Toyota Camry 2014 Problems

The batteries used in Toyota hybrids have been good for many hundreds of thousands of kilometres, so it’s surprising that yours has failed after so few kilometres and just four years old. I would approach Toyota and put your case for a refund to them.

It's hard to make recommendations without knowing much about what you want. The choices of vehicles for a family of four are many and varied, as you say. I would consider a Kia Sportage SUV, Toyota Camry mid-sized sedan, or a Ford Falcon is you want a large sedan. You would certainly be better off shopping for a one to two-year-old used car.

I always put a car ahead of an SUV unless you drive on gravel roads. A car is quieter, more comfortable and gets better fuel economy. For you, depending on what you drive now, a Toyota Camry will be surprisingly good and the Skoda Superb, which gets The Tick, will be brilliant.

It should be about mid-2015 for the last Australian-made Camry.

Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen says yours is an isolated problem. "The dealership is contacting Mr Beale and will provide him with a new windscreen. We have only a couple of isolated reports which have been corrected by fitting a replacement screen."

Report it to the dealer and ask for it to be fixed. It could be the power steering pump, or perhaps the transmission, but it needs someone to listen to it and determine just where it is coming from.

I would suggest you ask the dealer to engage a pest controller to rid the car of the ants. That shouldn't be a big problem. More of an issue will be who is to pay for the job. Were the ants there when you picked up the car, or did they enter it after it left the dealer. Perhaps you could check around the dealership to see if there is any evidence of an ant infestation on the property.