Hi All,
In August this year my car will be 7 years old. As such, I guess it can be considered a "first run" Auris Hybrid Touring Sports.
I bought bought a Toyota HSD because I believed them to be reliable and as my car is for a disabled driver, I cannot afford any garage time besides regular maintenance, because I cannot go anywhere without my car (I use it to drive to the nearest grocery shop 1 mile away from my house as my walking distance is piratically zero.
Car age: approaching 7 years old
Mileage: 70,000 ks or 43,500 miles.
I'll start with the good things:
So far there has been no major repairs (knock on wood) and the hybrid system, whilst not returning the mpg I'd hoped for (60 mpg on average through the life of the car, runs smoothly).
The bad things:
A couple of months after purchase, the seam on the edge of the boot load cover came undone to do insufficient or subpar glue being used. I complained to Toyota and a few days later, I could collect a new cover free of charge - no problems since.
A couple of years ago, the wing mirror in the driver's side didn't react to inputs from the controls. Went to Toyota and they sprayed the contacts and chords within the mirror and checked the one in the passenger's side as well. Unfortunately, the mechanic broke the glass in that mirror in the process of opening it. A few days later, I had a new glass (probably plastic, really) fitted free of charge as one would expect. No problems since then.
On a rare occasion, the window in the backdoor ion the passenger's side doesn't react to inputs. I have to turn off the hybrid system and turn it back on and it works again. This happens without me or my son having opened any doors before wanting to adjust the window.
Yesterday I noticed the big rubber seal in the backdoor passenger's side was loose / had come undone and was all over the place (several inches of air between it and the edge of the door).. Only held in place very few places. Went to Toyota and they said this could happen but isn't normal. The seal was put back in place and three pieces of strategically placed dual sided tape is not holding it in place.
And then finally: today I went shopping and when I returned to my car in the parking lot, got in and fired up the system... I had no lights or indications whatsoever regarding the car's "Ready" status other gear lever. It wasn't just the green light indicating the selected gear which had gone. All information as to "Ready" and the gears was blacked out! I've never seen this before. The car drove normally though. I went to another shop and when I parked there, I switched of the system and turned it back on to check - and everything was normal! Coming home, I powered down and up a couple of times again to check and everything was normal - every time.
Now, whilst these things, to some may be insignificant, I must say that my Auris has had more of these faults than my previous 2006 Suzuki Swift 1.3 CLA with a semi auto clutch system.
It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Toyota quality imo.
My Swift developed gearbox problems at 6-7 years and only 21,700 miles though and when I traded it in for the Auris at 7 years and 28,000 miles, the gearbox was highly unreliable and every time I needed to use the car, whether or not it would start up was a gamble (the gear lever needed to be in N for the car to start, and the fault caused the car to not registrate N position correctly).
In addition, I had the front bushing changed although I think I was to blame for that (didn't notice a VERY steep speed bump before it was to late with too much speed.
I have taken a strong liking to the new Corolla Hybrid TS and whilst the cabin quality is definitely miles ahead of the scratchy toy-like cabin in my Auris, I can't help think that the above faults isn't what I expect Toyota quality to be like...
