castr10

My battery died recently in my 2 year old RAV ZR6 (56,000 km). I can NEVER be accused of shortening the life of the battery by mis-use however had to pay $187 to NRMA to replace it. The NRMA tech indicated to me that he replaces many RAV batteries stating that the model suffers from early battery failure. Has anyone else experienced this?

Its interesting that a few months ago I developed an oil leak on my 2007 ZR6 RAV. It was not long after the scheduled 40K maintenance servce. I arranged to take it back and on my arrival, I noticed the customer service attendant opened the hood and looked directly at the pipe (now recalled). It was obvious that they knew about it then but didn't own up however promised to fix it at no charge which they did. The question I now have following the recall notice is why didnt they replace the hose at the 40K service only a week earlier? They could have caused severe damage to my engine had I not noticed this leak even then I can not be sure they havn't. Very very poor customer service by Toyota in my view.

I own one of the 1st ZR6 delivered - ex demo model. Supply to me was delayed until they addressed the lagging or delay issue. Unfortunately to this day, it still has the problem. I use only 95RON and occasionally 98RON, I drop down gears from 5 to 3 before accelerating even then, sometimes it will hesitate while other times even in 5th gear there is no problem. Its intermittent and no matter how many times I ask the toyota techs to look at it, nothing changes. It appears they cant do anything about.

Wish you had created this thread last week prior to my 40K service. The Dealer actually called me during the day suggesting this extra fuel injector service - it makes you feel as if they have found something which requires this special clean. I had even said to them over the phone that I only ever use premium unleaded however they still insisted that I should have this special service. Very unhappy - I've been had, it seems.

Ok, thanks for the replies. You have made it very clear. Its obvious that I have very little experience in hiring cars these days and convinces me that cabbing is my best option next time.

Need some viewpoints - recently I organised to have a loan car whilst my vehicle went in for service at a high profile Toyota Dealer in Sydney. Unfortunately my work is nowhere near an accessible public transport route. I was advised of this service (decent price of $38 per day) when I took on a service plan with this Dealer at time of purchase. Never needed to use until recently since I made use of a friends vehicle. When I went to drop off the vehicle and collect the loaner I was advised of an excess charge of $2000 if I was in an accident deemed to be my fault. (btw they had never advised me of this detail when I took on the service plan nor when I organised for the loan vehicle). I immediately told them that they have to be kidding, I am a mature driver with an excellent driving record and even with my own personal insurance I am not liable for such a ridiculous excess charge. My 19 year old daughter on P's is not liable for that sort of excess on her vehicle. But accidents do happen and murphy's may apply so i will not take that chance - what sort of insurance are they offering? I retrieved my vehicle and told them to forget the service - I will make other arrangements. So buyers beware it seems - the loan car service is not that good a deal from a risk point of view.

I guess that will mean I will need to drive more aggressively and faster to get around/past all the motorists who will drive at snails pace to conserve fuel.

Driving a V6 in Bris Vegas...trying REALLY hard to keep my foot off the throttle...and the tacho BELOW 2000RPM...and I'm still returning 11.68L/100k's over 1500k's (which included 500k's freeway driving) using Shell V-Power 1 in 4 tankfuls and E-10 the rest of the time... I think that's pretty reasonable for a V6 Wifey's Mazda 3 is getting 10.4L/100k's Thats about right stapo - similar to my figures. Correct me if wrong, I think Shell V power is 98RON. Try using a 95RON from BP or CALTEX and see if your figures improve - mine did.

To vassam: instead of whinging on this forum, just contact Toyota HO Customer service about your problem and the attitude from the Dealer. If you believe you have a problem, you could also write to the Co President in Japan. I know this method worked with Sony in the past. The Sony president would send 'please fix this' alerts to the Sony powers in Oz. To herman munster: thank god its not left to people like you to market cars in Oz - we'd all be ridings camels instead of performance vehicles. I can safely handle the acceleration of the RAV6 and encourage manufacturers to continue to supply them.

Tigz, for a few months after purchasing my ZR6, I drove it extremely hard - screeching off at the lights and accelerating real hard when overtaking - I was seeing figures like yours. The RAV6 will just eat up the gas when driven hard.

I did some checks a few months ago (posted in another thread) - fyi Just some updated fuel usage figures I calculated on my RAV ZR6 - 91RON: 1. Stop/start city driving: 13.4 litres/100km 2. Motorway: 9.6 litres/100km 95RON: 1. Stop/start city driving: 12.5 litres/100km 2. Motorway: 8.7 litres/100km I do drive it hard - so I am quite happy with these figures and will continue to use 95RON since the vehicle appears to drive smoother.

Sandshoe, you can lock it in AWD under 40km/h - it resets to 2wd once you exceed this limit.

mmm, I pushed my ZR6 from day one (acceleration and long cruising) - 40K later, running real smooth.

mmm, like with most new cars, you can remove the antenna just be unscrewing it when you place anything on top.

They are pretty much the same. Some of the features of the ZR6 (moonroof, leather seats, NAV system) are options on the Limited. I'm comparing the 2008 models here. Looking at the pictures, the Limited comes with adjustable crossbars on the roof rack--looks like the ZR6 only has rails. The Limited comes with 6-spoke alloy wheels while the ZR6 has 5-spoke. The ZR6 has the repeater lights on the fender and the antenna on the roof. The Limited has no repeaters (they have been added to the mirrors for 2009) and the antenna is on the fender (moved to the roof for 2009). We also have the option of 2WD--my Limited is 2WD as I had no need for 4WD. In 2009 the Limited has also added push-button start with smart key, a VSC disable button, auto on/off headlamps, and the aforementioned changes to the mirrors and antenna. For some reason they made the power driver's seat optional in '09--you pretty much have to get the heated leather seats to get it now. There may be more differences but that's all I can think of right now. You can go to buyatoyota.com and check it out. When it asks for a zip code use 70805. Thanks for this info & detail, junebug.

Excuse my ignorance junebug but what is the difference between a RAV V6 limited and say the ZR6? Is there a site I can visit?

I took the RAV ZR6 with a few blokes to Nelson's Bay for the w'end - cruising on 110kph on the F3, I flicked into 4th gear to overtake, touched the accelerator and had it at 140kph in a matter of secs before backing off. It certainly is a unique SUV in its class. I recently read about the new super-fast BMW X5 & X6 currently under test in EU but they are obviously in a different class to the RAV V6 and Kluger models. The Kluger would need a super-charger to accelerate its bulk along.

I guess the popularity of the new Kluger is that it provides a large SUV solution, fully featured at an affordable price - a unique alternative. The RAV6 is very similar in size to all the other smaller SUV's, providing similar features apart from the 200Kw. Perhaps fewer drivers see a value in 200KW for the much higher cost.

Beats me too! The ZR6 has it all.

Driven a ZR6 - for approx 1.5 years. Experimented with different petrol and now only use 95Ron. Similar to others here, I found the BP Ultimate to work the best (economy-wise and performance-wise).

I guess you need to specify which RAV you're polling as the two RAV's (4 cyl vs 6 cyl) appeal for very different reasons. I own/drive a ZR6 (a 1st time toyota owner which replaced my SWB Pajero) - Kids are grown therefore mainly use it for myself and with my partner however I was attracted to it because it provides speed, power, ability to carry 4 adults in comfort with plenty of luggage room (golf trips away with the blokes) - the 4cyl version is just too slow for me and would struggle cruising fully loaded. Perhaps the 4 cyl 4d version appeals to the young family or to those who are no so enthusiastic about needing the power on open roads. I also believe that you may need separate polls for the 4 cyl 4d vs 3d since they also appeal to differing motorist tastes - I notice the 4cyl 3d being driven mainly by young women but perhaps thats the appeal just in the eastern subs of Sydney. I'm sure Toyota would know.

Whatever you do Toyota, always leave the spare wheel on the oustide. I just love the extra space made available inside the cabin. On the RAV ZR6, the special compartment now available (where the US version holds the spare, I think) is very very useful for my fishing/golfing storage needs and does not interfere with the rear space which can be used for larger items such as luggage etc. The only problem is, you need to come up with some better way of securing the spare from burglary.

Can't say I have ever heard of any general rule like that - but in todays market no rules apply. A bloke I know recently purchased a one yr old SWB Pajero (top of the line) with 20,000 km for $29K - I priced one also just over a year ago (b4 I purchased the RAV ZR6) for $52K. Based on the general rule of thumb mentioned, that calculates to a reduction of $11.5K for every 10,000 km. Personally, I would not be interested in anything with over 100K kilometres in a V6.

My Rav4- ZR6 which sounds like the identical vintage as your's (Nov 2007) came with a can of touch-up paint straight from the show-room. Definitely take this up with your Dealer.

I would not change too much except for larger wheels on the V6 and the ability to place into true 4WD at any time especially when travelling over 40kph (good on wet roads). Oh and of course the ability to remove the "I agree" msg on the satnav - pain in the b*** and lastly enabling many of the functions currently disabled with the satnav like speed camera warning etc.