Whereabouts Unknown: Gen6

I work for one of the largest VW dealer group in the country… I haven’t heard any bitching around the office.

I did put a deposit on the Traveler to replace the then 6-year-old Model 3 (fingers crossed). They are awesome looking!!!!!

 

I think this is one of the rare videos with one of them driving around.

https://youtu.be/iRrbq2FeJdQ?si=coqNZG3GN7Xf6m9T

Looks nice in that color and trim but damn 65k is going to be steeeeeeeep

 

When Toyota had engine issues, they committed to replacing full blocks for the entire run. When Subaru had engine issues, they committed to replacing short blocks for impacted engines and then extended engine warranty to 100,000 for the rest.

When KIA had engines suddenly failing and catching fire, they had to had government force them to address the problem and the fix was partial.

KIA is unserious automotive company that known to produce unreliable vehicles and then not honor the warranty. If you are tempted to consider one because they are cheap, you should accept that your new KIA might randomly and catastrophically fail and you will not have that issue addressed under warranty.

 

Gotta make sure to check your oil periodically for if/when it burns oil to catch it early or goodbye warranty!

Bought our shitty four cylinders? We had to be sued multiple times for different engine lines each time! No firm policy of preventative engine replacements either, just drive it until it seizes on the highway, hope nana is in a safe place to stop when it happens and tow it back here!

Oh and the lawsuit warranty hinges on you being notified of a software update that won’t prevent the failure anyway and getting it installed.

You didn’t get the letter or the previous owner didn’t? Get fucked! No tow reimbursement for you either!

You’re covered but engines are on back order for months? We’ll reimburse you $40/day eventually. Maybe the dealer will be nice with a loaner, good luck!

Oh and you’ll have to pay for belts, gaskets and other ancillaries too for us to do the work, those aren’t included with the engine or maybe the dealer will reuse them all. We’re shortchanging the tech on labor too so hope they pick the right corners to cut and don’t leave the high pressure fuel pump loose!

And that’s for a single issue, don’t even get me started on antitheft, the several unrelated problems that all so happen to increase fire risk, V6 head bolts (granted, the Sorento’s warranty was extended for this recently which I will give them but not other affected vehicles), excluding AWD bits from the powertrain warranty, etc.

(This applies to Hyundai too)

 

eventually we will all be having a "mr fusion" you mean

 

Is it $65K in today’s money or in 2027 money?

 

Just walked by this today. Hilarious…

 

That’s some crazy fan boi talk. In reality it took Toyota 3 years to do anything about the Tundra engine failures. Not until it became a safety recall. Early on they were blaming the failures on the owners trying to say it was abuse or neglect and sticking them with a massive repair bill. They are not recalling the hybrids with the same engine because it’s not considered a safety issue because the vehicle can still move under electric power. They are still trying to claim that it’s due to debris in the engine blocks for three model years rather than admit it is a design problem. Toyota is no longer any better than any of the other manufacturers.

 

Great design inspiration.

 

Yah they looking good. I thought about putting down a deposit too.

https://www.carscoops.com/2024/10/v...cout-confirms-direct-to-customer-sales-model/

Dealerships Prepare for a Legal Battle

Unsurprisingly, this hasn’t gone down well with existing VW dealers. Backed by the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Automotive Trade Association Executives, they’re reportedly gearing up to pursue legal action in an attempt to force Scout to reconsider its direct-to-consumer strategy, Auto News reports.

“Assuming they take this other path, let’s face it, there’s going to be challenges and problems for them virtually everywhere across the country,” said John Devlin, the 2024 chairman of the Automotive Trade Association Executives and CEO of the Pennsylvania Automotive Association. “My counterparts around the country are not just going to roll over.”

 

They get what they deserve. Decades of screwing over the consumer that keeps getting worse with Covid markups and port/dealer add ons need to end.

 

That retractable canvas top is just about the worst idea I've ever seen on a car.

lol

 

People seem to like them on the Wrangler.

 

Scout is still an early EV concept wrapped around an idea, so it can be anything they say right now (range, price, features, direct to consumer…) just as long as it looks like a modernized Harvester design. I do like that it’s a BoF design b/c that pairs well with EV. Long time and a lot of hurdles until estimated deliveries in 2027, so let’s see. As a kid, I spent time in a rusty IH Scout II, so I’m a fan of what they’re trying to do.

Back in the real world that is 2024, still wondering when deliveries of the ‘25 4Runner will happen…or why it isn’t happening yet.

 

I believe it often has partly to do with the shitty dealers that tries to shoo customers away and not incur cost to do diagnostics under the 3/36 warranty.

In 2005 we bought a then new Camry. That was when Toyota first implemented throttle by wire for the sedans. The car had a serious problem with its throttle body that was likely a short that caused it to random surge when at a stop light and foot firmly on brake. Both my father and I saw it happen.

Mind you by then we had a combined 60 years of driving experience between us including many years of manual transmission driving so it was not a case of simply mistaking the pedals, and the floor mat was firmly secured toward the rear of the driver's footwell.

It took us months of wrangling with the dealer and getting the run around. When we finally escalated it to the western US corporate office, we were suddenly told to bring it into to our local dealer. We got the car back 3 days later and the unintended surge never happened again. We were never able to find out what they did, but we strongly suspected the DBW module was replaced. The car is fine since then.


A few years later all the "unintended acceleration" of model year 2007-2009ish fiasco hit and while many people blamed it on drivers mixing up the throttle or brake pedals or floor mat jamming under the brake pedal, we figured there was a non zero chance those that got in accidents were not all idiots, some of the cars were possibly affected by the same issue we saw.

So I believe the problem is a combination of Toyota's response, and also the dealers stonewalling customers that do have issues to disguise the issues since reliability is the only thing the dealers got to charge at or above MSRP for products that are usually discounted from other brands.

In fact that incident caused me to switch to Ford for a while, at the time the older design new production products from Ford were reasonably well made and I still drive a 2006 Ford today, trouble free in 18 years.

The '23 4r I bought last year was the first new Toyota we bought in 18 years since the 05 camry, and only because it has been in production for so many years.

I don't trust first 1-3 years of a new Toyota model now any more than a Ford or GM. Sad but true. Those who want to argue with me are free to buy a original engine 2022 Tundra or 24 Taco and put their wallet where their mouth is.

 

A family friend was involved in an accident due to that issue. I can assure that he's not an idiot.

 

Even the third year Tundras are having problems. Maybe we have to wait 4 model years on new generations now.

 

Speaking of idiots. When we bought our 4Runner new in 2017 I noticed the next day that the floor mats seemed weird. Someone at the dealer installed the rubber floor mats over the carpet floor mats.

 

I can believe it. When we had the issue it was bad, the car would act like we were flooring it when our foot was on the brake pedal, you pretty much had to stand on the brake pedal with all your weight to prevent the car from surging forward.

Of course when we initially took to the dealer they did the whole "cannot reproduce issue, re-positioned carpet mat, advised customer to not put foot on gas pedal when at a stop light" song and dance. As a 3rd generation commercial vehicle (including bus) driver I could only chuckle at the condescension the idiot Toyota dealer was displaying toward us as if we can't tell which pedal is which in a 2 pedal car(the XV30 camry still had the hand parking brake lever).

 

It’s almost December, if Toyota doesn’t have the 2025 4Runner build and prices on their website by dec 31 I wonder if they will carry over the 2024 4Runner on their website (obviously you won’t be able to buy it unless there’s leftover models sitting on a lot somewhere) or will they just omit the 4Runner from their website until closer to launch. My Toyota engineer buddy told me it will be around spring or summer 2025

on one hand they shouldn’t put the 2025 4Runner on the website to force people to buy the Land Cruiser since their sales are struggling but it’s a huge gamble because not having a 4Runner on their website can have customers go somewhere else all together. It will be interesting to see what they do because none of their new trucks or suvs (well the ladder on frame ones) aren’t selling at all and the Land Cruiser prado will definitely hurt 4Runner sales

 

As far as 4Runner, my guess is they leave the 2024 up on the website as a placeholder for the 2025 (whenever that comes out).

The Land Cruiser was never meant to be a high volume vehicle. Just something interesting for some 4Runner owners to "upgrade" to should they have the disposable income. It will sell a lot better than the previous North American Land Cruiser though, mark my words.

As far as Toyota's new TGNA-F platforms not selling, that's mostly anecdotal hogwash. They're selling. Tundra up 26% from last year and Tacoma down 26%. Tacoma still outselling their mid-sized competitors by double.

https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2023-us-pickup-truck-sales-figures-by-model/

 

I’m not sure if the other companies care about their midsize truck sales since they already sell a shit ton of full size trucks. Then there’s ford that also sells a lot of Mavericks too.

 

I'm glad they delayed the 4runner. Let the Taco continue to be the 1st gen test model for the new 4Runner.

First year 4Runner should have all the major kinks worked out by release.

And hopefully Toyota will lose some customers too over all this. I want to see lots overflowing and no buyers next summer.

No new 5th gen 4Runners left at 4 closest dealerships to me. They gone.

 

that’s actually hog wash Tacoma might be still selling more than other midsize trucks but if only a 100 midsize trucks sold nation wide and 90 were Tacomas that don’t mean anything. Look at the overall picture I did I forget the exact numbers but the 3rd gen outsold them by like 50,000 trucks year to date comparison

 

I wish they would have extended the 5th gen production during this delay. I would like to buy another one next year. It’s going to be tough to find one.

 

The overall picture is that Tacoma is down 26% compared to last year. Period. If a dealer has 100 Tacoma's on their lot, they've sold 74 of them. They're still selling. They're not just sitting on lots collecting dust like many will have you believe.

I'm sure Toyota would rather not be down 26%, but years that have new gens introduced are really complicated.

Some want to run out and buy the last gen while some want to wait and buy the shiny new thing.

Some want old tech, some want new tech.

Some think prices are too high, others are willing to spend that money.

Some are opposed to a turbo, others don't care.

Ect.......on and on.

We need an entire year of 4th gen sales to get a full picture of how people really feel about the new gen.

 

“Land Cruiser” sales here will be limited b/c global demand for Prado is sky high. And frankly, they can have it.

Tacoma sales overall this year are down in large part due to early QC holds. So it’s fair to wonder what issues are now delaying the 4R. It’s doubtful that Toyota’s plan was to leave their dealers empty-handed, w/o any 4Runners for nearly two quarters. Whatever they’re figuring out might be serious.

 

Done!

 

Not in my backyard!

 

Tacoma sales numbers in US, by month

Oct the first time this year they passed previous years number for same month