I agree with many of the other comments, your Dealer is the biggest of your 3 problems. I am an automotive technician. Many clients I have spoken to have made disparaging comments about Toyota dealership service. I am of the opinion that because of Toyota's reputation for manufactured quality, it makes Dealers lazy in handling after sale issues. I live in an area where there are no less than 5 Toyota dealerships in a 25 mile radius, only 1 of the five meets normal customer expectations, by general word of mouth reputation. As to the problem with the shaking of your vehicle at high speeds, change to another brand of tires, (or better yet, have a dealer's service dept. do it), see if this solves your problem. In my experience, 80% of high speed steering instability is attributed to the tires, or possibly the wheel itself.
I've previously had two Camrys and a Sienna, and I now have a Camry and a hybrid Highlander. Never had a problem with the product or with the service.
I agree that the selection of a dealer is critical, but there's no question in my mind about the excellent quality of the Toyota product.
Toyota dealerships are a joke in the customer service department. I learned that the hard way when I owned 3 Camrys in the past, and dealt with 5 different dealerships across 3 states. Most Camrys out there are LEMONS (and I think they purposefully rig the Check Engine light to come on every few thousand miles or so, or they just don't care enough to treat the problem correctly, AND additionally, most Camrys out there have horrible transmission engines). Why has this model been such a hot seller since it first debuted is beyond me. But, never will I give these lying thieves my business ever again. It'll be Hondas or other brands for me from last year on.
WHAT!? You said MOST Camrys are lemons. Are you crazy, on drugs, or both? You are talking about one of the best-selling, most reliable cars ever made. I can't speak as to the quality of Toyota's service department, because I have never seen the inside of one even after owning 3 Toyotas. You might have had a lemon, but to say MOST of them are lemons is ridiculous.
Based on people's reports, I'd say that Toyota does indeed have lemons (like any other manufacturer) but I don't think MOST of them are lemons. I think most of them are quite good actually.
Camry overall is a nice car. The only problem is that it is extremely slow with the 4 cylinder. They need to put a V6 standard in such a large car. I think the local transit buses would give a I4 camry a good run for it's money. lol.
Even with the V-6 the Camry is terribly slow. Over the years Toyota has gone soft on both quality and reliability. When a highly biased magazine, such as Car and Driver, rates the Camry dead last in a comparison of it with the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata and the (GROSSLY OVER-RATED) Honda Accord, you know there is a real problem. I have never owned a Camry, but my wife and I did test drive the Highlander SUV before buying our last SUV. The Highlander has the same terribly underpowered V-6 as the Camry, and we were literally terrified trying to merge onto a freeway with the thing. My wife was literally bending the floor board trying to get more speed up, but we barely managed to get up to 50mph by the end of the ramp. My 4-cylinder American-made compact will easily hit 75mph by the end of that same freeway ramp. That type of performance is not just bad, it is downright dangerous. We ran as fast as we could to another dealership and bought something that had a REAL engine,.
What quality?? There was an article in this morning's paper about the problem-plagued Toyota Highlander having another recall. This one was for an accelerator that might stick on the floor. The car is so slow I doubt anyone would NOTICE that it was stuck on the floor, but I suppose if there was something REALLY slow in front of you (like maybe a brick wall) it might prove problematic.
Hi guys, I don't know what the dealers are like in the US as I don't live there, but here in the UK they are winning award after award for there customer service. I Personally found the customer service at Toyota with my old Rav 4 far better than the service I'm receiving from my present Audi Dealer with my current problematic A3.
As other comments have pointed out, Toyota in the U.S. does have a horrible reputation for poor customer service, and this, of course, has a negative impact on how satisfied Toyota owners are with their cars. I never have any experience with customer service because we drive only GM and Ford products and none of them has ever REQUIRED a repair. I guess we're spoiled on that. I can't fathom where the silly idea that foreign cars NEVER have problems and American cars ALWAYS do came from. In 35 years of driving not one of our American cars (we've owned about 30, as we normally own 3 at a time) has ever had a problem. We did buy one Japanese car in the late 90's. It was a nightmare of problems and we sold it after one year at a huge loss. No more "superior" Japanese cars for us. We can't AFFORD them!!
There was an item on Recall Watch today about yet ANOTHER Toyota recall for a major safety issue. This time it was for their F-150 wannabe, the Tundra. Gee, and I thought ALL Toyotas were supposed to be PERFECT.
A recent news item stated that Ford is "now as reliable as Honda or Toyota". Of course, they have been MORE reliable for the past 10 years or more, but such an admission from a Japanese-biased organization such as the National Consumers Union says a LOT. Car and Driver ranked the sleek and great-driving Ford Fusion ahead of the Camry in a recent comparison, and stated that the Camry was boring. I could not agree more. My next car will probably be a Fusion.
I agree that every manufacturer has lemons as no car is perfect.
However, Toyota takes care of the lemons and knows how to fix them properly, unlike those jokers over at the Ford Motor Company.
All dealerships vary in the level of customer service. I do seem to hear an inordinate amount of criticism about poor service from Toyota dealers, or refusals to honor the warranty. As for comment 21:17 I agree, except that I'd substitute "Ford DEALERS" for "Ford Motor Company". I finally switched to GM because the service departments at the Ford dealerships in our area are some of the most incompetent on the planet. They not only were totally incapable of servicing the car without botching whatever they did, but there was evidence that their technicians were actually SABOTAGING cars that were out of warranty in order to generate more business. The GM dealership we now deal with could not be better. They go out of their way to satisfy customers, and have always been prompt, efficient and courteous. We now own GM products except for my Ford truck, and when it is ready to be traded (in another 300,000 miles) I'll look at a Chevy or GMC. I've been very lucky in that I have never had to take any of my Ford trucks in for anything (I do my own oil changes), but if I require any repairs on the Ford after warranty, I'll take it to my GM dealer, not Ford. Dealer service is a major consideration for us, and in view of all the bad press our local Toyota dealership has gotten for failure to honor warranties and defrauding customers, I'd definitely steer clear of them. I'm sure there are some very good Toyota dealerships out there too, as local management determines that, not the company, but here it is NOT very good.
Judging from recent recalls, numerous mechanical problems and horrible customer service, I'd have to say the words "Toyota" and "Quality" definitely don't belong in the same sentence.