I'm back!... I should have listened to you guys...

[Derek]

Well, I don't know how many of you remember me, but from the looks of it this site has grown quite a bit since I last visited back in November of last year. I had an '04 4Runner and loved it, but decided to sell it due to me buying a house and wanting to save some money. I ended up buying a new '05 Volvo S40 even though many of you warned me about the reliability issues and quality issues of a Volvo. Well, needless to say, all of you were more than right. In the 5 months that I have owned the S40, it has been in the service department 7 times, for a total of 42 days I had problems with the passenger airbag sensor, the brakes, the radio, the a/c system, ect. ect. Plus on top of that, they damaged the dashboard while repairing the airbag sensor and had to replace the entire dash.

After the 3rd time and 4th time in service, I decided that enough was enough! The dealership at this point had offered to trade the vehicle for another one identical to it but from doing research online, I found out that most of my problems were, although rare, shared with other S40 owners and I didn't want to take that chance.

I then contacted a Lemon Law attorney and have been fighting with Volvo for over a month now trying to get them to buy it back. They at first offered to trade for another vehicle, then they said they were going to charge me fees and depreciation if they bought it back. :bash:

Today, I finally got the phone call I was waiting for. My attorney called and said that Volvo had agreed to purchase the car back from me, and I wouldn't have to pay ANY fees whatsoever.

And as you may have guessed, I already know what will replace the S40.... another Toyota. I'm going to test drive the '05 4Runner, Tundra, and Tacoma and see which one I like more and take it and never look back. After owning Ford, GM, Toyota, and Volvo, I now know why people say Toyota is the best... because it is!

 

[Thai]

Well, you took the long way to get back to Toyota.

Welcome back...and i think that the 4runner is the best out of the choices you listed.

 

[Derek]

Well, you took the long way to get back to Toyota.

Welcome back...and i think that the 4runner is the best out of the choices you listed.

Yes, guess you could say I learned the hard way. Looking back at it all now, I wish I would have just kept the 4Runner of course, but in the end it will work out for the best I hope.

And yes, I looked at the Tacoma a few weeks ago and it didn't seem to offer as much as the 4Runner dollar for dollar. I'll just drive all three and see how I feel afterwards.

 

[sharp4runr]

Well at least you've come to your senses! welcome back!!

 

[kglueck]

I wondered how that all went when you swapped it...glad to have ya back!!

 

[Kmvreter]

Yes, guess you could say I learned the hard way. Looking back at it all now, I wish I would have just kept the 4Runner of course, but in the end it will work out for the best I hope.

Live and learn. Don't look back. All is forgiven so welcome home!

 

[Derek]

Live and learn. Don't look back. All is forgiven so welcome home!

thanks, in a way I see this Lemon Law as a blessing in disguise. I missed my 4Runner as soon as I traded it. I'm thinking about getting a Sport Edition this time since I'll have the option but we'll see. I suppose the buy-back process will probably take about a week, maybe longer, but I'll be so happy to get that car out of my hands. And the best part will be taking back to the dealer to give it back, because everybody there, even the manager, told me there was NO way I was going to win a Lemon Law case. I just wanted to prove them all wrong. :

 

[Kmvreter]

And the best part will be taking back to the dealer to give it back, because everybody there, even the manager, told me there was NO way I was going to win a Lemon Law case. I just wanted to prove them all wrong. :

Gotta love it. A real Win - Win story. You win, Toyota wins. Volvo... who cares. Say hi and good-bye to them from all of us!

 

[Mark86]

Glad to have you back. Are you gonig to consider the XC90 over the 4Runner? :lmao:

Anyway, good luck with the new 4Runner when you get it! What engine and color are you thinking of?

 

[slyangel9]

Dude, I know exactly how you feel. I too returned my car via Lemon except this time was with Mazda. I waited a long time to hear from the A.G. and I'm glad it worked out for you.

 

[olliebear]

You're probably going to be our

most solid Toyota owner after that learning curve.

Welcome back and yes I do remember chiming in on your trade in decision.

Don't know all the facts on your lemon law complaint, but your Volvo dealer may be technically right....they made the offer to buy back your car before you took them to court under the lemon law....So they got to save face..."YOU DID NOT WIN BY LEMON LAW!, we just gave you your money back....."

Amazing what people do just to save some face. Amazing what some attorneys can do.......

 

[Kanab]

I believe you will be better off with the 4runner since they are made in Tahara, the top rated automotive plant in the world. The other two although Toyotas are built in the USA and don't have the same quality construction. Good luck! P.S. - If you need to haul stuff that doesn't fit in the 4runner just get a utility trail to pull behind the 4runner

Go here and look at the problems owners are having with the new Taco's and Tundra. www.tundrasolutions.com

 

[Derek]

I believe you will be better off with the 4runner since they are made in Tahara, the top rated automotive plant in the world. The other two although Toyotas are built in the USA and don't have the same quality construction. Good luck! P.S. - If you need to haul stuff that doesn't fit in the 4runner just get a utility trail to pull behind the 4runner

Go here and look at the problems owners are having with the new Taco's and Tundra. www.tundrasolutions.com

Thanks for the link. It's funny you post that because I actually found that site yesterday doing a google search and I was reading through a couple of threads over there. I think I've ruled out the Tundra for sure because I don't need something that big...especially since the double cab probably wouldn't fit in my garage. I looked at a double cab Tacoma Pre-Runner a few weeks ago and thought the interior looked 'cheaper' than the 4Runner's interior. Plus, the window sticker was 27K which isn't THAT much less than an SR5 4Runner which has more standard options. My thinking is that the Sport Edition is less than $2K more than the SR5 and has a few upgrades including the dark interior so I will probably test drive one of those today as well.

 

[Derek]

Re: You're probably going to be our

most solid Toyota owner after that learning curve.

Welcome back and yes I do remember chiming in on your trade in decision.

Don't know all the facts on your lemon law complaint, but your Volvo dealer may be technically right....they made the offer to buy back your car before you took them to court under the lemon law....So they got to save face..."YOU DID NOT WIN BY LEMON LAW!, we just gave you your money back....."

Amazing what people do just to save some face. Amazing what some attorneys can do.......

haha, yeah you're probably right about the most solid Toyota owner. I have a lot of friends right now giving me different ideas for a new car, and I told them it didn't matter to me what it was, as long as it was a Toyota.

I'd go into more detail about the Lemon Law case but that would take a while to type everything out. The only thing the dealer ever offered me was to give me some 'assistance' on a trade for a different vehicle because of the negative equity and depreciation on mine. The way I saw it was they were just wanting another sale and that's all that mattered at the end of the day. I told them I wasn't interested after them calling me numerous times. And that's when I said I was just going to contact an attorney so I could get rid of the car completely and never go back to Volvo. That's when the GM, Sales Manager, and my Service Advisor all told me that there was 'no way I was going to win a Lemon Law case based on the problems I was having.' My response to them was 'we'll just see, now won't we?' So in the end, Volvo is paying all of the negative equity and depreciation, the lease termination fees, the full payoff amount, AND all of my legal fees so I feel I came out on top for the most part. Now I just have to wait for Volvo to send me a check in the mail for the payoff amount, which I'll send to the leasing company, then they'll send me the title to the car, and I'll take the title in hand up to the dealership and give them the car and title, and I'll walk away and never look back.

 

[peter78]

I am sorry to hear about your troubles. I bet you have had a lot of sleepless nights worring about your situation.

I have noticed in the papers the Tundra prices have come down a bit. I guess it is near the end of it's generation cycle.

By the way, as I can re-call we were planning to do lunch sometime. That was before you sold your 4Runner. Maybe we could do try again. Good luck in your search.

(In my Connection magazine I noticed a $1,000 rebate on the 4Runner V8's.)

 

[Htown4runner]

Derek

I had the same kinda thing happen with my mazda RX8... but it wasnt as severe. I traded it for a black V8 2005 4Runner and never looked back.

 

[Joseph]

I believe you will be better off with the 4runner since they are made in Tahara, the top rated automotive plant in the world. The other two although Toyotas are built in the USA and don't have the same quality construction. Good luck! P.S. - If you need to haul stuff that doesn't fit in the 4runner just get a utility trail to pull behind the 4runner

Go here and look at the problems owners are having with the new Taco's and Tundra. www.tundrasolutions.com

Pitbull

I am a sparse user of this great forum but I have to take issue with you here. I own a Tacoma now and had one before and collectively have put about 335K miles on these trucks and NO PROBLEMS-the ride is not great and there are little things I would change but reliability has NEVER been an issue. One reason I am replying also is I have decided to get a Tundra over 4Runner as I really need a truck-don't get me wrong I think the 4Runner is great but I also believe the Tundra is the best truck by far in its class also-and the reliability tests do back this fact up.

I am unable to get on the tundrasolutions website-please inform me of the Tundra problems--I may be wrong but I have never heard of any quality issues before your posts.

Thanks

Joe

 

[Derek]

I am sorry to hear about your troubles. I bet you have had a lot of sleepless nights worring about your situation.

I have noticed in the papers the Tundra prices have come down a bit. I guess it is near the end of it's generation cycle.

By the way, as I can re-call we were planning to do lunch sometime. That was before you sold your 4Runner. Maybe we could do try again. Good luck in your search.

(In my Connection magazine I noticed a $1,000 rebate on the 4Runner V8's.)

hey Peter! glad to see you're still a regular on this site. I actually moved to Acworth back in October so we're practically neighbors now. I live very close to Glade Road which should give you an idea of where I am. And yes, we'll have to do lunch one day, but after I pick up the new Toyota :

I went to Marietta Toyota on Saturday and was greeted by the typical pushy sales-person to which I told that I wanted to speak to somebody else that knew more about the 4Runners and Tacomas so she found somebody else which was much better. I test drove a double cab pre-runner Tacoma first and my first impression was nice ride, plenty of power, and decent interior. But then I test drove a 4Runner and in my opinion it had a much better ride and the interior seemed to be of better quality so that made my decision right there. As soon as the buy-back process it finished, I'll go pick up the 4Runner.

 

[ToyotaDan]

Glad to see you back on the Toyota wagon. European cars are a lot worse than even the American cars. I am not sure why people bother with them.

BTW -- I am not getting rid of any Toyota, but I am thinking about a Dodge Charger. You just can't beat the horsepower / price ratio on that bad boy!

 

[peter78]

As far dealers go, Cobb County, the closest one is terrible about giving a deal. Marietta was a better dealer, that is where I get my work done. I drove all the way to Atlanta Toyota to get the one I wanted and at the price I wanted. Still had to wait 5 hours to get it though. Good luck.