I must say that after years of not owning a Toyota, I'm glad to be back with Toyota. I used to work for a HUGE Toyota Dealership in SoCal called Longo Toyota and left to pursue other things back in 2002. I was a Tech there for over five years, reached Master status, then left and haven't owned a Toyota since. It's been Hondas and Nissans, mostly.

Well, now I have a 2007 GS350 and simply love Toyota quality. Much of my knowledge of Toyota's has faded but luckily I still have some guys that I know still at the dealership. Luckily I still have all of my tools!

Just felt like saying that I love my 3GS. It's an absolutely awesome vehicle and it impresses me more and more each time I drive it.

Cheers!

 

being a tech, what's your opinion of the nissans you had?

 

I would never buy another Nissan again. I have a 1997 240SX (that's a hot selling item right now actually) and had lots of problems with it in the beginning. It was knocking during take off a lot and Nissan dealerships would always brush me off telling me that they didn't know what it was and that it was normal. Well, with the knowledge I had, I posed a lot questions. "Did you check the thrust washers? Did you check this? Did you check that?" Well, long story short, it ended up with a new short block but that wasn't until I had to tell them what to look for.

In any case, I'm completely fine with there being issues with cars because I've seen my fair share with Toyotas. The key is customer service, or lack thereof for Nissan. Their corporate customer service was absolutely terrible. I vowed to never buy a Nissan ever in my life and neither will any member of my family. It's too bad because I like the M35/45's.

 

welcome back

 

The best car I ever owned was a 1991 Nissan 240SX. I drove it over 140k miles, and the only thing needed beyond routine maintenance items was a master brake cylinder at
90k - I now think that was 'usual'. I never had to replace the brakes or clutch. When it came time to replace it, they quit making it, or I'd have had another in a heartbeat.
My wife is on her 2nd Infiniti G20 (2000) and with 98k, has had the same experience I had with my 240 - only hers still has the original master brake cylinder. My sister and her husband have (respectively) a 2002 Altima and Maxima - no problems there either, and both have well over 100k miles (168k for the Altima - just replaced the brakes). I strongly considered the M35/45, but thought the GS had better styling.

 

No doubt that they are great cars but, I have steered away from them because of their lack of good customer service. If Toyota ever treated me that way, I can guarantee you I'd feel the same way towards them regardless of my 'connection' to them.

 

Welcome back!