I'm looking at picking up an '08 TCH in the next week or two and some of the stories re: fit and finish problems are making my heart skip a beat. I wonder if those of you who are having problems had your TCH assembled in US or Japan?

It's easy to tell, if it's assembled in Japan, it should have the letter J as the first character of the VIN. I wonder if there is any discernible difference in assembly quality between the Japanese and American plants? Should I be trying to get a car assembled in Japan?

I'd appreciate any insight you may have.

 

After 1 year and 4 months, my TCH was made in Japan and have never had it back to dealer for anything, squeeks, rattles or anything period!! Draw your own conclusions. And the leather seats do not smell like a barnyard, go do a search and find out what is what. Maybe just the luck of the friggan draw!! Only problem I have is it gets dirty lol.

 

Lexicon44,

We purchased a pair of 2008 TCH as company cars not long ago. They replaced a pair of POS S80 Volvo’s that I hope to never get near again. The 2008 Camry’s seem to have the squeaky consoles fixed and the build quality of these two (Kentucky built) is on par with the Honda’s in our garage (great).

Mind you, the Honda’s have NEVER been to the dealer except for normal maintenance and I fully expect these Toyota’s to do the same. Both of them have averaged 38 mpg or better from the first tank (if you drive them right). If these are “lower quality” than in the past then prior Toyota’s must have been truly exceptional.

On thing to remember, the 2009 cars are due out in less than a month (if the reports are to be believed) so you might want to wait a bit to get a better deal on a 2008 or get the new 2009 car.

One last comment, you will hear a bunch of complaints about the size of the trunk. I just brought my daughter home from school (go Georgia Tech) and put her STEAMER trunk in the back of this thing (along with everything else she had). If I need to haul a load any bigger than this, I just crank up the Pilot. They are not a pickup truck (nor are they meant to be).

 

Interesting reading on this thread. Have had our 07 TCH for 16 months now. We have the squeaking at the shift panel(a lot of bumpy streets in New Orleans), but really the worse thing is the paint job. Many scratches and dings. It is like they left out a step when painting this car. Complained to the dealer and they just shrugged their shoulders. My only other complaint is the dealer says they put in the recommended oil, but the invoice always says 10W30, and when I say something they say that they put in the correct oil, but their system is programmed to print 10W30 on the invoice. One would think that they could easily fix this.

 

My camry TCH has had no problems, except for the first week. The horn relay stuck and they replaced everything ASAP. It has been the funnest car I have ever owned- so I would recomend it highly. JOE (Mine came from Japan)

 

Mine came from Japan, too.

 

After 11 months and 18000 miles of ownership (Yes-I drive a considerabel distance from home to work) I have had zero problems with the car. The only time I had any other work done that normal service was when I had the seatbelt chime disabled. Other than that I run 0W-20 full synthetic oil and have service done including tire rotation every 5000 miles. I enjoy this car more and more each day. Mine was built in Georgetown and I feel the quality is excellent.

 

I had the same issue on oil changed with my dealer. The last time the invoice said 10W30, I made them take the oil out and change it again. They tried to assure me that they really had used 5W30, and the paperwork was wrong, but I made them change it while I watched. Since then, the paperwork has always said 5W30. Of course, the oil they actually put in the car could still be 10W30...

 

When I was a young buck, I'd have put 26,000 miles on a car living and working where I am now. On my (recently traded for an '08 Highlander Hybrid Limited) '07 TCH, I did 10,998 miles living and working in the same relative places 28 years later.

When I was a kid, I burned the roads up. I tend to stay home more now.

 

Japan-built car, do have some squeakage (mostly in the cold) but usually doesn't bother me too much. After 18.5 months only non-maintenance work has been a) the windshield replacement after the crack I got before my first oil change, and b) the surprise alignment I needed at my 3rd (5k mile) oil change. And yeah I have no idea what they're putting in for oil. First oil change someone made the comment that he'd thought they needed to use some higher-end oil for it but he checked and it didn't so I hadn't ended up paying more, and last change I tried to make sure I was getting the right oil and the guy just generically assured me that they'd use the "right" one for the car, without really reassuring me they knew what that was.

But otherwise, or even including these tidbits, over a year and a half, love the car as much as ever, and averaging 37 mpg in New England with 1.5 winters included. I'd still definitely recommend it. Remember the average happy owner is going to be less inclined to post their contentment in a thread like this than the average unhappy owner comparing horror stories, so this thread's definitely going to be biased. Use the info here as additional data but don't make your decision purely on what you read about some people having problems.