i'm currently waiting on my tC. i've been reading randomly about rattles. now i can't honestly say whether it's just a few people or if it's a majority of the tC owners so i'd like to conduct a poll on who has/hasn't had major rattles. i suppose it will be kind of subjective, but i'd like for the people who have actually had their tC for more than a month to answer the poll. thanks ahead of time!

even nick@agp is allowed to answer! you will be heard! haha, but hopefully for every nick, there will be 10 negatives.

 

i guess i can't answer yet because i've only had mine a week and a half. but fwiw, i've had no major rattles thus far.

 

Had mine for about 2 month now and gotten a few rattles and squeeks but that is expected in an ECONOMY car. Regardless of manfacturer or appearance, this vehicles is inexpensive for a reason. Toyota cut costs to keep the price low and you have to expect a few rattles and things. If it bothers you that much, take it to the dealer and ask them to diagnose and fix it. That is what I did but I guess since I work at one, it was a little easier. Please do not take this as a rant/being rude because it is not meant that way. This post is simply made in hopes of putting these things into perspective. If we were talking about a $60K luxury car then my view would be much different.

 

that's cool. that's why i worded it as "abnormal rattling".
if you feel that the amount of rattling is relatively minor and easy to fix, then i wouldn't expect you to put a "yes" answer. now if you can practically feel the rattling and your hatch is about to fall off, then i'd be a little worried... about the quality of the tC and also for the safety of the drivers behind you.

 

I assume your car will be one produced in the last couple months (VIN 20,000+/-). If this is the case you can probably expect to have no noise from yoru sun roof (such as the pops and what not) but maybe a little rattle from the hatchback area...possibly just the cargo cover.

As with any first generation car, I believe they are fixing any problems in later productions as they are discovered and diagnosed.

I have car #20,843 and it was produced last month (9/04). After driving nearly 700 miles at highway and city speeds in all kinds of weather I have had little to no noise. I think because of this forum I actually listen for noises and sometimes it's just in my head!!!

 

Someone already did a poll about a week ago. I believe it was about 55% rattle to 45% no rattles.

All I know is my car is crazy and the three other people I know with them all have rattles. So out of the people I actually know, 100% of the cars rattle.

Some are worse than others. No ones comes close to mine for frequency and how loud it is.

Like I said, if you want one, test drive it throughly. Get it up to 80-85 on the highway to check for wind/road noise. Some are alot louder than others. I wouldn't want a loud one. Before you sign papers/hand money over, address the rattle issue with the dealer. Tell them you expect any rattles to be fixed. I would get it in writing just in case. If you get a solid car with no rattles, then no big deal, but if you get a nightmare, then atleast you have something to fall back on. Just remember dealers will say anything to sell you the car, and then once the papers are signed, they could careless. My dealer told me they were going to comp me for the floor mats, but 5 months later, nothing.

 

I'm #20728 and no rattles........ :D

 

Car was fine for first 1000 miles. Lately I've been having creaking and rattling even on normal local driving. Hopefully the dealer can take care of it.

It's definitely not a quiet car, contrary to some reports. Wind noise from a closed moonroof at around 70 mph and closed shade is annoying as heck, but dealer reports it's normal. Oh well.

I've never considered the tC an "economy" car - is $17-18k really that cheap of a car?
Anyways, I can't buy into the price/noise comparison since I had a Corolla that didn't rattle/creak at all.

 

hmmm... if i put the last two choices together.....
then the results so far come to a 8:19 creaks/no creaks ratio. so i guess the majority is with not having creaks, but i guess it can't be denied that some definitely do have problems.... if i were mathematically minded, then i would try to find out the statistics, probabilities, and the standard deviation within a 95 percent confidence level but i'm not.

thanks for all the responses though. it really helped me prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

 

Did you always have the wind noise or was it not there the first 1000 miles? I can see how creeks start after a while but not wind noise. Really strange... mine has no wind noise. I have hit 85 mph a few times and didnt even realize it!

Also, I agree with the economy car statement. I spent a little over $21,000 after taxes on my car and do not consider it economy.... I have nothing against economy cars either.

 

"the FINAL word on rattling?" yeah right, the only way thats ever going to happen is if SL decides to cut off all new memberships from here on out. Either way, i still have to defend my silent tc by saying that creak in the sunroof goes away after about 2 weeks, and the only rattling i get is when there are cd cases in the side door compartments.

 

I've had my car since August 2nd and after damn near 8,000 miles, my car still drives like new, meaning no strange noises or rattles.

 

i did have some noise from the center console (radio and vent area).. tech put what he called a "noise kit" in there.. it consists of foam tape to fill up the space and create a tighter fit.. no noises at all now.. might want to look into that if you have noises in your center console area..

 

Oh yeah, forgot about the hatchback falling off noise. :oops: That is one that you should not expect. Obviously...... I would definitely take it in and get it checked out.

Mine is fairly new and I still get some rattles in the dash and a "pop" in the sunroof area. Maybe the TSB will fix that but it has only happened once and I don't see the need to take it in for a fluke. Possibly if it gets worse or happens over and over again.

 

I don't really want to post anything as to not jinx it...but basically so far so good. I have almost 5K miles on mine (4,910) and I got the sunroof "popping" problem fixed at the dealer. (I bought my car in July). Besides an occasional stero cover rattling noise (very quiet) it's fine. I come from an old car which made so much noise, I couldn't talk on my cell phone while driving...which I guess is a good thing...but I did use the ear piece..Ok i digress...anyways no rattling here. Watch as soon as I post this something's gonna start LOL