We were shocked to find out that the engine bay of our brand new vehicle did not have a proper coating of paint.
BHPian Leoshashi recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Our Innova had some minor dust nibs on some panels. I initially thought that the car was damaged and repainted at the dealer, but dad was present all along when the car was getting unloaded from the truck and that same day, the delivery happened. DFT readings also confirmed paint was original, had a consistent reading of ~90 microns.
The major shock came to us when we discovered that our Crysta’s engine bay had no proper paint coating inside whereas other cars had. It had those paint markings on nuts and bolts too intact, thus, it was a proper factory job. The dealer did give us the option of filing VOC, etc. and escalating to Toyota, but since the car, in general, was fine, we didn’t pursue it further. They would have offered painting the bay which means removing the engine etc, so we refused.
Thinking that our car was one of those lemons, we ignored it. In November, a family friend bought a Fortuner, and it had dust specs on almost every panel.
Even my XL6 had a few dust specs in the paint despite having proper DFT readings all around. Thus it’s safe to assume, the paint shop maintenance and QC have really gone down. Heck, my 22-year-old M800 has thicker original paint than my XL6, if that’s any indication of quality.
Here’s what BHPian kiredd1005 had to say about the matter:
My Toyota Innova too had a lot of paint defects. Luckily they didn’t show up very easily. The person installing PPF and ceramic showed me the defects. He was able to remove most of the defects with sanding and polishing. It was a little annoying to see the defects that too on a brand new car. Of course, I didn’t bother to tell the dealer because I didn’t want to ruin my peace of mind!
He also showed me another brand new Fortuner Legender having similar defects. I made peace with it and left.
Here’s what BHPian Mortis had to say about the matter:
Paint quality is coming down across brands, I feel. There was another thread/post where a BHPian got a Kia with partially painted inner door borders and on complaining, was shown a similar situation on other customers’ cars.
Heck, the paint on our Dzire is so thin a big sneeze would strip it off. Had the bonnet repainted at the dealership after an accident under insurance and the paint went dull and milky in 6 months, TWICE. Finally got it repainted by my independent painter and it’s much better other than a minor difference in the metallic flakes.
Here’s what BHPian AirbusCapt had to say about the matter:
Too much emphasis is being laid on a coat of paint in my opinion. Are we supposed to enjoy the vehicle or keep it packed in a layer of cling-wrap, under harsh lights and feel happy about the gloss?
I would rather have 5 years and 2 lakh kms of happy memories rather than 5 years and 20,000 kms of shiny, blingy beauty.
Here’s what BHPian The Rationalist had to say about the matter:
How many of us have perfect skins? While we all may wish to have skin without blemishes and acne scars, it’s impossible. Why this much obsession with perfection? I have never worried about small scratches and dents. I do tend to feel upset seeing small scratches and all, but once inside and start driving, I’m not all bothered as I just love the way the car takes the corners and all. Looks like people are buying cars to keep them on display in their living rooms! With the kind of obsession shown, it’s impossible to drive a car in India for sure.
Keyword: Toyota Innova Crysta owner dissatisfied with the car's paint quality