Toyota Dealers

[RogerI]

I have researched the Prius and on Saturday took the TSpirit for a test drive.

Although the car was in a very dirty condition I was very impressed with

the drive and technology.

On returning to the dealer Westland Toyota Bromsgrove they were very unhelpfully as "they had been busy" whilst I was out on my test (some two hours)

Can someone point me to a dealer in the West Midlands who offers customer service.

[chinni]

Hi,

i cannot recommend a particular dealer because i haven't shopped around much when i ordered my Toyota Prius on May 31st and got it in June from Toyota World, Bristol.

But i can definitely tell you to avoid this particular dealer.

I had gone with the intention of buying the car and i bought this car because i liked it, the technology, comfort in driving etc. If you talk with this dealer, you would never even think of buying toyota prius.

They don't have any answers for your questions. Even they dont' have the knowledge about various features. I don't know how the after sales service.

Two of my friends who wanted to go for Toyota cars, i have recommended not to go to this particular dealer although i was not sure whether they are dealing badly when it comes to Toyota Prius.

i didn't realize how bad this dealer was till i went around looking for a second new car for my wife. Peugeot, Mercedes dealers are very good. Ford is ok but better than Toyota. Finally, i bought mercedes benz because comfort and features wise, my wife liked that car better than anything else.

But when i see the difference between service or dealing provided by Mercedes Benz of bristol you can see how bad the Toyota is.

Some of the people in Prius forums in UK told me that Toyota dealers are very bad if it comes to selling Prius because they don't get much profit on this car.

If that is true, then there's no point checking various dealers. I never bothered about the dealer, although they are so bad. I wanted to buy Prius and i bought it. And its wonderful car no matter from whom you buy it.

There are definitely few problems which in future Toyota might take care of and which dealers may not be able to do anything.

Audio system is ok but if you compare with other cars its very bad. i dont' think you can replace this because its linked to controls on the steering wheel and voice recognition etc. So, i am not going to worry much about it. Second, you can feel every bump and its not as comfortable as Mercedes Benz(nowhere near this car). But its not bad. Other good features compensate for these two features. Navigation system is very good and especially driving is very easy and comfortable compared to other cars.

I have found the reverse drive bit difficult because you can't see especially small kids at the back. Recently i had been to a party and i had to ask my wife to get out and guide me. I don't like the reverse parking sensors and i hope they would start giving a rear view camera which is available from a private company now.

Otherwise car is very good and it would be same wherever you buy from. The other thing which i missed earlier is www.drivethedeal.com it seems they give good deals straight from toyota dealers. If i had known earlier, i would have bought from them and get atleast 1800 pounds discount.

chinni

[RogerI]

Thanks for some very useful information. The tip on www.drivethedeal.com

was of course particularly helpful. The savings are there.

RogerI

[asfafa]

I second chinni's point.

I went to the Bristol branch in June 2004 and they couldn't answer any of my questions, nor could they arrange a test drive. I thought they would have had the decency to keep me informed, but they didn't ring back at all.

No, unless you want a test drive, you should get all your answers from these forums.

I would recommend anyway in the Bristol area to go to the Toyota dealer near Cribbs Causeway.

I'm still not sure about Bath, where I purchased my T4. I am having it serviced (10K) in August, so we shall see what they are like.

paul

[nnw49]

If Oxford isn't too far, then Inchape on the Oxford motor park are OK. They have someone who actually knows about the Prius (+ a different salesman actually has one as his co car...)

Mind you, ours hasn't been back there since we picked it up in March, though service time is already approaching...

Neil.

[videodaveblue]

My Prius broke down on the M5 near Gordano Services, no power althopugh petrol engine running ok and the information display showing 3 symbols indicating that I should contact a Toyota dealer.

I arranged for recovery to home, after the trailer dropped me off decided to check the display for the warning signs that had appeared - Cleared itself! Managed to start the card and drive without problem.

Next working day I contacted Toyota World in Bristol and arranged for a visit later that morning. Computer diagnosis could only find one thing wrong - an unbalanced charge between the high voltage cells. They corrected the imbalance and charged me NOTHING. Can't complain at that (although I have been driving for a month now with a niggling doubt wondering if it would happen again! Delighted to say it hasn't)

Anyone else experienced this type of fault?