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Now that I have it, I read through the manual and it says changing the seats or upholstry might compromise the SCA, as would the autodimming mirror. Is this true? Does anyone know how I could get these aftermarket items without negating the whole point of waiting four months for a car?
Thanks!
i bought a 2004 rav 4 4x4 the thing is the honda is not a true awd it is front wheel when wheels start slipping it moves some power to rear
not a great thing compared to the true 4x4 or awd systems
toyota has power at all 4 wheeels all the time
if you get any snow why even think get a 4x4 rav
not fwd
trust me over the years their are so many cars i love but if they dont have awd the true kind like subaru has or toyota i cant get it
its not worth taking the chance
after having that control i will never ever give it up
i bought a vibe awd due to gm points i had etc
it was the fake awd like the honda, needless to say i had the car all of 8 months and traded it in for the toyota
now for rain yes it does make a difference. trust me i hace had a few close calls in my 45 years
i love my rav its not perfect i have a squeak in the dash etc little stuff, my toyota dealers in the area of buffalo ny suck, service is always everything seems fine and it takes 2 weeks for an appt. so that is a turn off big time
but the rav itself has been fine
i have not had it in any snow storms yet but my cousin has one and says it was very good
also i like subarus alot in snow and handling so you may want to check it out
ok hope it helped
thank you
john
also does anyone notice on the emergency brake.
if i am moving forward a bit and lift lightly on the emergency brake it makes a loud pop sound bang in the rear wheels. if im still or going in reverse it does not do it. both dealers say its normal and it will do that due to the pads or something engaging. i have been driving toyotas and subarus for years and never heard this one. also my cousin has a 2002 and it does not do this. finally if you live in the buffalo ny area i will tell you i love the toyota but the dealers suck.. not always friendly in sales and service so far has not been good at all. this will make me think again when buying a new one which i do often. thats ashame to cause i really do like the rav 4 4x4
also the sterio fades in and out a bit on fm not strong stations or something my neighbor has a highlander and hers sdoes the same thing
anyone hear that?
thanks for your help
great site
thanks john
The brakes make a pop sound when applying them the first time after changing direction. Normal, no problem.
I have a 1997 Rav4 with 70,300 miles on. I was driving and suddenly the "check engine" light came on. The car was drivable. I don't feel the transmission is slipping. I filled the gas tank to half full and tightened the cap. The light still on? Any suggestions before I take the car to the dealer is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance.
-Francis
Also, the receivers I find at both sites only have 4 channel output. Does that mean 2 (or 4) speakers would have to disconnected?
Thanks!
snowstop
The RAV is a significantly better small SUV than the CR-V. If bought with the side air curtains it's a lot safer too.
whatsoever.
Or possibly the 2WD vehicle has cheaper tires (which is typical), and they are more likely to spin, especially in wet conditions.
Also, wider tires are not better in the wet (rain or snow). In these conditions, standard-size narrower tires are better.
Wider tires have better grip in dry conditions.
It has not been my experience that narrow tires are better in inclement weather, exactly the opposite. Wider tires are always better due to increased contact with the pavement. I do agree that cars with narrower tires have a softer ride.
dudleyr "Tires, tires, tires" Nov 20, 2001 10:54am
And another post of interest:
hpulley4 "Tires, tires, tires" Jan 21, 2003 10:39am
Steve, Host
Having grown up in the snow belt of NY with a couple of different cars my observations are as follows:
1. Handling narrow tires.
2. starting and stopping wider tires.
I couldn't find any photos either, but I think I've seen them before. And the contact patch isn't static either and will change in various conditions (hard cornering comes to mind).
There's probably some more info over in the Snow/Ice winter tires discussion.
Steve, Host
Tire contact pressure DOES change with width.
To demonstrate: Let's assume you have several tires that have the same maximum load rating and are inflated to the same pressure. It turns out that these tires would have about the diameter overall diameter.
Now load them to the same load. Does it now make sense that the narrower tire would have a longer footprint? No! The overall diameter's are the same, and the deflection is the same, why would the footprint length be different?
Put another way, inflation pressure doesn't equal footprint pressure.
Hope this helps.
A constant vehicle weight and a constant inflation pressure will lead to a contact patch that is the same area (total square inches), no matter what the tires' aspects are.
The thing that varies is the shape or configuration of the contact patch (narrower/longer v. wider/shorter).
And narrower/longer is better in the wet stuff because it has to fight its way thru less of it, and disperses it out to the side of the tire better than a wider/shorter tire.
Net result: If you are more concerned about wet traction, the narrower tire is the better choice.
I like the car but the standard audio equipment sucks of course.
I'm having the speakers replaced with MB Quart components in front and Infinity's in back. Also installing an Alpine XM-Ready Head Unit CDA-9833, and a four channel amp. The Good Guys will be installing this Sunday. No issues with replacing the factory equipment Im told.
I am wondering if anyone can speak to the replacing the 215/70R16's tires with the larger 235/60R16's? If anyone has done this can they explain the difference in ride and handling characteristics? And can I keep my factory alloy wheels? The dealer gave me the Toyo Tranpath A-14's, which seem okay so far. However I may change at 15-20 K miles if the handing and ride is signifcantly better with the larger tires.
Thanks.
In snowy conditions, starting and stopping go to wide tires, handling goes to small tires. Agreed hitting a patch of deep snow from a dry road is much easier to navigate with narrow tires. Getting out of a deep patch on a steep hill is much easier with wide tires.
So since most of us don't drive around 24x7x365 in a foot or more of snow, wide tires are the better all-around choice.
For you, maybe.
I agree with the first part, about not needing a tire for driving in the snow full time.
But what about in the rain? Narrower tires are better for this too because they have to displace less water/snow than wider tires, as already explained.
And the better dry grip that is provided by wider tires, that matters more to someone driving a vehicle at 9/10ths of its limits. Doesn't matter much to me in my everyday driving.
As is often stated, all tires are a compromise.
I'd rather have the benefit in the sloppy weather.
Narrower tires are the better all-around choice for me.
To some, that may make a difference.
In order for the contact patch to be the same regardless of tire width, all tires would have to be made of the same material and have the same sidewall height. Hence the original statement: "Wider tires don't have a larger contact area" is a very conditional one. Switching to a wider tire of the same material and keeping the same sidewall height (not ratio, actual height) will widen the contact patch and shorten it (even then, that ignores the fact that the tire will deform slightly differently due to its different shape and the tread pattern will probably be stretched width wise, but not shortened length wise).
Stiffer materials will cause the tire to deform less, decreasing the contact area and increasing the PSI applied to the ground. A shorter sidewall will also allow the tire to deform less with the same result. These are probably the reasons that you want a wider tire when you switch to a larger rim and sportier tires: you're making up for the lost lengthwise contact with widthwise contact. Hopefully you will also realize that getting a "stiffer" (sportier, etc) tire may improve handling, but unless the tread is better, you will lose traction (due to smaller contact area) and therefore lose braking ability and be easier to spin the tires.
If you still don't believe, use extremes to disprove:
Assume that tire rubber is in fact rigid steel. In this case the contact patch over a flat surface is a line the width of the tire. This is regardless of the pressure of the air in the vehicle. A wider tire will have a larger contact area.
Now assume that the tire rubber is similar to a balloon and is easily capable of elongation and stretching. At the same air pressure, the air will move to the top of the tire, elongating and stretching the tire leaving none at the bottom and allowing the rim to touch the ground. The contact area is only as wide as the rim, while the "tire" angles up from the edge of the rim.
How about a bicycle tire? The actual rim would have to deform to make the contact area long enough to match a tire 10 times wider.
The sound was registered and heard by both the Service Manager and examining tech.. The TSB dash noise-rattle kit was used to fix. On the way home, noise came back worse than ever in the dash. Took it back 2-weeks later and they applied a complete dash noise reduction kit per Toyota. They kept the vehicle overnight, took apart the dash completely to apply the foam-pieces
and spacers. This seemed to have solved the problem as of yesterday. This work is covered under warranty and if recognized the dealership will fix-it (at least mine did). They did not argue or attempt to pass this off as 'normal', because it was clearly audible. Apparently this seems to be more of extensive problem with RAV's
than Toyota wishes to admit. Don't know about the 2005's, but 2000's - 2004's have had the issue with the cowl/dash noise. My wife
loves her RAV4, but the noise was driving her crazy. As frustrating as this is, I refrained from being confrontational with the dealership.
Instead both times I used firm but soft(er) tones
explaining the problem and that I would be disappointed if Toyota had this issue that couldn't be fixed... yada, yada. In this case positive measures prevailed and for now the RAV is noise-free from the dash. We even got a couple of coupons for free-oil changes thrown in for our patience.
Actually, I'm disappointed that Toyota has not fixed the problem at the factory from the 2000 model-up, but at least this dealership didn't seem to run from the issue.
other than the dash-rattle which is a major annoyance over rough surface roads. Ironcically, the dash rattle did not start immediately after purchase. I think my wife first heard it and then me about 1 yr. ago. Then is started to become more intrusive. I will admit that it seems to be worse during the colder-winter months.
I printed off the cowl-rattle cure for the RAV4
that someone had thoughtfully written, with pictures. I've filed it but may get it out just to review the procedures for the permanent-fix
(aftermarket) fix that was formulated just in case it's needed again. Again, the final fix was
a dealer applied complete dash-rattle kit from Toyota. I'll try and supply the kit number from the work order sheet next time I post.
Admittedly my wife literally starts the car and within 5-mins. she's at work. Not too good for engine warm-up and carbon-deposit build-up. So at least once per week I take it for real warm-up
for at least 1/2-hour or more on the freeway somewhere.
So far so good on my wife's '03 RAV4 with the kit.
It's been over a week now and seems to be working.
The RAV4 has so far been good otherwise,; sorry to hear that some of you have had mechanical problems. You normally don't think of a vehicle
assemble in Japan as having that many problems, but it does happen. I've got an '01 Ford Escape
and don't have the rattles that the RAV had. But
I've had other issues with my Escape too, but it's been a good vehicle so far for me.
Only a month or so ago I did finally get a RAV4 as a second car, but it's a used 2000 4WD. Still surprisingly tight after almost 50k miles. Hope the '01+ ones age equally well.
I'd appreciate knowing what kind of real world Highway mileage you're all getting.
Thanks in advance.
-Dennis
Ned - Massachusetts
My '01 RAV4 with the 2.0L engin, auto trans, AWD, has gotten 24.6 overall since 1,300 miles (now at 59,000). This is suburbs/highway, say 60/40, in a state with winter gas (penalty 2+ mpg, I've found). I have a light foot.
All day on the interstate, I top 28 mpg.
It was e.p.a. rated 22/27, I think. I'm satisfied.
The new 2.4L RAVs are e.p.a. rated about the same, I think, even with the bigger engine. Getting more efficient, I guess.
Good luck.
Sure, better tires will give better snow performance, if you're willing to pay for it.
The four blizzaks INCLUDING the wheels cost about $600. I think worth it. Bought them from Tirerack.com, which I recommend.