So near the end of August/early September I purchased a 2020 Toyota Corolla SE with the 2.0 liter four cylinder engine. I was fairly excited about it considering the Corolla desperately needed a power boost (Corolla owners know what I'm talking about).
Anyhow this new model comes with a CVT called 'direct-shift' CVT. This apparently was new CVT technology in which the transmission has a launch gear (first gear) then afterward it switches to the normal drive CVT mode. After a couple weeks I noticed a hard clunking feel or shudder when you accelerate from a slow speed and coming to a stop and accelerate again. I thought it was a fluke but about five times I took it into a Toyota dealership (fully under warranty obviously).
The first attempt to get this addressed was at Sheehy Toyota of Stafford VA where the shop foreman verbally told me he could duplicate the problem and felt the same thing. But in the paper work they said 'could not duplicate the problem'. Frustrated, I contacted Toyota corporate as I was not going to get the runaround. After several days I get contacted by a rep who says to get a second opinion at another dealership.
I went to a second Sheehy Toyota dealership in Fredericksburg VA and their write up went something like this (after several days of test driving the vehicle and also confirming the problem. Sorry for the lengthy write-up):
"Customer states vehicle has a very hard shift out of first gear when low on fuel is a lot more pronounced. Test drove with customer, experienced shift feeling on light to moderate acceleration. Customer stated what we experienced was minor compared to how it is sometimes. We drove another Corolla off the lot and experienced the same shift feeling on light to moderate acceleration. Customer stated we may need to keep the vehicle for longer in order to duplicate harsher shift feeling he is describing". Case number: 192840281.
"10/14 - Drove vehicle another 30 min, could not duplicate a hard shift. Found when driving both the customer's car and a new car the shift feeling varied from time to time. Test drove 26 miles total (mostly low speed stop/go)."
I don't know how it happened but the dealership seemed to reverse their position. Sheehy Fredericksburg told me verbatim that after contacting the engineers at Toyota that the issue I was experiencing was 'NORMAL' and the transmission was operating as designed. So basically Toyota knowingly sold me a clunky transmission that causes the driver to experience intermittent hard shifts on a brand new car? Is this the Toyota we are supposed expect? I am very disappointed in my purchase and the run around Toyota is giving me. But given what happened with the whole unintended acceleration issue that went on for years, this isn't Toyota's first time ignoring a problem until it blows up in their face.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
So near the end of August/early September I purchased a 2020 Toyota Corolla SE with the 2.0 liter four cylinder engine. I was fairly excited about it considering the Corolla desperately needed a power boost (Corolla owners know what I'm talking about).
Anyhow this new model comes with a CVT called 'direct-shift' CVT. This apparently was new CVT technology in which the transmission has a launch gear (first gear) then afterward it switches to the normal drive CVT mode. After a couple weeks I noticed a hard clunking feel or shudder when you accelerate from a slow speed and coming to a stop and accelerate again. I thought it was a fluke but about five times I took it into a Toyota dealership (fully under warranty obviously).
The first attempt to get this addressed was at Sheehy Toyota of Stafford VA where the shop foreman verbally told me he could duplicate the problem and felt the same thing. But in the paper work they said 'could not duplicate the problem'. Frustrated, I contacted Toyota corporate as I was not going to get the runaround. After several days I get contacted by a rep who says to get a second opinion at another dealership.
I went to a second Sheehy Toyota dealership in Fredericksburg VA and their write up went something like this (after several days of test driving the vehicle and also confirming the problem. Sorry for the lengthy write-up):
"Customer states vehicle has a very hard shift out of first gear when low on fuel is a lot more pronounced. Test drove with customer, experienced shift feeling on light to moderate acceleration. Customer stated what we experienced was minor compared to how it is sometimes. We drove another Corolla off the lot and experienced the same shift feeling on light to moderate acceleration. Customer stated we may need to keep the vehicle for longer in order to duplicate harsher shift feeling he is describing". Case number: 192840281. "10/14 - Drove vehicle another 30 min, could not duplicate a hard shift. Found when driving both the customer's car and a new car the shift feeling varied from time to time. Test drove 26 miles total (mostly low speed stop/go)."
I don't know how it happened but the dealership seemed to reverse their position. Sheehy Fredericksburg told me verbatim that after contacting the engineers at Toyota that the issue I was experiencing was 'NORMAL' and the transmission was operating as designed. So basically Toyota knowingly sold me a clunky transmission that causes the driver to experience intermittent hard shifts on a brand new car? Is this the Toyota we are supposed expect? I am very disappointed in my purchase and the run around Toyota is giving me. But given what happened with the whole unintended acceleration issue that went on for years, this isn't Toyota's first time ignoring a problem until it blows up in their face.
- Justin F., Alexandria, VA, US