Re monkey No. 1, I didn't drive the car at 110 50km from where I bought the car, the didstance I would have had to travel to experience it. I also found out later that they had let the tyres down a bit from recommended levels to quietien the car down. Seriously, would you have expected that to happen??
Re monkey No. 3. The main vents are the ones in the centre of the console, to move my head (the appendage affected) away from it would be to not see the road. The vents can be moved left (sitting on the right here) but then my wife has the problem. Obviously not actual frost bite, but cold enough to hurt a fter a while. The car is marketed as a competitor to mid level "luxury" purchasers, so comfort is somethging you would expect.
Monkey Mo. 6. Actually I go on to explain why they are essentially unusable. After trying them out under driving conditions I decided to stick with the normal dash controls. I haven't used them since. I never said they were life threatening, but I for one would expect a mid level luxury car to be ergonomically sound.
To answer your question about the throttle body, I do not know the specifics. However, I can tell you that I have purchased several TOYOTA products from this dealership; the service writer knows me very well, and has always gone over & above his duty on my behalf. The one option that I did have at the time was to get a used unit from a "junk yard" several counties north of my location. However, to add to the immediacy, this original event occurred on a Friday afternoon and the junk yard was closed on weekends. So, I would have had to wait until Monday morning to get ANY response, and then there would have been the dwell time for removing it from the junk vehicle, transporting it to the dealership, installing it on my vehicle, etc. Not having an alternate means of transportation, and needing the CAMRY, I decided to trade it on a newer model. IF I had the luxury of time on my side, I may have let them do the repair. And, taking the vehicle to an independent "garage" is NOT a viable option. There are TOO many incompetent mechanics, etc., and this state does not "police" these to the degree necessary to instill confidence in consumer protection!!!!
Throttle body wear was the dealer's diagnosis, not necessarily what actually was the problem. I have heard of many vehicles, not only Toyota but also including older BMW and other brands, where the throttle plate starts sticking and either does not close far enough (too lean mixture) or does not open quickly enough (failed to start) and the usual solution is cleaning the throttle, there is a special solution that you can use for this or you can use a little elbow grease after some disassembly, your choice. Many throttles are controlled by an electric (stepper) motor, so you can often test for the problem by turning the power off, then moving the throttle by hand against the return spring. Stickyness will be easy to detect. You will need to look into the throttle to see if it closes far enough.
Pardon my bias, but what wouldyou expect from,a Toyota? Those are mostly luxury features,anyway.
The reality is that digital,voljme control is a poor choice most of the time. It is used because it is cheaper,not better.
Here's MY two cents. In late 2003, I purchased a 2004 CAMRY. Had driven it well over 100K miles when it "died" one afternoon on way home from work. Was able to restart, and drove directly to TOYOTA dealership. The diagnosis was that the throttle body was worn out. From TOYOTA, it was a complete assembly, not an individual parts replacement issue. So, that coupled w/ the need for new tires all around, I decided to trade it for a "pre-owned" CAMRY. That turned out to be almost the worst decision of my life since attempting to scale Mt. Everest in my underwear!!!!! This CAMRY has the awkward headlight controls that was mentioned in the main article. It also has the annoying radio controls on the steering wheel, as in the 2012 model CAMRY/AURION. The cabin area was redesigned to include really useless pockets, etc. Having seen the 2012 CAMRY, I had contemplated trading the present CAMRY on a new model in hope of eliminating some of these annoyance. This article came along in the nick of time. Maybe I'll talk to my sales associate to see IF they get any 2003 to 2007 model year CAMRYs in trade w/ low mileage. Even the body style of the earlier version is more pleasing to me than the newer models. I WISH I spent the money on the throttle body & tires. The irony is that the service advisor mentioned that the throttle body woes that I experienced usually happen when the vehicle has at least 200K on the odometer. I guess mine was on the outside of that bell curve to my detriment. Too bad the HYUNDAI SONATA loses so much of its resale value. They SURE seem to be an extremely popular alternative to the CAMRY, especially here in the Tampa Bay, FL area.
Minotilted.r gripes, if you ask me. 0.5 degree increments in climate control is reasonable, and its not a setting you change frequently ( I change mine 4 times a year, I think). The best audio systems have analog, continuously variable volume controls - 3db is too great a step increment. I thought all vents even in the wretchedest Hyundais can be opened, closed and tilted. I did find that the Corolla instrument panel was difficult to read with sunglasses when drivibg with headlights on and panel lights automatically dimmed.
I've noticed a lot of the smaller cars have a lot of road noise in the cabin and really stiff suspensions. It is too bad many of the smaller cars have lots of cabin noise. I would think ride comfort would be a top priority.
reference monkey #1 - why wasn't the noise level detected during your test drive? Is 86db your gut feel or was that measured?
reference monkey #3 - you are getting frostbite from 5C? I thought 0C was freezing, but then again I am a Yank and we measure things in F. Have you considered moving the potential frostbitten appendage away from the vent?
reference monkey #6 - "The steering wheel controls for the volume are unusable" - and then you go on to describe how the controls are used. BTW- watch those finger cramps, we wouldn't want that to escalate to a life threatening condition.
Before you ask, I'm not an offended Camry owner, but drive a VW Jetta Wagon diesel that gets 45mpg. It is just the exaggerations got to me.
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