Stuck in Namibia !

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

I had assumed that customer service would improve as time went on, given that they were starting from scratch, but it's getting worse.
So sad to hear of your experience, you're right though, the service is crap. I'm still waiting on simple parts that I ordered weeks ago, things that should be on the shelf and out the next day. They have had 3 years to get a distribution network setup and yet still nothing.
From what I hear the setup in Australia is much better.

I would advise that you let your temper cool a little and work with what you know. You know you like the car, you know that the support is crap, so plan ahead, keep a stock of likely parts that you might need and find a dealer who is supportive and attentive.
The new land cruiser is f****ing boring, I'd feel like I had given up on life driving that.

I’m very very cool regarding this, I don’t need to cool my temper down, I’ve made my decision and feel it’s the right one for me.

 

[Tom109]

I’m very very cool regarding this, I don’t need to cool my temper down, I’ve made my decision and feel it’s the right one for me.

Good on you Annee. I hope you will enjoy memories of your Grenadier travels. I know in my own experience, some of the most difficult and grueling experiences have become measuring sticks for the rest of my life - good, bad, or ugly.

 

[Trialmaster]

Good luck with your purchase. Totally, understand your frustration, I'm lucky (at the moment) as my dealer isn't selling the product anymore, but is sticking with maintenance (Chandlers, Belton). Regarding the maintenance manual non-delivery. I couldn't give a monkeys, as I know I won't be changing clutches in the short term.
I like the look of LC, just searched Autotrader and two are for sale (£78,500). If, I threw the towel in, and still wanted a proper 4wd, I would go for a Defender or a Discovery.

 

[HereinDaRockies]

I had assumed that customer service would improve as time went on, given that they were starting from scratch, but it's getting worse.
So sad to hear of your experience, you're right though, the service is crap. I'm still waiting on simple parts that I ordered weeks ago, things that should be on the shelf and out the next day. They have had 3 years to get a distribution network setup and yet still nothing.
From what I hear the setup in Australia is much better.

I would advise that you let your temper cool a little and work with what you know. You know you like the car, you know that the support is crap, so plan ahead, keep a stock of likely parts that you might need and find a dealer who is supportive and attentive.
The new land cruiser is f****ing boring, I'd feel like I had given up on life driving that

Keep a stock of likely parts… LOLOL

This ain’t the post apocalypse. There are plenty of viable alternative vehicles in the market… there isn’t enough value proposition with the Ineos, to warrant owners to forecast and stockpile replacement parts

ROFL

 

[Tom D]

Keep a stock of likely parts… LOLOL

This ain’t the post apocalypse. There are plenty of viable alternative vehicles in the market… there isn’t enough value proposition with the Ineos, to warrant owners to forecast and stockpile replacement parts

ROFL

If you’re going on a serious trip, its common sense to take some likely parts with you Annee was in Namibia, thats pretty remote.. Having a part with you even if you aren’t capable of fitting it yourself is a good idea.

 

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

Good luck with your purchase. Totally, understand your frustration, I'm lucky (at the moment) as my dealer isn't selling the product anymore, but is sticking with maintenance (Chandlers, Belton). Regarding the maintenance manual non-delivery. I couldn't give a monkeys, as I know I won't be changing clutches in the short term.
I like the look of LC, just searched Autotrader and two are for sale (£78,500). If, I threw the towel in, and still wanted a proper 4wd, I would go for a Defender or a Discovery.

As much as the Defender is a very capable off road vehicle I simply hate that they are driven by the mums on the school run, I’ve had defenders not pretenders and loved them but want something that I don’t feel crippled after an hours driving

 

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

If you’re going on a serious trip, its common sense to take some likely parts with you Annee was in Namibia, thats pretty remote.. Having a part with you even if you aren’t capable of fitting it yourself is a good idea.

I did take a kit and parts with me, I wasn’t expecting the radiator to come off

 

[Tom D]

I did take a kit and parts with me, I wasn’t expecting the radiator to come off

You couldn’t have been expected to take a rad for sure, but maybe a few hose tails and a bit of hose could have allowed a bypass to be fitted.. I don't blame you for being pissed off with IA. The way they responded was piss poor, and sadly hardly surprising given what we know about them.

Regarding servicing you don't have to take it to them, you can do it yourself or have your local garage do it, I have done my own services the last 3 times.. the only downside is I can’t reset the service reminder…yet… There’ll be a workaround at some point I hope..

On another note I know Toyota is well supported in Africa but a brand new vehicle like the 250 Prado will not have the parts availability of something like a VDJ 70 series. Plus it will be full of electronics that your average mechanic wont be able to touch..

Have you heard of these guys??

Toyota 70 Series Land Cruisers For Sale in UK | 79, 76, 78 | RHAS

RHAS have over 20 years of experience in locating and importing Toyota Land Cruisers world wide into the UK. 70 Series in stock.

rowlandsandhordonautomotivesolutions.co.uk

They import 70 series into the UK…
If you want something thats fixable in the middle of nowhere thats the way to go..

 

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

You couldn’t have been expected to take a rad for sure, but maybe a few hose tails and a bit of hose could have allowed a bypass to be fitted.. I don't blame you for being pissed off with IA. The way they responded was piss poor, and sadly hardly surprising given what we know about them.

Regarding servicing you don't have to take it to them, you can do it yourself or have your local garage do it, I have done my own services the last 3 times.. the only downside is I can’t reset the service reminder…yet… There’ll be a workaround at some point I hope..

On another note I know Toyota is well supported in Africa but a brand new vehicle like the 250 Prado will not have the parts availability of something like a VDJ 70 series. Plus it will be full of electronics that your average mechanic wont be able to touch..

Have you heard of these guys??

Toyota 70 Series Land Cruisers For Sale in UK | 79, 76, 78 | RHAS

RHAS have over 20 years of experience in locating and importing Toyota Land Cruisers world wide into the UK. 70 Series in stock.

rowlandsandhordonautomotivesolutions.co.uk

They import 70 series into the UK…
If you want something thats fixable in the middle of nowhere thats the way to go..

I have looked at the 70 series but decided against it, if I was going to import I’d go with the LC 300 series but sadly Europe doesn’t allow them as the 70 series, also you can’t get the 10 year warranty like you can here. Yes I could have taken bits with me but I think people fail to understand that I was on a road with not a passing vehicle for hours in Namibia, even if I did have the parts there was no one passing and was over 200 miles from the nearest local “garage” and a 15 hour drive from Windhoek.

 

[HereinDaRockies]

If you’re going on a serious trip, its common sense to take some likely parts with you Annee was in Namibia, thats pretty remote.. Having a part with you even if you aren’t capable of fitting it yourself is a good idea.

She was referring to sustainable long term ownership and poor parts availability. I thought you meant to stockpile parts in the garage to sustain the lifetime of the ownership

 

[Trialmaster]

I would go full on pikey and get a HiLux.

 

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

She was referring to sustainable long term ownership and poor parts availability. I thought you meant to stockpile parts in the garage to sustain the lifetime of the ownership

Perfectly put ! Thank you.

 

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

I would go full on pikey and get a HiLux.

ouch

 

[Ovrland Bill]

Having a part with you even if you aren’t capable of fitting it yourself is a good idea.

Very true. There are usually people around with the tools and skills that I don’t have, but many faults simply cannot be remedied without the right part.

 

[Commodore]

As much as the Defender is a very capable off road vehicle I simply hate that they are driven by the mums on the school run, I’ve had defenders not pretenders and loved them but want something that I don’t feel crippled after an hours driving

I sure hope you don’t plan on taking a modern defender to Namibia. We just got rid of ours and good lord that is a complex car. It absolutely is more comfortable on road but less useful off road. Sure there are more JLR dealers but my experience with them has but much worse than with my Ineos dealer.

You can never go wrong with a Landcrusier but not that crappy 250 Prado. A 70 or old 80 series is a great truck. Nowhere near as comfortable but very durable. If I was going through remote Africa it would be 70 series Landcruiser but I’m not.

 

[CrazyOldMan]

The issue is the lack of customer service and support over the last 2 years, they said before I signed the contract that we must get services done by an Ineos service centre and they’d be located near all owners, my nearest one is over 150 miles away, so if anything needs ordering parts have to come in usually taking over a week and then more days wasted waiting to get fixed etc. Then there are plenty of issues with the vehicle, the info system doesn’t work, it’s easier to illegally speak on my phone because then at least people can hear me. There are many issues but my main point is the broken contract re service centres, the broken promise’s ie the manual we were all promised , as I said, we were told that services must be done by an Ineos service centre from which they’ve closed, no one can service them especially without the technical updates. I would never have ordered a Grenadier if I was told that there were no service centres nearby, I would never have considered it, and who else would have bought one if they knew they couldn’t get them serviced nearby ?

Some of this is relative - many US owners would be THRILLED to have a service center within 150 miles, and that’s fantasy land for the Canadians. My dealer is 150 miles away - and I have a couple of local BMW specialists if I’m in a major bind for something immediate. If I had to, my dealer would get them a part if it couldn’t be driven. Already worked that out.

 

[Annee Grenadier_girl]

I sure hope you don’t plan on taking a modern defender to Namibia. We just got rid of ours and good lord that is a complex car. It absolutely is more comfortable on road but less useful off road. Sure there are more JLR dealers but my experience with them has but much worse than with my Ineos dealer.

You can never go wrong with a Landcrusier but not that crappy 250 Prado. A 70 or old 80 series is a great truck. Nowhere near as comfortable but very durable. If I was going through remote Africa it would be 70 series Landcruiser but I’m not.

I'd never get a new Defender.
We can only get the 250 LC in the UK and we also can't get the 70's series due to EU regulations.
If I imported one then I wouldn't be able to get Toyotas 10yr warranty.

 

[NQ94]

If intending to use the car outside of the country (region) of sale look at Toyota's warranty documents first. It is highly likely the warranty is only supported in country (region) of sale like most vehicle warranties. Like Australia's 7 year warranty on Landcruisers the 10 year warranty will require all services done by Toyota dealer in the country of sale. Once serviced elsewhere the warranty reverts back to the standard warranty.

 

[RYAustralia]

Sorry to hear of your issues in namibia. I leased a vehicle from Ineos Windhoek for my trip and it couldn’t have been better. Reliable, great service and lovely people. Really couldn’t have asked for better.

The Namibia and South African dealers have different arrangements with Ineos is my understanding. Namibia deal directly with Ineos UK, whereas South Africa have a developed local /Africa support network first, and escalate to UK when needed.

Hope you get to enjoy Namibia more. It’s truly one of the most beautiful countries - but sparse population second only to Mongolia in least densely populated place in the world. Definitely one to travel with emergency comms at all times. Glad you’re safe.

 

[CRH]

I'd never get a new Defender.
We can only get the 250 LC in the UK and we also can't get the 70's series due to EU regulations.
If I imported one then I wouldn't be able to get Toyotas 10yr warranty.

I do feel for you and I would definitely be having second thoughts if my nearest dealer was 150 miles away, that just isn't acceptable in UK. Knowing what you have done with your vehicle, I would assume you would do the same with the replacement. You have had the bad experience in Namibia and managed to get it sorted with help from forum members. From what I have read, the new Toyota has its problems, not least that we can't currently order one in UK as reached allocation and second hand have inflated price. It's also a new vehicle so I would expect other issues to pop up, maybe not, but Toyota has done a lot of recalls in recent years and the quality isn't what it was. The complexity of the vehicle will be far greater so again hard to fix out in the middle of nowhere, parts will be limited as it's a new vehicle (in the middle of nowhere). I hate a vehicle letting me down as it loses your confidence but I don't think any modern vehicles will be any better, I just hope the overall durability is on the Grenadier. Service availability is the main issue but fingers crossed that gets sorted, try contacting someone to see what, if anything is planned. Probably won't get any answer but worth a try.