If shopping for a used Toyota - from a dealer or private party - makes you second guess the trustworthiness of the seller and the reliability of the vehicle, there may be a better solution. Look into a Toyota dealer who also operates a Toyota Certified Used Car program. These programs are operated jointly by Toyota and the dealer, and guarantee the quality, condition, and future long life of the car, truck, crossover, or SUV in the program. What to Expect from Toyota Certified Used Vehicles According to Autodata Corp., over 2 million have been sold in America 3 month or 3000 mile Comprehensive Warranty 7 year or 100,000 mile Limited Powertrain Warranty 7 year or 100,000 mile Roadside Assistance 160 point Quality Assurance Inspection CARFAX Vehicle History Report Take a closer look at the 160 point inspection, warranty, and roadside assistance. Eligibility Requirements: Must be within 6 years of current model year Less than 85, 000 miles The Big Picture Toyota and Toyota dealers find the best cars for these programs, with most coming from 2 or 3 year leases or from rental fleets. You get a clean, undamaged vehicle that has passed a rigorous inspection and is guaranteed. With attractive interest rates, additional perks, and the security of a warranty, buying Toyota Certified Used is an excellent choice for peace of mind. Milton Ruben Toyota Scion of Augusta is located in Augusta, GA and serves the Southeast. Check out our Certified Used Inventory.
Quick and Easy Road Trip Checklist: Car Care Tips from Milton Ruben
It's the holiday season, and so we begin our annual road trips to see all of the relatives. Get your car ready for the road by taking a little time to review our car care checklist. A little maintenance and prevention goes a long way, and lets you focus on the joys of the season. If your car is due for an oil change, tune-up, or other regular service, go ahead and make your appointment now - ahead of the last minute crowd. If time is tight, Milton Ruben Toyota Scion - an automotive group located in Augusta, GA - recommends that you do at least three things: Check your fluids. Engine oil, brake fluid, windshield wiper fluid, antifreeze or coolant, transmission fluid, and power steering fluid. Check your tires. Do they have bulges, bald spots, or uneven treads? Are they properly inflated according to the recommendations in your owner's manual? Check the hoses and belts. Look for frays, leaks and loose or missing clamps. You don't want to find out on the side of the road - with a car load of kids - that you have a much bigger problem! If the idea of locating all of these fluids, belts and hoses- much less making a sound judgement on the reliability of them - seems daunting, trust your local service department to get your car into top shape for you. You can even ask for or find service coupons on your service department's website. Let them ensure that your car is safe and road ready, while you focus on driving to your destination worry free! Happy Travels! Milton Ruben Toyota Service Milton Ruben Toyota Service Coupons (scroll down)
Toyota: Taking Steps to Ensure Quality and Safety in 2010
We at Milton Ruben Toyota are proud of the products we sell, and are equally confident in the quality and safety of all Toyota vehicles. Toyota has taken major steps to become a more responsive, safety-focused organization. Here are some of the actions taken to be an industry leader in Quality and Safety: Established a Special Committee for Global Quality under the direction of Global President Akio Toyoda to reexamine all aspects of quality assurance. Star Safety System now standard across all lineups. Making SmartStop Technology brake override system standard on all new models by the end of 2010. Created SMART Teams to help quickly investigate reports of unintended acceleration. Established independent Quality Advisory Panel – chaired by former U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. Appointed Chief Quality Officer for North America – Steve St. Angelo Appointed Chief Safety Executive for North America – Dino Triantafyllos. Increasing the use of Event Data Recorder (“black boxes”) in cars for better data collection and providing new EDR readers to government safety regulators. Set up Design Quality Innovation Division in Japan, and transferred 1,000 engineers to focus on design of components and other quality issues. Created a new team of 100 engineers to audit vehicle quality by studying use by customers. Expanded product development cycle by 4 weeks, to help ensure high quality/safety. Developed next-generation virtual test dummy to help guard against internal organ damage in the event of an accident. Refined our global Early Detection, Early Resolution (EDER) system to include a wider variety of sources to help monitor quality/safety, including customer calls, web mentions, and government databases. Appointed 4 North American leaders to join 5 others as presidents of plants in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, providing more regional autonomy. Establishing 6 additional Product Quality Field Offices throughout North America to improve our ability to detect and respond to customer and quality issues. Opened our electronic technology to an unprecedented level of review by outside experts, including NASA, the National Academy of Sciences, and engineering firm Exponent. If you are considering buying a Toyota vehicle and are concerned about safety, visit us at Milton Ruben Toyota and see the vehicles for yourself. We will be happy to discuss all of your questions and concerns. www.miltonrubentoyota.com
Who says we can’t put the Swagger in the Wagon?
I was reading blogs and came across two women/mothers who thought that is was ridiculous that Toyota was trying to make their Toyota Sienna Minivan “cool” looking. Quotes below: “It's tough to put swagger in a minivan. Toyota Motor Corp. has tried to claim its all-new 2011 Toyota Sienna is cool, fun and the kind of vehicle young, hip parents want in their lives. But that's simply not true. There's nothing particularly cool about a minivan. Cool is Corvette, cool is cruising to a Tigers' game on a summer night with the top down and 89X cranking on the stereo. There are no juice boxes in cool. Coolness is instantly removed when a person becomes a parent. This is a fact of life even Edna Garrett can agree with. But don't let dumb marketing get in the way of a great minivan…..The Sienna has been redesigned for 2011, and it's precisely some of those redesigned features that don't rock my world. The Sienna's wider, shorter body sits low to the ground, and when coupled with the rear spoiler the new look made me feel like I should be cruising the strip rather than going to the grocery store. Superficial? Perhaps, but it matters.” “Something about the 2011 Sienna's exterior makes me think it's trying too hard to be cool. It doesn't quite work for me. While this Sienna has purportedly borrowed some style tips from Toyota's Venza and Camry models, it made me think that this is what a minivan would look like if Toyota ever decided to have its Scion brand manufacture one. Let's be honest, this is a car that people buy to be pragmatic, not to flaunt their cool factor. I'm just not buying into the Swagger Wagon idea. “ Well I happen to completely disagree with these women. After these above quotes, they both go on to talk about how wonderful, safe, and functional they are. Why can’t a minivan look good? I don’t get it. I am 24 years old without any children of my own and I have seen Siennas here that I would love to drive. They do look cool. They really do not resemble minivans at all compared to all other brands. SAFETY The 2011 Toyota Sienna has been named an IIHS Top Safety Pick. To earn this safety award, a car must get the highest score of Good in front, side-impact, rear and rollover crash tests. It also must have standard stability control, which the Sienna does. The Sienna also has standard four-wheel-disc antilock brakes with brake assist, traction control, active head restraints in the front row and seven airbags, including side curtains for all three rows and a driver's knee airbag. All-wheel drive is optional. The Sienna has three sets of lower Latch anchors, with two sets in the outboard second-row seats and a third in the middle position of the third row. The Latch anchors are deeply embedded in the seats. While the seat cushions were pliable enough to get to the Latch anchors without chipping your diamond ring (as I did in another test car), I'd love to see them a little easier to access in future models. The second row slides back and forth, which is a godsend when installing child-safety seats. Because of it, there's plenty of room for a rear-facing infant-safety seat and convertible seat in the second row. While I ran into visibility issues with my son's forward-facing convertible seat installed in the third row, my son had plenty of room. A high-back booster seat fit well in both the second and third rows.
We love our Toyotas….and so should you! Here’s the low down.
We love our Toyotas….and so should you! Here’s the low down. The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rates a vehicle for how well it protects its occupants from front and side impacts, rollovers, and rear impacts. The vehicles must also offer electronic stability control. And can we please leave all of this recall hoopla behind already?? The IIHS awarded Toyota with more Top Safety Picks than any other brand. Models included are the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Sienna, and Highlander. The Toyota Camry has been the best-selling passenger car in America for the last eight years so Toyota went with the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” theory. The Camry remains unchanged for the 2011 model year. Here are a few more stats: 190 -The number of feet of test track it takes for a Camry V6 to stop from 70 mph. 100% -The percentage of Toyota vehicles that now come standard with Star Safety System ™. 5 -The number of advanced safety features that make up Star Safety System ™. 200 -The number of engineers and technical associates that make up Toyota's rapid response SMART Teams. 1,000,000 -The amount in dollars that Toyota invests per hour on research and development to enhance the safety and technology of its vehicles. In an age in which consumers don't expect to have to maintain their cars and trucks anymore, Toyota may find itself increasingly investigating more consumer preference design defects in order to sway clear of safety problems before they actually become problems. After suffering several major blows to its reputation in the past year, it was clear that Toyota in Tokyo gave its North American operations far too little authority and autonomy in dealing with quality, safety and overall engineering and management issues. Its quality initiative is designed to take on all of these issues, existing and potential. It has added an extra league of management to train its workers. And about 1000 engineers were added to Toyota's quality innovation activity. It's stepping up evaluation of quality and safety problems from consumers' points of view, therefore adding about four weeks to a typical new model's development time. Now, having studied about 3600 complaints of "unintended acceleration" so far, Toyota has found no reproducible cases, and it may be changing the public’s view on this issue after a couple of sincere, though ridiculous "demon runaway car" claims. Toyota has spent two days, so far, trying to convince us that its thorough quality and safety programs are about to get much better. It desperately wants to salvage its hard-fought reputation Unspeakable as it may be, the unintended acceleration issue looks to me like it's largely the product of a quickly aging Toyota buyer base. There have been no such cases regarding its Scion youth brand. While there's a clear distinction now between consumer satisfaction with a model's lack of quality defects and the quality of its design, including ergonomics and ease of use, the distinction may be going away. Thanks largely to Toyota's leadership, consumers now are conditioned to expect zero defects and such ease of use that the car should virtually drive itself and let its owner text. After all, nobody even reads owners manuals, anymore. Under Toyota's newly enhanced system, it gives priority to identifying and solving problems when safety is involved, as compared with quality problems that simply annoy the driver. Even the floor mat issue that began Toyota's woes is the result of consumer "preference" for stacking more than one mat on the driver's floorpan, or changing into winter mats without proper installation has become a problem that endangers safety. We are your “Whatever it Takes Dealer”. We do the deals the other guys won’t! Come pick our your new 2011 Toyota from the Milton Ruben Superstore. Let us prove to you why we stand by the Toyota brand, and why you should too!
Safety First
Safety First -- At Milton Ruben, our family looks after your family. The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) is an influential auto safety group headquartered in Washington, D.C. that prods automakers to build safer cars. IIHS reports that after testing twelve 2011 midsize SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) for safety, five have been awarded the group's top safety rating for their performance in crash tests and in a new rollover test that measures roof strength. Milton Ruben Superstore is proud to report that four of the five top rated 2011 midsize SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) are available for sale at Milton Ruben Superstore on Washington Road and for sale or review at drivebaby.com. The Winners: Toyota Highlander (Available at Milton Ruben and at www.miltonrubentoyota.com) Toyota Venza (Available at Milton Ruben and at www.miltonrubentoyota.com) Jeep Grand Cherokee (Available at Milton Ruben and at drivebaby.com) Chevrolet Equinox (Available at Milton Ruben and at drivebaby.com) Kia Sorento (Occasionally available at Milton Ruben Pre-Owned Superstore and at drivebaby.com) Automakers tout the insurance institute's rankings, which are based on dozens of crash tests annually, and many smart, educated, informed consumers consult them before buying a new vehicle. Included among the SUVs that failed to receive IIHS's Top Safety Ratings are: Ford Edge's (Acceptable roof strength but not a Top IIHS Pick for Safety) Mazda CX-7 (Marginal roof strength) Nissan Murano (Marginal roof strength) Honda Pilot (Marginal roof strength) Mitsubishi Endeavor (Marginal roof strength) Honda Accord Crosstour (Marginal roof strength) In February 2009, IIHS told automakers it would require stronger roof standards to get top safety pick status. Some of the vehicles that didn't get top honors haven't been redesigned since the new requirement was announced. The insurance institute insists automakers build roofs that are twice as strong as what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "Automakers are making progress in rollover protection," said Adrian Lund, president of the safety group. In addition to the roof tests, vehicles must earn good ratings in front, side and rear crashes to be named a top safety pick. Jeep brand President Mike Manley touted the designation for the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The vehicle provides consumers with "enhanced safety and security," Manley said, plus traditional Jeep capability and a "premium driving experience." Milton Ruben Superstore is proud to offer the safest vehicles on the road. Help keep your family safe. Please visit us on Washington Road or shop us online at drivebaby.com. Milton Ruben Superstore. Your Whatever it Takes dealer. We do deals the other guys just won't. And we never compromise on safety.