On 11/04/94, Ric hinted at what he thought of Toyotas:

>TOYOTAS!!! GAAAAAAGGG!!!

>('86 GTI S&M recap removed)

>It still runs...original engine, etc...doesn't burn a 
>drop, its a bit tired but its been thru hell..

>so before you start off on your toyodors on how good they
>last, thrash one about for a couple of years...hell anyu

I once heard someone say that you can't beat a VW when nothing's broke, 
but you don't want to have one when it is.  ;)

I had an '84 GTI that got to ~150K miles before some inconsiderate %^$#@!
decided to have a five car accident and I can honestly say it was as tight
the day I signed it over to AAA as the day I bought it (it looked like sh*t,
but ran great).

Anyway, I replaced it with an '87 Corolla FX16 (the one with the MR2 engine),
and considering how much I mistreat it and shove it into microscopic parking
spaces and things like that, it keeps coming back for more.  I DO make sure
that it's mechanically well taken care of, including oil changes and stuff, 
but it's nice to have a car that I don't have to get all worked up about if 
someone puts a door ding in the side, or for that matter, have to worry about
unsavory types thinking about breaking into your car (and owners of A1 & A2
Rabbits, Golfs, & Jettas know what I mean).

So there you have it, Ric, the real reason to have a Japanese/Asian car is
to use it as a sacrificial lamb for all the precious German iron that we DO 
care about...  oh, and sometimes it is nice to have a car that starts on
Monday morning so you can earn the $ needed to keep the other car(s) running
;)

Norman-whose stinky "toyodor"'s sitting everywhere but inside my garage...

ps-oops, 'almost forgot, thanks very much to everyone who replied re:
the appropriate timing of a vehicle's first oil change;  I'll do a 
postmortem later.