Why buy a Toyota?
Want someone to explain the current Toyota hype because I'm not seeing it. A camry goes for AED 150K and Rav4 tops out at AED 170k with dealer options. BMW X1 is 180K.
Zero customer service at Al Futtaim Toyota showrooms. Every single salesman gives you some version of "if you don't buy it, the next guy will." Which, fine, maybe that's true, but it tells you everything about how they see us, the customers. Compare that to what other brands are doing at the same price point and the whole experience feels like a downgrade. You're paying near-premium money for a transaction that feels like buying an appliance from someone who's annoyed you asked questions.
Then there's the cars themselves. The interiors are just not good. Hard plastics everywhere, layouts that feel a generation behind, nothing that makes you want to sit in it. Exterior styling is hit or miss at best and mostly just forgettable. Nothing about the product feels like it justifies where the pricing has landed.
And the reliability argument, which is the whole pitch. I get it, they last forever. But how much is that actually worth to most buyers?
Plenty of brands almost as reliable like Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, Ford etc. that will never give a problem for most people with much better interiors and without the Toyota price premium.
What's left is a cult following that defends the brand no matter what, and honestly I think that following is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The reputation was earned, I'm not disputing that. But reputation and current product are two different things, and at some point the brand started charging for the reputation while the actual experience got worse.