Mikeyboy

I bought the KX-R in May; I was going to buy it in July, but the Grande was written off and there was almost no Grandes in WA in May and couldn't get an exact replacement. The dealer I originally bought the Grande from had exactly the spec in the KX-R I was looking for. They also had a large shipment arriving in July, one of which was the exact specification of Grande I wanted, so I bought the KX-R and ordered the Grande. They knew exactly when they would have the car as there was a shipment arriving early July; every other dealer I had checked with was also receiving cars from that shipment. That shipment was, however, already ordered in May. Unless your dealer was hoping to get the right car from that shipment without actually ordering from the factory, that may explain what happened. From what I have seen, the shipments appear to arrive every 3 months. I would cancel my order and go somewhere else rather than wait another 3 months.

I finally got my replacement Grande this week. I now have a graphite Grande AWD and a silver pearl KX-R FWD 5 seater. The colours go well together.

My previous Grande should be around somewhere in Perth. I don't know how to search for it though. The inside was in perfect condition. You would even have electric seats.

I found in the Grande that it wasn't a fixed kmh error, but a percentage error. At a speed detected by GPS, the speedo would read about 8% higher. I thought that the error was less on the KX-R but found that it was the same once the tyre pressures were corrected. My tyres from delivery were from 40 - 48 psi. I now have them set at 36 psi.

In my Lexus and when I had the Grande, I always used the auto mode exept when I wanted to demist the windows. It works perfectly, switching air to the appropriate vents and changing fan speed when necesary. I hate manual aircon, like in my KX-R, but I couldn't justify $10000 for climate control for what is really just a substitute for a van. As soon as the Grande arrives, less than 2 weeks, I will use the KX-R exclusivley for work.

Have pretty much decided to get the Kenwwod DNX7320 with the Kenwood KCA-BT200 bluetooth unit and a PAC Audio SWI. Will cost around $2100 if I fit it myself. Just waiting to see what wiring diagrams I get from Toyota next week so that I can connect the reverse camera.

I could hear a rattle, but noone else did, that seemed to come from under the steering wheel. I could hear it when stopped in reverse, first thing in the morning, when the engine was revving high, and when going over small bumps, not big ones, so it was obviously something oscilating at certain frequencies. I took quite a few panels off the interior looking for a loose connector hitting the panels, because thats what it sounded like, but found nothing there. I then discovered that the noise wasn't really coming from under the steering wheel; the sound was being transmitted through the panels from lower down. It turned out to be the side panel of the console. I pulled out the plastic retaining stud int the panel next to the foot rest, put a peice of thick cardboard with a hole for the stud behind the panel, and replaced the stud. Now there is total silence. I am going to replace the cardboard with a peice of rubber or foam in the future. I wish I had found the problem straight away, as it was in the easiest possible place to fix. if i pop the stud will it go back in?, I want to have a look but I dont want to stuff the panel up. If you put your fingers behind the panel near the stud, it is quite easy to pop out the stud. You can test if this is where the problem is by putting something behind the panel to stop it vibrating, and go for a drive before putting something there permanently. The stud just pushes in again.

I could hear a rattle, but noone else did, that seemed to come from under the steering wheel. I could hear it when stopped in reverse, first thing in the morning, when the engine was revving high, and when going over small bumps, not big ones, so it was obviously something oscilating at certain frequencies. I took quite a few panels off the interior looking for a loose connector hitting the panels, because thats what it sounded like, but found nothing there. I then discovered that the noise wasn't really coming from under the steering wheel; the sound was being transmitted through the panels from lower down. It turned out to be the side panel of the console. I pulled out the plastic retaining stud int the panel next to the foot rest, put a peice of thick cardboard with a hole for the stud behind the panel, and replaced the stud. Now there is total silence. I am going to replace the cardboard with a peice of rubber or foam in the future. I wish I had found the problem straight away, as it was in the easiest possible place to fix.

I decided on 36psi for the KX-R, which has the higher profile tyres. I kept the Grande at 38psi and will do the same when the next one arrives. On my cars, I try to find the pressure that gives the least noise on a reasonable slow corner at a set speed as this is most likely when the tyre is flat on the road and should wear evenly. It's also more progressive when it starts losing grip.

The lights on the steering wheel are self-illuminated. The uv light thing pointing down seems to direct more toward the console. It may be to let you see drink in the cupholder. There's so many in the front, you might forget where you put it.

"Rice cracker" strikes again, quite the oracle, In relation to towing caravans there is a Caravan World magazine that came out earlier this year, it featured an article on the Kluger and a 16 foot pop top, they talked about Toyotas criteria for the transmission 1800rpm 100klm/hr that the computer looks at, they experienced irregular in and out of O/D at 90klm/hr, Toyota recommends manually locking out of O/D when towing at this speed. the test gave a 17ltr/100km return. where I am coming from is that my experience with the Kluger on the open road I got consistently better instantaneous readings for fuel consumption at 100Km/hr than at 80-90km/hr (my best run over 50klm was 8.3). Not Towing of course So I am saying to SAMF if he gets out on a quiet open stretch no hills and good weather try it and let me know what your results are. I believe you will do better than their 17ltr/100km. In relation to the speed argument there is also a tachometer installed for your convenience. good luck DONH Was the story about towing with the Kluger referring to the new model or the previous? It's just that if talking about manually locking out O/D, that would mean the older models with the overdrive button on the shifter. That would mean that whatever testing was done for fuel consumption would be irrelevant. If you are on a flat road, 80kmh should be the optimum speed for economy, as 5th gear should have engaged and wind resistance is minimal at 80kmh. As your speed increases above 80, wind resistance will definitely affect fuel economy, and much more so when towing anything, especially a caravan. I never tow anything, so it doesn't apply to me, however I can't see any reason for someone towing not to go slower than the speed limit as long as they are courteous and let people pass when it is possible. As for the speedo inaccuracies in the Kluger, I now generally only trust the GPS, not the speedo. It even gives different inaccuracies depending on whether you accelerated or decelerated to the speed you wanted.

The fuel economy you guys are getting is normal. If you are constantly having to accelerate all the time you are going to use a lot of fuel in any car. I have checked the school run from my place, which is around a 6.5km round trip. The longest straight run I get is 800m, but that is also through another school zone, so its 40kmh, then 60kmh, then stop at the lights. On this trip, I was getting approx 16l/100km in the AWD Grande and 13l/100km in the FWD KX-R. On a flat road at 80kmh in the KX-R, I get around 6.5l/100km. In the Grande, it was just below 8l/100km. It's all to do with getting that much weight up to a certain speed needing a certain amount of power. Keeping it at a set speed, unless it's excessive, doesn't require much power. I'm sure that the people getting great economy all the time live in areas where they can drive for at least a couple of km at a time without stopping. I can only do that when I travel outside the city. As I live very close to the city centre, I don't get great economy all the time. I also don't have to travel very far most of the time, so I don't use much fuel anyhow.

Just need everyone to use a picture of their car as their avatar. I still need to update mine to show how the Grande looked after the roll or the new KX-R.

Just to let you know, my 5 seat FWD KX-R feels alot faster than the Grande AWD ever did. There is a big weight difference though.

The torque split is 50:50. It will brake the wheel that is spinning to transfer more torque to the wheel with grip. If you drive normally, don't tow, don't go offroad there will not really be any safety benefit in the dry, but there will be a little in the wet. I think resale may be better for AWD, but it's a bit too soon to tell.

If you have only 1 car seat to put in, the most convenient position, not necesarily the safest, is on the drivers side. This is to allow access to the third row when needed.

So RR, if we take the same time off the Toyota times, I may be able to get below 7 seconds in my FWD. Not very likely though, unless I can find some more grip.

Ebony is the most popular colour in my area. I had an ebony for a 3 day test drive and found it looked filthy without driving in the rain or offroad. I bought a graphite instead, as has someone else in my street. It looked relatively clean for a decent amount of time without washing. I am getting a replacement graphite, so it must have been OK. I also have a silver pearl which looks really good and hides the dirt better than the graphite. I didn't really like the blues and especially the tidal blue after the incident with an ex-eagle last year.

I have found that the KX-R FWD 5 seater used 3l/100km less than the Grande AWD, but this is also a comparison between the lightest and heaviest models, not just FWD and AWD.

Until recently, I had an AWD Grande. This was our family car. It was written off and a new one is arriving next month. I am currently driving a FWD KX-R. This is my work car. I have found absolutely no problems with torque steer in the FWD. There is, however, insufficient grip for full throttle accelleration, but this is also to do with the standard tyres fitted to the KX-R I think. The tyres on the KX-S, Grande are better but not great. If you drive relatively sensibly, you wouldn't notice the difference between the 2. We got the AWD because our previous Toyotas have lasted so long that we felt there may be a need for AWD sometime in the next 6 - 8 years. If we never planned to use the AWD other than on the road, we wouldn't have bothered.

I have spoken to an installer who has already fitted systems to the Kluger. He said the spearkers were fairly good and the head unit was crap. I will be changing mine soon; I just need to make up my mind on how far to go and how much to spend. Will let you know what Ive done and how it turned out.

true you wouldnt want it any longer than what it is. Maybe they could had put less space between the 1st and 2nd row seats and moved the 3rd row forward a little. Theres a heck of a lot of room in the back between the 1st and second row. I have the drivers seat adjusted all the way back and down. There is just the right amount of space between the first and second row like that. If there was less room, I wouldn't have bought the Kluger. As Taka has said, if it was longer, it would be difficult to fit in a normal garage. It is good for us as we either have the 5 of us in the car with stuff in the back, or there is 7 of us with very little or nothing in the back. I would say that if you have more than 3 children, more than 5 people normally in the car, this isn't the right car. You need a proper people mover; the Kluger is only good as an occasional people mover. BTW, I now have the FWD KX-R. I have found that the speedo error is not quite as bad as the AWD Grande. Grande, you need to travel 9% faster, according to the speedo, to do the speed you want. KX-R, you need to travel 7% faster. That doesn't make much sense, as the tyres in the KX-R are slightly smaller diameter.

I have done all of the comparisons again, and the Kluger was still the only choice; don't beleive women when they say size doesn't matter. Also, after having the Grande for 6 months, we would not go without the keyless start and entry or the power tailgate. I have an AWD Grande arriving in July and will pick up a FWD 5 seat KX-R tommorrow. I needed a car for carrying loads but couldn't handle going back to a van. The KX-R didn't compare too badly on price with a van, but is much nicer to drive. It will be interesting to compare the fuel consumption between the heaviest and lightest versions of the Kluger, especially as I try to watch the consumption. So, in July, will I be the first one to have 2 Klugers?

I am waiting to see what it sells for. I'm currently ordering a Grande and a KX-R and I think an interior upgrade on the KX-R would be a good thing. Theres nothing usable on the exterior as far as I could see.

I'm just getting price and availability on 2 new ones.