The power steering pump sprung a leak at 300 miles.
The front passenger seat belt was defective and had to be replaced.
The transmission "clunks" when shifting from reverse to drive after the car has been setting for five or six hours.
The car has a hesitation at as if the transmission can't decide what gear it wants to be in.
The transmission problems that I have with this car and Toyota's refusal to fix the car, make me wish I never bought the car.
I've been to three different Toyota dealers with the car trying to get something done and it's more than a coincidence that they all have the same response, "It's normal, it's a characteristic of the car".
They refuse to even lift the hood to check the transmission dipstick. It's as if they do anything it could be an acknowledgment that a problem does exist.
As a 2002 Toyota Camry LE owner, I would like to state that I, too, am having the same problems; i.e., power steering pump and car hesitation. I recently took my car to my local Toyota dealer for servicing who informed me that although they suspected my power steering pump was beginning to fail, there was no concrete evidence of this fact. (Although I had to replace quite a lot of the power steering fluid, they claimed they could not find the leak). Accordingly, they refused to replace the power steering pump under my extended warranty. My vehicle currently has 40,200 miles on it. This, unfortunately, is the last straw for me as a Camry owner. Previously they replaced my air compressor (which, ironically, my VIN no. showed it was an American air compressor, but when they actually removed the air compressor from my car, it was determined it was a Japanese make). In any event, I wanted a Camry for years (drove a Toyota Corolla for 10 years) and, with the problems that keep coming up, I can no longer trust this vehicle to get me to/from my job, which is 100 miles round trip. It is my intention to trade my Camry in this week... from a very disappointed 2002 Camry owner.
7/29/04.
2001 Toyota Corolla LE Power Steering Pump:
I bought this car new, and about 150 miles over the warranty the power steering pump went out. My dealer refused to fix this without me paying half of the cost. Well half of the cost was $500.00 dollars. I don't feel this was right. I ended up taking it outside of my dealer to be fixed for less money. The handle on the driver's side won't open half of the time and I'm going to have to have that fixed now.
Now has 45,000 on it.
Comparing a Toyota to a Caravan? You've GOT to be kidding me! Why don't you check out Consumer Reports - the issue that just came out mentions that the Caravan is something to stay FAR away from.
110k miles isn't much, so I wouldn't brag about it. My Corolla's (I've owned two) have both gone over 300k miles.
I'm sorry for your misfortune - every brand has a lemon, but to compare Toyota to a worthless domestic that is unreliable, cheaply made, and has such awful value sustainability is absolutely ridiculous.
Go spread your rumors elsewhere.
And where exactly did someone compare a caravan??
Did you read the review? It said I wished I keeped my Caravan with 110,000 miles! I think that counts as comparing...
Yes, pretty much counts. Let me guess, your Corollas were pre-98, right? Why don't you read the reviews for the 98-2003. Not so good. I had a 96 Corolla as well and it was a wonderful car. 210,000 without any problem that I can call a "problem". Bought two Camrys afterwards- 97 and 2000. Both were not even close in quality to the 96 Corolla, abundant on suspension and mechanical defects with more than perfect maintanance. I would not have a problem comparing the Camry to a Taurus. If you look at the reviews you'll notice that the percentage of bad reviews is about the same, so why not Caravan?
In over 42 years of driving, the ONLY cars that have ever left me or my wife stranded on the highway were both nearly new Toyota Corollas that belonged to friends we were traveling with. Not one of our domestics since our first new one in 1970 has ever left us stranded. In our circle of friends there have been 4 Caravans and 1 Town and Country (a Caravan with $5000 tacked on) that easily made well over 200,000 miles (2 made over 250,000 miles). I've personally never even heard of a Corolla going that far.
19:33 why are you commenting on a Corolla; the review is on a Camry? I've also owned Corollas as well as long as the subject changed, and they nickel and dime you to death over 100,000 miles.
I think the point being made by bringing up the Corolla was to illustrate overall poor quality of Toyotas in general. I do feel, however that up until about 2000, the Camry was actually better built than the cheaper Corolla. Since then it seems that Toyotas entire product line has suffered a huge drop in build quality and overall reliability.
Our friends had to get rid of their outrageously expensive Land Cruiser (Toyota's most expensive vehicle) due to continued and very expensive breakdowns. It seems now that the price range of a particular line has no bearing on quality. The pricey Avalon is also having lots of problems.
Now lets look at an example of whats happening to the quality of TODAYS Toyotas and other imports (or what used to be).
Remember the VCRs of the 1980s. Remember how heavy they were. And remember "all the time" THEY took to put the nice chrome trim, fancy clocks etc on those VCRs?? Not to mention how fancy the stickers and cases for those blank VHS tapes were then. And came with a few stickers so you could replace if you made a mistake writing on them.
NOW LOOK AT how they make VCRS TODAY! (The last years of VCRS being made anyway). Do we NOTICED how CHEAP these VCRs of TODAY are?? Man, I'll tell you, they REALLY stripped every nice detail trim, and eliminated the clocks and fancy displays, not to mention all that milk carton PLASTIC the whole thing is made of! Not to mention those new blank VHS tapes come with only 1 cheap sticker that doesn't even cover that entire spot on the tapes. NOT to mention how CHEAP the plastics of those tapes of today are!!! THUS THEY ARE FAST MADE!!
Well GUESS WHAT you guys, that's the same thing that's happened to TODAYS imports (or what used to be) These cheap manufacturers are wanting to SAVE money, by cutting the quality of the parts and stripping down that little chrome, they think we will not notice!