Toyota Dealers Superior Product Knowledge

[SILVABULLIT]

Hey All

As the title suggests toyota dealers know absolutely squat about the 05 stivo. called into a toyota dealership on the northside of Brissy yesterday to see if they had one to look at and(it was a long shot!) to test drive. Sales manager told me that they weren't out yet and would be out at the end of the month possibly.(dumb as dog s**t). He then asked another guy who said they think they may have got one in a shipment this week. He checked and they had a white one but it was at their holding yard. What good is it sitting there?

Sales manager then said that they only just arrived in the country and nobody had one. I said "aaarrrnnnnntttt!" wrong answer; seen pics on the net of one registered and delivered about 2 weeks ago. Still didn't believe me. I then told of others down south who were getting one in the next couple of weeks. he then admitted that I knew more than he did and walked off a little embarrased! This other sales man who the sales manager told me knew all the facts and figures about the Stivo started to talk to me about the car and he knew squat as well.

He proceeded to tell me about the recall on the 03/04 models for ecu etc upgrade but wasn't sure as to why they did it.I filled him in on the reasons and then told him about the gearbox/clutch issue, selector cables and gear knob and on some cars strut issues. He then jokingly offered me a job as my product knowledge was better than his. I then wanted to know(another long shot) if these problems with the past models had been rectified with the 05 model. Just got a blank stare and a shrug of the shoulders. I should of guessed that response. He was surpisingly interested in the SILVABULLIT and what it had done to it. Filled him in roughly as to what was done and the gains. He was surprised at the gains and said that sound like it would be awesome to drive over a stocko. A vast improvement I told him and he then stood there as I got in and drove off so I couldn't resist giving it a bit.

I watched in the mirror as he stood there and watched me dissapear in the distance. Good thing was that before I left he told me to come around during the week and ask for him and he'd take me down to the where the car was for a look and possibly a drive. So if all goes well and I can get off work early enough I'll take on for a drive this week.

This just goes to show that Toyota has lot to answer for in the way their dealers are kept up to speed with details about the products they are trying to sell. At laest the second sales guy I spoke to had an interest in what I told him and actually expressed some thanks for the info I gave him. He was by no means a dumb a55 as he knew that the Celica had the same engine and drivetrain and asked if the Celica had the same issues with the gearbox. I told him they did but it was a different group of people buying Celica's. He laughed and then said " yeah gay hairdressers who wanted the sporty image or some one in their 50's going through a mid life crisis". I had a good laugh at that one with him and agreed that they probably weren't experiencing the same spirited driving as the Stivo was.

Anybody else had the same experience? Post it here for a good read and a bit of a laugh!!! :D :D

[Sport1vo]

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Edited May 8, 2005 by sport1vo

[MAP81]

Nothing suprises me about any of the things posted here.... in 2002 when i was looking to get a new car I Enquired with Toyota Australia as to whether Australia would be seing the likes of the Runx of Japan, or the T-Sport of Europe and after being passed around to possibly every Dept in Toyota's Head office I was finally told " NO, Australia will not be getting the corolla with the 2zzge, as there is not a market for them in AUS because we already have the Celica." So after checking out a few other options I finally decided to go with the Levin.... then what do you know not even three months into owning my Levin Toyota Australia announces they were bringing out the Sportivo....

So don't loose faith sport1vo, theres every chance that Toyota Aus will be bringing out a Sportivo Compressor.... They just don't know it yet

[Buddha]

My wife and I first started looking at new cars towards the end of 2003, and I had read on numerous occasions, in magazines, newspapers and on the net, that there would be a Corolla facelift around June/July '04, which is how it pretty much happened, give or take a few weeks and the delay of some models. I was wondering about this, as that was the time we had planned to take delivery of our new car.

In February 2004 I was at the Brisbane motor show with a mate, and there was a Toyota salesman there who was more than happy to sell me anything I could want "as long as you sign today, etc". So I told him we were scouting around, fairly sure we'd go with the Corolla wagon, but also sussing out competitors, and looking to buy mid-year. I asked him what we could expect from the new model.

His response ... surprise, surprise ... "Toyota aren't facelifting the Corolla anytime soon."

Another mate's father, now a retired car dealer who said its a simple ploy, they want to sell you something now, not in a few months time. Its not in their best interests to give you the lowdown on a car they don't have to sell to you right now.

But misinformation goes deeper than that ... I bought my VVT-i badges from my local Toyota dealer, I told the parts guy I wanted the same chrome badge that was on every non-Sportivo 4 cyl Camry, not to mention RAV4's, Tarago's and Kluger's.

"No mate, the VVT-i badges are only on the Camry Sportivo and they're black" (he was half-right, so credit where credit's due, I guess). Unfortunately for him, there was a carpark full of cars waiting for servicing, and the closest one to us was a Camry with, you guessed it, a chrome VVT-i badge. It was then, and only then, that he bothered to check the system for the part no.

Even funnier was the same dealer when we first got the wagon and I enquired about screws for the number plates (our car was delivered from another dealer, sans-plates, as we have personalised ones, but it also came without the screws). "No mate, we don't have the screws here, they're kept by the delivery people, but you can't buy the screws from them as they obviously need them."

So I asked, "OK, can you tell me who supplies them?"

His classic reply ... "We do!"

I went to another dealer, part of the same chain, who gave me 4 screws for nix. Go figure! :P

[Northy]

:D going for test drive in a black face lift sportivo tomorrow arvo ill take some pics

[lucio_libre]

It just shows that you must do your own research before buying anything. Ive had numerous car salesmen talk about their cars etc etc then when you ask them a simple question of how big the engine is etc etc they have no friggin idea, they give you stupid looks like "how am i suppose to know?" and it's like, its your job Di*khead, blahhhh, salesman and lawyers all from the same boat, talk sh*it all day never do a hard days work. I have no doubt any of us owners would be able to sell the car better. As for the "kompressor" Bill, one guy at the motorshow knew about it but didnt think the market was big enough over here, as for the TS01 camry, what a joke, buy a TRD supercharger kit and slap it on wow??? i mean thats just a load of crap, then have the car the the motorshow for a cheap publicity stunt. The fact of the matter is that toyota do not portray a sporting image and they are not really interested in that market segment, i mean just check out the new sports cars we can get from toyota, a bit of a joke really, underpowered and no match for real sports cars, but what ever they do, they sell heaps of cars.

[CheekySportivo]

I totally know how you feel SILVABULLIT.....I too am looking at buying the new 05 Sportivo with one sales guy from a Sydney Toyota dealership (I better not mention which dealership! hehe) having absolute NFI on the car whatsoever. He only mentioned the new front end and

new look fog lights.

Because I knew alot more than the sales rep I was asking him all the relevant questions! There is no way I would give that guy my business.

Anyway, on a happier note though I am now dealing with another Sydney dealership with this sales rep knowing the new Sportivo inside out due to himself owning an '03 model and now also purchasing the '05 model for himself. He was giving me great info on the new changes with comparisons against the pre & post Sportivo. So it's definately all good....It's now just a matter of getting the best price for the new lil beast! hehe

:D

PS - For those who didnt know the silver on the new model Sportivo is now known as Sterling silver. It now has a tinge of gold throughout the colour rather than having the flat metallic silver on the pre facelift Sportivo. Would be interesting to see what everyone's thoughts are on the new silver colour actually.

Cheers guys

:)

[SILVABULLIT]

I've spoken to a few sales people from toyota about the price on the new Stivo. The guy I spoken to at the motor show told me $28990 plus orc. I thought cool with my fleet discount even better. But after speaking to the sales peolple at dealerships I'm getting a different story. Mate same price as the previous model at $29990 plus orc.

I know they are basically the same car BUT I want to know if toyota has pulled their finger out of their a55 and built the facelift model without the probs of the previous models. I've been pretty lucky with the bullit as it doesn't seem to have the problems some have but I don't want to push my luck too far and hope to get a facelift as good as what I've got now.

There is simply all I want to know about the 05 model. Plus I'd like to go to a dealership and get a test drive of one. When I bought the Bullit I went to 9 dealerships before finally getting a drive of one.

Toyota- want to give a car cult status? Let people take them for a drive then the car can talk for itself; not just a sales guy reading off a sales brochure.

I see no reason why the Stivo can't be a cult car like the Suzuki GTI swift was of the late eighties/early nineties.

[MR22ZZ]

official Toyota RRP is $28990 if anyone is charging more for it then they are definately ripping you off...

[Buddha]

PS - For those who didnt know the silver on the new model Sportivo is now known as Sterling silver. It now has a tinge of gold throughout the colour rather than having the flat metallic silver on the pre facelift Sportivo. Would be interesting to see what everyone's thoughts are on the new silver colour actually.

Cheers guys

:)

←

I had this story in another part of the forum, but its valid here as well ... when the facelifted Rolla's came out, our local dealer had one in the new silver. When I said to him it looked different to the previous silver, he said there was no difference, it was the exact same colour.

I do suffer a little from colour blindness, but even I could tell he was pulling my leg. :)

I do like the Sterling Silver, but I think the older silver better suits the Sportivo's sporty nature.

[CheekySportivo]

From what I understand the new 05 post face lift Sportivo is better than ever before. I was advised by a Toyota sales rep that all issues were rectified giving the new model a 5 star status possibly even performing better than the pre-face lift Sportivo.

I managed to test drive the new Sportivo and I must say I fell in love with it straight away.....the bigger brake callipers make the Sportivo stop at a halt and look just as good against the 16 inch wheels.

As for pricing, I received 28990 plus ORC so i guess if you can grab it for under 30K you have got yourself a great deal.

:)