You can always tell if a car is an overseas import regardless of make by looking at the front bumper. As far as I have been able to tell they all have a small plastic cover plate which is removed and a tiedown hook inserted for the boat trip over. North American built cars, have a clean bumper without the cover plate.

 

Ahh, didn't know I was "pounding my chest" - just answering the question and giving real info about a Kentucky built car.

Scott

 

Toyota, prides itself in quality control, their investment in building Toyota factories here in the U.S is a great thing!!! I am very happy with my Toyota Camry Hybrid ("TCH"). I helped the domestic US economy by purchasing TCH built in the States, trying my best to play my "small" part in reducing my carbon footprint, and investing in a new technology that I hope will gradually reduce the number of non Hybrid vehicles on the road. It is a little known fact but Toyota is more domestic than many of the Detroit manufactures. The big three, have been trying very hard to reduce costs by relocating factories down to Mexico, and shutting down plants here domestically. I would have thought that the effort would have been better spent on learning how to build a better/higher quality product. I do understand that the Big Three have a tremendous labor costs that are crippling them. If I recall correctly, per a 60 Minutes episode, $1,500 to $3,000 of every vehicle's price goes to healthcare costs. (I could be way off on that figure but I recall it being a very material amount)

 

Silver Camry Hybrid,

Oh no, you have bought into the myths of the current administration and its corporate masters! Think of the Big 3 in this way: Those healthcare costs are a result of corporations screwing up our healthcare system and bad management practices on the part of the Big 3. For companies that use time study motion theories, you would think they would be better at managing their companies.

And they aren't doing that badly if they can give their execs all these perks either! The Big 3 are counting on people not knowing that and buying the crap about laying off people. And when I see the labor and healthcare figures as you mention before, I see fellow Americans trying to take care of their families and themselves like we all are. It is all how on your "frame things" these days.... If they spent the money on the employees who actually do the work, instead of the execs, the American middleclass would be in much better shape.

 

I've got to admit I'm a bit disappointed in the interior quality of my three-week-old KY-built. It's far from the worst I've experienced (that would be a '95 Ford Contour that started shedding trim bits the day I bought it), but not up to the standards of the last few Hondas I've had (including an Ohio-built Accord that needed a new tranny right off the bat but was otherwise a jewel). A couple examples:

- There's an uneven gap between the panels on the driver's door -- just above the inside handle the panel bulges out slightly, leaving a sliver of empty space. The passenger side is fine.
- Another uneven gap between the dash top and the panel above the glove box. It's tight on the side by the door, but there's a bit more than 1/16" of empty space on the side by the center stack.
- The first time I pressed the button to open the fuel door, that whole dash panel (left side under the steering wheel) flexed and nearly fell off. I thwacked it back into place and it seems good and tight now -- I think one or two of the clips weren't fastened.
- Seems to be little rattly, though not nearly as bad as that Ford (or my wife's Japan-built Mazda Protege5, for that matter, which has been plagued with a nasty center stack rattle that's come and gone since day one). My British-built '05 Civic Si was absolutely rattle-less its whole time with me, and the interior was assembled flawlessly.
- Plus, there seems to be a lot of hard cheap plastic for a $30K vehicle. I'm not expecting Lexus-level materials, but that $18K '05 Civic didn't seem this cost-cut. I think the fact that it's all light grey doesn't help -- I had an Infiniti G35 with a very plasticky interior but it was all black and it didn't seem as cheap-looking. Black plastic also hides bad gaps well. I'd probably have never noticed those first two items if the black gap hadn't been so obvious.

These are *very* minor nit-picks, but one of Toyota's big selling points is their fit and finish and so I guess I expected more. I still love the car overall and I was very pleased to get ~42 MPG on an out-of-town trip today with plenty of passing power on the two-lane roads (the 50-to-80 acceleration in this 3700-pound car is almost startling with just a 140-hp four under the hood).

I would be curious to compare a Japan-built car and see if they're any different. Obviously, the cheap-ish materials would be the same, but I'm wondering if the fit tolerances are down to the quality of the parts or the quality of the assembly. The car I test-drove was Japan-built, but I naturally I didn't examine it as closely as I have this one.

Regardless, though, I live near the Georgetown plant and I'm very happy to support a local workforce. It'll take more than a couple of tiny panel gaps to make me regret that aspect of my purchase.

 

Kentucky built 07 TCH 50th anniversary edition.

Door gaps- actually hard to believe- none fit. I have seen GM or Ford product fitting better. Trunk does not fit, neither do taillights. Interior stainless steel accents are so misaligned that I will actually take the car to Toyota dealer and have them order new trim. Yes, it is that bad. There is not enough paint on the inside surfaces of the trunk lid, the sealer and/or the primer shows through. The wind whistles with the windows all the way up. The list goes on and on. I also have a 2007 Solara Convertible built in Kentucky, same quality issues. Very disappointing.
Now, I do not expect Lexus quality (I also have LX 470, so I know the meaning of that…) but this is ridiculous!!!
I am a strong believer in Toyota, and will continue to buy their products. The next one I buy will have a VIN beginning with a “J” though…
Unfortunately, the Americans still can’t build a decent car.
Just my 2 cents…

 

I'm sorry to hear that you have so many problems with yours. I also have a Kentucky built 2007 TCH (not 50th anniversary), and if anything, I have to say that I have never encountered fit and finish as supurbly done as this in any car I've ever had before.

 

Steinbock, I recently sent you a private message asking you about your 50th anniversary edition? You and I are most likely the only Canadians with this vehicle. Sorry to hear of your problems and will closely inspect my car again.
PM with your e mail address. Regards voodoo

 

My car (made in japan) has been perfect and have never had it back to dealer for anything. Workers from Japan have a better tilt on things lol!!

 

Yeowch. The outside of mine seems fine -- the panel gaps are maybe a bit wider than I'm used to, but they're consistent and even.

I checked the dash top/above the glove box fit from a different angle today, and there's a tiny gap on the door side as well. The whole thing just doesn't seem to fit right, like it's a seam that's not meant to be seen. The dash styling seems designed to "hide" that seam, if so it needs to be hidden better.

My Ohio-built Accord was tight as a drum. The transmission was defective -- it would grind going into fifth gear about half the time when I first got it. Honda immediately swapped out the whole transmission and everything was great after that.

Ryan