1997 Toyota Carina CD 1.8
Summary:
Where is the fabled reliability?
Faults:
Central locking locked us out at 17000 miles.
CD player failed twice within 6 months.
Heater airflow selector failed at 25,000 miles.
Throttle unit failed at 30,000 miles.
Power steering unit leaking at 25,000 miles.
Rear brake cylinders replaced at 42,000 miles.
General Comments:
This car is heavy on front tyres, despite careful driving I get less than 20,000 miles out of them.
There are a lot of rattles and squeaks.
The performance is sluggish.
Rear visibility is very poor.
A comfortable motorway cruiser.
Very high servicing costs.
The local dealer is appalling, their only interest is in emptying my wallet.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 25th January, 2002
20th Mar 2003, 07:04
In light of what you say, your carina does seem to be a bit problematic.
However, in relation to the parts that have been replaced, it is very likely that your main dealer replaces units that don't need replacing at all. My Toyota garage had a Toyota Corrola in for sale, and I noticed the throttle unit was changed at 60,000 miles. The mechanic told me that this was probably not required, which seems to have happened to you.
Your best bet is to find a better garage. The franchised ones do exploit their customers, for example an oil change costs £100 which is ridiculous as it costs £15 elsewhere.
However, to find a good garage mechanic is very difficult. You need to go to a few garages and ask questions about other garages reputations. Try to get a feel for that garage to find out if they are good. If the mechanic for example doesn't want to talk to you, then it's probably a poor garage. However, if the mechanic seems informative and knowledgeable, this could be a good start. My favorite questions are based on real problems I had with my car. I describe the symptoms and see if they can come up with a viable suggestion. Those who just say "oh, it could be one hundred things" usually means they haven't got a clue, but those who come up with two or three ideas usually are better mechanics.
Also, cheap doesn't mean good. Cheap means that they need to drop prices to stimulate demand since they are poorer mechanics. Also, look at the customers who do go there. If they have many customers, this is usually a good sign.
Finally, analyse how enthusiastic the mechanic is to see the car or fix it. The very best mechanics and garages will look at the car immediately, and even test drive it to see if they can find any faults. If they charge to test drive the car, don't pay and just go. This means they are profit maximisers, and only want money and not satisfaction.
So, it is clear that you need to do a lot of research, and once you have a good relationship with the mechanic it is worth keeping them.