Artie
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I think Covid plays a role, but not the virus itself… instead, the response to it. To to be completely honest, Covid has become the excuse to hide the decades of poor decisions made by leadership exporting manufacturing overseas and letting labor unions make demands that have pushed domestic automakers to more aggressive cost saving strategies. This coupled with ever tightening CAFE standards also forcing auto makers to ditch reliability in search of better MPG. We have had the honor of watching the worlds most dominant automotive powerhouse to be completely destroyed and turned into a shell of itself.I really hate how everything is blamed on covid but I don't think anything foreign or domestic is safe right now. I know your Nav was pre-covid but the service, support, and parts are all still affected by covid. I think its a crappy excuse but its facts of life. I have issues with equipment we sell that is foreign and domestic, some companies suck at taking care of the end user and some are good. I've been dealing with one manufacturer (just sent the VP and email actually) that has been terrible to work with, I've been dealing with the issue for 6 months now and they can't get it resolved. Their entire sales and support staff changed during covid and now they are terrible to work with. I can only imagine that the same garbage is happening everywhere right now.
While its very unfortunate, when you were getting quick quality service you were liking your Nav pretty good. Once the quick and quality service disappeared its no longer so fun. I know you picked up a yota and I hope you have better luck there! My FIL's Highlander has been to the shop more than all my vehicles combined and they hardly use the highlander. I mean one time they picked it up and the guy told them he didn't know if he got the issue fixed and to come back if it was still doing it. They didn't make it home before turning around. I don't know that you are safe with any manufacturer right now.
I did purchase a Toyota, a 2021 Land Cruiser. These are built to completely different standards than the rest of the Toyota line as they have to meet standards for use for governments and the UN. The quality is undoubtedly there and I’m impressed every time I get behind the wheel, it helps that we put a Highlander’s coat worth of modifications on it. However, we also just out a deposit down on a Toyota Sienna, I am very apprehensive about this purchase but when compared to the other options in this class we made the best buying decision. We wanted an AWD model and the only other manufacturer that builds a AWD mini van is Chrysler… need I say more on that decision, not exactly a Sophie’s choice.