Bay Area Toyota/Scion Dealership Reviews?

[cdo221]

Thanks for the input everyone, guess the gut was right to stay away from City Toyota.

Originally Posted by Veloist

Putnam Toyota has great guys. I know of 3 mechanics who my dad trusts in working with our cars, including our garage queen FR-S.

One of them owns a classic Celica, the brother owns an AW11 Mr2. There's also one who owned a Lotus Elise, and another one has a clean, modded S2k.

They know their stuff even in the aftermarket world.

Do you happen to know the name of one or all three 3 mechanics? I think I'll schedule an appointment with Putnam, maybe I can request one of those specific guys.

Also, have you see the new white FR-S parked on Callan w/ dealer plates, down the hill from King Plaza? Counting your friend's raven (I'm guessing he's gone for college right now), there's 3 of us within a 2 blocks span on Callan haha.

[retrosmiths]

I bought my Whiteout from City Toyota

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Veloist]

Originally Posted by cdo221

Thanks for the input everyone, guess the gut was right to stay away from City Toyota.



Do you happen to know the name of one or all three 3 mechanics? I think I'll schedule an appointment with Putnam, maybe I can request one of those specific guys.

Also, have you see the new white FR-S parked on Callan w/ dealer plates, down the hill from King Plaza? Counting your friend's raven (I'm guessing he's gone for college right now), there's 3 of us within a 2 blocks span on Callan haha.

Marty, Adam, and Aaron are the 3 my dad trusts. Marty did the PDI on our FR-S. He didn't even drive the car to the service bay, he let my dad drive it!

If you're there, drop by my dad so he can introduce you to them, tell him you know me from the forum. His name is Bernoulli. Tell me when you're there I'll let him know =)

[CamryDS]

Originally Posted by Veloist

Marty, Adam, and Aaron are the 3 my dad trusts. Marty did the PDI on our FR-S. He didn't even drive the car to the service bay, he let my dad drive it!

If you're there, drop by my dad so he can introduce you to them, tell him you know me from the forum. His name is Bernoulli. Tell me when you're there I'll let him know =)

That's awesome to know that there's someone that we can trust in the bay area. would it be okay if I can do this as well? Reason being is that I have that chirping issue now and would like to find a way to get it resolved by a trusted mechanic.

Wanted to at least get a response before just walking up and saying that we all know you ^_^.

I've always heard good things from putnam.

[Clipdat]

How exactly are you planning on getting it "resolved"? The people that have gotten their HPFP replaced just end up getting the chirping again after a few months.

Just embrace the chirping!

[CamryDS]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

How exactly are you planning on getting it "resolved"? The people that have gotten their HPFP replaced just end up getting the chirping again after a few months.

Just embrace the chirping!

Saw on a search that there's a replacement for this that finally worked -- unless I read it wrong.

Here's the quote:
Originally Posted by infinite012
I just got back from my local dealership and they told me there is, indeed, a revised TSB. I saw the paperwork and it looks like it was revised 5/8/13 and the new fix includes a new pump, a new plunger (this wasn't on the old one, I believe), as well as new hard fuel line, o-ring, and misc things. I'll be going back once the parts are in and hopefully say goodbye forever to the chirp



2nd thought, I'd probably end up waiting a bit before making an appointment to see if this really fixes the problem.

[Clipdat]

Oh interesting - thanks for that, hadn't seen that post!

Still though, I realize everyone has a different opinion on these types of things, but I can't say that I personally consider it a "problem". My rationale is it's just a noise, and doesn't affect the ability for the car to put a huge smile on my face every time I take it out to the twisties!

[BlaineWasHere]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Oh interesting - thanks for that, hadn't seen that post!

Still though, I realize everyone has a different opinion on these types of things, but I can't say that I personally consider it a "problem". My rationale is it's just a noise, and doesn't affect the ability for the car to put a huge smile on my face every time I take it out to the twisties!

This. I feel like a "fix" getting rid of the noise will hurt the fueling performance. All DI cars are noisy, every single one of them. Most people on this forum have never owned a DI car before and are just freaking out, or are pissed their cheap ass car makes cheap noises, lol.

Don't you think Toyota knew it made this sound?

[Veloist]

Originally Posted by CamryDS

That's awesome to know that there's someone that we can trust in the bay area. would it be okay if I can do this as well? Reason being is that I have that chirping issue now and would like to find a way to get it resolved by a trusted mechanic.

Wanted to at least get a response before just walking up and saying that we all know you ^_^.

I've always heard good things from putnam.

Sure thing! Talk to my dad first, best time is when he's not with a customer because he's usually on the sales floor, but he usually talks to past customers in the customer/service lounge. When you do talk to him, ask him about the mechanics, because you probably won't be able to find them because they'll be in the back

My dad had already talked to them about the chirping issue. When was your car built? Adam is usually the one who is really good at troubleshooting issues (he's currently working on our Prius's mysterious dashboard rattle).

But anyways, they haven't done anything with it especially since our car only has 270 miles. But some of the things that get complained about...like noises, are normal. I'll ask if they've worked on the cricket or chirping stuff. They've only had one problematic FR-S and it had to do with something in the engine...don't really know the issue but it ended up being covered by warranty.

[CamryDS]

Originally Posted by Veloist

Sure thing! Talk to my dad first, best time is when he's not with a customer because he's usually on the sales floor, but he usually talks to past customers in the customer/service lounge. When you do talk to him, ask him about the mechanics, because you probably won't be able to find them because they'll be in the back

My dad had already talked to them about the chirping issue. When was your car built? Adam is usually the one who is really good at troubleshooting issues (he's currently working on our Prius's mysterious dashboard rattle).

But anyways, they haven't done anything with it especially since our car only has 270 miles. But some of the things that get complained about...like noises, are normal. I'll ask if they've worked on the cricket or chirping stuff. They've only had one problematic FR-S and it had to do with something in the engine...don't really know the issue but it ended up being covered by warranty.

Ahh, I got my car at the end of March, with about 9 miles on it -- The Car was built late February. I do hear the chirp, but someone else has mentioned that it may just be the way it is. Since there's no detrimental effect I probably won't go in yet. I will keep your dad in mind and the service center there in mind since there's already a name, and person of reference for good support and trustworthy support on this car.

I'll probably just take my car there for servicing and warranty maintenance =).

[vinh359]

Hey, I'm looking for some dealerships around the bay area that have a decent price on a Frs and Brz. Anyone recommendations based on the experiences? I want to take my purchase on a dealership that isn't shady and actually takes care of their customers.

[strat61caster]

No recommended dealers from me, especially if you want a base model with no options. I'd rather pull teeth for a day or some other annoying task than try to get a Bay Area dealer to order a car with no options. I was willing to put down a deposit (and did, and got screwed) and willing to wait months but no dice, no options = no profit for them.

Bought mine at Steven's Creek, ONCE they got the car I wanted the buying process was simple, just had to sit there for four hours and turn down maintenance add-ons, extended warranties, and "theft protection" while watching my $80 doc fee be put to work scanning papers. They called back later and tried to up my interest rate, said they'd write a check TO ME for the difference in interest over five years, I agreed since I was planning to pay off early and a .15% bump in interest rate was inconsequential, free money basically. Check was NOT mailed to me and instead went towards paying off the car, didn't want to waste my time complaining, so I let it go.

This seems to be standard practice for dealers (except the interest increase bit, that was shady, I could have just said no since we had a contract though). Hope I never have to buy a car from a dealer again, much less step on the lot of any Bay Area Toyota dealer.

Best dealership I've ever been to was Penske Acura, I wouldn't hesitate to walk into any Penske dealer to shop around, very low pressure. Unfortunately the closest Penske Toyota is in Clovis, I should have put more effort into buying from them in hindsight. Almost flew up to Oregon to buy an FRS it was so frustrating down here.

[Veloist]

Originally Posted by vinh359

Hey, I'm looking for some dealerships around the bay area that have a decent price on a Frs and Brz. Anyone recommendations based on the experiences? I want to take my purchase on a dealership that isn't shady and actually takes care of their customers.

Are you looking for an automatic or a manual?

Ironic to the original post, City Scion is actually one of the fewest dealerships who sell their FR-S at MSRP without mark-up.

There's a black one for MSRP at Putnam which my dad can help you out with, but it's automatic.

[PMok]

Originally Posted by vinh359

Hey, I'm looking for some dealerships around the bay area that have a decent price on a Frs and Brz. Anyone recommendations based on the experiences? I want to take my purchase on a dealership that isn't shady and actually takes care of their customers.

One of my friends recently got a BRZ at MSRP from Carlsen. He traded in his RX-8 and got a decent deal I suppose, considering most Subaru dealers in the Bay are still marking up.

I bought my BRZ out-of-state from Colorado... if you want a better deal than what Bay Area dealers are offering, consider buying out of state. See my CO > CA link in my sig below for in-depth discussions of the pros and cons.