achk

That's a good deal. My local Toyota dealer just quoted me $600 fitted. I guess I'll be shopping around.

It is possible. I too have a 08 ZR6 since new. At the time of purchase, the dealer was able to fit a reversing camera (but i don't think it was listed as a genuine accessory, but rather an aftermarket product). I went with reversing sensors instead as they were the genuine accessory. Search around, there should be a few people around who can fit an aftermarket camera to the sat nav screen (as there is an input for reversing camera). They will generally be cheaper than toyota stealership. I'm currently thinking about fitting one. And tring to get some quotes from some fitters around, including my own toyota dealer. I'll let you know the price difference. I'm in Melbourne though.

My ZR6 is 2008 model. I can confirm that the when pressing and holding the "decrease speed" function on the cruise control stalk while crusing, the brakes will kick in (even the brake lights will come on). It's not a feature I use often though. What I really want is a system that will automatically brake while going downhill while curise is on to maintain a set speed.

Our ZR6 is now just over 2yrs old and has done about 30,000km. Fuel consumption is a lot better than when it was new. On freeway/Country runs, I routinely get about 8L/100km, sometimes even just under 8. In city/suburbs, it's about 10-12L/100km, depending on amount of stop-start traffic.

I think they should have a greater range. Ours were fitted when the car was bought new in 2008 (pre-facelift). The "beeps" start at around 1 metre and increase in frequency as the object gets nearer. At 30cm, it should become a constant beep to signify that you are about to hit something, considering the spare wheel protrude outward a fair bit on the RAV. Ours are genuine Toyota accessory. I know some dealer fits aftermarket ones (some of them a little fancier with distance readout LED screens inside etc).

I was towing a tandem trailer other day with a small GTI on back and went across an intersection with time to spare, imagine my dismay when the acceleration was almost none existant. I flicked to LPG and took off rapidly. Dont knwo what the problem is but its in the EFI. The other day it woud not even kick over on Fuel so I switched to LPG. Bit disappointed in the RAV4, not even a POWER button unlike the Camry. Seriously considering yanking out the 3FSE and going to a 2VZFE. QED. The current RAV4 runs the 2GR-FE (I think) in the V6 models. The earliest examples that came to Australia did suffer from throttle delays/ hesitation and Toyota actually ran a recall for the cars affected; or deliveries were delayed until a ECU reflash was done. We have our ZR6 since May 2008 (probably a couple of batches of cars after the initial release), and I have not noticed any throttle problem. Our price was around $43000 (with a few accessories fitted, and with Toyota employee discount (21% off!!)). The only complaint is that we are noticing some sulphur smell when the car is driven hard on an uphill occasionally (eg overtaking) and the dealer put that down to poor australian fuel. We however mainly use 95 or 98RON. Otherwise no problem. Hope this helps.

update on the tyres and wheels, i have managed to get a set of wheels but to the size of tyre i want 245/50-19 is very hard to find. only one brand make it "yokohama" and Tempe tyres is the cheapest @ $420 per tyre. other option is to go with a 255/50-19 which will set me back $220 per tyre.. however the yokohama tyre is perfect the Speedo is correct and fills the wheel rather nicely. decisions...decisions. You may not need to calibrate the speedo as the speedo on the RAV4 is quite optimistic (ie actual speed is slower than indicated). Just check the accuracy of your speedo with a GPS after you've changed the tyres. You may be ok.

thats what im hoping for, i enquired with Toyota US but havent heard back maybe not willing to send me the part to AUS. If the part costs less than $300 i think its still worth trying. I think having the button won't necessary activate the trip computer. I've seen the trip computer in a RAV4 in Hong Kong recently and I'm quite sure that the actual LCD display in the dash is different too. It flashes "RAV4" when you start the car. And there's probably a need to install a module to connect to the car's ECU. It's all potentially expensive.

Looks like a very handy gadget. I too am quite disappointed that Toyota Australia didn't include a trip computer for the RAV4. It looks like the latest firmware even allow you to display your trip cost in realtime if you've entered what you've paid at the pump. I'm seriously thinking about getting one. Can anyone suggest a good place to mount the scangauge in the current shape RAV? Perhaps on top of the steering column in front of the speedometer?

I'm not aware of remote windows/moonroof closing feature on the RAV4. I wonder if the function is there and all it need is a quick "enabling" with the dealer's diagnostic computer thingy...

You can get aftermarket short stubby antennas that just screw on. I'm sure the reception won't be as good but it'll be better than nothing. I'm thinking about getting a shorter one too cos the thing keep hitting the garage door.

I too am very unimpressed with the low beam performance on the RAV4. I've tried the Osram Night breaker (marketed as 80-90% brighter) and there was a slight improvement (but definitely not 80-90% improvement). The thing with these "high performance" halogen bulbs is their relative shorter lifespan compared to standard bulbs. Both mine blew after about a year of usage. I've just put back the stock bulbs for now. Combining low beams and fogs go a fair way at improving the lighting performance in the RAV (something that's not usually the case in other cars), but it is now illegal to use the fogs in most states unless in bad weather condition. I don't really understand the point of this law... as most factory fitted fogs are aimed properly and cause hardly anymore glare than the low beams. It's the aftermarket fogs that tend to cause trouble for other drivers. HID conversion kits are also illegal but I'm really tempted to try it out one day. Or otherwise, i'll definitely shop for factory xenons in my next car...

also check out the carkit company's website: http://www.thecarkitcompany.com.au/product...is%20Technology Had a bluetooth kit installed with them before, and they did a very neat drop right there in your garage/ work place.

Check this out: http://www.advancedice.com.au/product_deta...er=10018sou_aux Had a similar system installed on a BMW about a year ago. Works well and has full ipod control through the factory touch screen. Just leave and forget the ipod in glove box all the time and it charges the ipod when the car is on.

Smell seems to have gotten better as the car gets older now. It's done >12,000km now and I've only noticed a faint smell trying to replicate previous experience by accelerating up a hill on a hot day with air-con on. I'll see what happens in the future and will update on this forum.

I always have my tyres rotated every 10-15,000km (and balanced at the same time). However, I wouldn't trust a dealer to do it. In fact, I wouldn't trust the dealer to do anything these days. They don't seem to know anything beyond the routine servicing on what are near-new cars anyway (and over-charging while doing so). You'll probably get the job done properly and cheaply at your local tyre store. I usually don't involve the spare when I rotate my tyres, because: 1. different level of tear and wear compared to tyres that you'd have driven on for at leasr 10,000km more. This will lead to a left-right imbalance on whichever axle your brand new spare is put on. 2. Overtime, you may have a different brand or model of new tyres put on your car. (Tyre models get updated and superseded) Unless, you change all 5 tyres which people rarely do, you may have a different tyre for your spare. In that case, the spare is really a temporary solution when you have a flat. Some car manufacturer still recommends rotating the spare in their handbook. I can vaguely remember tyre rotation being described in the RAV4 handbook. But generally, I was taught that when rotating tyres: Front left to Rear left Front right to Rear right Rear Right to Front Left Rear Left to Front Right That way, over time, each tyres will be rotated to the four corners, and would have spent equal times on the front and rear axles, and the same pair of tyes would be used on the same axle all the time (for those who have different brand/model of tyres front/rear). One thing to note though, if you have uni-directional tyres (which the RAV doesn't ex-factory), you should just rotate the tyres front to rear and vice-versa on the same side only. (Unless you want to take the tyres out of the rim and change them around everytime you rotate) Hope this helps and not too confusing.

THanks for all the response. It is like a rotten egg smell (that's what I meant by sulphur), and I think it's coming from incomplete fuel combustion, and somehow the smell escapes into the cabin. Maybe it happens when the catalytic converter is too cold/hot. It's not a regular occurance. It only happened 3-4 times and it's done over 10,000km now, and it's certainly not re-producible on demand. I'll have it looked at again when I get a mechanics friend to do a in-between service oil change at 15,000km. Thanks again. ACHK

Just wondering if anyone has noticed a similar problem: I have experienced on a few occasion that a sulphur smell enters the cabin when I accelerate hard/ or up a hill, with the aiir coniditoner on and in recirculation mode. The car is a May 08 RAV ZR6. Spoken to the dealer who naturally found no fault with the car, but suggested that it may be a problem related to sulphur in the fuel, or unburnt fuel in the catalytic converter, or whatever (I don't think he really knows).

we could know this really easily if the rav had a trip computer with instantaneous consumtion. my dad's new landcruiser has one and it is incredibly useful. basically when you rev high you see your instantaneous consumption go up really high. i was thinking of getting a scanguage or dashhawk in order to monitor instantaneous usage but not sure if these devices actually display this. they both provide trip computers (along with lots of other info) but i'm not sure if that includes instantaneous useage. RAV4's in the USA have trip computers. They can also be ordered with a 9-speaker JBL stereo system. And probably lots of other goodies that we aussies miss out. It would be great if we can have the followings in the RAV4, either standard or option: 1. xenon lights 2. rain sensor +/- automatic headlights 3. trip computer 4. better switch backlighting (eg steering wheel volume/track buttons, central lock botton, and I don't know why the sat nav's buttons have green backlight but the rest of the car has orange backlight) Guess I'm just being picky. Or maybe I should save up and buy a lexus... but surely the above niceties don't cost an extra $30K.

Unfortunately, you are not going to get fantastic improvement in your lighting with +xx% halogen upgrade globes. I think the performance is limited by the headlight design and optics within. Some cars just have better headlight even if they are just halogen (like your mazda3). If you are not happy with the phillips +50%/power 2night, then I don't think the osram +90% will make a dramatic improvement. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this. I've noticed that the new RAV4 projector beam is brighter on the top when shining on a wall. This corresponds to the light shining the farthest when shining straight ahead. This make sense cos you've want a good range in your headlight. However, because the "hotspot" is concentrated on the top, the light output immediately in front of the car is quite poor. Subjectively, this may cause us to think the headlight is poor. I have used the stock globes on a dark country road at night, and the performance is not that bad (but not brilliant). Using the foglight helps too (it lights up the road immediately in front of the car) and seems to compliment the low beam well. However, this is now illegal in victoria (and has been in many other states for a long time) unless in bad weather. I guess we can thank the people who use aftermarket fogs that are invariably aimed wrong and dazzle oncoming traffic. Most factory fitted fogs project their beam BELOW the low beam and do not dazzle oncoming traffic. I have a dial in my car that adjust the headlight beam level. It's just adjacent to the instrument light dimmer dial. Mine is a ZR6. Not sure if it comes in all RAV4 models. The headlight beam height is already set quite high in my car, so I wouldn't adjust it any higher. In fact I have mine dialled down a little all the time just to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic.

I was driving home this morning when I noticed a police car behind me with lights flashing. I pulled over not knowing what I've done wrong. Cop got out and said that the reason he pulled me over was he saw that I was talking on my mobile phone. Well, I was NOT. My hand was nowhere near my mobile which has been in my pocket all morning. I showed him the phone bluetooth screen on my factory sat-nav, with my phone connected, and demonstrated to him that I don't NEED or I even CAN'T bypass the car handsfree to use the mobile. I even showed him my phone history which showed the last call received/made was yesterday. Even then, he was still convinced that I was talking on my mobile while driving and asked me to explain why HE WOULD HAVE SEEN me holding my phone to my ear. Isn't that just a dumb question or what? How can I explain WHAT HE SAW?!?! Well, I stayed firm on my ground and said that I CANNOT explain what HE saw. He finally let it go after awhile and said he is giving me "the benefit of the doubt". I guess he cannot mount as strong an argument as me. I guess bluetooth does really save you from getting a ticket EVEN when you are NOT using your phone!

I had the toyota genuine parking sensor fitted to the RAV4. One of the dealers I visited was trying to sell us an aftermarket one which came with a LCD screen mounted inside the car to give a visual display (bar graphs). It also came with 3-year warranty like the geniune. Eventually bought the car from a different dealer and had the toyota one fitted. Works well most of the time. However, we've noticed that when the car is driven in the wet, the sensor will beep continuously (as with you are about to hit something) when put in reverse. This is probably due to water/dirt building up on the sensor. Returned to normal function once you've given the sensors a wipe.

I've also been investigating headlight upgrade since taking delivery of the ZR6. I was disappointed at the poor lowbeam performance (even compared to my old humble astra and the E46 3-series with stock halogen light). Looked at xenon conversion but decided against it due to 1) good quality ones are expensive, 2) illegal, 3) may affect warranty and insurance, 4) light optics/focal length not designed for HID strictly speaking. Finally bought a pair of Osram nightbreaker (H11 for low beam) from this UK company: http://www.autobulbsonline.co.uk/ The globes are claimed to be 90% brighter and 10% whiter (due to blue tints at the tip and base of the globe, but the area over the filament is not coated). After installing them and testing them, the difference is noticeable and better. And I think it's worth the ~AUD$52 dollars. The company does free shipping and the globes arrived at my door in about 10 days. I have also installed a pair of Philip extreme 80% in my other car (H7s) and I think the change in performance is comparable to the osram if not very slightly better (probably due to the lack of blue tinting). However, these are not available in H11.