You must have a unit that was not put together right. These little Toro's have been cleaning the snow right down to the pavement for the last 20 years or so, starting with the CR20 model with the same curved paddles.
External plastic parts seems to be as same quality as they have been last 5 years or so. Better than the Powerlite that it replaces.
Welcome to the forum, sorry your first post had to be a negative review. Hopefully the dealer can take care of the problems for you.
Not only did the dealer not take care of the problem, they didn't bother to tell me they weren't taking care of it. Called them up, they said bring it in it'll take a week to fix (!). Dropped it off 10 days ago, called today to check the status, dealer said, "Oh our guy who does the repairs is down in Florida, he'll be back in three days." Would've been nice to know when I dropped it off. I told him I'll come pick it up, bring it back to the store I bought it from (which does not do warranty service, hence I had to bring it to this place) and get my money back.
First off, for anyone inclined to shed a tear for the demise of the mom and pop hardware store, think twice. Some of them are going out of business for a reason. Second, I don't know if the "unit was put together right" or what. I only know I paid good money for it, it leaked gas after two uses, and didn't get down to the pavement as advertised. So, it fell a bit short of expectation to say the least.
Lived here in Chicagoland for 18 years, resisted buying a snowblower until now. One month, $400 and two uses later, it's been gas leak followed by trip to service dealer followed by incompetent non-service. Happy ending though -- the leaking fuel vapor didn't explode in my garage and burn my house down, and the dealer I bought it from agreed to refund my money. Lesson learned.