Steeps

Don't tell them about the super secret naughty forum!

I've had my head unit replaced after 18 months (sat nav issues), so the 12 month warranty isn't true.

Stuck my head in the cabin after it had been unloaded for a TSS session, I'm not at all technical but it certainly has a "because racecar!" sound even at idle.

Hope you have good ear plugs, it's very loud!

Car had to go in as I'd nearly hit 20k miles, so it went into one of my locals that knew I'm a PITA customer but one I hadn't already asked about the servicing. Confirmed on the phone that all work required for the car at 20k and 2 years old would be serviced at £299 (paid for by voucher) Just had it confirmed on the phone now that brake fluid and LSD oil have been replaced when I asked and my car is now ready to be collected.... And they'd done the work as stated in the book! LSD done because the car had done 20k miles, Brake fluid because it was 2 years old. They would have charged extra if I'd wanted them doing and it hadn't met those criteria (e.g 2 year service but only done 10k miles, or 20k service at 1 year old) Feel a lot better using them as a dealer, so thank you Steven Eagell Bedford for doing the right thing without needing a prompt.

The same reason why you bought a GT86 over an Aygo, they Aygo isn't broke, your rear passengers would probably thank you for having more legroom. It has 4 wheels, gets you from A-B, cheaper to run too... so why didn't you get an Aygo? All modding does is makes the car a little bit more "you", be it a bit more noise to go with the awesome looks, a more homely interior, more power to drag race a hot hatch. A new home supplied with magnolia painted walls and beige carpets doesn't need replacing, it's all new!... but is it you? The layout works great, the location works for you... but you still want a matching kettle and toaster, new cushions and jazzy curtains to make it yours. Back in a mo, off to see if someone does a Beige wrap for the car.

I've not just gone after one franchise, unfortunately one franchise has taken it upon itself to buy out all the competition locally to boost its own numbers where complete customer satisfaction is it's number one priority*. Even better: "we will price match any non-authorised garage for servicing and repairs." 7 of my closest 10 dealers are all the same Steven Eagell franchise, I've also had quotes from Hills Toyota, Lancaster Toyota, Marshall Toyota and Inchcape Toyota. Only reason I'm having the first 3 stamps from the Main dealer is because I want to keep my options open after 3 years if I continue with this car or move onto something else, which is very rare for me but I like the option.

Still struggling to get time off so my quest to fluff off every single "local" dealer continues and now it's all done over email so there's written proof. Today's special: **attached colourful Inter/Full/Full+ checklist with no prices on it** Again, no idea what work was required, and quoted the wrong diff oil price for the car. TGB have been looking into this for 2 weeks now and still have no answers, the message isn't going through to this franchise either. I've forwarded all findings so far to trading standards who seem very keen to look into it. Emailed another dealer who forwarded on my message to the servicing team, but they haven't got back to me yet. I know I should go straight to RRG to get my car serviced, but it should be made aware other franchised main dealers are either cutting corners or throwing bills at unsuspecting customers which isn't right.

It's a £40 paint job on something the size of an oversized coin, not a touch up for a tenner. It should be a lot closer in colour for that price.

Guarantee or not, if they re-painted the bumper and tried to sell the car looking like that it would sit on their forecourt for weeks! I'd expect it to look like that if it hadn't been painted.

It's going to have to be, but with skeletal staff at work (exhibition season) and a round of TSS photos to finish off it's finding the time to have a day off instead of a local pickup/dropoff.

The last one I called was Letchworth for servicing but to be honest I'd boycott the lot. Milton Keynes tried to sell car mats at £60 on top of the price of the car, adamant that mats were not included. Bedford took 4 attempts to replace the head unit (faulty), couldn't adjust the gearbox/clutch making it worse and eventually had to swap out the gearbox with another as it was so bad, Toyota GB apologised for the issues by offering my two next services for free but I'm struggling to find a local dealer who will actually take the voucher and service the car to specification without charging an extra £94 on top of the fixed price service.

Lancaster Toyota Cambridge - WILL NOT REPLACE brake fluid or Rear Diff oil unless the customer ASKS for them to be changed, and will stamp the book to say a full service has been carried out regardless of the work being done, additional charge for those items but will not tell you about it until they have the car on their ramps. Customer advisor was not aware of the charges until she looked them up in her system. Steven Eagell Toyota - Not aware of what parts need servicing, didn't believe the Diff oil needed changing at all, but were happy to replace the gearbox oil instead. Brake fluid doesn't need looking at at all. - Will stamp service book even if work is not carried out.

Only really confirms what we already know, unless a dealer has a passion for the product and the community it serves, the paperwork Toyota provides can be interpreted in any way they feel they can to maximise revenue from a "fixed price service". I'll call a few dealers later/tomorrow to get more quotes, as usual TGB/my local have not got back to me with what's included and why there's such a wide range of opinions on servicing this car found so far already.

I wonder if they used the same audition process for the Stig

I'm not kidding that's exactly how it was said over the phone. Still asked if I wanted to book the car in even though they couldn't confirm what they would actually be doing to the car, the whole reason I had a free service voucher anyway was because they screwed up not knowing what they were doing last time. I hate to think how many customers are being let down which is why I keep going back to them and giving feedback to TGB, but nothing is getting through.

Just had my dealer on the phone to me. Gearbox oil is inspection only, no need to change. Brake fluid is inspection only, will charge if it needs changing. LSD oil is "oil for life" and doesn't need changing. This is apparently on his service sheet that he's had from Toyota, which is not what the manual states, expecting a call back later once he's found a manual. To be honest I'm happy the gearbox doesn't need changing as I'm finally happy with it and don't want to risk it getting notchy again. They still want to charge 39+55 (revised price for oil) on top for the other parts though.

300 mile round trip, so I could quite easily drive up, stay in a hotel, eat, take a courtesy car to Alton Towers and still have change for a drink when I get home, compared to taking it to my local dealer. All my locals are the same useless franchise

Just been quoted £457 for my 20k (2nd year) service by my local dealer (SE franchise) when I tried to book it in, what's worse is it contradicts the written quote I have from a couple of weeks ago when it was in for warranty work and they can't figure out between departments what's included and what isn't. £299 "fixed price" £39 Brake fluid £39 Gearbox oil £80 Diff oil Cheaper to take the day off and go for a road trip to RRG!

Fensport is near Peterborough, Amber is near Luton. Could also consider using RRG in Macclesfield for installing any mods. If looking for something a bit more "local" you could try RA Motorsports who have a highly modified purple demo car, but don't seem to be on the forums much. Full throttle shifting is basically that, when you have the throttle glued to the floor as soon as you depress the clutch the car will hold the revs at that limit until either the clutch or throttle is released. It only does this if you select the map with it enabled. Launch control is similar, clutch and throttle fully depressed the car will hold the revs at a much lower limit, as soon as the clutch is released it allows the revs to rise. Requires all safetys to be off for this to engage (but it's more fun that way anyway)

You could have renewed even without the car, we're all lovely people!* (*As long as alcohol is provided)

Jay, to have built 150+ of these kits and for only half a dozen to have gone wrong are pretty good odds considering no proper ordering system and cheap 3rd party postage. I've worked with companies who have ISO certificates and half the amount of orders still come out with far more issues and consider it a success. I'm amazed at the demand and that you still went ahead with them all, I would have been fine with you telling me the group buy was full if the workload was too much (for reference I had no issues with my order). Chalk this one up as experience, 5-10 is helping the group (20 at a push if you have lots of free time), 150+ is very high demand and it's very easy to lose track. In future there's nothing wrong with adding a little on to each unit to cover unforeseen costs like units going missing, spare components or treating yourself afterwards for all the extra hours you've had to put in to make all the units if nothing did go wrong. I know what it's like to take on too much work, unfortunately my kit is still sitting on a shelf and not on the car as I've taken on too much (hence posting at 4am), got TSS to prep for. I've enjoyed reading your threads about the head units and you are an asset to the forums, don't let this put you off ownership and meet attendance as this could easily have happened to anyone doing this on such a large scale.

Just had new exhaust fitted and straddled to avoid a badger carcass on a NSL road, made a lovely noise as it made contact with the low pipe below the rear axle.

XL Black please, happy to wait till a TSS round to save on postage if they're ordered before then.

The Dartford crossing was my favorite part of driving the M25. Find other cars you've been eyeing up along the route, pull into the booth next to them and have a 0-60 race out of the gate.