toyota build quality !

Anonymous · March 26, 2006, 15:25

HI,Below is a list of bits & bobs that toyota have replaced on my 2 over the last 3 years driving(mostly weekends) The car has covered 12k miles & has been serviced every 4k,much 2 the dismay of the local toyota dealer telling me iam wasting my £ as it doesnt need doing !
1-2 sets of rear lights
2-2 sets of 3rd high level brake light
3-3 sets of alloy wheels
4-2 sets of wheel nuts
5-replacement roof & frame
6-numerous rubbers & seals around windows
7-power steering pump
8-front brake discs
9-front brake pads (for above discs)
10-new battery

That is quiet a list of so called faulty parts on a car that has 12k miles !!Toyota realy need to get ther act together with this .Your thoughts please.

aaronjb · March 26, 2006, 15:48

Quote from: "kenmr2"Your thoughts please.

Build Quality (b

ld kw

l

-t

) - Fabled quality of past vehicles from some Japanese and German manufacturers, in reality not present in any vehicles made in the last ten years.

Regarding the faults you've had:

Front & rear lights commonly mist up
Alloy wheels all bubble & flake, some after just a few weeks
There is at least one known problem with some roofs, leading to wear & holes
Power steering pumps can, and do, go wrong - not hugely common, but a few ocurrences at least
Brake discs rust
Batteries die with age - and do not last well with infrequent use in these cars

As far as I know:
Nobody else has reported having the 3rd brake light replaced
Problems with rubber seals are very rare (perhaps one reported problem, I think?)

Still, at least your engine hasn't gone pop yet..

Anonymous · March 26, 2006, 16:00

well now you mention engine,i just got the tte twin on last friday took the 2 for a spin this morning & iv got a manfuntion light on s:(

s:( .so its back again 2 MRT first thing in morning.gona push my luck with the heat shield & see if i can get a new one (under waranty of course ) s:D

s:D s:D

s:D Then get the pre cats checked out by them & if they blow its ther baby !

kanujunkie · March 26, 2006, 18:09

i'm up to £22500 of warranty at the mo, but a new hood is about to be placed in s:? :? s:? plus a 4th set of wheels s:? :? s:? s:? :? s:? and i've never claimed for any misted lights yet hhhhmmmmmm!

Chris_h · March 26, 2006, 20:36

These warranty claims on the 2 do seem very high.... It does however seem that Toyota are more receptive to carrying out warranty work than many other OEMs. It does seem that a large number of the problems are cosmetic as opposed to failures - which is good for those of us out of warranty. It also explains why Toyota continues to score highly on the JD Power etc - as in terms of 'breakdowns' this still seems quite low.

I am sure the remainder of the Toyota range can't be so bad - judging by Toy Corp profitability. These levels of warranty claim can't be sustained across many vehicles - even though the suppliers will be taking lots of the pain (wouldn't like to be the alloy wheel supplier s:(

s:( )

£22,500 is an impressive effort! - did your hood fail with the sharp bits on the frame puncturing it?

Aaron, agree re fabled german / jap build quality. I still think Toyota are well ahead of VW and MB especially. MB have been utterly diabolical for proper breakdowns and my experiences of VAG and BMW products recently haven't been particularly pleasing.

Could be worse, we could have Alfas.

kanujunkie · March 26, 2006, 21:00

Quote from: "Chris_h"£22,500 is an impressive effort! - did your hood fail with the sharp bits on the frame puncturing it?

youre almost bang on, it was the hood.
They cocked the replacement up 5 times before they got it right s:roll: :roll: s:roll: one time resulted in part of the metalwork being replaced, total cost came to the price of the car in total. Worst thing is i've noticed some of the stitchings tearing, so i may need another one yet s:(

s:(

Chris_h · March 26, 2006, 22:33

Assuming you hood is replaced just prior to going out of warranty, is it then covered for a further 12 months? (irrespective of whether you extend warranty)
Or, do they work on the basis that they are making it 'as it was' and the car is ex-warranty?

If the latter, I assume you would have good case to make them extend it as they seem to have 'ballsed' it up many times....

kanujunkie · March 26, 2006, 22:36

fortunatley i've got till September, so game on s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

Tem · March 27, 2006, 11:41

Quote from: "kenmr2"Toyota realy need to get ther act together with this .Your thoughts please.

My thoughts. Instead of making great cars and nice profit like they used to, they are making nice cars and great profit these days. That said, Toyota still has one of the best build qualities in the world.

dimwit · March 27, 2006, 14:01

So were do Toyota feature in the j d powers report? carn't remember them in the top ten...

Anonymous · March 27, 2006, 15:43

Just dont think the build quality is there any more,they are built for max profit !

proeliator2001 · March 27, 2006, 17:04

You have to give Toyota some credit for the '2. It doesnt seem to get as many faults as some other cars and it is a low quantity model with mostly unique parts so I'd expect some rough edges. Audi is supposed to be good quality and look at their TT dashpod failures (£1k apiece!), coil packs, dropping windows etc etc. It affects all cars and I am sure that MR2 drivers are likely to be more fussy with their vehicle than say, a typical Fiesta driver who may let minor faults pass or not even notice them!

Tem · March 27, 2006, 17:09

Quote from: "proeliator2001"You have to give Toyota some credit for the '2.

I am sure that MR2 drivers are likely to be more fussy

TBH, I couldn't care less about most issues I've had, it's THE engine issue that really bothers me.

spit · March 27, 2006, 17:44

Quote from: "Tem"TBH, I couldn't care less about most issues I've had, it's THE engine issue that really bothers me.

I agree.

The bean-counters must've weighed up the implications of denial against "recall-and-rectify" and decided that keeping quiet was the better option.

I doubt that this display of ignorance will significantly dent the MrT reputation if the majority of '2 drivers are blissfully unaware that problems are lurking s:? :? s:? I'm sure we all know car owners who have had "bad luck" with their vehicles but still stuck to the brand. Sad really.

heathstimpson · March 27, 2006, 22:26

Quote from: "kanujunkie"
Quote from: "Chris_h"£22,500 is an impressive effort! - did your hood fail with the sharp bits on the frame puncturing it?

youre almost bang on, it was the hood.
They cocked the replacement up 5 times before they got it right s:roll: :roll: s:roll: one time resulted in part of the metalwork being replaced, total cost came to the price of the car in total. Worst thing is i've noticed some of the stitchings tearing, so i may need another one yet s:( s:(

I've just noticed some stitching ripping on the onside inner edge; will add it to my 3rd service list later this week s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

edward.carter · March 28, 2006, 08:43

Quote from: "dimwit"So were do Toyota feature in the j d powers report? carn't remember them in the top ten...

Cant remember exactly where toyota came but i would ignore anything in that survey anyway, because its based on what all the owners think. So according to "the owners" mr2 came 60th in braking, honda jazz came 29th and skoda octavia came 6th....

aaronjb · March 28, 2006, 09:15

Incidentally, I happened to be next to a Lexus IS200 this morning - guess what?

His wheels were bubbling & flaking, just like ours....

normanh · March 28, 2006, 10:42

Hi

Just purchased my "2" 5 weeks ago a 2001 model in red, the dealer promised a new roof and wheel refurb as flaking. Wheels duely done and look great, however the roof was a mess and had to be done again. Its likely those experiencing roof probs from main dealers maybe due to the fact that the roofs need to be fitted by specialists not an ordinary technicans, thats the big failing on dealers. Mine has had some new frames now as well as the roof being replaced, I hate to think at what cost finally. On the warranty basis well if you look at the paperwork most items other than brakes cultches and plugs which are consumables Toyaota warrant other parts for 2 to 3 years. I told may dealer I expect more than a year from a new roof fitted by them!

s:?: :?: s:?: normanh

Anonymous · March 29, 2006, 17:46

Was chatting to one of my customers the other day who runs an alloy wheel refurbing business. He says he likes doing Toyota and Lexus wheels because the finish is the easiest to strip....

Two's Company · March 30, 2006, 08:49

Quote from: "RUSTY"Was chatting to one of my customers the other day who runs an alloy wheel refurbing business. He says he likes doing Toyota and Lexus wheels because the finish is the easiest to strip....

Are they based in the North West Russ? How about a club discount similar to KN Wheels? It would be good if there were a few recommended places around the country to get this done. Gradually more and more people are going to need refurbs as our warranties run out. Mine has had 2 sets of wheels and needs another...

Anonymous · March 30, 2006, 11:57

Quote from: "normanh"Its likely those experiencing roof probs from main dealers maybe due to the fact that the roofs need to be fitted by specialists not an ordinary technicans, thats the big failing on dealers. Mine has had some new frames now as well as the roof being replaced, s:?: :?: s:?: normanh

Let's face it the average Mr T tech will spend the majority of his time working on Yaris, Avensis, Rav 4 etc. An MR2 is going to be a bit more of a rarity.
How many of these MR2's are coming in to have new roofs fitted? Not many I'd bet - hence the tech may well have never even worked on an mr2 let alone fitted a soft top.Judging by other peoples experiences I wouldn't let MR T anywhere near my roof.
When mine was changed I had it done by a specialist company - top class job , absolutely faultless and water proof.

kanujunkie · March 30, 2006, 12:09

Quote from: "simonp"How many of these MR2's are coming in to have new roofs fitted? Not many I'd bet

the tech that did my drain bins recently hadn't removed a softop in 3yrs!

heathstimpson · March 31, 2006, 09:07

Quote from: "kanujunkie"
Quote from: "simonp"How many of these MR2's are coming in to have new roofs fitted? Not many I'd bet

the tech that did my drain bins recently hadn't removed a softop in 3yrs!

That's why my dealer sent it down the road to Aston Martin to have fitted s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Chris_h · April 5, 2006, 20:18

Quite interesting this, I stumbled across it on the What Car website.

Mr2 comes 24th (out of c. 125) in the 2005 JD Power survey. Not bad.

However, the comment is the most interesting given all the problems we read about here...

"Toyota MR2 Third in class
Rating 81.8% Overall Ranking 24th=
The MR2 was snapping at the Celica's heels in this year's survey, and finished inside the top 25 overall. Owners were happier than any of their rivals' in this category with the modest bills for fuel, insurance and servicing.

Mechanical problems are rare, and not a single engine fault was reported. The only black mark noted was for convenience – a reflection on the risible luggage space."
m http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-special-r ... EL=3121180 m

Link to 2005 JD Power by model

m http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-special-r ... L=3121180# m

Anonymous · April 6, 2006, 02:11

Toyota is still running on a reputation it built years ago in terms of build quality and reliabilty. It used to be compared to Honda as unbreakable, but lets face it, Honda and Lexus still top every reliability survey while Toyota rarely break the top ten with more than one model. They've slipped because of the number of vehicles they produce. But i guess if they produced less, the '2' would be the first to go so we cant complain too much!