dadonbike

Background We bought our Kluger in dec 2008, but were initially very keen on the Territory. The GFC meant car yards weren't selling and dealers were keen. The dealer gave us a demo car for a couple of days, a huge disc out off price, free fuel etc. We later (unplanned) drove the demo car to Toyota and eventually used it to help negotiate the purchase of the Kluger. What's my point? The reason we opted for the Kluger was partly based on the topics raised in this forum and the equivalent territory forum on fordforums. I'm not bagging territory, just making the observation that the general nature of posts on this forum are very positive whereas for the territory posts were more likely to be related to poor quality and performance. The lack of issues here suggest either smaller audience or happier customers. And after 2.5 years in the Kluger I am still delighted with the car, and will upgrade to a new Kluger soon. I've just had a look at the territory forum again and all the issues were still being raised. Thank you So this post is really just to say thanks to the collective contributions of everyone on this forum for helping this family find our kluger. Cheers, keep up the posts and happy driving. Lloyd

mollybenson - How may seats 5 or 7? For seven seats price looks pretty good.

I can throw my road bike or mountain bike in the back no problems, with the 2nd row seats folded flat. One bike only. Never thrown another on top. Doubt would fit and probably not a good idea. Suggest pacific bike rack for 2 or more bikes. I assume you're after fwd. I tow a camper trailer weighing 900kg and barely know its there, so power no problems. Drive it gently on throttle and fuel will be around 12l/100kms in city and sub 10 on the freeway. Aside from that car will fit your needs perfectly. 30-35k should get you a 2008 kxr 7 dearer with about 40,000kms.

Well done on the purchase. At first you'll be worried you paid to much, but once you've driven a few thousand kms and got your first scratch you'll be starting to enjoy the car for what it is. By far the best car I've owned and perfectly suits our family of 4 and mix of school runs, drive ins,, camping and country holidays. Have fun, I do every day. And price seems pretty good.

Was that for AWD or FWD, 5 or 7 seat. I reckon 7 seat + FWD.

Here is my alternative solution to a windscreen mounted GPS. I used some plywood and cut out a shape that would fit into the recess under the radio on my KX-R. It is self supporting and needs no form of fasterner. The timber holder is painted matt black and blends in beautifully with the dash and stays there permanently. It is extrememly hard to see the bracket through the window, and almost looks like a phone mount. I simply unclip the GPS when not in use. I used the windscreen mount and drilled two holes in it to fix it on the timber holder. I also shortened the 12v cable by pulling apart the end, cutting the wires shorter and reassembling. I used foam padding (from bunnings) to along the to top of the shelf to form a neat fit on the inner top edge of holder (see pics). My wife can rotate the GPS and comfortably view and use it from passengers seat. The kids can also view from rear seats. I threw this together as a rough prototype of a better built holder, but frankly I've been more than happy with it and haven't given a new version a second thought. I also made a similar holder for my father-in-law for his Mazda tribute, but the position in his car was very low and not ideal. My GPS is a Garmin Nuvi 760.

Just spent 4hrs yesterday giving my wife's 08 Rav4 Cruiser the clay treatment as per Kesawi's earlier post: 1. Wash with Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner. 2. Clay using Meguiar's Quik Clay Detailing System. 3. Apply Meguiar's #7 show car glaze. 4. Finish with Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 Liquid. The finish is awesome. It is a smooth as a baby's bum. My 08 Kluger was given the paint protection treatment by the dealer when I bought it, and I'm starting to regret it. 12mths on the finish on the Kluger feels rough and I'm wondering if I should clay it too. I'll wait and see how long the Rav4 keeps the new finish/feel for.

Here's the sad story. I'd planned to buy this AWD on Monday. Today I met the buyer of my Camry in a car park to do the exchange. We were just about to exchange the cheque and transfer documents when a work ute scraped along the rear two panels. FARRRKKK!!! Car was unblemished until then. Sale cancelled for now. Renegotiate when fixed in 2 weeks??? Otherwise back on the market again. The seller of the Kluger was very understanding and I offered to cover any of his selling expenses. Anyway, the Kluger is back on the market and I just thought I'd mention it here as the ad was very hard to spot. The sellers name is Ramsi and the ad can be viewed here:Ad for KLuger in Carsguide. Vehicle details: 2008 KXR AWD with 25000kms for $39000. Perfect condition, car seats and tow ball. Just serviced. St Albans. First registered Jan 2009. Part of Toyota Service Advantage, with 4 services and 2 years remaining. Reg till Jan 2010. New rear tire due to puncture. Granite colour. Well cared for. Drives perfect like my other Kluger. I've also attached the Vic Roads report I requested on the vehicle. PDF_A0096434.pdf Good luck to any one interested

Good questions. Problem #1: I'm 6ft 3 and feel very comfortable in the Kluger. Our 05 Camry Ateva is well appointed but too small for me. Problem #2: The wifey loves the Kluger and wants to drive it, especially with the reverse camera Problem #3: We both work 4 days and share the drop off and pickups for our 5&7 year olds and prefer the Kluger for this Problem #4: I like to ride my Mountain bike at lunchtime, so need the Kluger on those work days to transport it (camry is useless for this) and so on.. Get the idea its an arm wrestle!!! So we fixed it. Can't really justify the expense but we'll give it a go.

This information may help other potential Kluger purchasers. I've been looking to buy another Kluger in Melb. Buy new? We bought a KXR 7st FWD in Nov 08 for $42k OTR with nudge, tow bar, parking sensors, mats, muds and protection pack. This time round we wanted a KXR AWD. Best beal we could do was $48k OTR for 7st, nudge, tow bar, mats and muds. I wasn't wrapped in the fullish price and concluded that the 50% gov rebate was significantly propping up the market. Maybe in March 2010 sales will dry up and prices will get sharper. Or maybe in another 12months when there are even more Klugers on the road and more stock for sale. Or will that just bring more enlightened buyers into this scarce market and continue to hold up the price. Buy second hand? We looked extensively at second hand market and noted all the prices were pretty high considering kms. The odd one will appear at a good price but will seemingly get sold overnight. A couple we liked got purchased 9pm that night by keener buyers than us. Bugger. Hertz Car Sales? Hertz car sales hand pick the ones they want to sell in their yard and are pretty sharp on the price. Anything sub standard gets sold wholesale and anything damaged gets repaired and shipped off to auction. They won't negotiate as they reckon they'll get just as good a price selling it wholesale. Each car has a condition report so ask to see it. Anything with major panel damage won't appear in the yard. The car we liked was a KXR 7st with 45000kms for $34800. I noted in the cars folder (which the seller showed me) that the car was undamaged and it had a written down value of $27500. The price you pay includes their buying power discount, detailing, wages, overheads, profit margin, GST and registration. Its a good option and other car dealers seem to be more expensive. At least you know the cars have been kept clean and serviced. ANd there is some history to the car, which is more than some dealers give you. 5 or 7 seat? There are heaps of 5 seaters around, so obviously most people want the 7 seaters. Insurance 2008 Klugers are cheaper to insure than 2007 and 2009! Refer to my post earlier today about RACV prices for 2006-2009 KXR klugers AWDs are more expensive to insure. FWD or AWD? AWDs are unbelievably rare (nationally) for a 2008 KXR 7st for less than $40k. The only ones i found were at Hertz Car Sales Hayfield, Sydney and even considered an air fare to inspect and purchase. Both had 25000kms. One had the bumper replaced. What did we do? After refusing to downgrade to a RAV4, we lashed out on a 2008 KXR AWD second hand. First to see it and sold. Purchased within 75mins of seeing ad. This time I was the keenist buyer. Details withheld until I actually own the vehicle. Finders keepers. Anyway, someone else may wish to give an update on their experience.

We just puchased our second Kluger (this one is 12mths old) and got some online quotes from RACV (Melb) before purchasing the vehicle. The quotes were quite surprising: Driver #1: 40 male 22 yrs exp Driver #2: 38 female 20 yrs exp Market value Private use RACV Silver member Long term insurer with RACV No claims last 5 years Rating #1 Glen Waverley No finance 2007 KXR FWD $870 2008 KXR FWD $573 2009 KXR FWD $620 2006 KXR AWD $804 2007 KXR AWD $897 2008 KXR AWD $780 2009 KXR AWD $845 Insurance on the first 2 years receives a discount (apparently). AWDs are more expensive to insure the FWDs (based on the above numbers). Premiums vary based on the collective claims history for that year/model. Its currently best to own/insure a 2008 Kluger FWD or AWD. And lastly, we currently pay $470 (not $573) for our 2008 KXR FWD Kluger purchased Nov 2008 and renewed for 12 mths in April 2009. As hard as I try they won't insure another 2008 Kluger FWD for the same price. So I bought an AWD!!!

I logged the question with Toyota and got the following verbal response from customer service. "The tie down points do not have sufficient strength to retain the fridge in the event of an accident. If you want to carry a fridge in the back, you will need to install a cargo barrier." Cheers

My Kluger does not have a cargo barrier, but I'd like to place my waeco 50 litre fridge in the back. It would weight 30-50kg when full. I can't find any reference to weight restrictions on tie down points in manual. The rear storage sytem accessory that Toyota sells has a weight limit of 15kg, and uses all four tie down points. Interestingly, the cargo barrier is only rated to 60kg. Does anyone else stick a fridge in the back? Question: Would the four tie down points provide sufficient strength to retain the fridge in the event of an accident?