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sandshoe

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    RAV4

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  1. Russ, I have had my ZR6 for about 15 months, and am almost* completely delighted with it. Like you, I looked at Kluger and Prado before deciding that I didn't need the extra size, weight, third row seats, etc. (not to mention the higher price tag.) I find the RAV a great highway car - comfortable, good visibility, very easy to get in and out of, and no shortage of power when wanted. It should handle just about any dirt road you throw it at, but it isn't a hairy-chested 4WD and it can't go literally anywhere! I took mine down a very steep and rocky 4WD track without any trouble, but I don't think it would have gone up the same track (would need a vehicle with low range). However, I have driven along quite rutted roads, creek beds, etc with no trouble at all. Ground clearance and angles in the RAV are very good, only a little less than the Prado, and a lot better than, say, the Mazda SUVs. I have certainly been able to go a lot further than I would ever have in a 2WD (my last car was a Commodore that scraped the ground when I backed out of my driveway!) Hiring is a good idea. What did you think? * My two gripes: 1) fuel consumption when towing a caravan! and 2) how can a top-of-the-range vehicle in this day and age be sold without a proper trip computer!!!
  2. You might be able to get aftermarket reversing sensors for quite a bit less. I've got Toyota sensors on my RAV4, and they are less useful than the camera (which can be very helpful).
  3. Glad you had a good shakedown trip, dakodamemphis. Your fuel consumption is a lot better than mine!! (I assume you are driving a 4-cylinder.) I'm upgrading my caravan to something more modern but smaller and lighter (should ATM about 1300 kg and save me at least 250 kg). It should have better aerodynamics, too. I also read on other threads in this forum that fuel consumption improves with mileage - I hope that's true! Happy travels, and keep us posted.
  4. Hi All, Some time ago I promised some feedback about towing a caravan with my 2009 ZR-6. Well, I've just got back from a trip from Adelaide to Beechworth, Vic, and Melbourne, towing a 15.5-foot single axle Roadstar pop-top. The van has an ATM of about 1500-1550kg, with a ball weight of about 150kg. The rig uses a Hayman-Reese weight distribution hitch, and the vehicle is fitted with a Tekonsha P3 brake controller. Apart from one thing, it was a great experience. The ZR-6 pulled the van easily and with power to spare, especially on the long flat runs in eastern SA and western Vic. I don't like to hold up streams of traffic, so I tend to tow at or close to the speed limit. I kept the car in "4" pretty well all of the time, as I have heard from many sources that towing in overdrive strains the transmission. When I put the car into "D" as an experiment, it never shifted into fifth gear, so I guess it knows what is good for it! One interesting aside: when climbing a hill the transmission would (naturally) downshift to third. On reaching the flat land at the top, sometimes the car would hold in third for a long time, often a minute to a minute and a half, before shifting back up to fourth. If I moved the shifter to "3" and then back to "4", it shifted up immediately. Don't know what that was all about! The one black mark - fuel consumption! Around town I drive many short hops, and often get about 13 l/100km. Country driving, some flat, some hills, some gravel, etc. I was getting about 10. With the van on the back this blew out to 21 on the flat and a whopping 24 in hilly country. Not only did this work out to be bloody expensive, but inconvenient as I could only get 250km from a tank!! Didn't seem to matter whether I cruised at 100km/h or 110. Maybe if I poodled along at 80 it would be better, but, hell, I'm on holiday and don't want to spend all day just getting there! (This makes me wonder how the Kluger goes as a tow vehicle - same engine but another 500kg of car to pull around.) On another matter, I took the RAV along a couple of pretty rough tracks (without the caravan, of course), and was very pleased with how well it went over quite deep ditches and ruts. I don't have any 4WD experience worth a damn, though, so my definition of "pretty rough" might be a bit wimpy! If anyone knows MacDonald Spur Track (between Power's Lookout and the upper King valley) then they can put me straight. We went down - there's no way I'd have tried going up!! Happy travels everyone, especially dakodamemphis - hope it's all going according to plan, mate! Here's the rig!
  5. Just beefing up the rear suspension may not be the best way to handle this. The problem is that any weight on the towbar will not only push down the back, but (more importantly) will also lift the front wheels. Putting heavier springs on the back will lift the back up to where it should be, but does not redress the lightening of the load on the front wheels. This is bad enough in any vehicle, but worse on a predominantly front wheel drive. In my experience the best way to deal with towing is to install a weight distribution system first. This distributes the weight properly between the front wheels, rear wheels, and trailer wheels. After that you can think about new springs, but you probably won't need them. I've had two tow vehicles with Hayman-Reese WDHs that have sat nice and level and towed beautifully at high speed without any extra suspension. I wouldn't tow anything with a ball weight over about 75kg any significant distance or at any highway speed without a WDH. I reckon any caravan or towbar specialist (as distinct from a suspension specialist) would say the same. Congratulations on deciding to get a van - it's a great way to holiday. I don't think I'm going to get our van out behind the RAV until about April, but when I do I'll tell you how it goes! PS. Have you done any research on transmission oil coolers? I'd like to know whether they are necessary on the RAV for towing. The manual doesn't mention it. In my experience (with other vehicles) the dealers tend to say "not necessary" and the auto transmission specialists say "absolutely essential". Who can tell??!
  6. Just about the only thing that REALLY dissatisfies me with my ZR6 is the lack of a trip computer. It is a disgrace that the top-of-the-line Australian version of the RAV4 doesn't have this.
  7. If you post this question on a caravan forum you're in for a long discussion! The majority (but by no means all) say that you shouldn't tow in D or 5th because these are overdrive gears and they strain the drivetrain. In an auto the torque converter doesn't lock up as readily, and the slippage can cause overheating. I have towed in D (with a Commodore, not a RAV4 yet) without trouble, but only on the flat, and without any significant headwind. The general recommendation is to tow with whatever gear gives you a 1:1 ratio - usually one gear down from top. Incidentally, I've never heard engine braking used as an argument not to tow in D. Surely if you need engine braking you change down as required.
  8. Did anyone see the appalling test between the RAV4, X-Trail, and (I think) CRV that was part of the very first Top Gear Australia? They took the cars onto snow, and all three were sliding all over the place, no grip at all. Then they fitted all cars with "snow tyres" and the problems seemed to disappear. I don't know exactly what "snow tyres" are (as for that, I'm not really sure what "snow" is!! :-)) but they seem to talk about them a bit on US forums.
  9. Hi. Bit difficult to give a meaningful driveaway price. FWIW I bought a ZR6 in June for a changeover of $43,500, including registration, stamp duty, and delivery costs. The ZR6 had towbar and towbar wiring, reversing camera, reversing sensors, carpet mats and rubber boot mat - all genuine. I traded a 2001 VXII Berlina V8 auto sedan. Hope this helps! Oh, yeah. I can't say I have noticed any significant throttle lag. Certainly no more than the Berlina had. That said, I haven't been driving it hard - I've only just got to 2000 km! So far I like this car very much.
  10. Sorry, MMM. I'm in Adelaide! You're welcome to any help I can give over the net, of course.
  11. As promised, here is a description of how I went about installing a brake controller and 12V hotwire in my ZR6. Brake controller: I used a Tekonsha P3 (generally considered to be one of the best currently available). I used 4 square mm wire (not to be confused with 4 mm wire) for the connection, with a 30A self-resetting circuit breaker Hotwire: I used 6B&S cable (13 square mm) for this. I have seen recommendations ranging from 6 square mm to 3B&S, with the rule of thumb seeming to be to use the largest cable that you can fit into the vehicle. For me, that was 6B&S. I used a maxi-fuse holder with a 40A fuse. I also used a 100A solenoid (the sort used for dual battery set-ups in big 4WDs) to interrupt the power when the car ignition was off. Any caravanner will be only too well aware of what happens if you leave a 12V fridge running when the engine is switched off! The following link was very useful: http://www.spokanister.net/Docs/RAV4_Trail...ire_Harness.pdf It is Toyota's installation instructions for their towbar wiring package, and details how to remove the trim panels. (Actually, I found that I didn't need the nylon trim removal tool that they talk about - firm pressure with fingers was enough to release the panels, with no risk of scratching anything. Step-by-step: I started in the passenger footwell, removing the trim. High up on the left side of the firewall is a large bundle of cables passing through a large grommet. Built into this grommet is a sort of nipple, projecting forward into the engine bay. I don't know what this is for, but it was perfect for me to get my wires through. If you reach behind the left side shocker mount from under the bonnet you can feel the end of this nipple thing. Using a small mirror I was able to snip the end off. By taping the cables together to a guide wire and applying a bit of liquid soap I was able to pull them through from the footwell into the engine bay. The engine bay connections are straightforward. I ziplocked the 30A CB to the cable next to the battery mount, and put the hotwire fuse in the space next to the air filter cover. Mounting the P3: This was tricky. In other cars I have had the brake controller under the dash near my left knee, but in the RAV there just isn't the room. Also, there is a knee airbag under there, and I certainly didn't want to mess around with that. I ended up putting it in the storage compartment between the cigarette lighter and the A/C controls. I had some guidance from this link: http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77298 It is about handbrake adjustments, but it shows how to remove some of the console trim. The working space is tiny, and screwing in the pocket mount was very difficult due to limited access, but it is possible! I had to drill the pilot holes for the mounting screws by twirling a 3/32 bit between my fingers! You also need an access hole in the back of the compartment (there is about 1cm clearance behind!) Despite all this I was pleased with the result: The P3 matches the other fittings very nicely, and you can even set the display colour to orange to match the other displays! The brake controller has four wires: (1) positive, to connect direct to the battery via the CB; (2) negative also back to the battery; (3) a blue wire which has to run the length of the car and connect to the "service brake" terminal of the trailer connector. (4) The other wire (red) has to splice into the brake light circuit. Many people do this by connecting to the stop light switch above the brake pedal, but I didn't want to go near the airbag, so I ran this wire down the car with the others. Anyway, I've done it like this before! All these wires fit in next to the others wires heading that way. It's a bit of a squeeze, but they fit. In the rear compartment, the whole left side trim needs to be removed. Brake controller connections: Trace the corrugated conduit back from the trailer socket to where it plugs into the control box. Here I found the blue wire from the trailer socket hanging in mid air - I gather that they never connect this. I connected the blue wire from the brake controller here. Next I carefully cut into the corrugated conduit and found the red brake light wire. I used a Scotch-lock connector to splice the red wire from the brake controller in here. That's the brake controller done! Hot wire connections: Just below the seatbelt reel there is an earth point. I interrupted the negative cable here, connected it to this point, then continued it on. I located the solenoid switch in the space where the tool kit goes. The heavy positive battery cable connects to one of the switched terminals, then goes on from the other. One of the smaller solenoid terminals connects to the earth point. The other small terminal connects to the 12V wire feeding the power socket in the left rear compartment. This wire is white with a black stripe, and is switched with the ignition. I connected this wire to the solenoid, then reconnected the downstream end to the cold side of the solenoid switch terminal. The two heavy cables then go outside the car and run with the trailer socket wires to an Anderson plug. I used a quite a bit of split conduit, electrical tape, and ziplocks to tidy it all up. Here's a few pictures: This is the left hand rear compartment, where the tool kit goes. The solenoid switch is at the bottom. Cable 1 is the two brake controller wires which connect to the towbar wiring loom. Wire 2 is a 12V wire feeding to the "aux" pin of the trailer socket from the hot side of the solenoid switch. Wire 3 is 12V from the accessory socket to the solenoid. Wire 4 goes to earth (I ran out of black wire!) You can see the main 12V hot wire on each side of the switch. The heavy earth cable isn't in this picture. Under the bonnet: 1 is the 12V connection. The fat wire is the hotwire; the thinner wire is to the brake controller. 2 is the 30A circuit breaker for the BC circuit. 3 is the negative connection - again, one fat for the hotwire and one thinner for the BC. 4 is a maxi blade fuse holder for the hotwire. This is the 7-pin flat trailer socket below and the 50A Anderson plug above. The brake controller mounted in the front pocket. Let me know if I haven't been clear, or if you'd like more detail.
  12. sandshoe

    Towing with the V6

    @Tigz Sorry, I don't know. I had mine fitted as an option when I bought the car (it only occurred to me later that I could probably have saved a few $ by going after-market!) @mmm When I have a few moments I'll make some notes. I bought a Tekonsha P3 - the word is that they are one of the best on the market at the moment. And, yes, I followed the existing wires down under the nearside footplates.
  13. sandshoe

    Towing with the V6

    Not yet. I'm part way through installing a brake controller and 12V hotwire. Might be a few weeks yet before I actually pull the van out, though!! (Not sure why it put this answer where it did.)
  14. If it hasn't fallen too far you could try to get it out with a magnet, or maybe some Blu-tac on a stick. You might need a mirror and torch to see down the vent!
  15. And the drive from Cairns to Pt Douglas is one of the great scenic drives of the country. You'll love it!
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