2013 Toyota 86 Part 7: Service and a Scrape

365 days later, how’s our long-term Toyota 86 doing?

Toyota 86 Part 6

What’s the old adage? Time flies when you’re having fun? That it definitely does, especially when you own what must be the most exciting sportscar of recent memory. I have now owned my little Toyota 86 for over a year, put on 20,500km and upgraded quite a few bits in the process. As many of you have asked, it is probably time to let you in on some of the ownership experience.

Service and maintenance
Disappointingly for the cynics out there, absolutely nothing has gone wrong with my pearl white beauty in the last 365 days. Then again, would you expect anything less from a modern Japanese car? Gone are the days when you would be very wary of buying a brand new first run car; the 86 has been faultless.

At my first 5k service in October, I paid Dh403 for what amounts to a glorified oil change. At the 10,000 intermediate service which has a few more checks in addition to swapping out the oil, I paid Dh572.

When I came in for the 15,000 service (at a tardy 16,434km) there was a surprise waiting for me. Under a global service update, oil-change intervals have been now extended to 7,500km which means I didn’t actually need to service the car until I hit nearly 20,000km. Since I’ve been late to every service and am more than a bit little obsessive-compulsive, I decided to have the car serviced anyway – even the service manager insisted that I didn’t need to! – and got a minor service done for Dh785 (revised price under the new service schedule). Next service is at 24,000km. Assuming I remember to make it!

All straightforward so far?

And then somebody hit my car.

Coming back from the office one afternoon, I found a minor scrape on the rear fender. Thank you, Dubai parkers for reinforcing my continued lack of faith in humanity.

Toyota 86 Part 6

I feared an expensive visit to the bodyshop, followed by a damaging hit to my no-claims bonus if I were to do it through my insurance provider. On a gamble, I took the car down to Al Futtaim to find out how much it would cost to get the whole bumper resprayed and fix the very slight damage to the tip of the rear quarterpanel.

After having a long chat with the service advisor it turns out a respray wouldn’t be needed after all. Using a process they call ‘Smart repair’ the boffins at AFM can respray the affected area and match the surrounding areas, without even taking the bumper off!

Toyota 86 Part 6 3

And here’s the finished item. For Dh499, I consider it good work, especially considering that various external bodyshops were quoting me in excess of Dh800! I have no idea what voodoo the repair team did but it looks utterly perfect – I’ll be doing the same to treat some stone chips in the front at the next service.

All things considered, I reckon Dh1760 is not a bad price at all to pay for the privilege of driving a fabulous sportscar over a year and 20,000km. Even with the Dh500 repair, it’s still well under Dh3,000. No, not bad at all for a car that can beat a Nissan 370Z up a hill…

Costs to date
Servicing costs: Dh1760
Paint repair: Dh499
Total running costs: Dh2259

 

Read more here!

Part 1: The Deal

Part 2: The Checklist

Part 3: The Workshop

Part 4: The Delivery

Part 5: First Service

Part 6: Clever Vs Dumb

10 responses to “2013 Toyota 86 Part 7: Service and a Scrape”

  1. Chris says:

    Is that “smart repair” thing in-house or an external contractor?

  2. Vivian says:

    Thank you so much Imthishan! Very insightful! Been waiting for this service break down for a while now. Hopefully I’ll be driving my own Hachiroku by the end of this year. Satin pearl white any day!!!
    Btw, which AFM service station would you recommend going to?

    • admin says:

      [Imthishan] I use the new Badia service centre – it’s so big there is never any trouble getting appointments. Haven’t had any trouble with them so far, they have provided prompt and excellent service. Much better than the old Ramool garage, that’s for sure!

  3. Teo says:

    I think you should have a look on the 86 Culture website http://toyota86uae.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/toyota-86-uae-servicing-maintenance-costs/ to see how “great” the reviews are about 86 servicing.. I think you were one of the luckiest to get the special treatment…A lot of 86 Culture’s members will agree with me on this..

    • admin says:

      [Imthishan] Thanks for reading Teo.

      I’ve seen the 86Cult story and can certainly commiserate with the owners who seem to be having issues with their cars and pricing. As MME, all I can say in response is that the story I have written is exactly as it was; these are the prices I paid, and the quality of service I received was the standard I have received with all my previous cars – even prior to becoming a journalist – over the past 18 years as a Toyota customer. I do not receive ‘special treatment’ or ‘special pricing’ from Al Futtaim Motors nor do I work for AFM in any capacity.

      At MME, we take our credibility very seriously and strive to always bring you the most honest and accurate reporting. If there was issues to report with my car or my service experience; they would have been included in the report.

  4. Teo says:

    Imthishan, thank u for ur reply…What puzzles me is the fact that from all the owners of 86 that I met here in UAE i hear only words of complain about AFM, their unprofessionalism, inexperience and lack in customer service. U must be the luckiest in UAE. Regarding the servicing prices, my sincere apologies but u have attached the invoices received by us which are WAY HIGHER that ur given prices. Here is a big dilemma. U dont find it strange how come that ur prices are the lowest??

    • admin says:

      [Imthishan] If other owners are having issues with aftersales service, the best people to contact would be Al Futtaim directly. I am neither a aftersales channel for the 86 nor a customer service hotline, but merely another owner like yourself and others. At the risk of repeating myself: the situation is described as it happened. For me to write something other than what I have experienced would be disingenuous and poor journalism.

      With regards to the price: it is worth noting that I have yet to do a service under the ‘new’ pricing regime. As the oldest 86 in the country, the first two services were priced at typical 5k levels, in line with what I’ve paid previously. The ’15k’ service that I had done was not a full intermediate service but a basic oil service at my request which the advisor priced on the spot. And at Dh785, it is nearly double what I paid at first for the same service! Hardly ‘special treatment’.

      Having sportscars in the past from BMW M Cars to Miatas, I had no illusions when I bought the 86 that it would be as cheap to run as a Corolla or a Land Cruiser – which remember, are produced in far higher numbers with resulting economies of scale for parts and materials. This is a purpose-built sportscar and inevitably there will always be a premium attached to ownership.

      So far, I consider the costs acceptable. When they are not, I will note otherwise.

  5. gam addict says:

    do oil change from outside garage.
    much premium quality oil can be used, which can be changed at 10,000 km interval. yet it should not cost more than 250 dhs. why go to the dealer then?

    my concern is of course more towards family sedans and not sports cars….
    it costs about 300 dhs to change oil on my tiida from the dealer. i can change it on my own with premium quality 10,000 km oil for less than 200 dhs!

    • admin says:

      [Imthishan] GA – changing your oil outside of the dealer network means that you are effectively giving up your new car warranty – for a car that costs nearly Dh100,000 remember – for the sake of saving a few hundred dirhams here and there. It’s a call every owner will have to make individually, but it’s not one I’m comfortable recommending.

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