I've long been a Toyota guy, first having a Camry, now driving a Highlander, and always lusted forwards to a Lexus IS/Altezza and 2nd gen MR2s. My Camry was made in 93, the bubbly one. My Highlander is a 03. I've always felt that the Camry was made better despite being an older car. The interior materials was nicer in the Camry, the paint was nicer, the switchgear just in general felt better. The dash of the Highlander was of the hard crappy type of plastic, which never really went down well with me, especially since it was a 40k+ CAD car when new. Today is the day where it really really ticked me off. While I was driving I noticed there was a speck on "dust" above the driver's side vents, I went and rubbed it and lo and behold, it was the paint coming off. I honestly do not abuse the interior of the car and always thought it was dyed plastic, this new revelation of PAINT coming off of the dashboard was just... wow, speechless. They car is only 7 years old, my then 14 year old when I sold it Camry was of better condition and quality. They really don't make them like they used to.
I hear you and I am glad I'm not the only one having this problem. My 08 Suby WRX's vents are slowly losing the factory paint from my weekly hits of Cockpit Premium and a brush, followed by drying up with a MF towel. First noticed the fading a year or two ago, and the car is only 2.5 years old now I believe.
Subaru owned by FHI owned by Toyota i'm pretty sure their parts gets thrown around these days and painting = fit more cars. Cars are not made to last forever these days
This is where you need to stop buying Toyota and start looking at german cars...VW interior is made out of very high quality material compared to Toyota...
VW is on a quest to be the biggest manufacturer in the world. They did well at this year's Canadian AJAC awards (Automotive Journalists Awards of Canada) http://www.driving.ca/Jury+picks+best+vehicles+2011/3673274/story.html
Vw/Audi are making the best looking cars out there right now. Toyota just got lazy, they order stuff from third world countries (why they have SO MANY vehicles they are recalling), they use cheap plastic inside (I HATE grey spray paint)...And their cars lean from side to side, that's how they make "confortable" ride...I like japanese cars (Nissan and Honda), but no toYOta for me...
