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I also get about 13.5 mpg after driving 164.4 miles on a fill-up. I have the 2004 with the V-8 , a sport model. Mine is strickly local driving, to home depot, costco, etc. I think my total mileage on the vehicle is 7500 miles.
On a trip last year of about 1800 miles, we averaged 17mpg. Someone on this board suggested upping the tire pressure. I think that has merit. I note that after the dealer had the car for a oil change, my mileage went down. On my trip to Seattle Wash, I had upped the tire pressure to 40 psi. Maybe I should check my tire pressure!!
JMO
Gene
Personally, I'd much prefer a good turbo-diesel. The MB E320 diesel is faster than the E320 gas was (now replaced by the E350 gas) and gets about 25% better mileage.
A torque-monster straight-six turbo-diesel would make a great engine for a truck.
Any thoughts on topping off? I have heard people advise against it for various reasons such as sensor damage. Not sure how that works. There may be some kind of air lock that may be a safety in case of a car wreck.
I wonder what the real tank capacity is?
Anyway, I'm looking for anyone who has experience putting a kayak up on top of a 4Runner. I currently have a Nissan Maxima with a Thule rack and it ain't easy on that. I have this post on the HL site with more details. I didn't get any viable responses there. I think they only use their vehicles for groceries mostly. :surprise:
jeffer, "Toyota Highlander Owners: Problems & Solutions" #2671, 10 May 2005 10:06 pm
Oftentimes you can hit the back page button on your browser and recover what you had entered. Of course, it depends on which browser you use and which wrong key you hit.
tidester, host
I did try that. I think I hit some weird combination of my left mouse button, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, space bar or something like that. It was totally spastic. I'm actually a computer guy so sometimes my fingers get ahead of me. It did seem like the browser changed windows but it lost whatever I was doing. Oh well, I pretty much recreated it.
Sooo, any 4Runner owners out there into kayaking? I'm starting to think that as cool as the 4Runny is it may not be the best thing for what I'm looking for. I just got back from a Subaru dealer and liked some of what I saw. The new Outback is more roomy then previous model years. But Whoa Boy, those dang upscale versions will cost you a pretty penny - $34K for the VDC model.
Polartoy
I posted on the HL forum, but saw that you cross posted here as well. Besides groceries, I use my HL alot for going fishing in my kayaks. I have a 2004 Highlander Limited and use the Yakima Lowrider rack with 58" crossbars, one pair of Mako saddles and one pair of LandShark saddles for the 2 kayaks that my son and I use to go fishing in CT. I also have the Boatloader accessory which is a bar that mounts inside the crossbar and extends out to the side for providing a support to place one end of the boat while I lift the other end into one set of saddles. You then just walk it into the other set of saddles and then slide and lock the bar back into the corssbar. It allows one person to manage getting the kayak up and down with little fuss. Just take care not to let the end on the ground slide. If it does, then the front of the boat can slide off the Boatloader bar and scratch the daylights out of the side of you car (which is what happened on my old car, not on my highlander). Also, like someone else pointed out, take car opening your rear hatch with the boats on top. Mine are 12' and 16' and could ding the spoiler if I'm not careful. Good luck and hope this helped.
Anyway, this is exactly the information I was looking to hear. I'm still not entirely clear though on how the Boatloader works. Is it just an extension on the load bar? Therefore you would have to lift one end of the boat the height of the load bar, or does it somehow dip lower then the load bar? Once on the Boatloader I assume you rest it there, or is there something that holds it there? Then move down to the other end of the boat and lift and slide. Is that basically it?
The problem I currently have is that I strap on a set of wheels to walk the boat into position and generally move it around due to the fact it is too darn heavy to carry by myself. This works great until I lift one end to prop on my trunk. You have to hang on to the boat otherwise it will slide off due to the wheels rolling and gravity. I like to leave the wheels on when transporting cause it makes it easy to maneuver when I get there and unload the boat. The boat is 17' and 65lbs. Maybe I should just get a smaller boat??
thanks again, and great to hear from a fellow yakker!
Jeffer
Anyone use this device on a 4Runner?
thanks again,
Jeffer
Think of the Boatloader as a small pipe inside a bigger pipe. You slide the smaller pipe out and rest an end of the boat on it as you horse the boat up on top of the racks. This keeps your gunnels off the paint on the back of the SUV, hopefully.
I usually drag my canoe to the rear of the minivan when I load mine, and grab it near the bow or stern and lift and roll it up and onto the rear crossbars. Then I slide it forward from the rear of the van. Sometimes it's easier to do that than try to lift it that high with two people.
Maybe if you flipped the boat over as you load it the wheels will be off the ground?
Steve, Host
No problem about the groceries I used to have a '95 Mitsubishi Diamante and loaded my kayaks (Wilderness Systems 16' tandem Pamlico and a 12' Pungo) using a Wheel Boy and a piece of carpet over the back trunk deck. Once I lifted one end of the kayak onto the trunk, I just slid it all the way up over the carpet and into the saddles in one smooth motion.
The Highlander is much taller and I don't want to take the chance of scratching the hood, since I don't think you could load over the rear spoiler. To answer your questions:
Is it just an extension on the load bar? Yes, it fits inside the crossbar and slides out and locks in place.
Therefore you would have to lift one end of the boat the height of the load bar, or does it somehow dip lower then the load bar? You have to lift one end to the height of the load bar and let it rest there at an angle. It's possible to do this if you lay your kayak next to your car with the end about 2 feet past the position of the crossbar. Then lift it into place.
Once on the Boatloader I assume you rest it there, or is there something that holds it there? Then move down to the other end of the boat and lift and slide. Is that basically it? Nothing holds it in place, so take care not to let the other end (the end still on the ground) slide out from under you. If that happens, then the propped up end will slide off the boatloader bar and scratch your car.
My boats are about 85 and 50 lbs. When I go with my son it's easier. When I go out by myself, I use the smaller boat. I'm thinking of a way to load from the front that would keep the car from getting scratched. I'll let you know if I find a better way. If you want, I could email you photos of the sequence involved in loading and unloading. Check out the following links and good luck.
http://www.yakima.com/home.html Go to Products - Water - Water Accessories and chose boatloader.
Also, I just checked out the Thule web site and noticed that they have a new product that might be just what you need called the Hullivator.
http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/featured_product_hullavator.asp
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I'm new to the forums here at Edmunds so please forgive me and correct me if I'm posting incorrectly.
A month ago I bought a SR5 4Runner. We own 2 other 4wheel drives - a 2002 Explorer and a 1997 Jeep Cherokee with 140,000 miles that I just gave to my 16 year old newly driving daughter to drive. Anyway, I've read through a lot of the posts and noticed that my only complaints are basically some of the notorious ones that others have. I can't seem to get comfortable in the driver's seat. When I'm back far enough to give my legs room my arms seem too far away from the steering wheel. Weird that. Next time I'll upgrade just for the telescoping wheel. Also, I'm one of the lucky ones with the steering wheel vibration. Yes, in a 2005.
Two weeks ago, I drove about 2 hours up into the Pennsylvania mountains. All on the interstate. Being new, the vehicle had about 400 miles on it. The vibration comes on at about 62 mpg and disappears at about 68. I'll tell you, this tends to drive you crazy when driving on the highway for any length of time. It lead me to search out a forum like this to see what other owners had to say and to see if I was losing my mind. I saw today that Toyota FINALLY is recalling some vehicles with suspension problems (scratched ball joint?) and said it affects the steering. The 2004 4Runners will be under the recall but I didn't see anything about 2005. Does anyone know if this recall has anything to do with the cause of the vibration?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Kind regards,
Elle
Whatever is causing your vibration is not due to this defect.
I suggest that you do the following: 1) get your wheels balanced on a Hunter balancing machine, 2) have the wheels and tires checked for out of round, 3) get a 4 wheel alignment.
good luck
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kirstie_h
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I looked into that third row seat just last month when I bought my 2005 4Runner. I need extra seats occasionally when I'm hauling my teen's friends around. Basically, it's unusable. Maybe it's ok for small children or very small adults, like under 5ft tall and I'm not kidding. It's the head room that's the problem. The thing is, if your kids are small enough to fit back there then they may be required to be in a car seat or booster seat anyway. I'm not sure you can, or would want to, put a car seat in that third row. I think a lot of these 3rd row seat options on new vehicles are after thoughts.
I looked at several websites, including Toyota's press releases, and the reason for the recall that is being reported is rather vague. Basically, it says that it is due to a scratched ball joint that can affect the steering, it doesn't specifically say how, or what the signs and symptoms are.
Anyhoo, you're more or less saying my car came from the factory with out of balance (actually, that's what it does feel like) tires, out of round wheels, and out of alignment? How nice. At less than 500 miles. I can tell the dealer is gonna love me already.
Thanks.
The problem with the scratched ball joint is said to cause difficulty in steering, and is not expected to be an immediate problem, but rather one that would cause excessive wear down the line. They have only found six problem trucks as of the press release.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Thanks for the info about the car carriers. I haven't talked to the dealer yet, but at least I'll have some good info to start from when I call. It makes sense, too, and shouldn't be a big problem for them to handle in the grand scheme of things.
As I read through many of the posts in this section I got the impression that a lot of people have this steering vibration problem and aren't getting much success in resolving the problem because the dealers can't seem to pinpoint it. Wonder if they've figured it out by now?
Again, thanks so much.
No, I'm not saying that your truck came from the factory with out of balance tires, and out of round wheels, and was out of alignment. What I'm saying is that any one of those might cause the problem (though most likely out of balance). If they check the balance of the tires (hopefully with a Hunter machine) they can check out of round at the same time. Alignment is a separate check, but not big deal to do. I'm not saying that I know exactly what the problem is. I don't. I'm suggesting that if I was in your situation, that is what I'd try first.
I agree with nippononly about the ball joint -- that's an issue that causes wear over time and could cause difficulty steering. Nothing in the description of the problem suggested that it would cause vibration. As your truck only has 500 miles, even if it did have the problem it likely would not have caused symptoms that soon. Furthermore, the recall covers the 2001 and 2002 4Runners -- that's the previous generation of 4Runner which is a completely different truck. If the same problem affected the 2003-2005 4Runner, then I'm sure they would have been recalled as well.
In summary, your truck doesn't have the ball joint problem. If it did, it likely would not be causing noticeable symptoms this soon. And if it did cause symptoms this soon, it wouldn't cause the symptoms that you are experiencing.
I understand your frustration with having problems with a brand-new truck. But I think this should be easy to solve.
http://www.craigautometrics.com/huntergsp9700.htm [I previously had a vibration problem with an '02 Explorer (shod with Michelin Cross Terrains) that was solved by road-force balancing. I also had a similar experience with my '03 4Runner Limited, which also has Michelin Cross Terrains. Again, road-force balancing solved the problem.]
What brand of tire is on your vehicle? Over the past several years, I've spoken with a number of knowledgable automotive technicians who've all said the same thing: When an abnormal driving vibration persists after ruling out just about every other possible cause, replacing the tires with new MICHELIN tires will all too often solve the problem. Indeed, I've repeatedly heard from highly skilled and experienced technicians that in their opinions, Michelin simply makes the best tires, period.
Hopefully there's a Toyota dealer in your area with a road-force balancer. At any rate, if the problem persists after road-force balancing and any other measures taken so far, ask your dealer to give you a new set of tires, preferably Michelins. (And, have the new tires road-force balanced from the outset.) If new tires solve the problem, you'll then have grounds to insist that either your vehicle warranty or your existing tire warranty should absorb the cost of the new tires. With only 500 miles on the existing tires, a reputable dealer should be willing to help you out with new tires if that's what it comes down to.
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Hey my x-gfriend has a Pungo - the Pungo rocks. But I do prefer my Perception Eclipse.
(my apologies to others in the forum if this discussion was a little off topic but itsn't this what we buy these vehicles for. The endless pursuit of fun and adventure.)
Anyway, sad to say, I was honing in on the Highlander and just got back from a test drive. Unfortunately I ran into a couple deal breaking issues. Mainly the seat did not fit my body well at all. It was a little too short, I'm 5'11". But the worst thing is that my left leg hit the door in such a way that my petella (knee cap) was being pushed over - most annoying. And so I have to scratch the HL off the list. But that did prompt me to finally test drive the 4Runner. I was going to scratch the 4R off the list due to recent surge in gas prices and also the extra height of the vehicle, but since I was at the dealer I figured why not take a spin. I was very please with the seat comfort, ride, and handling. Now I'm thinking - what's a few less mpg's if you are comfortable and enjoying the ride. And with the new knowledge of the Hullivator - this is starting to look like the way to go.
I think it would be cool to have a Hullivator just to be able to say - I've got a hullivator - or want to check out my hullivator?? Well, maybe not. I remember a ride at 6 Flags that was called the Hellivator. That was scary. You get strapped in the seat and pulled up about 150' or so. Then they just drop you. I almost chickened out in line the first time. But since then I've gone back for more.
So the dealer was going to take 4K off MSRP on the 4Runner. MSRP was $38,961 for a Limited (I have to admit I didn't get all the details on what options it had). So the price to me would be $34,961 and they said they could give 3.9% financing. I'll have to search the board to see what others are paying or if anyone would care to comment on that deal please let me know what you think.
Thanks again,
Jeffer
A guide friend of mine just bought six of those.
Check out the Toyota 4Runner: Prices Paid & Buying Experience discussion for more recent deals too.
Steve, Host
Anyway, anyone know if it is possible to get power seats for an SR5 or Sport model. After some long soul searching, and calculating the loan payments, I have come to the conclusion that I can't afford to spend $35K on a vehicle. This is what a Limited would cost. I've poured over the specs and have figured out that a Sport model has just about everything I need for about 5K less. This is still a little high but I think I could swing it. The only feature that is missing that I really really want would be power seats. I don't care if they are leather or not.
Is there any possibility of getting power seats in an SR5 or Sport model? If so what would approx. cost be?
thanks,
Jeffer
Eric
However, I can find no information about the Security System. I'd like to know how it works.
The red light on the dash blinks at times, What does this mean? What are the features of the system and how do I use it?.
Thanks for any help.
I am in the process if finding out what happened.