The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.
Are Toyotas still good cars?
MulysaSempronius
but also susienyRegistered User regular
but also susienyRegistered User regular
Short tldr, had a bad experience at a Toyota service center, and I may need to buy a new car. Are Toyotas still considered good and reliable? I've been very soured by this experience, but liked my car until now. Below is the yelp review I plan to post for the service center
They broke my car and expect me to pay for it. I brought it in for an inspection. My check engine light has just tripped, so I knew there might be a problem. I had an 11 am appointment, and they didn't ask me why I was there until an hour later. Cue a song and dance which resulted in me going home and the issue not being diagnosed until the end of the next day. I consider not fixing it, since it was an old car. But I'm assured that is the only issue, and OK the work. I ask them to look at the air conditioner, since it had broken and I figure I could get fixed for the summer. Get a reasonable quote and OK the work. They assure me it will be fixed by Saturday, so my husband goes to pick it up. Waits 4 hours. No, not done, AC needs another part. OK, it was going to be cheap. And we were told this was it with massive apologies. We were told out car would be ok, and passed inspection. We emphasize that the car needs to be fixed by the next Saturday, since I have work. They said it would be done Friday.
Only, we call Saturday morning to come pick it up. They said the hybrid engine light turned on. And it would cost another 3k to fix. We would not have OK d the earlier repairs of we knew they would break the hybrid engine. After saying the car passed inspection, they now say that they cannot sign off on it. Now we have a broken car with 3k work done on it, another 3k needed. And the car is old, not worth 6k.
They broke my car and expect me to pay for it. I brought it in for an inspection. My check engine light has just tripped, so I knew there might be a problem. I had an 11 am appointment, and they didn't ask me why I was there until an hour later. Cue a song and dance which resulted in me going home and the issue not being diagnosed until the end of the next day. I consider not fixing it, since it was an old car. But I'm assured that is the only issue, and OK the work. I ask them to look at the air conditioner, since it had broken and I figure I could get fixed for the summer. Get a reasonable quote and OK the work. They assure me it will be fixed by Saturday, so my husband goes to pick it up. Waits 4 hours. No, not done, AC needs another part. OK, it was going to be cheap. And we were told this was it with massive apologies. We were told out car would be ok, and passed inspection. We emphasize that the car needs to be fixed by the next Saturday, since I have work. They said it would be done Friday.
Only, we call Saturday morning to come pick it up. They said the hybrid engine light turned on. And it would cost another 3k to fix. We would not have OK d the earlier repairs of we knew they would break the hybrid engine. After saying the car passed inspection, they now say that they cannot sign off on it. Now we have a broken car with 3k work done on it, another 3k needed. And the car is old, not worth 6k.
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
0
Posts
My mom's Toyota lasted a good 15 years until we sold it and while it usually went to a Toyota dealership for service, it also went to an independent repair shop since it was closer. Do your research on what type of car you want and if it's another Toyota, don't go back to that service place. My Mazda goes to an independent place and they're great.
As for maintenance and repairs, don't take it back to the dealer. Look around, find a local shop with an excellent reputation, and take it there. Dealers are fucking rip-off merchants.
And yeah, we've tried negotiating with the dealer, and it basically amounts to them shrugging.
I had great dealer experience before this, knowing I was paying a bit too much, but would at least get good service.
And yeah Toyotas are still reliable. At least my '07 Yaris is. It's almost at 100k and only needed routine maintenance.
NPR did a story on Toyota's production line and how they tried to implement it with GM here, it's really a fascinating listen. Near the end of the story, they do mention an issue with acceleration that Toyota had in 2010, but they aknlowedged the problem, recalled the cars, and it's no longer an issue on new Toyotas.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Regarding the stated needed repairs, you can ask them to tell you, specifically, what work they want to do, and why they need to do it to get the car working. Then just google that shit, and make sure it's legit.
As for a ride, if you think insurance will cover it (comprehensive might), ask them, if not ask for a loaner, if not just rent a car, you do not want to buy a car in those circumstances. At all.
source: father, father-in-law, brother-in-law all have or do work in dealership service depts. They're not all bad, but there's a lot of bad ones out there.
Similar price points but the Hyundai is slightly cheaper.
Also Kia isn't bad, just cheap. They're basically "store brand" Hyundais (nowhere near as good a warranty). But if you keep them maintained, well, my Kia is 12 years old and the most expensive thing I've done with it is a routine timing belt replacement.
What the best car for you is ultimately depends on a lot of personal factors, but I'd say Toyota and Hyundai are probably two of the current best brands, in terms of quality of product, customer satisfaction, price, and value
Toyota is generally considered a highly regarded brand. Dealerships can definitely blow though. I never go to them if I can avoid it. Currently I got this old Irish guy in San Francisco and he's fucking great. His quotes are always reasonable and more often than not he bills me for less afterward. Gonna suck when he retires.
Still stings, and annoyed at the sunk cost for leasing . But it's what we can afford.
We did have a Prius... 2003 280,000 miles. So.. Very old. Got a fancy plug in used Prius. Much higher msrp that a normal Prius, but with rebates was the cheapest ( even when compared with other models).
I'm only pointing this out because I see a lot of people miss it, and it's pretty much designed to be a "gotcha" but check your lease paperwork carefully and watch your mileage. Leases typically involve charges for going over a certain number of miles over the life of the lease, and it's not hard to do it (I've seen 10k/yr allowances).
It's pretty much working as intended for leases, it's absolutely a gotcha, so make sure you read everything carefully. Too many people don't.
Eh, disagree on the 15 year thing. Cars now are better than they've ever been, and toyotas are built to be basically bombproof.
Some research sites around reliability:
http://www.truedelta.com/
http://longtermqualityindex.com/
Repair stuff:
http://repairpal.com/
Yeah, I would be pretty surprised if the Prius we have now was unable to make it to around 20.
Thank you for that. It's 45k for three years. I'll keep an eye on it for sure, since my current commute is a decent amount, hence the wanting a Prius. My husband signed the paperwork, and wasn't explicitly warned.
It's entirely possible that the dealership fixed the initial problem, the vehicle ran its self tests at startup, and was now able to discover additional faults in the hybrid system it hadn't previously been able to test for.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
My wife drives an '05 Prius with something like 150k+ miles on it at this point.
The biggest problem we've had is that she's at the dealer getting her taillight LED thing replaced because it's got a short in it.
Still getting ~50 miles to the gallon, week after week.
I've got an '09 Yaris, which has also had 0 actual issues.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Toyota's overall, are extremely cheap to maintain, and with proper maintenence and care can last a LONG time.
I saw this article last week explaining as much.
http://twocents.lifehacker.com/the-car-brands-with-the-highest-maintenance-costs-over-1781639773
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Well, my family have driven Toyotas for decades. My first car was a camry with 200k miles on it when I got it. A friend's corolla lasted forever (though the A/C broke and he never bothered to fix it). I bought a 4door Yaris sedan new for 13k + tax in 2009. A new 4 door toyota for 13k! It's super light, which I like (I dislike driving my mother's Prius V when I visit her because it's soooooo heavy). It rattles sometimes now (the frame in the roof) and entering 1st gear isn't the smoothest I've ever driven (it's a manual). A tow truck dropped a BMW on it once so the rattling may or may not be related to that. Really can't complain!
Haven't had trouble with Toyota service centers, though the Toyota my mother visits I feel charges a lot per hour for labor. For my old corolla they were honest with me when they said various repairs it could use and said "it's probably not worth it compared to the value of the car; you can drive without them."