techs (which is a problem regardless of where you go, and the biggest retardation I've seen comes from small garages), you have poor service writers, and you have the OEM that sets the standards and policies that dealership units have to follow. If you get fucked over it's because you're either
A. Ignorant
B. The manufacture is cunty (and the big 3 all are)
C. You dealt with a shitty employee or sales manager, in which case, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Bitch hard and loud enough and it's amazing what a dealer will bend over backwards to fix.

If you don't work in automotive you don't know shit as far as I'm concerned. I've seen and heard so much shit over the years from people who don't work in this industry and think they know jack when the reality is they don't know their asshole from their elbow.
lololol!!!! I am not reading all that....
 
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My Corolla got better gas mileage by about 10 mpg or so. But I like the Tacoma for performance. As I mentioned, I can get in and out of sketchy public land parking areas. I can tow stuff. Which I do. I have a 5'x10' single axle ramp gate that I use with a cargo net to cart tree limbs to the dump.
 
Got a 03 Tacoma TRD daily and hunt truck, 20 Landcruiser FJ 200 (sold a perfectly good 165,000 mile 10 FJ 200 to get the last year of the 5.7 FJ200), 07 FJ Cruiser, 10 Tacoma TRD and 13 3500 Cummins/Aisin. We drive em until they practically quit and that is a long long time if you choose correctly. I buy for longevity, not gas mileage. No time in the shop saves a lot of money when you keep vehicles as long as my family. I have put an alternator, a turbo, and a window actuator on that stable of vehicles that are a combined 62 years old.......besides regular maintenance, brakes, oil, filters, etc.
 
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Buying a car to save gas milage is typically false economy. You have a truck that'll work for the next 200k. It's probably paid for.

If you want to save money, buy a 6k Corolla, drive it for the next 5-10 years, and sell it for what you gave for it.
That's pretty much what I did. I have a Sequoia and an older DD that I rack the miles up on that get's around 30mpg vs 14. That difference driving 10-12K a year pays off; however, I made a spreadsheet to do the crossover point. Hell, I did that way back in '08 on the diesel vs gas thing too.

That said, I was VERY close to getting a GR86, but all the Subie engine issues scared me away. Not sure if those same issues are on a normal Subie but maybe so since it seems to be a manufacturing issue with sealant getting into the oil pump screen and blocking it (or something like that). Combine that issue with a CVT and no way would I own a Forrester. The CVT is a no go for me personally...and yes...I realize it in theory is the perfect transmission.

ps...the new Yota's are having issues with the V6 Turbo in Sequoia/Tundra/(maybe Land Cruiser too). But the engines rolling off the line in HSV have definitely had issues - straight from somebody that works on the line that it's a real issue.