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Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:15 am
by Bill Schenker
Need to get some warranty work on my Prius (yes, that's right! Swap in new hamsters!) and would like to get it done closer to home.

Of the following three, which would you recommend?

Tustin Toyota, Tustin
South Coast Toyota, Costa Mesa
Power Toyota of Irvine

Thanks!

Bill

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:25 am
by Max Hayter
I have not had work done at any of them, but when looking for my FJ, I decided that all the Sales dept at Power Toyota were a bunch of dickheads.

The only decent Toyota dealer I found was in Rancho Santa Margarita (I did not visit the other two you listed).

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:45 am
by Doug Kott
Hey Bill,

Happy New Year to you and Talya, BTW!

I've had pretty good experiences with South Coast Toyota, both parts counter and service dept. (I do most of my own work on the MR2, but I let them do the coolant change....the system has about five different air bleed points!).

I went to Power Toyota once...they were okay, but I thought the service people weren't as friendly.

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:38 am
by Jayson Woodruff
Tustin swapped my GPS a while back. They did a adequate job, but I had to explain to them why is cost $500 not $2500. (he didn't know the proper options, just went for the shotgun swap out).

Jay W

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:30 pm
by Toby Larsson
Max Hayter wrote:I have not had work done at any of them, but when looking for my FJ, I decided that all the Sales dept at Power Toyota were a bunch of dickheads.

The only decent Toyota dealer I found was in Rancho Santa Margarita (I did not visit the other two you listed).
+1

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:39 pm
by Tom Dobyns
Bill,

I have been dealing with Toyota of Orange (not one of your choices) for over 20 years, bought several cars from them, have cars serviced by them, etc.

They have always been first class to me, both on the sales and service side.

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:27 pm
by Ken Motonishi
Bill,

What kind of warranty work are you talking about?

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:39 pm
by Bill Schenker
Thanks for all the replies!

Ken - There's a "recall" on the electric water pump for my year/VIN (2006). They'll swap it out for free, but I still want to have the work done well and nearer to me than where I bought the car (Corona - Hi Bob B.! )

Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:39 pm
by Jayson Woodruff
Bill Schenker wrote:Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Wussy, I passed 170k x-mas shopping ;-)

Jay W

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:51 pm
by Ken Motonishi
Bill Schenker wrote:Thanks for all the replies!

Ken - There's a "recall" on the electric water pump for my year/VIN (2006). They'll swap it out for free, but I still want to have the work done well and nearer to me than where I bought the car (Corona - Hi Bob B.! )

Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Really, I have the same year, but should find out about the VIN as well?

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:04 am
by Bill Schenker
Ken Motonishi wrote:
Bill Schenker wrote:Thanks for all the replies!

Ken - There's a "recall" on the electric water pump for my year/VIN (2006). They'll swap it out for free, but I still want to have the work done well and nearer to me than where I bought the car (Corona - Hi Bob B.! )

Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Really, I have the same year, but should find out about the VIN as well?
I got a letter about 5 days ago....

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:05 am
by Bill Schenker
Jayson Woodruff wrote:
Bill Schenker wrote:Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Wussy, I passed 170k x-mas shopping ;-)

Jay W

Dude! Did ya' batteries blow up @ 100k? ;)

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:18 am
by Steve Towers
http://www.toyota.com/recall/prius.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:53 am
by Toby Larsson
Jayson Woodruff wrote:
Bill Schenker wrote:Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Wussy, I passed 170k x-mas shopping ;-)

Jay W
My 08 Tacoma has already passed 200K :cry:

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:45 am
by Jayson Woodruff
Bill Schenker wrote:
Jayson Woodruff wrote:
Bill Schenker wrote:Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Wussy, I passed 170k x-mas shopping ;-)

Jay W

Dude! Did ya' batteries blow up @ 100k? ;)
Yeah, and the E-motor jumpped out of the hood and tried to strangle me!

I did just replace the 'starter' battery though. After years of tell everyone it was a little motorcycle type battery, I was shocked to find it was a big ass deep cycle that cost me $175 from a well discounted mail order. I guess there's a pretty good standby draw associated with the smart key, so big battery needed.

Jay W

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:25 pm
by Tom Berry
Just hit 65k on my 07 Prius. No real problems, knock on wood.
Get the 2010 prius home tomorrow. Looking forward to that.

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:32 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
No interest in the car.... Just want the carpool decals.

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:14 am
by Mike Simanyi
Jayson Woodruff wrote:
Bill Schenker wrote:Car will be hitting 100,000 miles tomorrow on the way to work! Yay!
Wussy, I passed 170k x-mas shopping ;-)

Jay W
We've all seen how slowly Bill drives...

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:15 am
by Mike Simanyi
Steve Ekstrand wrote:No interest in the car.... Just want the carpool decals.
They're only good for a few more months. Not much value there...

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:38 am
by Steve Ekstrand
Really? That program is going away? Damn!

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:54 pm
by Jayson Woodruff
Steve Ekstrand wrote:Really? That program is going away? Damn!
July is the current end date. It's been extended several times, so chance it could be again. But most likely this is the actual end.

White stickers (EVs, natural gas and other stuff) are good for at least 4 more years.

I'll lease you my carpooling prius for 5 months if you want. I figure express toll peak rates lanes go for about $15/day + $300/mo for the car + milage.... :-)

Jay W

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:31 pm
by Arthur Grant
So Bill where did you get the work done and were you happy?

Re: Best Toyota dealership in central O.C.

Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:36 pm
by Arthur Grant
Steve Ekstrand wrote:No interest in the car.... Just want the carpool decals.

You do know the decals are issued to the car, they are not transferable. I personally will be happy to see the program expire. I drive vanpool 3 days a week or more, I know the Prius can do 80 mph which is the prevailing speed in the car pool lane and adjacent lanes at 5 AM on the 405 fwy, but you won't find very many Prius doing that speed unless you try to go around them at the few opening you get. Apparently there is some power to the number of occupants as a Prius with two or more passengers is like to be closer to the prevailing speed than a single occupant, frequently on the cell phone Prius.