Toyota Uk Declining Customer Standards

[Hi_Camry]

Hi everyone, Can I have your views?

A well known Ford Dealer has taken over my Local Toyota dealership. My Camry (I purchased new for 20k a few years back) hit 60K and needed a new timing belt. Fitted by said dealer for £250. The car now makes a hell of a racket when cold.

The dealer said nothing to do with us mate! However, if you want us to take a look we will have to do a full test for a whole day, run tests and make our recommendations for repair...What the f***!!! I said!

They did manage to also screw up the brake warning sytem in the process of the fitting too (Brake M-cylinder & wiring are in vicinity of TB, but they did fix this FOC). Crap service. Just what I would expect from a Ford Dealer, but not a Toyota Dealer!

Car has now lost its "edge" so decided to look at new Camry (or looking) on the Toyota GB web site. The site does not have this model featured! What the top of their range, not there!!!! Good marketing ploy!!!!

After 7 Toyotas over 24 years (amazing but true) I am so ****** off with Toyota GB & the dealer, I am seriously looking at a Jag X type instead!

Dennis Rhodes

[Gareth]

from a toyota to a jag, not a good move if you disklike ford. X type is just a mondeo!

G

[rickers]

sorry to hear. camry's r normally very good.

there seems to be a problem with the car dealers in the north being swallowed up by a large group who's initials ar 'AC' is this the name that took over your dealership?

have you spoken to toyota GB. shame the dealer review section is gone, because this is where this sort of stuff should go. hint hint Steve

after all this site should be about the negative things that toyota could learn from and just not a glorification site.

rickers

[Hi_Camry]

Precicely! Toyota have upset me that bad!

[Hi_Camry]

Dealer used to be called Arriva. They were taken over by "BF" the F standing for Ford! They took over 2 dealerships, mine being in the WF2 postcode area.

This has coincided withthe loss of some key personnel too in their service team. Who's Steve?

Dennis

[jamesholden]

I heard somewhere that they were thinking of dropping the Camry in the UK once the 2.4 version of the Avensis had been introduced as the Camry is a very niche market in the UK. My dad has one of the old shape Camrys (very nice it is but on Friday it's being replaced with a used Lexus LS400), but they only sell around 500 a year so it's not viable to keep importing them.

Personally, I would think about getting a 3 year old LS430 if you like the Camry as they are a far superior car (not that the Camrys are in any way inferior they are certainly better than the Avenisis and other non Japanese built Toyota's) but for £25k you can get a nice LS430 from a Lexus dealer which I think would be a more tempting buy than a new Camry, although I did see a used new shape Camry at my dealer a few months ago for about £13k.

[Bibbs]

I know nothing about dealers .. as they will not service my car .. also £60 an hour is a bl**dy rip off ..

[rickers]

£60 an hour is a bl**dy rip off ..

totally agree, i use a BMW(yuk) specialist, at 25 quid/hr, and at least they are used to seeing straight 6's. I judge by the quality of their workmanship, and not by what they look like.

I love the camry esp. 92 to 96 model. but found my Mark II at half the price and half the mileage, for the year. and it is something special on UK roads.

Steve is the moderator of these boards, and for some reason has ttaken the dealer reviews down, and it would be nice to have them back up again.

good luck

rickers

[Hi_Camry]

Drop the Camry! Wow, where did U hear that! Make it even more exclusive! Thats what I relish, the pure rareity of the car.

I think the Mk III's were the nicest shape, followed by a top of the range Mk IV. I was tempted to bring one in from South Africa, when Europe had moved to the Mk V (Current) in 2001. Found that these were the last Mk IV's out of the Aus plant, so not true Jap build, also made for the "Veld" so would probably rust in no time here.

Have noticed too that 2nd hand Mk V's are quite a bit cheaper when a year old, so will look for a good example.

Looked at Lexus, so dam expensive to run though. Must admit do like the GS300 series.

Tell me more though of this Avensis 2.4. 1st I have heard of it!!! Probably UK built I guess. Strange isn't it I went to Toyota in 1980 (as a 23 year old lad) & got a brand new Starlet, because of horrific British built cars from BL always letting me down! Now they make Toyota here, where can I still get a true Jap built car? Mazda 6? The TS2 (with Bose Music) is real tempting.

Dennis

[jamesholden]

Drop the Camry! Wow, where did U hear that! Make it even more exclusive! Thats what I relish, the pure rareity of the car. 

I think the Mk III's were the nicest shape, followed by a top of the range Mk IV. I was tempted to bring one in from South Africa, when Europe had moved to the Mk V (Current) in 2001. Found that these were the last Mk IV's out of the Aus plant, so not true Jap build, also made for the "Veld" so would probably rust in no time here.

Have noticed too that 2nd hand Mk V's are quite a bit cheaper when a year old, so will look for a good example.

Looked at Lexus, so dam expensive to run though. Must admit do like the GS300 series.

Tell me more though of this Avensis 2.4. 1st I have heard of it!!! Probably UK built I guess. Strange isn't it I went to Toyota in 1980 (as a 23 year old lad) & got a brand new Starlet, because of horrific British  built cars from BL always letting me down!  Now they make Toyota here, where can I still get a true Jap built car? Mazda 6? The TS2 (with Bose Music) is real tempting.

Dennis 

Lexus are not really that expensive to run, the LS400 on a good run will do nearly 30MPG which is very good for a 4.0 V8.

The current shape Camrys sold in the UK are made in Japan from the ones I have seen anyway (see the top corner of the windscreen and it should say where it was made).

As regards the Mazda 6 - well sorry to dissapoint you, although it is made in Japan it too is based on the Ford Mondeo in part although not as much as the basically rebadged Mondeo which is the Jag X and S type, just like the new Mazda 3 has lots of net generation Focus in it and the new Mazda 2 is very heavily Fiesta although it doesnt look like it.

The new shape Honda Accord and Jazz are made in Japan aswell as the Legend, Nissans are full of Renault parts now days which is why they break down and fall apart so steer clear of them, which basically leaves Lexus and the Camry in this sort of size range.

Personally i'm not too sure how well the new Avensis will hold up build wise, although the initial quality seems much improved over the old shape like I have (which is frankly very poor especially compared to my old Primera (proper nissan one - no renault input even though it was made in the UK) but the new Avensis too is made in the UK so whether they will stand up to the test of time build wise still needs proving as they have only been out around 18 months.

If you want Bose you could get yourself an old shape Honda Accord in either SE Exec or Type-V (luxury spec) as they had the Bose system - the one my dad had was an SE Exec and the build on that seemed OK for a British car and was certainly better build than my Avensis, but I would say get a Camry then perhaps upgrade to a Bose system in it.

I would say get yourself another Camry as they are very exclusive, either that or a nice LS400 which are a lot more frugal that you might expect.

[Starensis]

I must correct you on the Jag S-Type being a re-badged Mondeo!

It is true of the X-Type, however, the S-Type is based on a Lincoln ( still Ford I know ).

The X-Type though is a realistic option, especially now it comes with Fords 2.0 Litre DTCI engine. I work for Jag & we can get them now for around 16K ( 2 litre Petrol ). Most Jag worker are now going for one opposed to a top Mondeo.

A least Jag are reknown for their Dealerships & after sale service!

Tough decision to make......Jag V's Lexus? <_<

[yannick]

Tell me more though of this Avensis 2.4. 1st I have heard of it!!! Probably UK built I guess.

The 2.4 Avensis is currently made in the UK for the Japanese market (I think, anyway). It is meant to be making an appearance in Europe soon (this year I believe), but all the rumours I have read say that it will be a 5-speed auto only. Expect it to be only available with the top level of trim too.

[jamesholden]

It is true of the X-Type, however, the S-Type is based on a Lincoln ( still Ford I know ).

Tough decision to make......Jag V's Lexus?  <_<

I stand corrected.

As regards Jag v Lexus - theres not much effort that needs to go into that, especially considering the poor crash test results compared to Toyota's usually high ones and the fact that the X-type came quite low down in the JD power surveys - funnily enough, next to the Mondeo.

The 2.4 Avensis is available in T4 spec and above and is only available with the auto transmission - but I think it is a good thing as Toyota auto's are currently better than the manuals and Auto's are better to drive, in the real world more fuel efficient and generally quicker especially proper Japanese boxes which tend to only add half a second to the 0-62 over the manual so the auto will be better in the real world as you will get that figure everytime, whereas in a manual there are lots of varying factors.