Toyota Highlander

svtcobraconv · November 2001

From what I could find on the 4 cyl. HL, the axle ratio for the AWD is 3.48, while the axle ratio is 3.12 for the 2WD. Assuming there is no difference in final transmission drive between the two, that is a pretty big difference. The higher geared 2WD might be more to your liking. You really should try to find a 2WD 4cyl. to drive before making your final decision.

The only requirement on a 4 cyl. for the power moonroof is AW (aluminum wheels). You'll have to research your region to see what's out there.

brupop · November 2001

X-Pel and StonGard have them. You can get the Hood/Fender&Mirror kit, the Bumper kit, and the Headlight/Foglight kit separately.
They also have a search for local installers.
Here's the URLs
http://www.xpel.com
http://www.stongard.com

GregB
PS. I'm getting mine this week.

jwfjwf · November 2001

A friend of mine found good deals in Mobile at Springhill and (I think) Palmers. You can check the dealer locator on the Toyota web site to confirm those names. I have been negotiating with Tuscaloosa Toyota, based on the recommendation of another Edmund's poster, and although those list price deals of August are a thing of the past, they at least are willing to negotiate up from list. One notable difference in southern states east of Mississippi seems to be the relative rarity of mud guards, which I will have to add on a comparatively expensive, after-market basis. You will find that dealer web sites in the southern region west of Alabama do not disclose a lot of inventory information. Good luck.

brupop · November 2001

First off this is not a PC speech about how fast you or anyone should drive. However you should be aware that our HLs come with S rated tires which have a maximum safe speed of 112mph. If you decide to chip your HL and go faster be sure to get tires that can handle the extra velocity.

See the follwing URL for more on speed ratings.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/general/speed.htm

GregB

sagman · November 2001

Cliffy might be able to help with this one.

A few hundred posts ago, someone mentioned that some dealers included the 2% holdback in the invoice. That got my attention.

I'm taking delivery of a special-order HL in the next week or so. For a variety of reasons, my deal with the salesman (whom I trust), involved a deposit, a promise of a 6% markup over invoice, and a handshake. (This was before the 2002 prices came out.) The holdback issue never came up.

When the car comes in and I go over the numbers with the salesman, should I expect him to add holdback to the invoice figures I have from Edmunds? My gut tells me this would be wrong, but I don't know what standard practice is in this circumstance.

mrtwo · November 2001

Thanks for reminding me, I guess that's because of the tire rating that they did it. Aftermarket will take a year or two to come up with upgrade for the HL. By then I'll have new rubber for sure with proper rating.
Since my post got deleted I guess it is not allowed to post negative about our car. To bad this is the only board I know of to talk about the HL.

abuyer1 · November 2001

Congratulations to the Host for deleting the message by mrto, who sounds like he is in a big rush to get to his own funeral. We don't need to see that sort of post on this board.

osoriob · November 2001

Does anyone know the lenght of time that our highlanders are covered by the Toyota Road Side Assistance?
I looked through all my paperwork and I could not find it.

Thanks, everyone

P.S I'm in the process of trying to fix the Reed Noise problem on my HL 01; my local dealer ordered the new door seals for the HL 02 to fit my 2001, I will post the results later.

cliffy1 · November 2001

Invoice is invoice. Invoice is not dead cost. The dealer does get 2% back at the end of every quarter. If the salesman promised 6% over invoice, take the Edmunds number and add whatever regional advertising fee is applicable to your region and that is the number your salesman will use to mark up 6%.

cliffy1 · November 2001

There is no road side assistance on the Highlander unless you purchased the pre-paid maintenance agreement.

iceguys · November 2001

Time is running out. I posted last week and asked someone to help me with the glove box noise. I am having it serviced for this Monday. I read a couple months ago about a fix, wrote all the info down and lost the paper. I have spent hours and hours trying to find the post that someone wrote about. Please tell me what the dealer needs to do to fix this. They are clueless
Thanks, Christie

allen66 · November 2001

Greg

Mine have goodyear Integrity tires, I bought mine in 8/01. I saw the same tires on an Acura MDX by my work. Anyway I think they handle just fine. By the way we keep getting dumped on here in salt lake city and the car continues to perform nice.

I tried the ECT button (car starts from second gear) couple of times in the fresh snow, the only thing I noticed is a lot slower start (make sense). I stopped using it, I think the car performs just fine from first gear, even uphill traffic in the snow from first gear was fine.

Allen

llofgren · November 2001

I reviewed all the posts from #2000 to #3600. I didn't have the energy to do the last 500 or so! Posts on the rattle can be found at #3088, 3259, 3325, 3351, 3374, 3467,3483. I have the rattle too and I think I will try the 1/4" foam on the edges of the glove box door. Let me know what happens!

chefs · November 2001

When I visited the Toyota dealer last week, I asked the sales representative if the Highlander V6 4x4 is FULL time all wheel drive or PART time all wheel drive. I was told is a full time all wheel drive. It is true? I am confuse with the information that I got from the dealer. Can anyone here give me the right info? I am considering the 4x4 v6 , but I prefer Part time four wheel drive. I don't have any ideas about SUV, but I was told by my friend to get a Part time and not a Full time so I can get much better gas mileage. Thank you to all highlander owner who share their good and bad experiences.

ejay2 · November 2001

I've begun to notice a rattle, going over bumps, emanating from the middle instrument cluster where the temperature settings and the cd/radio are. It seems to be growing in frequency and volume. The interesting thing is that this only occurs when going over certain bumps on the road, not all. Haven't isolated it as to what types of bumps on the road. My HL has 7,700 miles.

Anyone else notice a similar problem?

cmuniz · December 2001

The Highlander is full time all wheel drive. That means that all four wheels are engaged all the time to one extent or the other depending on road conditions. While the type of drive in a vehicle affects it's MPG, it is not the only thing. Size, weight, engine, and gear rations also affect MPG. The only way to judge MPG is to look at the EPA number listed on every new car sticker and in their brochures. The advantage of full time all wheel drive is that you don't have to think at all about when to use it since the is done automatically. Most of the vehicles designed this way are not meant for real off-road use, but more for inclement weather on regular or gravel roads

A variation of all wheel drive is used by the Toyota RV4 and Honda CRV (among others). They normally use the front wheels to drive the car, but switch automatically to four wheel drive whenever necessary. They advertise that as a gas saving design. It doesn't mean the vehicle get better mileage than the competition. An example is the Honda CRV which gets 26 MPG while the Subaru Forester which is full time all wheel drive gets 27.

The traditional part time four wheel drive requires that the driver push a button or move a lever to engage the four wheel drive system. Most of these vehicles are designed for off-road use, are built on a truck chassis and don't get very good gas mileage. The Ford Explorer, Jeep Cheroke, and Jeep Liberty are among them. While some allow you to use four wheel dirve on dry payment, not all of them do.

In short, whether you buy a part time or full time four wheel drive vehicle should depend on what you are going to use it for, not the MPG. Yo can get good or bad MPG from either type of vehicle.

cliffy1 · December 2001

Look at the blue margin on the left side of this screen. You will see a link for "additional resources". One of them is titled "Toyota 4WD systems explained." Click over to that topic and read the list of terms and definitions and the explanation of the HL 4WD system. It is a full time system.

tommyg12 · December 2001

I began noticing this same rattle recently. It is very intermittent but I did find the source. My problem is the plastic trim piece around the radio/hvac controls. I can press on the bottom of the trim very tightly while driving and the rattle stops. Also I've noticed a rattle with the plastic trim on the passenger side of the dash. The rattles seem to stop when the weather is warmer, but when happening they are very annoying. I am going to mention this during my next service, but I can tell that this is going to be a problem that the dealer can't reproduce. If I can figure out how the panels are attached, I could probably fix it myself. Any ideas?

chefs · December 2001

Thank you for the addtional resouces about the 4wd toyota system. However, I am not sure if the performance of 4x4 and 4x2 V6 is the same. In addtion, Is it better to buy 4x4 now instead of 4x2 eventhough I am not going off road? ( mainly highway, city and few month of winter season ). What do you think?. THANK YOU AGAIN

cliffy1 · December 2001

"Performance" is a hard word to define. Because of how the system operates, you will not see much, if any difference in acceleration or braking and a very small difference in fuel economy.

The HL is not an off road vehicle. The main benefit of the 4WD (or rather AWD) is wet weather traction. It also should retain better resale value in most parts of the country.

ashmar25 · December 2001

HELP--

I JUST PURCHASED A NEW HIGHLANDER FOR MY WIFE. SHE TOLD ME THAT IF SHE HAS ANY OF THE TWO REAR WINDOWS DOWN AND THE RADIO ON, SHE HAS A VERY LOUD HOVERING SOUND. THIS WOULD ONLY HAPPEN WITH SPEEDS OF APPROXIMATELY 40MPH OR GREATER. SHE IS RIGHT---THE SOUND IS SEVERE. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS?

jtzim · December 2001

I'm experiencing the same rattles here in central British Columbia, where the recent cold weather (down to -20 C) seems to be bringing out noises from the dash.

I was able to isolate one of the rattles, which occurs when driving over coarse pavement or snowy roads. It's at the join between the dashboard and the shift lever console, on the passenger side. Lightly pressing on the dash panelling near the join seems to make it stop.

Today I just experienced the passenger dash rattle described by tommyg12. It's much louder and definitely annoying! Not sure how to stop this one yet or whether it will persist when the dash warms up fully.

jay_man2 · December 2001

The RAV4 has a full-time 4WD system with a 50/50 split just like the HL. It's not like the CRV as your post stated.

alsop · December 2001

Ashmar25 - Although the Highlander is a great vehicle, I am afraid I have bad news about the rear window hovering noise - it is a subject that has come a number of times, though I have not seen any recent postings about it; although perhaps yours is a different issue....the common problem is that driving above anything but a slow speed with the rear windows open, the noise occurs with or without the radio on...and it has been described as sounding like a helicopter is landing on the roof. At least one posting has referenced this being an air pressure issue, although I do not know if that is correct.

The bad news is that the only "solution" I have seen posted and experienced myself is to either not drive with only the two back windows down, or to put the front windows down a bit, too - I understand that perhaps equalizes the air pressure and thus takes care of the noise. Yours is the first posting that mentions it happening with a rear window down and radio on, though - others, including me, have had it happen with or without the radio on...so maybe you have a different issue?. It is too bad, but even with this issue I'd buy my Highlander again in a minute - it is a great vehicle. Good luck with yours!

maxintosh · December 2001

We just picked up our 2002 V6 AWD Limited with VSC, side airbags and moonroof in Indigo Ink. It's replacing a Dodge Durango that was nothing but a headache for us (therefore a lot of research went into this buying decision). We probably would have gotten an MDX had the waiting lists not been so ridiculously long.

All we can say is-- WOW! This car rocks! It is worlds ahead of the Durango in comfort, handling, ride, ergonomics, everything! It feels absolutley glued to the road (it has a fair amount of body roll, which is desirable in AWD vehicles, but it feels very confident in turns), the brakes stop it on a dime, the seats are REALLY comfortable, it's roomy and the new 2002 center console is well done. The JBL stereo, for not having a subwoofer, does a really nice job too.

We ditched the Durango after a slew of problems, the less than thrilling crash tests results it received, and Consumer Reports continually rating it worse than every other SUV in its class. It also handled like... well, a truck, which is fine for off-roading, but a good 93% percent of people buying midsize SUVs never do that.

Still in the break-in period (which is kind of long... 1000 miles to go under 55 mph? That's a lot to ask...), it's getting 20 mpg average, which is pretty impressive for a car of its weight. It's also incredibly quiet on the highway, just like my father's old Land Cruiser. It's a great highway vehicle.

I really appreciate VSC watching over me, too. Its similar to the BOSCH system which won a slew of achievement awards for innovation. I tested the brakes, too, and Brake Assist works as advertised by "sucking in" the brake pedal all the way to the floor when you mash it.

The seats are quite comfy, and I like the Land Cruiser-esque dashboard layout. I have only a couple nit-pick gripes: I find the turn signal stalk too sensitive, and I tend to activate a lane changer when I turn toggle the high beams. I also think it's silly that the window and mirror controls aren't illuminated (except for that little dot on the driver's one). I wish all windows were auto-down and both front seats were auto-up. And finally, I wish that Toyota's head curtain airbags had made the cut.

All in all, though, we are VERY impressed with the car. Toyota is one of the few companies to actually realize that SUV buyers are mostly minivan refugees who need the space but don't want to look like they're driving a spaceship, and few are ever going to go off-roading. The vehicle might not be the best off-roading, but it's roomy, has good gas mileage, handles and rides well, is well-built and safe, attractivley styled, and is comfortable... which is a lot more than most companies splurges in the SUV market can claim to.

Two thumbs up!

edmundted1 · December 2001

My 01 HL makes the same "loud" air turbulance noise as you report. All HL's will do that if only the rear windows are down because it creates a vacuum that makes the horrible noise.

But it is not just the HL that makes this noise. I owned a Honda CRV and the identical noise came from it when only the rear windows were down.

The solution is to partially crack one or both front windows (1 or 2 inches down) if you open the rear windows. This breaks the vacuum. I learned this on the CRV and I imagine the same thing happens on any SUV when only the rear windows are down.

I love my 01 HL and it's the best vehicle I've owned! Only complaint is the center console, but then that's pretty minor compared to some problems reported in other SUV forums.

Enjoy your HL!!!!!

cmuniz · December 2001

You are right about the RAV4 50/50 split. My mistake. I believe it's the Ford Escape platform that has the front wheel bias on it's AWD system in addtion to the CR-V.

roosh31 · December 2001

For all those interested, see the posts on 4112 and 4166. These explain what to do to fix the rattling coming from the glove box. Post your fixes so that others can do the same. Thanks.

HL'ing in FLA.

chefs · December 2001

Follow up question. When I read the brochure of Highlander option, it said that 4wd model. Not available with vehicle skid control and traction control ( AT THE BACK PAGE ). What does this mean?. I have notice that the dealer sticker have this option with their 4x4 V6. Is this part of the option package or another sales strategy just to attract naive customer. Can you get 4x4 v6 with the option that I have mention? I am confuse..... THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

kc571v · December 2001

Hi,

I've been "watching" and reading the board for a while now. I just found out that a Bluestone Limited is on its way to my dealership in 8 weeks. I've been thinking about getting a HL for a while now. A couple of quick questions,

1. I asked the salesman to fax me a list of the options that are on this Bluestone Limited HL. First, and foremost is has cloth (which makes it special already), FE, DR, EH, SR, BE, TO, AG, CQ, HE, WL, VS, RF are the rest of the options. Is there anything not listed here that is a "must get"?

2. What's a good price for this? I thought I read around $30,000?

Any comments?

thx

cliffy1 · December 2001

I haven't examined the brochure you referred to, but I think I know what you are talking about. The VSC/TRACS option is not available in the 4WD/AWD if you get the limited slip differential (option code LD). Those are incompatible options. I have yet to see a HL with the LD option though and am not crazy about it in the first place. The VSC is a much better way to control traction if you feel you need something beyond the basic 4WD system.

normp1 · December 2001

I'd appreciate any help from fellow british columbians and other Canadians on how they got their best deal on a new toyota highlander. I hope to purchase a new v6 awd highlander this spring. My intentions are to fax a number of dealers in B.C. inform them that I know dealer invoice price and see what offers and prices come back. Would you recommend that I offer a particular price over invoice and if so what would be a fair price ? Any suggestions or comment would be greatly appreciated . Thanks Norm

nofeer · December 2001

Any chance this will come?
Also what about NAV for the HL?

tedreyes · December 2001

Maxintosh,

What did you pay and where? Feel free to post on the "What did you pay?" board.

TIA

kdubs1 · December 2001

Regarding the entertainment console. I asked several dealers. I ended up finding one sales person that actually cared to check into it. After a day of research she communicated that there is no option for an entertainment console, which is sold on the Sienna. It would have been a DVD player and maybe TV receiver for around $1,200, but turns out it really isn't an option anyway. On the Applique, I too investigated that one and learned one is the wood grain on the limited you've probably seen, and the other available applique is a graphite-mesh design, not wood-grain at all.

If others have different information, please share. My data above comes from various sales people and is unconfirmed.

chefs · December 2001

Thank you for the additional information on VSC and traction.

dbarkasy · December 2001

Hi all, my name is Dave and I'm down in Sarasota, Florida. I was reading these posts for the past week and you all seem very nice. Ok, let me cut right down to the chase...

My dealer just received a Gold, 6cyl., Front Wheel Drive, LTD., with the tow prep. package, and the 6 CD JBL stereo. I wanted a non-LTD. but I don't know if I can stand waiting any more since I just found out the Highlander came in better (on my new Consumer Reports) than the Lexus RX300 this year! Actually it came in first for mid-size SUV's for 2002. I like the vintage-gold color the best but I wish it was a stronger color with more of a beige look. I hope this color hides dirt also.

I need some quick advise...How much over invoice should I offer, or even how much should I offer total? Should I wait for a non-LTD. with a convenience pkg., tinted rear, roof rack, gold, 6 cyl.?

Also, does anyone have any regrets regarding their Highlander?

Thx, Dave ;^)

jhswartz · December 2001

I paid about $800 over invoice not including the dealer services fee of $500. My car was actually on a boat when I bought it. Came into Jacksonville, they performed all the port options (leather, tow receiver, fender flares, etc) and I had the car in 1 week. You should be able to do the same thing - go in there with a configuration you want, offer some price, and then get one out of your dealers allotment.

Or if you don't want to wait - buy the gold one in stock. I'd say anything under $1000 over invoice and you did well. You may also try buying via the internet - call the dealer and ask for the fleet manager. That's how I bought mine.

I don't have any regrets about buying mine. Its quiet, handles great, comfortable, looks good.

roosh31 · December 2001

Dave, check my post #274 under the Toyota Highlander owners section, "What we paid". This will give you a good idea on the unlimited model. As other advice, shop around and get with the Fleet managers if possible. We used Clearwater Toyota up here. Good luck.

deatrice · December 2001

I have finally decided to order my HL. I have already chosen all the options, but wanted to get the opinion of the color. The dealer did not have in a Bluestone Metallic HL in stock to see the actual color on the vehicle, just the color code in the brochure. I wanted to get the opinion of those who own a HL in the Bluestone color if that color show dirt. In the past, I have been an occasional washer of my cars, and I don't want to pick a color that will really show dirt.

seahsker · December 2001

I was going through the owners manual and didn't see anything about a break in period. I've probably driven 100 miles out of 600 at around 75 MPH. Is that likely to have caused any problems? Thanks!

cliffy1 · December 2001

I post this same message about 4 times a year because it keeps coming up. I know what the manual states, but it is the opinion of the technicians at our dealership that this is only there to keep the lawyers happy. The exact quote I got from them was, "Cliffy, a monkey could drive that thing and not hurt it." They did follow up to say that you should go easy on the brakes for the first 200 miles so you properly seat the pads and rotors.

Take it for what it is worth.

steeph123 · December 2001

Dbarkasy

I have no regrets with my highlander.
Iam however somewhat disappointed with the quietness. I guess my expectations were raised after reading so many quotes about the church like quietness of this vehicle.
My highlander has developed several rattles that come and go depending on the tempature and windnoise seems pronounced at times.
Iam hopeful that these problems can be resolved.

normw1 · December 2001

Hi, I'm a new owner of a '02 v6 4wd Highlander and still getting used to my new toy. I would like to remove the cross bars from the factory roof rack. Has anyone figured out how to do this ? I already have a Thule rack system from my previous car and would like to use them instead of buying Toyota rack accessories. Any help would be appreciated. thanks.

wkremer · December 2001

I appreciate all the comments on the Highlander and look forward to owning one soon. I do want to get the best deal (who doesn't) and like the idea of sending out emails to Toyota dealers within 100 mile radius of where I live. I went to Toyota's website and can't seem to find how to get email addresses for the 100 mile radius. Can anyone help me out? Thx!

marsbar · December 2001

Does anyone have experience with how the Highlander with AWD does on a sandy beach? I do a lot of surf fishing on the east coast and drive on the beach with my Grand Cheroke. I would like to do the same with a Highlander but don't know if the lack of substantial ground clearance and 4WD would get me stuck.
Thanks for any info....Mark

cliffy1 · December 2001

Very easy request. Just go to www.toyota.com and click on the button for "Locate a Dealer". You can define your search radius.

iceguys · December 2001

Hi all,
I finally went to the dealer for the fix on the annoying glove box rattle. Of course they could not duplicate the problem even though I printed out the info from this web site for the fix. The did however order me a new passenger mirror as they heard some noise and think this is the problem. Are they nuts or is this something legitamate?? Will the paint match up to the same paint I now have on my 2001 millenium silver.

bikerjohn · December 2001

I just went into MSN search & typed Southern California Toyota Dealers, and several listing came up including this one. http://www.toyotasocal.com/directory.html

You might try the same thing for your state or region. Try typing it different ways. The nice thing about this one above, is that it has direct links to each dealers websites. That way you can email the internet fleet manager directly.

Good luck.

gwkiser · December 2001

Well, I can tell you that it will show more dirt than a lighter color but not as much as the Indigo or Black would. If you want to see ours, go to the PHOTO GALLERY section of this club and go to post #5. That might give you some idea of what the color is. You can also go to some other sites such as Yahoo Highlander Club ( http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/toyotahighlanderclub ) to see more photos of HLs in all colors.

Good luck.

Toyota Highlander

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