You never owned an RX 330, did you? The fit and finish on my TCH is better than the fit and finish on my '04 and '05 RX 330 rattlers.

 

I have the shifter console squeak, which has been helped but not completely eliminated by multiple attempts to fix it. I also have a loud crackly-sounding type rattle coming from the passenger dash area when going over bumpy roads. I have rattles coming from both driver's and passenger's side doors. My front right passenger side speaker intermittently distorts and crackles at high frequencies. I have a rattle that sounds like it is coming from the rear deck area or maybe the hybrid battery vents.

This is my first Toyota product, recently switching for fuel efficiency and reliability reasons, and I have to say I expected more in terms of interior fit and finish quality. While not mechanically or electrically reliable, the fit and finish of my (obviously more expensive) 1999 Audi A4 and 2000 BMW 540i were much better, with no rattles or squeaks. I just hope my subpar exerience with interior fit of the TCH doesn't reflect what's in store for the more expensive and important drivetrain and other mechanicals of the TCH. I still think the TCH represents a great value given the technology/cost ratio.

 

No did not own the RX330, but did have a 99 RX300 which was basically the same vehical only older. All I can say you must have one TCH in 1,000. be happy about that lol.

 

I had an Audi A4, and that thing was very tight. My Mother-In-Law has an A6 Avant, and that thing has a few rattles, I can't stand driving it because a $50,000 car should not squeek or rattle.

My TCH has a few intermitent rattles (not from the overhead console or the center console, but from the driver's door). It does not do it all the time, so i will just live with it. It is still much better than the POS Rover we had, better than any ford we have had, and better than my last Dodge. My first car ('82 Dodge Diplomat) had no squeeks or rattles from inside the car, but the suspension danced around the road and rattled like the dickens.

 

There is nothing in my eyeglass holder and it sounds like something above it is bouncing and hitting it.

 

Well I know all manufacturers have issues, but I guess I exepcted my fromt Toyota. I owned 89 Camry, 91 Celica GT, 93 Camry V6 XLE, 97 Avalon XLS. The 93 Camry was by far one of the best built cars I have every owned to date, solid and tight and very quiet. The 97 Avalon started to show the declining quality a bit. I suspect Toyota has to cut corners somewhere to deliver a high quality car that is cost competitive, and I suspect Interiors are the first plave manufacturers look, since it does nto effect the structural reliability of the car. Clearly with a 440 watt JBL the back deck shoudl be more securely fastened. My 04 TL had the same issues, I am not sure what they do when they test these things, but cranking up the volume is clearly not one of their tests. My 06 TL was solid and quiet. The TCH was not as bad as my 04 TL, but it is close. Add to that the poor HVAC ergonomics and cheap looking LCD displays and I think Toyota needs to go back and improve these things for the mid-life refresh in 09. My TL and now my TCH taught me an important lesson, I am done with year 1 cars. I actually feel the best value is the mid life refeesh typically in year 3, you get some additonal goodies usually at same cost and they have fixed most of the bugs. The TCH was a nice car and did what I wanted it to do, but I honestly miss my TL ride and features so yesterday the TCH went bye bye and I have anew 07 TL. Yes I'm nuts, but I can't take the money with me so decidied that I will live with the gas costs and enjoy life a bit for now and maybe when the TCH improves I will try it in a few years.

 

After seven Hondas (three Accords, two Civics, one Prelude and an Odyssey), I decided to believe the hype about Toyota quality and purchased a 2007 Camry Hybrid. The 2007 Camry has more squeaks, rattles, and ill-fitting interior pieces of any car I have ever owned. The hybrid works as advertised, getting an honest 37-40 miles per gallon while minimizing emissions. But the interior noises and mismatched seams are a joke, especially in a car costing nearly $30,000. The dealer has worked hard to fix the various noises and given up saying that "they all do that". And Toyota corporate customer service says I have to wait to see if a Technical Service Bulletin is issued on the problems.
I've had the usual suspects: squeeking center console shifter, rattling a/c vents, sun glass holder, even the grab handles make noise. And there are intermittent noises from moldings and seals around the doors.
So, if enough letters and complaints are lodged with Toyota, they committed to me to work out a solution. The engineering of the HSD is awesome and I enjoy the car overall, but the noises are spoiling an otherwise fine landmark automobile. I just hope that Toyota owns up to the problems before it starts down the path of the "Big Three".

 

Interesting. Two years ago, looking for a minivan, I eliminated all but the Odyssey and the Sienna (after looking carefully at many), with a slight leaning towards the Odyssey as it seemed to handle a tad better. My wife vetoed the Odyssey after observing that all five on the lot had multiple fit and finish problems (such as glove box doors misaligned by over 1/4") and noises. Then this past year when comparing the TCH to the HCH, I noticed similar mis-fitting trim pieces that were not seen on either of the two TCHs I was able to look at before purchasing mine (the third one we saw).

A second anecdotal reference is a friend who purchased an '06 Prius after test driving the '06 HCH and found the road noise and rattles on the brand new HCH so bad he said he wouldn't reconsider an HCH.

Both of us have been very happy with previous Hondas, as I have also been with previous Toyotas. My TCH had the console squeak, but the dealer fixed it first try at the first oil change (after I failed to fix it with the felt pads as suggested here on GreenHybrid.)

-- Alan

 

When we had single digit (F) temperatures the whole top of my dashboard rattled until the internal temperature of the car came up.
I blame the whole save time and money assembly process using plastic pressure clips rather than screws for more parts than were done previously.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that the Toyota's have far less road noise than the Honda's. We spent a lot of money on the 2004 Odyssey to quiet it down (dynamat in the doors, spray-on undercoating) to no avail. Before deciding on the TCH, I test drove an Accord EX 4cyl. The dealer was selling them at "invoice", so that made them quite a bit cheaper than a full MSRP TCH. But the road noise in the Accord sealed the deal for the Toyota. Maybe that's why the numerous squeaks, rattles, etc are so annoying in the otherwise quiet Camry.