While out and about today, I saw a mint condition beige metallic '93 UCF10 with black interior gleaming in the sun. Ended up chatting with the original owner about our cars for a bit. As we were chatting, I noticed that her car was immaculate like it was just imported yesterday. Not a single imperfection. Even the driver's seat looked like it had never been sat in and the leather was still plump and juicy. Of course, it's been trouble free and drives like new. Too bad I didn't get a pic.

Anyway, the longevity of her car got me thinking. What did the Toyota engineers have in mind when they created this vehicle in terms of a lifespan? We all know these cars are legendary for being extremely reliable and that getting at least 300,000 to 400,000 miles without any major problems is nothing out of the ordinary. Even so, I feel like the engineers knew this car would last much longer than that as long as someone is willing to give it the slightest bit of care. I often think to myself, "This car is going to out-live me."

What do you think?

 

everything I heard was agreeable in my ears...I think they out done themselves..

 

being new to the US luxury market and didn't want to take any chances going up against BMW and Mercedes (ect) and overengineered everything. to the point of being a loss leader for many years. I really doubt their main goal was to make these things go 300-400k miles. That was just a side effect.

 

You can find some of the answers at 3:50-59, 7:10-17 and etc.

 

Thanks Yamae. I read an article about a BMW covering nearly the same mileage with no problems while under duress (https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...ion-mile-motor). I wonder why, outside of testing, the Lexus seems to be more reliable though they performed similarly, in regards to stress-free mileage after testing (though I have heard that BMW's of this vintage are pretty reliable too).

I also agree that these cars were never meant to last this long but I suspect they it was possible.

 

See they do exist. And how many miles on that car?

 

Thanks Yamae for posting that video, it's amazing how over engineered this car is, they had more engineering workers than a Boeing 747. One of the best car ever produced.

 

that BMW was only run on a dynamometer (as the article states, basically a big hamster wheel for a car) and run at constant RPMs under ideal conditions following the maintenance schedule exactly... so we're not talking about the same levels of stress as a car driving out on the road. no bumps to unsettle anything, no salt to make things corrode, no extreme cold to put extra stress on the engine and moving parts, nobody to beat on the car when the oil is still cold or neglect maintenance... BMW basically reset the trip computer at the top of a very big hill and went "look how good the MPGs are!!"

not saying that putting the equivalent of a million miles on a car isn't impressive but that doesn't tell the full story. toyota literally took the LS all over the world to test it in real life situations including a tropical desert or deep into the arctic circle. the toyota production method also accounts for the remarkably low level of defects found in its cars and is a major part of why lexus and toyota consistently top JD power or consumer reports reliability surveys and are almost always recommended as a smart purchase.

many manufacturers will order X amount of parts from whoever will do it the cheapest and they'll then fix problems once they arise after the cars have already rolled off the factory. toyota works with its suppliers while keeping them very close to the factory and doesn't pit them against each other for the lowest price. toyota also encourages its factory workers to pull the cable and stop production if ANYTHING seems out of the ordinary. there was once an issue at a factory where there was an issue where the seat wouldn't recline. production was halted, the faulty seat was taken to the seat supplier (literally) down the road from the factory, and within an hour the part had been updated and production resumed. toyota is all about minimizing waste and keeping efficiency to a maximum. if you've never been to a toyota factory i would suggest it because the place is immaculately kept with not a single bolt unaccounted for.

 

BMW's suck in the real world. All of them.

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