I have no patience for patent trolls who make money by litigating against companies who invest the time and money to make a real product.

Did you see that the “solution” to the floor mat problem is zip-tying them to the seat frame? And Toyota will be back in court for patent infringement on the hybrid control system.

“Federal transportation regulators this week launched a preliminary investigation into an estimated 218,000 early-model Toyota Tundras with possible rust and corrosion defects.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/Toyota_Tundras_face_probe_over_rust_issues.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Y3AsZ19Hc

Since diesel is compression fired, all you have to do is remove the water from the cylinder. It helps too that the glow plugs are simply heated and the firing order runs mechanically instead of through the ignition system. How the electronics managed to remain functional on that Hilux is amazing, and even in vehicles as old (or older) than that Yoda, there’s a fair amount of electric stuff.

Even with a gasoline engine, I’m amazed it ran after that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_KIqdS1SO0

It should be noted that submerging one’s truck in the sea for several hours and making it run again is only possible with a diesel engine.

Sure, Toyota still makes serviceable vehicles, but the build quality and longevity isn’t much – if any – better than their competitors. They set out to conquer the US market, but it conquered them instead. They don’t make anything that stands above the competition, and for god’s sake they participate in NASCAR.

Rumor has it that VW is going to build a TDI-hybrid Golf. I think that the future will look like Volt, but hopefully with a diesel generator instead of gasoline.

I put my parent’s 1984 Land Cruiser wagon in a 12 foot ditch at 45 MPH after driving over a barbed-wire fence and flattening the iron fence posts. The front end was totaled, and repair cost ~$5,000 (excluding the new tires that I replaced out of my summer job income the next summer), if I remember correctly. I remember my dad worrying about whether the energy of the impact was enough to bend the frame. The bodyshop owner running the estimate for insurance told my dad that he’d never seen a Land Cruiser with a bent frame, even on vehicles that were later totaled because repairing everything else cost more than just replacing the vehicle.

I would still drive a Toyota, and did until a few years ago when my Corolla got totaled (sniff) in a smashup during my commute to work. The only reason I didn’t get another Corolla when I went looking again was because Honda had come out with an updated Civic model that could actually accelerate, which it couldn’t when I initially bought the Corolla.

The point of all this is that I think that Toyotas are still great vehicles, even if they’re not as tough as they used to be. Alas, most other car manufacturers have sunk further faster, leaving Toyotas as some of the best cars out there.

No-one makes my ideal car, though – a clean diesel powered plug-in hybrid all-wheel drive sedan. Notice to car manufacturers (esp Toyota, Subaru, & Volkswagon) – the first company to make the above described vehicle probably gets at least one sale!