Coover

I've gotten the front coutesy/map light covers off, and replaced with blue LEDs. Isn't that a funky little light that shines down on the centre console..."mood lighting", or a mini moonbeam! What I can't figure out is how to access the bulbs over the middle row and the ones in the cargo area. Don't want to just take to it with my plastic screwdriver in case I do it at the wrong angle and break the lens cover. Can any learned forum member offer advice? Graci !!

G'day Pix. You did well with your purchase.Is it 2WD or AWD? Breaking down the price we have $46,981.70 drive away price (Qld.) for a 2WD 7 seater KX-R, $51,639.20 for the same as a AWD. Add $809.60 for front and rear sensors, $751.30 for the towbar, and $135.85 for the mats gives you a full price of $48, 678.45 for the 2WD, and $53,335.95 for the all legged sibling. Looks like you saved anywhere from $8688 up to $13346! Mind you, whenever I've shopped for a car, I've always been quoted less than the RRP. Anyway, congrats on your purchase. Did you specifically choose black? Mine is graphite, with black leather. I've been surprised that it hasn't gotten hot when parked outdoors under the Brisbane sun.

Hi Farmerbob Welcome to the forum. I've sent you a PM. The genuine sidesteps are 80mm diameter. Cheers

Yep, just good ol' fashioned type. Mind you my last 2 cars have had climate control....set and forget at 23 degrees.

That is a good price, Kluger13! The side steps alone have a RRP of $880 (been researching as I have a set for sale.....will sell here once I get up to 30 posts and meet criteria). Unfortunately, the Altitude doesn't come with climate controlled aircon, just the manual controls. You'll still find it icy cold on a hot day; Toyota aircon systems have always been excellent. Cloth trim is standard on the Altitude. The rear KLUGER panel you mentioned about (some shiny, some brushed chrome)..the facelift model (post July 2010 which yours is) all feature the mirror chrome panel. The chrome strip on the back bumper compliments it. All prefacelift models have the brushed look panel.

Congrats on your purchase Rayddi. Is the $47000 drive away price? If so, you've done well. The Altitude is a well packaged deal (sunroof and DVD player) especially for those wanting a Grande but not leather or the woodgrain look. A quick look at Cars Guide has your model listed at $49500 upwards in NSW. I like the colour you got too!

People get 'em, as do ships and aeroplanes.....names! We named our last few cars (our Fairlane was called Barney as a tribute to my wifes late Uncle. His nickname was Barney (last name Barnes) and Barney (dinosaur) seemed appropriate for a 1993 Fairlane. The Fairmont was Monty. When we bought the Kluger, my wife asked if we were going to name it, and I couldn't think of anything until I saw mention of an old horror movie. So until I come up with something witty, (and I invite other forum users to mention what they call theirs) I've come up with "Freddy"........"Freddy Kluger"

Sir Ned, yes indeed the plastics in question are the clear ones that cover the instrument cluster-and I'm sure they have a proper name! Did you do the replacing yourself (I imagine you would've, otherwise you'd have said something like $17 for the plastic, and $150 for the labour!)? Can you give me a quick rundown of how you did it? I suspect the procedure between an Aurion and a Kluger would in principal be similar, but with different landmarks for the retaining clips etc.

Thanks guys for the advice. I bought a Turte Wax headlight restorer (the only product the Supacheap store had that seemed appropriate for the task). The biggest problem I've found is trying to get to the clear plastic. Strangely enough, with the steering wheel in front, it's not as easy as one would think to get in there are and rub for 5 minutes. Should the Turtle wax not work, I will try shop around and find a shop that sells the Meguires and Auto Glym

Just to expand on what Jaydub said...RON= Research Octaine Number. I've just filled up my Kluger for the second time since owning it. Both times using 95. Yet to see what difference (if any) over 91 based on what I've been reading in this thread (mind you I've only done suburban km..haven't drivien it anywhere above 80km'h Will take it for a good run on 110km/h zone on weekend when I drive to Southport). I believe 95 is a better quality of fuel, or is that just propaganda? I had a '99 Ford Fairmont which gave me 15-20% better fuel economy and noticebly more power when using 95 rather than 91. Croco, after reading your post, I'm tempted to try 98 in the Kluger. We have a Shell card (salary sacrifice) so the extra cost doesn't hurt so much....end up paying same as price of 91 unleaded.

Many thanks for your advice, Croco. I will do just that. I was sure that there must be some commercial product that would do the job. My google search basically revealled a can of worms of pro and anti ArmorAll users. Will chat to the folks at my local auto shop and see what works. I've heard nothing but good write-ups on Meguires and Mothers products.

When my Kluger was detailed prior to our purchase, the car detailer (or someone) sprayed what I think is ArmorAll (or similar) on the clear plastic of the instrument panel. Now the silicone has dried and the clear plastic looks terrible. I've tried to remove the mess with orange cleaner and also vinegar (the two best ingredients I found to use when I did a google search). Neither worked, and now contemplating having to replace the plastic. Anybody had success removing armorAll from plastic, or can anybody advise me how disassemble the instrument panel to remove the plastic so that I can replace it myself ? Cheers Don

All the (stolen) pre-owned Mercs are in Albania!

Apologies to the moderators and others if there is another similar forum (and so feel free to merge). I wanted to share a recent experience, and make others aware. I recently took delivery of a 2009 Kluger Grande; bought from one of the biggest Ford dealerships in Brisbane. According to the paperwork (service manual) it had just had it's 50,000km service at 47,055km (I picked up the car at 47,060km). Not a big service, but like all service books, it explains what to do. Included in that is "inspect and clean airconditioner filter" My wife mentioned to me that she could smell stale cigarette smoke whenever the airconditioner was on. After reading the owners manual, I found and removed the aircon. filter to see if that was the problem. Boy was I p*ssed off when I saw that the filter was filthy, with small bits of grass in it. There was NO way that this filter was about 100km old. As an interim measure, I gave it a good clean (orange cleaner, rinse then dried it with a hair dryer before replacing it. Sprayed a little bit of car cologne in it too, even though it now smelt neutral). This will do until the next service (which will be done by Toyota as it's still under new car warranty; car was built 12/2009, sold new 5/2010) I wonder how many dealers (Toyota or otherwise) or places like Auto Leaders etc etc don't carry out services by the book? Makes me also wonder what else was missed. Anybody else had similar issues? I was tempted to take the car back and complain, but it was more economical just to clean it and replace it rather than waste time and petrol. When I do take it to get serviced from now on, I will make mention that I want the car serviced AS PER the book.

Today I took the sidesteps off my 2009 Kluger Grande. Even though they're genuine, I find them impractical. I can get in and out without having to use them, and if people do use them there's the risk of eventually rubbing away the paint with the front of shoes. I have a potential buyer for them (I'm asking $550; they're about $880 new) and the sale will fund my purchase of a nudge bar. (Actually I lied here......my son-in-law did the actual removal. He reckoned I'd be too fat to get underneath and remove the bolts. I would've given him a can of whoop ar*e if it wasn't true!)

Daytime running lights are not only becoming more and more common, but also cheaper (especially aftermarket ones). Canada and Sweden have made it mandatory for cars to have their headlights on all times for years, and research shows that it does reduce head on crashes. Which brings me to my point.....I'm looking at buying after-market DRLs and would like fellow readers opinions on quality of ones others have bought, and where to mount them (I haven't read any literature about legal regulations on them). I'm also curious to know how others have wired them in their Kluger. For the record, mine is a 2009 Grande, so I'm tossing up about buying a combo chrome foglight surround that includes about 6 LED lights, or fitting them in the grille.

There's a variety of YouTube videos showing how to fit parking sensors to various cars. Type "toyota kluger rear parking sensors" and you'll get one uploaded by an Aussie (a fellow bananabender no less!). And ebay always seems to have a heap for sale for the confident d-i-y Kluger owner. Never having bought any, I can't comment on the quality of any particular ones.

I've found this thread very interesting. I've only had my Kluger for a week. Picked it up with 1/2 tank of ??. Topped it up with 95RON ( I used 95RON in my '99 Ford Fairmont which gave me good fuel economy on the highway). I've only driven the Kluger on short suburban trips so far (with the occasional 10km freeway run) and showing 13.5. I asked the service station attendant whether many customers used 95. He replied that it wasn't popular as many thought 95RON meant it had 5% ethanol. I tried 5% ethanol once; got less kilometres for my money. I've found the 95 good value for money so will stick with it. Have a trip from Brisbane to Melbourne coming up, will be interested to see what my fuel economy is.

That's not good news! Is the cog plastic? Wish I could help, can only suggest wrecking yards (or auto recyclers as they call them now!). I know Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne have Toyota dedicated yards. Good luck with the repair! You need to find a fellow Kluger owner who's happy to swap your broken cog with one from a still under warranty kluger!

Hi All New to this forum, and back into a Toyota after a 5 year absence.....oh, what a feeling! Due to a workplace injury, my wife sustained protruding discs in her C-spine (neck). Getting in and out of our sedan caused her a great deal of (increased) pain, so we started shopping around for something that she can enter/exit easily. SUV sized vehicles fitted the bill; we didn't want a 4x4. We checked out every SUV from Audi to Volvo; money wasn't an issue but I'm not one to part easily with my cash. The winning contender was the Toyota Kluger Grande 2WD. The best quote I got in S.E. Qld was $59,990 drive away, with nudge bar, front and rear parking sensors, towbar and mats. I think about $67,000 is the RRP in Qld for a 2WD Grande. I don't know if it is customary in other states, but here in Qld they only give you 6 months rego as part of the driveaway price. Dark furnace was our colour of choice. Was a day away from signing on the dotted line, when I decided to "just check and see if there's a better deal". While checking, I found a 12/2009 built (3/2010 sold new) pre-facelift 2WD Grande with 47,000km on the clock (and just had it's 50,000km service) in graphite. No towbar or sensors, but that's ok. Decided to not dig as deep into the cookie jar, and drove off with this for $41,000. Very happy with this (my 5th Toyota in 25 years), and I plan to keep this until the generation 3 Kluger is released (rumours say the new US built models will be out in 2014?????). Why did the Kluger top our list? We wanted comfortable seats, a soft ride, reliable, roomy, sufficient power (or should that be "killer wasps"?). I liked the style and I love the "gadgets" like the moonroof, satnav, power this and that. Some other SUVs came close (was disappointed with the Territory build quality, and Hyundai have yet to learn how to make comfortable seats). The Kluger was the only one that ticked all the boxes. Looking forward to being a member here, to learn from other members and share any info I can.