America's love-hate relationship with the Asian automobile. Rudy: deal or no deal? Plus more.
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SHOP TALK
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Re: Eric Peters’s
Why
Toyota’s Number One
:
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p>Toyota is no. 1 for an unexpected reason: They never wear out.
My Camry has over 200,000 miles on the original engine, so I’ve
been out of the market for a decade.
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—
David Govett
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Davis, California
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The general thrust of Eric Peters’s article on Toyota and its
ascension to major player status in the automobile manufacturing
world was very interesting as are most of Mr. Peters’s columns on
the auto industry and related topics. I would only quibble with one
part of the article. True, the new Toyota full-sized truck has a
larger available engine and class-leading towing capacity. In those
respects it does indeed outshine the Ford F-150. That being said I
must point out that Toyota is obliged to, in essence, put all its
eggs in one basket with its full-sized truck. Ford has several
classes of trucks in addition to the F-150 that will tow all you
need to tow short of needing a class A commercial drivers license.
F-150’s are for pretty light-duty work. Need to haul mulch home
from the garden center? The F-150 will do just fine. If you intend
to haul heavier loads full-time then there’s always the F-250 and
F-350. I have driven a friend’s Toyota Tundra, which is almost
full-sized. It’s a super nice truck and I wouldn’t mind owning a
truck made by Toyota. My own truck is more suitable for hauling
lumber and farm equipment on a full-time basis. It’s a 1986 F-350
with the 6.9 liter diesel motor. It also has 296,000 miles on the
odometer. Ford has been making good trucks for decades and some of
them (like mine) are still being flogged after 21 years on the
road. Toyota has some catching up to do but I guarantee that it’ll
make every effort to get on a par with the American truck
manufacturers. Ford shouldn’t take this threat lightly. It can’t
afford to do so if it wants to retain its position as the number
one seller of trucks in America.
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—
Bryan Frymire
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Louisville, Kentucky.
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause
and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress
impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist
surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our
culture.
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it,
makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so
many people seem to be hostile to it?