Toyota Problems

Cracking of the dash is a relatively common one in the Prado, and Toyota has in the past come to the party with at least some of the cost of repairs. It seems now that they are refusing to deal on the basis that cars like yours are too old to care about. Yours is 11 years old, and has done 200,000 km, so you can’t expect Toyota to pay all the cost of repairs, but I would press them for part compensation.

Toyotas are generally solid and reliable cars, but like all cars they can have troubles. On an old car like the 2003 you have to expect that it will have a greater risk of breakdown than a newer car. The trade puts the retail price of a 2003 Camry four-cylinder at $3000-$4000, but that would be top money.

It should be about mid-2015 for the last Australian-made Camry.

Not in a car that’s nine years old and six years out of warranty. Things go wrong, even in a Toyota.

The offer that Toyota has made is a pretty standard one across the industry, one that's generally determined by the age of the vehicle. In this case the car is seven years old and has done 180,000 km, so it would be a stretch to say you had a claim for the whole cost of the rebuild. The question is how much Toyota should contribute and that's hard to answer. Half of the cost of the parts I would think isn't enough; I would say that the bill should be split down the middle.

The new HiLux and Triton will arrive in the first half of next year. If you're planning a five-year run for your new ute it would be worth waiting to see how the pecking order changes once they're in place.

Cracking dashboards have been a problem on Prados of your vintage for a long time, and Toyota was fixing some when the cars were newer. Yours is 10 years old, and from your description of the cracks they have been there for some time now, which makes me wonder why you have left it until now to make your claim. Toyota has in the past assured us that the cracking does not affect the operation of the airbags or compromise safety.

There is no legal requirement that a used car must have a jack, but reputable dealers usually make sure there is one before they sell it. I would take the car back and ask the dealer to supply you with one.

It has a timing chain, which doesn’t require changing regularly, as a belt does. The only serious problem the RAV4 suffered related to the ECU controlling the automatic transmission, which could fail resulting in erratic shifting.

Right now, with the HiLux set for a total replacement in the first half of next year, the Ford and Mazda are the better choices and get The Tick. Ford developed the car but shoppers report better deals on the BT-50.