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Registered 2004 ( 54 ), I became aware of the spurious noise a matter of months after the three year warranty expired. ( About 13000 miles, very few short trips taken ) The Toyota dealer was mystified and contacted Toyota's technical dept. They then told me it was the tensioner which was a known defect and had since been modified, and quoted £600 to change. Agreed it was not urgent, but 2 years later thought it would be better to do it sooner than later. This time the dealer quoted £200! I queried this since I had been told the engine had to come out previously. They said they would come back to me, but did not.. My previous experiences with the workshop manager have all been unfavourable, hence my asking the independent with whom I have complete confidence.

You missed the boat a bit, if your dealer wasn't up to scratch you should have contacted Toyota head office at Epsom when the problem first appeared, Toyota do not leave their customers to fend for themselves once warranty is out, with such a low mileage they'd have fixed it pronto at no cost to you....assuming as Madf mentions the car has been serviced correctly.

Most unusual to find a Toyota dealer's service dept not up to par, hens teeth are more common, contact Toyota customer service enclosing all details, it may not be too late.

Well I did contact Toyota and had no sympathy at all, purely ( they said ) because I had not had the service done by them at the end of the three years, even though it was done to their specification. Not even a contribution was forthcoming. I chose this car because of Toyota's ( then ) reputation for reliability, even though it was the most expensive of my options. Their intransigent attitude has lost them a customer, but they do not seem to care.

I can only agree with Madf, if you'd had the servicing done by Toyota they'd have stood by their car, that's not wishful thinking it's how Toyota treat their customers.

The irony is that Toyota's main dealer servicing is very reasonably priced.