I could'nt agree less with every single point! first off, u said it urself, corolla really is khota. I would rather spend a bit more n ride on a horse then save little money and ride a khota.
Now, first off, i am NOT a fan boy at all... i HATE it when someone calls me that. i always back my arguments with solid facts and not by the word of some road side desi mechanic. infact im amazed that u actually trust these mechanics with all that knowledge. i dont! i EDUCATE my mechanics, not other way around. and yes, my city's suspension did die at 160,000 kms but do u know what kind on road it was driven on? we own a business in khushab and johrabad which is 50 & 60 kms away from Sargodha respectively. from 2007-2009, that complete stretch was under construction (@rollonbigmama can confirm u as he lives a further 100 or so kms down the road) and i used to drive on it 120 kms every alternate day. now, do u still think the suspension was to be blamed? 160,000 kms is a LOT of mileage anyways. after that, the suspension was repaired which didnt last (cuz it wasnt changed) and frankly, i did change all the parts (almost) but not OEM, though best quality open market stuff and now its doing fine.
as for reliability. yes, to be precise, its lexus which has been crowned as the most reliable car brand and i respect that. n yes, toyotas are excellent and very reliable too but i ve found Honda's to be equally reliable too! infact, if u visit international forums frequently, u ll find out that most japanese cars are very reliable, like nissan, mitsubishi and subaru etc are all regarded as almost indestructible. its only that toyota out numbers them by quite a margin so the feedback is much larger then honda or nissan etc. but if well taken care of, any Japanese car will serve u well. as for me prefering civic over jdm X, well the reason is that i like stability and agility, 2 things we all know that civic has much more then corolla. its undebatable i wud say. thats why i prefered civic. and btw, build quality of 2001 civic is damn solid. that 01 vti has 280k kms, its going strong on stock engine and theres not a single rattle in the dashboard or anywhere. i wud say its equally gud compared to a jdm car of that age. may be less features but no compromise on quality.
rent a cars have corolla, but u know what, i dont believe in the concept of combined wisdom of pakistani awaam. we are the qoum which gets underside of brand new cars sprayed with kallaa diesel+oil mixture. u'd agree that most new car owners do it (look at masses, a few 100k people in isb are a minority) but does it means its the right thing to do? hell no!! please dont state rent a car and desi mechanics as ur benchmark, for God's sake!
u say city was launched when car prices were hiking. really? because as far as i remember, car prices were almost stagnant back in 90s. city was introduced in 1996. and it was launched because honda learned that they have finally planted their feet in a new country where they had installed a production plant just 2 years back in 1994. thats why city was launched. car prices were never as high as they are now. i mean even comparatively. i bought my city for 840k and never complained, today, it seems ridiculous that i'd have to pay 1.5m for almost a similar new car. and form 96-2009, honda sales were growing every year. i can provide u with proofs as i have their financial statements with me. in 2009, people were disappointed by new city due to high price, dull interior and fewer options and civic was already too expensive. thats why sales started dropping. now though, city is much better then when it was launched. its interior is not dull, feature are promising and even has a 1.5l engine.
i cant say how many ppl shifted from honda to toyota or other way around but im sure the difference is immaterial. but dont think honda is failing at what they are good.
and please, if u want to reply to this post, please back ur arguments with facts and not opinion of chacha shabeer taxi wala or nikkuu ustaad from khaadda market... im allergic to the BS that people like these suggest regarding cars.
