New Corolla Poor Quality Build

[richardl]

I am so frustated with Toyota and their laughable dealership,

Currie Motors Twickenham.

problems with car :

rear door rattled and rattled / radio not fitted properly /

lumps in rear door trims / vibration from sunroof area /

creak from rear driver side wheel when getting out of car /

trim not finished off behind rear seat / other trim problems

dealer :

did not advise me advertised £800 discount only available

on base model until final paperwork done /

car not ready on day of collection I was told the tax disc was locked away

when I said I didnt mind that, I was told the car was locked away in a compound and no-one could get into it ! 3 days later i went for car and had to wait as not ready, the promised full tank of petrol did not happen.

It has taken 3 days in garage and only one of the rattles cured.

Damage made to the dash board when trying to refit the radio.

I have cured one rattle by adding blue tack to the two plastic lids

which offer access to the rear numberplate light bulbs. Apart from the

worst rattle in the boot, all the other problem still exist.

I have always had French cars before and expected some better

quality with Toyota. I can see the parts of the car are really nice

(nicer than many German brands) but the construction and dealership

are a TOTAL letdown (the British elements). I cannot keep taking days off work to resolve these problems, so hope to sell it soon.

We were expecting to change our second car (a 306 convertible)

for an MR2 but not now.

[TheNissanMan]

Am really sorry to hear you've had so many problems and what sounds like apauling service from a Toyota Dealer...

There were a few known problems on the board with the new Corolla, there are a number of posts about these on the forum already with some resolutions.

I can understand the frustrations you must be going through as buying a car is a big expense and you expect the dealer to get it right and help you correct any problems you may encounter quickly, effectively and in a manner which helps you !

I'm sorry you feel you would no longer go for an MR2 as there are no known problems with build quality etc on this model, have you considered trying a different dealer as it sounds to me that it is probably the dealer putting you off the Toyota by not resolving the current issues in a timely manner...

The MR2 is a cracking car and the only problrem you'll have with it is not being able to get the smile off your face :)

[gaz]

I have a new corolla too and I agree on every point. Fact is the dealers don't know how to fix every rattle and pulling away trim which is clipped not screwed is always likely to cause damage. If you want a faily rattle free Corolla you may have to try to solve some of the problems yourself. Take my word the dealers will get :censor: of with you returning. Make sure you complain to Toyota customer relations. If you have had enough ask them for a refund. The rattles are only a few of the problems you may have to face!

As regards to the MR2 are they not built in Japan like the Celica? If so you should be OK on the build front. My friend had a New Corolla, traded it in after 6 months for a Celica, now he is a happy man.

[ganyb]

Really sorry to hear of all your problems, but I can assure you that my JAPANESE built Corolla is NO better, it seems to get noisier and rattlier by the week, it's my wifes car and she has a very high tolerance to noise (she just turns the radio up a bit more!) but if I had to drive it daily, I'd sell it immediately.

These Corolla problems are world wide, it seems to be a case of intrinsic design problems, compounded by Korean standard assembly standards.

Browse the American forums at www.2003Corolla.org

to see how the guys over there are trying to cope with all this...it's really interesting.

I think Toyota have lost the plot..!!!

[sakelp]

guz

for the us the cars was most likely built at NUMMI in fremont, CA or in Canada NOT in Japan

the best way to tell if ur car was built in japan is to look at the VIN...if the first digit is a J...then it was built in japan...

C U

[ganyb]

Sakelp, thanks for that...I'm guessing that Gaz's 'rolla is a UK build, and mine Melbourne OZ, is definately Japanese built....so what exactly are U saying here..???

[spwolf]

heh, it seems that only happy Corolla owner is a TS owner

;-)

[gaz]

My car was built at Burneston Derby England. Perhaps we should all club together and get Toyota to replace our models with Tsports. Still don't think that would cure the interior problems. I carn't understand why the engines are so noisey. The 1.6 and 1.4 are new units but all come from the original 1.8 VVT I design. Do they use piston liners to reduce the bore size to 1.6 and 1.4? They did this on the rover 200/25 and the 1.4 was noisey the 1.6 was very quite. Turned out to be tolerances between the bore lining and piston causing piston slap when cold.

I guess they will cure alot of issues as production moves on. This will not help us to resolve our issues. We seem to have bought our cars too soon, perhaps we all have prototypes!

[spwolf]

3 door Corolla's have most interior issues, although those that I have encountered are not as dramatic as people wrote here... We have 2 1.6 Corolla 5 doors in our rental fleet and they are fine... sure engine might be little bit loud, but not that much... we are talking about 1.6 VVTI 110 hp 4 cyl engine... it will never be as quiet as some engine's producing 20%-30% less power from the same output...

Corolla's have their interior squeaks issues but it doesnt seem to be end of the world - at least to me, since i drive one...

Interestingly enough, new Avensis has been built in the same factory as Corolla, and has none of these issues... I would think that supplier is at fault here, not Toyota's factory in the UK... keep in mind that they have been making Avensis for a long time now and that Avensis has just been rated as the highest quality car by german ADAC in class of 5-7 yr old cars (age when things start braking down)...

We are getting few new Corolla's in a month and a half so I will be checking them for the same issues, and keep in mind guys that these are annoying little things, I have yet to see someone posting something or some of our customers returning with mechanical error on corolla....

[corsol]

Folks, dont be too :( because , it seems that similar problems(interior rattling) appears in almost all new designed cars from Bmw , Peugeot, Fiat, ........ to Ford, VW,...

You must know that in the past lot of things was fixed with screws,......today with plastic pins, clips,....

You know everything is in reducing production cocts,..... sad but true.

Few examples (problems) I know(all brand new cars):

Renault Clio: seats rattling, electronic problems(on some types- when long lights&wipers are ON at the same time, long lights goes OFF after 10 wipers moves )

Peugeot 307 :petrol leaking , electronic problems (central locking ON&OFF when you driving)

BMW 3: color falling off from the plastic(interior)

Fiat Stilo: lot of electric problems

Ford Focus: pump problems

Mercedes E(few years old) : rust appears under color finish

VW Golf: rattling seats&roof

Peugeot 206: back lights leaking

AlfaRomeo(all models): too much to write..........

You can find some more info about other cars at: http://www.carsurvey.org/

Well,....my Corolla is still rattling

[gaz]

I took my car back about the noisy inlet manifold. The modified version I have fitted has increased the overall induction noise. There is also a growl at 1000 to 2300 rpm. Dealer says this is acceptable and I have to live with it. I know how the car sounded with the old manifold on before it failed and the car was very quite below 3300 rpm. I do agree with spwolf I haven't had a mechanical failure yet, but do I have to have a car that sounds a little bit like a tractor with K & N air filters on it especially when cold?

[Starensis]

I think we need to get things into perspective here.

I have a couple of rattles in my 2001 Avensis which p*ss me off. But recently I have driven & travelled in:-

Ford Focus TDCI ( 52 plate )- I thought about learning to lip read such was the engine noise.

VW Golf ( Y Plate ) - As above.

Rover 45 ( 52 plate ) - They obviously install an orchestra behind the dash when built.

After 2 days driving the Focus, I got back into the Avensis and couldn't believe how quiet my Avensis was in comparison.

Suggest you Corolla owners report your issues to Toyota GB! Problem is that the plant at Burnaston do not test for Squeaks & rattles specifically, they will only pick up really bad issues.

Unless you report them, all the issue will not be fed back to plant to contain! Create a list and send to TGB & demand feedback on what is being done to repair/contain these issues.

I have e-mailed the dealership where my Avensis will be in for repair next week & told them I will reporting back their service via this site. I'll let you know how it goes.

[The Real Tao]

:ffs: squeaks ? rattles?.... Oh sorry boss i couldn't get to work today: my car squeaked when i drove over a pothole........

Would you sell your house if your floorboards squeaked?

would you go to the doctor if your knee creaked?

It's a well known fact that when nothing is obviously wrong with a car we will find some minor irritation to complain about.....Give the car a change of season to expand and contract and in the meantime concentrate on the more important things in life

[ganyb]

With a name like 'The real Tao" I could flame and suggest you're the Toyota Japan NVH Engineer who signed the new Corolla as satisfactory...but I wont.

I paid my hard earned cash for this car from a manufacturer that hitherto had a reputation of whose cars got "better and better" not better and (oops) worse"..!!

I'll ask you if you own one of these miserable motors...and I'm strongly guessing the answer'll be No..so please dont patronise me with your apologies for a job poorly done by a company that should do better.

Sorry mate, no offence but I feel very strongly on this issue....

[richardl]

With a name like 'The real Tao" I could flame and suggest you're the Toyota Japan NVH Engineer who signed the new Corolla as satisfactory...but I wont.

I paid my hard earned cash for this car from a manufacturer that hitherto had a reputation of whose cars got "better and better" not better and (oops) worse"..!!

I'll ask you if you own one of these miserable motors...and I'm strongly guessing the answer'll be No..so please dont patronise me with your apologies for a job poorly done by a company that should do better.

Sorry mate, no offence but I feel very strongly on this issue....

I agree 100 pc with you.

If my new house floor boards creaked I'd get the builder to fix it ...

£14000 seems a lot of money to me to pay to end up with a

rattle trap. But more than that they don't seem to be able to fix it

3 times the cars come back and no improvements (only one major

rattle cured).

Today the driver window when rolled shut makes frightening

sounding clicking/whirring noises as if the motor is still trying

to push the glass into place.Now what....

Thing is I really like the look/feel/ride of the car, even in

a road littered with German motoring cliches it looks good and a little

different too.

Just careless British workmanship spoiling the package I would guess.

Who remebers the Maxi and the Princess and the Allegro ??!!

Good bye folks...

[The Real Tao]

With a name like 'The real Tao" I could flame and suggest you're the Toyota Japan NVH Engineer who signed the new Corolla as satisfactory...but I wont.

Sorry mate, no offence but I feel very strongly on this issue....

With a name like gon ya b******, or rather ganyb i would have thought you would be paying much less than list price for your sub-standard corolla.

You don't give your location, so perhaps you live in an area where "Toyota" sell their cars to guinea-pigs with an attitude (for less than cost) to identify faults.

Looks like the've struck gold with you........

Sorry mate, no offence intended ,but one must get things off one's chest :P

[richardl]

HAHAHAHA,

This from a person who's pen name

is "The real Tao" !!!!

Sounds like you've got delusions of "special powers" .

Back to yee square sausage and iron bru laddie...

[gaz]

I WOULDN'T WASTE ANY TIME REPLYING TO ANY OF The Real Tao's COMMENTS. JUST CUT HIM OUT OF THE FORUMS IF HE CAN'T ADD ANYTHING CONSTRUCTIVE.

[limrene]

Guys.

As mentioned b4.. my 14 days old t sport has got the same problem.... rattle, faulty alarm and steering pulls to the left... BUT overall, it is much much better than my previous 5 months old Fiat Stilo... it's just rubbish!!! i.e. gearbox, paintwork....

I think Currie motors, kingston have done a good job to repair the car in such a short notice....

Rene