Such and such is a crap car....

ninty9er

I'm on my first car but drove a few in the process of deciding so thats part of how I go on.

My dad's had a few pre 80s Fiats, and while rustbuckets were OK, even had one up to 1990.

I worked in a FIAT/ALFA dealer for a few months and the amount of trouble the punto gave on niggly tings was unbelievable, Mainly wiper motors or immobiliser trouble. Alfa's.... wouldn't buy a s/h one because you cant' tell what kind of life it'll have had and they need to be babied. Wouldn't buy a new one because I'd end up spending months trying to sell it like my dad is currenlt doing with the Citroen. He has it on for 8k when the average carzone price is in excess of 9 with quite a few private included. FS for 6 months now.

He sold an 11 year old Carina in 3 days and a 10 year old vectra in 7 weeks.

Toyotas sell second hand and the only major issue I've heard of is the gearbox falling out of a brand new Yaris my uncle sold a few years back. He duly replaced the car...Toyota service!!! Generally why people buy them. It's 99.9% unlikely it'll go wrong, and if it's a Toyota fault its 99.9% they'll take care of it.

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Basically I gather my opinions from others my family and myself, with myself becoming a bigger part now that I can drive

311

toyota wanted to sue my ma , after the back wheel broke off her 5 year old avensis.

Luckily she was only doing 25mph around a country corner and ended up with the car at a 45 degree angle.
The cast iron broke off from the axle ,toyota tested the metal and then had the cheek to start saying it might need the money for the tests it done on the metal and basically told her to get lost.
This had been the fourth consecutive toyota purchase ,needless to say the local dealer didn't want to know either.
This is all true ,not a word of a lie ,a lot of people will disbelieve but the car is actually back on the road ,someone in the family rebuilt the axle and fixed it up.
Needless to say my ma went with honda after ,with my encouragement. Loyalty means nothing.
Toyota = Auto toy.

junkyard

I had a Corolla estate I bought nearly new in 1996 and soon after buying it it started burning oil, I took it back to the main dealer and they tried to worm their way out of warranty and eventually I got so sick of it I traded it in for a BMW 530d and in fairness to BMW I haven't had a days trouble since. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend Toyotas in a big way even though they're not all bad I think its more the dealers fault than the cars tbh.

TempestSabre

Had a bad experience with that toyota dealer over in walkinstown. But then I have a low opinion of all main dealers. Yet to have a good experience with one.

311

theres a toyota dealer at the end of the dublin to carlow road ,just as you come into carlow town.
I know people who have travelled far and wide to deal with the guy as he does great deals ,both on secondhand and new.
I think a lot of people from dublin ,go outside dublin for good deals.

overdriver

A neighbour of mine who was a Hackney driver bought a 98 Avensis new. It broke his heart. Tracking problems associated withe the steering rack ate new tyres in TWO days, the electric windows scored the glass constantly, the drivers seat collapsed twice in 75K.
He tried to sue Toyota, and they sued him. He moved before I could find out the outcome.
Another neighbour had a brand new Fiesta which cut out constantly, nearly killing him and his family on the M50. It turned out to be a pinched fuel pipe, which they'd run under the driver's seat!!!
He sued Ford, lost, and now is not allowed to buy a new Ford, or he'll have no warranty.

After all this, I still swear by Toyotas. I've put 175k on a Carina E, about 50k on a carina II, and the ex' 1990 Carina II is still going like a train. That's my personal experience, and until something else changes my mind, that's the way I'll stay - a Toyota man.

My trip into the world of classic motoring has taught me how far we have come. My Herald needs constant tinkering, or adjustment to the way i drive to keep it going. But that was par for the course then.

311

Someone in the family told us to get copper grease put somewhere in the steering when the avensis was getting serviced ,it was a problem avensis's had back in around 97-99.
This is something that was done at no charge ,so obviously the toyota dealer knew about it but never sent a letter to us telling us about it.

I respect the toyota idea ,mass produce quality ,but I think when you bang out at a high rate there is bound to be lots of problems before a machine is rectified, i.e. I had a hi-ace a few years back ,from day one the thing would intermittenly sway to the right. Went to the dealer ,he said come back after 500 miles and see how you get on .Came back and he said not under warranty sorry.
Someone told me this problem would have been caused by the geometry of the vehicle and it was a manufacturing fault.

Bought a secondhand toyota corrolla off another dealer a few years later ,after about three weeks I decided to wax it . Noticed the line of the boot did not match the rear of the car ,at closer inspection a serious lacker job was done on the boot. The back of the car had been completely wrote off.
Got a full refund back off them ,couldn't believe they thought I wouldn't see it.

Wishbone Ash

ds20prefecture wrote:

There's also wall-to-wall BMW owners which, while they may be bangers, are far from low budget.

LOL