What to check on collection?

[infernouk 8]

Hey all, 

I am picking up my 86 car this friday/next friday and want to make sure i dont screw up making sure its in good condition before i accept it. 

Its a used car with previous owner being toyota themselves, 9k miles done. 16 plate. 

Is there anything on this age of car i should be looking at when picking it up to make sure I dont get nasty surprises down the line? 

It has a few paintwork scufs from doors opening in to it which obviously are to be removed and cleaned up pre sale, and the rear bodykit bumper had slightly come away from the body of the car, again they said these will all be fixed on the inspection and clean up. 

Whats your guys thoughts and input?

Side note: the car was at 8900 miles when they did my first paperwork, i had some updates done and now the paperwork says 9000... the logical assumption i made was it came to them at 8900 and theyve done 100 of various driving in it (seems to have been with them a few months) and they are just poor at paperwork. But im not sure what to make of that / do about it or if im just over worrying! 

Cheers for the inputs and good to be on the forums!

[nerdstrike 186]

Tyres tyres tyres. They're the first thing to show when somebody fancies a drift, and also the first thing to be replaced cheaply.

Inspect their handiwork fixing the bumper, get your head down there if you can. Reject anything that looks like a bodge.

Check the rear view mirror. Some of ours have delaminated and the glass has dropped off. You can see what looks a bit like corrosion round the edges if it starts to go. Warranty replacement.

The car is pretty young, so not much else will be evident. Expect second gear to be tricky when cold, but if anything else seems off on the gearbox, flag it up.

Enjoy your new car!

[surrey86 352]

Sounds like they've continued using it as a demo car for a bit. Bit annoying but nothing to be overly concerned about as it would have likely been a demo car until now.

I'd be most concerned with checking the gearbox is ok when cold. Quite a few people have had really stiff gear changes when starting off without Toyota seemingly being able to resolve it. This shouldn't be normal - I wouldn't expect it.

[Lauren 2259]

On gear changes. First to second should be fine even when cold. It's coming down from third to second that is always a pain as it pretty much always takes me two attempts to get it into gear every morning for the first time that I do it. The problem resolves itself after five minutes of driving as the gear box oil warms a bit.

[Lowe 191]

2 minutes ago, Lauren said:

On gear changes. First to second should be fine even when cold. It's coming down from third to second that is always a pain as it pretty much always takes me two attempts to get it into gear every morning for the first time that I do it. The problem resolves itself after five minutes of driving as the gear box oil warms a bit.

3rd down is fine for me. 1st to 2nd however is the mother of all you know whats. I end up pulling away in 2nd some times until the gearbox oil warms up!

[surrey86 352]

My gearbox doesn't have either of these problems. First time 3rd into 2nd is a little slow admittedly and I tend to blip the throttle which helps it in.

@infernouk - basically what these posts are telling you is if the car is hard to shift from cold you will have a fight to get it sorted out. If it's bad get them to compare with another car.

[Philip 14]

Has it had its 1 year service done yet? (Needs to be fairly close to its birthday to ensure that the warranty remains valid.)

Does it have SatNav? If so, I'd check that the maps are reasonably up to date (which they should be if it's a 2016 car).

Check for condensation in the rear lights (especially if there's any chance that the rear bumper issues could have been due to light collision damage).

Check the driver's seat outside bolster for wear.

[infernouk 8]

Cheers guys, checked with dealer and the car is actually lower than even the initial sign said for mileage, they seem to just be lazy with being accurate writing it down...so thats ok i guess...

Will check the tyres and i guess ill have to keep an eye on the gearbox first week of ownership!

It had its one year service done as soon as they came into possession of it after toyota HQ handed it down (its an ex staff car not demo). It also does have a nav and there was no seat wear on test drive

[GravelRash 62]

I'd take a small torch and check to see how bad the rear engine oil leak is.

It seems to be a known flaw on the FA20 engine.

My car is less than 12 months old, about 8K miles and the other day I smelt burning, had a check and I can see evidence of dripping onto the over-pipe.

To do this:

Pop the bonnect

Stand slightly behind the drivers wheel and look down behind the engine

You will see a engine plate with 3 bolts: (This is not my picture, it's a Google image search)

It leaks from behind this cover and drips onto the exhaust overpipe. From what I've read it's a warranty fix, but they basically seem to bodge it and it's only a matter of time before it will leak again.

If it is leaking, you may smell it and keep an eye on your oil levels.

Longer term you can purchase a aftermarket kit to permanently fix this issue.