Used Toyota Venza for Sale in Long Beach, CA

To be fair, I did buy this car used with 90,000 miles on it. But it was nearly perfect looking, not a scratch on her, clean, and everything passed inspections. I really liked the car when I got it, fun to drive and comfortable, both front and rear. (the rear seats recline, very nice for long trips) not crazy about the stereo, but I found out this model came with the nav system, which was replaced with the CD player radio (oh well). Then the honeymoon was over and the problems started to show themselves. The road noise is deafening, my convertible mustang GT was quieter. Yes, the dealer put cheap tires on it, which makes it worse, but those 20 inch tires are louder than some of the trucks I have owned. other noise?, I read about this problem, and this car has it, something is rattling in the dash on rough roads, sounds like the front struts are about to fall out it's so loud. Two months into ownership the car died in traffic, lights went out, dash warning lights all lit up, then it stalled, the alternator died. If I had taken it to a shop, it would have been an $900 repair, you have to take apart the front of the car, including the removal of the radiator, grill, wheel well panels, under car panels, core support bracket and on an on, just to get the alternator out. Next the brakes, the rotors were hardened and shook when you stopped, that started after 7,000 miles. while doing that job I realized the emergency brake was a tiny, old fashioned drum brake built into the rear disk rotors, which explained why the car won't stay in place with the brake on, which requires repairs (fine, high mileage car), and the pistons for the rear disk brakes have rotten seals, 97,000 miles, with rotten brake components! NEXT, at 105,000 miles, the passenger wheel hub bearings went bad. I have read about this, apparently it's a very common issue nobody ever mentions in these reviews, or the maintenance reports. (the suspect is the 20 inch wheels on a drive train designed for a regular car) By the time that one is over I am looking at upwards of $350. (you need a machine shop press to replace the bearings, so you cannot just pop them in yourself) Another known issue, every 5-6000 miles the engine light comes on, because the VVT solenoid on the bank1 exhaust camshaft is tossing a failure code randomly, that's a $1400 repair at the dealer just for one of them, there are four in the engine! (once again you have to take apart the front of the car to get to it, takes literally 10 minutes to replace, 2 hours to get to it). You have to take the car to a shop just to check the transmission oil because on a $35,000 car, Toyota didn't bother to install a dipstick. You can't do it yourself without a code reader that can read live data, and a way to get the car off the ground, but level (a lift). I read about people that have had great experiences with these cars, did you write your review the day after you bought the thing? The seats can catch fire, the transmissions have a known defect that can cause a complete failure over time, the VVT solenoids are known to fail. the leather is terrible (I did read about this, but I thought it was just people being picky, I had no idea a manufacturer would actually use such a lousy grade of leather, I would rather have cloth) There are good things about it, I like it's looks, Mine came with an aftermarket chrome trim option, I like the big noisy wheels, the stereo sounds great, though I would prefer a more modern system, I do like the big seats, more lateral support would be nice. The thing is fast, that V6 is amazing, and it gets decent fuel economy for such a big car, I average 23.3mpg, and when I reset the average on long trips, I get about 25 highway (flat roads) I realize I have a higher mileage car, but I just sold a 200,000 mile explorer that gave me less trouble over the last 60,000 miles than this car has in 15,000. I bought a Toyota because of the reputation, then after getting it and having all these problems, I searched for Toyota Venza Sucks, I will remember to do this next time. It's disappointing, I paid $2700 for the previously mentioned Explorer with 131,000 miles on it. I replaced the upper swing arms, radiator, water pump, thermostat housing, and regular maintenance in 60,000 miles, at 192,000 miles, it sent it's first engine code. I expected more from a much more expensive Toyota. Hopefully it will go years without any more major repairs, and make up for the last four months. OR, hopefully it holds up long enough for me to trade it.