Dave L

Thanks MDV. So if you are in S4 and put your foot into it, it changes down to 3rd gear for you......but in reality if you were "sports-shifting" wouldn't you want to manually shift down to S3 then put your foot down (emulating what you'd do with a manual gearbox) ? In my mind (which may be wrong), the box is doing your work for you, unless you take over and manually downshift. And again, with upshifting, at 20km/h, you wouldn't take off in 4th gear (even with a manual box), so when you stop at the lights you would need to manually change the box to S2 which doesn't give you the option to hold in 1st gear, but from 2nd, you can manually change up from S2 to S3, S4 then S5....again emulating a manual box. Am I incorrect in my thinking here ? In regards to the cruise being aggressive, I don't think that's too uncommon, but I agree it should be smoother. Perhaps they should have it read the box and if in D, it should get up to cruise speed gradually...if if S mode, it should be more agressive. It's certainly no sequential sports shift from a Ferrari, but then again a Ferrari can't fit 7 people in the back and is a REAL sports car :)

One query if I may: If you put the box into S2, will it (from take-off) go from 1st to 2nd and hold in 2nd until you change it up to S3, then S4 then S5, and again downchanging from S5 to S4 (etc), does it hold you in 4th ? Also, does it let you downchange from S5 to S3 (assuming that you're in a rev range that would allow this to occur) ?

Hi Snooze, In my experience, it all depends on the dealer and how much they want to sell the car on the day. Until you're ready to sit down and talk turkey, most dealers won't give you their "best price" until they are reasonably confident that you are actually ready to buy now. When we purchased our Mazda SP20 several years ago, we went to a few dealerships who said they could give us an unbelieveable price, but only when we were ready to sit down and sign papers etc. When we were ready, we sat down with one and held firm on the price. After 50 mins of going back and forth, the actual principal of the dealership came in and tried one last ditch effort, then told the salesman to give it to us for the price we were asking (which was approx. $5K less than the "best-price" they offered us). The salesman told us afterwards that generally when they can see that someone is genuinely interested in purchasing, it is fairly rare they will let that person walk out the door to another dealer as the next dealer will likely match (if not beat) the price to get your business. I too am looking at a KX-R 2WD 7 seater and have been quoted the list "on-road" price of around $50K (inc. nudge bar, side steps, mud flaps, floor mats, tow bar)....though when we are ready to purchase (in a month or two) I expect this will drop "at least" to the low-mid 40's. The AWD variant will be about $4K more expensive than the 2WD models. The KX-S will likely be about $7K - $10K more than the KX-R model.... Pop into a few dealerships and see what prices they give you. If you are ready to buy, sit down with one and see what they can do for you. Hope this helps.... Dave

You're always going to find people out there knocking the competitor...whatever it is. I guess it's no different to the people here who knock the Territory. Unfortunately, there is no perfect car and they ALL have their drawbacks. Depending on your own personal biases, tastes and knowledge, you will prefer one over the other. I too was very eager to get a Territory (until, like many, I jumped inside a Kluger and took one for a test drive). The Kluger isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a good solid SUV, and it appeals to my taste much more than the Territory does....which is why I am looking at purchasing one in the near future. For those that prefer the Territory, good luck to them. To post on a forum using misinformation and inappropriate advice is just stupid. It's fine to have your own opinion but when people blatantly go beyond that and criticise just for the sake of putting down the other side is pointless. I choose to ignore people like this and make up my own mind.

........"It is better to have, and to clean, than to not have at all !"........

Thanks Kesawi, your Alpine system looks great. Do you happen to know if the wiring for the rear DVD system is already present in the roof, or does the installer need to run power etc. ? Cheers, Dave

That's a bit of a generalisation, isn't it ? The Kluger is as economical as most large family sedans/wagons...which isn't bad for a 4WD/SUV. I think chrislak's concern was if the fuel economy he is currently experiencing would improve once the engine has been run in a little....not a complaint about using so much fuel.

One of my hobbies is photography so you can be sure there will be plenty of pics :) We're looking at Merlot Red so our pics won't look too unlike yours !

I tried doing a search but couldn't find anything,so please excuse me if there is already a thread about this. Has anyone had the Clarion Rear DVD entertainment unit installed in their Kluger ? If so, are you happy with the unit and have you experienced any problems/concerns ? We are looking to purchase a KX-R soon and was quoted with a Clarion rear DVD unit. Any advice or thoughts would be very much appreciated. Cheers, Dave

Cheers Holmesie. Not sure how I didn't realise that myself.

I am new to all this so I may be incorrect, however from reading about different types of fuels and how they work, the higher the RON number, the more "anti-knock" they are (in other terms, the more they resist early combustion under compression - typical from engines that have their compression tweaked to maximise performance). Albeit 98 RON fuel may be cleaner and have further additives, however to get more power from an engine, more air needs to be added into the mixture, which will in-turn take in more fuel (keeping the approx. 14:1 ratio - I think it was). Adding a higher octane-rated petrol will assist with "pinging" in your engine, but won't add any extra power to the equation. Using 95 RON over 91 may assist a touch in performance as I wonder if 91 RON fuel is too low for the 3.5 V6 engine, which is running a compression ratio of 10.8:1. If 91 RON is combusting too early then some power will be wasted....whereas 95 RON may not lose any power and therefore give "percieved" extra power and certainly better fuel economy. 98 RON may just be overkill as it won't really add any extra benefit (which reading many of the posts above, seems to be the case). If I am incorrect in any of this, please feel free to correct me. Cheers, Dave

Hi Everyone, First time post. My Wife and I are looking into buying a new Kluger KX-R FWD and just wanted to know what the difference is between the GSU40R and GSU45R model ? Is one the 5 seater and the other the 7 seater, or is it the difference between '08 and '09 model (or something completely different)...as I notice there is about $4K difference listed between the two ? Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Dave PS. took one for a test drive last Saturday and WOW....:) Looking forward to being a Kluger owner !