whofan

Don't mean to be cheeky... however there is one for sale on ebay right now for $150 reserve, no bids... either no one has seen it yet or that's a true reflection of its street value :o

Yeah that was sold by "Pay per view", steer clear of that, dodgy indeed! Hado has a FlyAudio unit installed and seems to be very happy with it. I think it's definitely worth considering on your short list. Be aware that there are several other forum posts with people stating that they upgraded to the Toyota genuine unit as sold in the KX-S costing them around $800 and they wish they had their money back.

No AC, I didn't want to adversely affect my figures ;) There was a stage at the end of my trip when I was fumbling with the camera trying to get it out of the back of the car, jump back into the drivers seat to take the photo... the display was showing 7.9lt/100km :o But it changed before I could snap the shot, doh! I really think there are four key reasons: traveling at around 1800rpm (which is just over 100kph on the speedo)good tyre inflation (39psi)95 RON fuelFWD instead of AWD

I recently ran a trip from Malvern (Melbourne's east, about 11km from city) to Kaniva (last Victorian town along the Western Hwy before the SA border). Journey normally takes around 4.5hrs, first trip in the Kluger over such a big distance (419km). Filled with Caltex 95 fuel for the Melb - Kaniva leg. 1 wife, 2 small kids and back full of cargo. On the way there went all the way to the 110kph limit (to Ballarat) and then 100kph thereafter. I don't have a GPS so was using the speedo, I know it's slightly off so I was sitting on about 116kph in the 110 zones and 105kph in the 100 zones. Stopped in Ballarat and Great Western on the way otherwise pure highway driving. Result was 9lt/100km Trip back exactly the same way, stopped briefly at the Big Koala, think that's in a small town called Dadswells Bridge. Filled with Mobil 95 fuel for the Kaniva - Melb leg. Only other difference is this time I went a little easier on accelerator, in the 100kph zones I still sat on 105 as displayed on the speedo. In the 110kph zone (Ballarat to Melb) I backed off and had the speedo sit on 110. That had the effect of dropping the engine revs from very close to 2000rpm down to around 1800rpm. Result was 8lt/100km I attribute the difference largely due to the engine revs at 110kph being higher and the engine preferring to run a little slower, I think that this was stated by a few others in this thread. Kluger KXS 08, 7 seater, FWD, original tyres almost worn, inflated to 39psi Almost forgot to mention, cruise control used full-time in both directions with the exception of going through towns, apply brake when entering and then use cruise "resume" function when exiting.

Would you consider it a reasonable request if I asked for a brief run down on the specifictions of the average battery (as listed above) so that I and maybe other battery noobs may be better educated? please...

Wow great reply Hado, I asked for that There is probably the same negligible risk associated with operating mobile phones on aircraft and interfering with "radio equipment", but hey I'm wandering off topic here

Ok, so it doesn't work!!! $200 down the drain... Plus the dealership sctratched my steering wheel controls (A/C / Disp) on the right hand side. But they deney any wrong doing! needless to say I am not impressed... (Considering that this was the area that they were working on...) Bugger on a few different levels! You would think the dealership would be able to give you a degree of confidence in this working before the install, were they shy? It's sad to think that the dealership would damage your car and then deny everything, what do we have to do to keep our cars safe, take photos of everything before we take it in for a service? What ever happened to old fashioned honesty and making good on your mistake, sheesh!

There is still a trigger lock if you want to use it....your fuel cap. Trouble is in most states it is now illegal for fuel pump nozzles to have/use a lock "open" function. With the introduction of self service stations in the early 80s - the 'lock on' function was stopped to prevent possible accidental spills by customers walking away from fuel pumps and pumps falling out. Although in the much more litigious USA, this is still allowed because people sit back in their car to get out of the cold. (Which can cause a static fire when they touch the nozzle again if the conditions are right.) The Service Station Association (SSA) in Australia is run by lawyers and troglodytes. It took me ten years to stop them making false claims mobile phones could ignite petrol fumes on the forecourt. It wasn't until the British Petroleum Institute produced a report - using the same information I gave the SSA ten years earlier - that they stopped making this false claim - but they still have the warning signs! Can you elaborate as to what you mean by "ignite petrol fumes on the forecourt"? in particular what is a forecourt? I had always believed that the warning was in relation to dropping the phone, it striking the concrete and causing a spark which would in turn ignite the fumes. :o

Where did you get these from and cost please?

G'day HappyCamper, Love your worn tyres adjective :) Regarding off-road tyres, have a look at these Goodyears: http://www.goodyear....archGoAction.do I can't give an opinion as I've not fitted and driven on them, I'd recommend you do some more research, just thought them worth mentioning so you have something to consider. Yes they are 255/55/19 which is slightly different to the original 245/55/19 but I'm confident they will fit the standard rims. I too hate the seat-belt noise, I might ask the dealer about killing that during next service. The wife unbuckled her belt to reach over into the back seat to pacify the screaming infant recently, the seat belt indicator actually started to pick-up its frequency and started being twice a second, it didn't like being ignored! One idea that just occurred to me regarding the AC light, try sticking one of those coloured post-it note type sticky flag over the button, this "may" change the colour (red/orange may be worth a crack) and this may stand out more in a heavy white sunlight environment... obviously this may look a little cheap and tacky but if it works I'm sure you could spend a couple of minutes making it look a little more permanent.

<br /><br /><br />Any chance you've got a quote for the cost of part and installation by a dealer? Yes I realise I am capable of doing this myself, just thought I'd check as you may have already done this :-)

Unable or just not willing to break some rules? Is there anything in ADR about autolocks? Can't be any logical reason to ban it that I can think of. Would be interesting if someone could get a hold of the configuration device to see what really can or can't be done on the Aussie Klugers. I doubt they would make a special logic chip just for the AU Klugers. I'm keen to see if the steering wheel control could move the radio volume up and down in larger increments, changing the volume by say 5 each time rather than just one. I hate the steering wheel control, its soooooo slow it makes me reach for the dial/knob and then I get irritated becuase that is too small, has chrome surround and is too close to the radio's edge arrrgh Whoops, wondered off-topic there for a bit, sorry, minor rant...

sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by "buzzer"? When I lock or unlock the car using the remote control I get either one or two beeps, is this what you mean and you're turning that sound off? I can't think of any other "buzz"?

Any ideas where this would fit in the Kluger? Do you think it will require steering wheel removal or perhaps under the dash someplace? or is that part of your "will keep you up to date?" ;)

Hado, I was going to scold you on having an outdated signature and suggest you add your new side steps and nudge bar... whoops, you're ahead of me there It's been great reading about your upgrades, I suspect you're making a few Grande owners feel as if they could have saved $10k Are you willing to cut a hole in the roof to install the sunroof?

As this is my 18th car, but first SUV, I am not a novice in relation to motor vehicles. Before my purchase, I read some issues about the transmission in the Klugers. Basically a Kluger is running Aurion running gear; Engine / Transmission. However, instead of being 1500kg, a Kluger is around 2000kg. Add to that towing etc. More heat, more strain and load on the transmission. But maybe this concern was on early model Klugers and maybe Toyota rose to the challenge and added a Transmission Cooler. Mine has it, but do others? Or was this a dealer fitted option? I feel better now knowing that mine has a Transmission Cooler. Open to thoughts / experiences... You're 18th car? How old are you? 114? I'm jealous and also shaking my head....again, sign of jealously... Can you really fit options to a Kluger outisde the list of official options?

I am so sorry that you're in that situation, that has to be terrible, loss of cash and an ugly hole in your dash. Can't you refit the original radio to at least fill the gap and give you a better view whilst driving? I've been constantly browsing ebay looking for Kluger accessories and seen the pay-per-view junk, thought of you and steered clear of it. Have you considered notifying ebay of this shonky seller so they may intervene and make them accountable? Thanks for your post, you've certainly made me wary of this dodgey seller, thanks also to the poster who mentioned how his tow ball was pinched... made me buy a hitch pin lock.... just goes to demonstrate the value of these forums. I hope that your Chinese experience takes a good turn, they repair the unit and send it back with an apology!

What about washing the car, does the nudge bar come off or stay on? Is it a hassle to remove? I'd imagine there is a build-up of crud under there after a while. I'm only asking questions because I'm interested Great post Hado, what is it now, a week or so old and almost 1500 reads.

What is the stance of Toyota service department when you take your car in for a scheduled service and as part of this an air filter is due for replacement? I could be wrong here, but I would think that if you make a request a long the lines of "please don't discard my K & N filter and replace with a new Toyota part, I'd prefer if you washed my K & N and then re-fitted it please"... I expect you'd be told that your service book would not be stamped. So this would be like changing oil and plugs yourself (quite do-able), methinks the service department would not want to guarantee your work and so won't stamp the book. Happy to be proven otherwise... if so, can people name dealerships that are willing to allow this?

I think I had one of these fitted to my old Commodore. It's main function was to add extra oil cooling for the engine when it was under towing stress. The Commodore had a few options, one the size of a large piece of toast and another even bigger, both look like mini radiators.

Just been checking the tirerack site and Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza currently has an overall reviewer rating of 8.48 (~880 reviews). However, the Pirelli Scorpion ATR has an overall rating of 8.7 (from ~440 reviews). JaxQuickfit quoted $485 per tyre (although none in stock). Current price on Bridgestone Dueler H/L400 (OEM tyres) has come down to $469 per tyre (still way too high for what you get IMO). Anyone know of a better price for these? If choice is between OEM tyre and Pirelli, I am tempted to go the Pirelli (extra 4/32" tread, longer wearing [uTQG530 vs UTQG400]). Any thoughts welcomed. I don't pretend to be a tyre expert, far from it really... tyre noob would be more appropriate I just took a quick look at the Pirelli website and the ATR tyres appear to be aimed more at all terrain meaning a mixture of on and off-road. The Scorpion Zero is a pure on-road tyre and so if you don't get off the bitumen it may be worth considering. Both are 255/55/19, slightly larger than the stock tyre. I suspect that off-road tyres (like the ATR) are made of harder compounds for longer wear over more uneven surfaces so may be a little too stiff on bitumen resulting in a harsher, noiser ride? As stated above, happy to be proven wrong.

Check a few of the other threads within this forum, there are quite a lot of discussions about tyres, replacing the standard issue and other options available. Toyo seemed to be a popular alternative of the same size. You may want to consider removing one of your other Bridgestone tyres and buying two new tyres of different manufacture, same diemnsions etc... this would give you two Bridgestones spares to rotate.

I'm considering purchasing a trailer to tow behind my KX-S FWD. I'm after something small that can be more easily stored at home so I'm thinking 5 x 3. I won't be carrying huge loads so brakes are unnecessary. I'm acutely aware that the Kluger has 19" wheels and the trailer most probably won't... I think this will present two problems... the trailers tyres will turn more often than the Klugers so they will wear quicker over the same distance and smaller tyres means that the trailer will sit lower. The second of these two problems is the most concerning as I'll need to be especially careful when loading the trailer so as to evenly disperse weight across the axel but also be mindful of the "tilt" caused by different wheel sizes. For those of you that are experienced with trailers, what options do you have in upgrading the wheels, is it purely a matter of how big are the wheel arches on the trailer or are there other things to consider too? I suspect I should be aiming for wheels as big as possible on the trailer to match with Kluger so as to achieve most even ride differential between the two... and 17" wheels are probably the most common and therefore cheapest option?

Congrats on your new purchase. If I may ask, what other cars were you looking at and why did you settle on the Kluger? I seem to recall reading something about the air filter, do you know what all the fuss is regarding this special K & N filter? I think I've seen them on ebay for $150+, is it made of gold? Also the sat nav you're talking about, is that the one normally fitted as standard in the Grande or a different model?

Without intending to be rude, I think we've answered this in the another thread, you probably don't need to keep creating new threads, have a search through existing messages before creating a new threads.