1st observation 2011 4 cyl - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

rrgr · 08-23-2011, 10:18 AM

Now that I have had my Highlander for 2 week and put over 2,000 miles on it I have some quibbels and likes.
1. Tires Toyo A 20 : No problems quiet good traction in wet handle good at high speed.
2. Speed Used Garmin GPS. Top speed 107 mph. Averaged 800 miles in 11 hours including gas stops and lunch at Mcdonalds. Note I went from Ponca City to El Paso thru west Texas and New Mexico. Not much to slow down for.
3. Transmission 6 spd. Used slap stick in Mountains . Went over Transmountain in ElPaso and 7900 ft over Ruidoso New Mexico Did not have to use brakes as I used Transmission to slow down. Really like.
4. I averaged over 21 mpg at speed . Piddingly around I am over 25.
5. Comfort: The Highlander is as comfortable as our Odyssey that we traded in for.
6. Dislikes: The chargers need to have one at least that is on full time for Gps or to recharge cell phones.
7. Transmission needs to start in lower gear instead of 4th.
8. Dealer really hacked me off. Drilled two holes in front facia to put on his Advertising plate. OK does not have front license plate. I told Toyota about it and dealer is going to replace. He put wood screws in to hold on which I removed and put nylon white screws in to at least look decent until its replaced.

9
9. All in All very happy

fongster · 08-23-2011, 02:13 PM

6. Dislikes: The chargers need to have one at least that is on full time for Gps or to recharge cell phones.

--I don't think it can be on f/t as that would run down your HL's battery--am I understanding you correctly?

8. Dealer really hacked me off. Drilled two holes in front facia to put on his Advertising plate. OK does not have front license plate. I told Toyota about it and dealer is going to replace. He put wood screws in to hold on which I removed and put nylon white screws in to at least look decent until its replaced.9

--Ugh! So thankful CA dealers don't use those stupid badges and stickers. We have dealer license plate frames.

We've had our 4 x 2 HL for about a month too. No complaints so far.

rrgr · 08-23-2011, 06:15 PM

what I mean as hot is like the ole cig lighters that you could use with the ignition off. Do not want to start car to recharge cell phone.

The speedometer is optimistic. At indicated 65 around GPS 62, 70 is around 67, 80 is at 76. This off my Garmin Gps. Does the Nav Display have a speedo function? If so I wonder if they corespond.

I did not check odometer.

I think a lot of people who think the 4 cyl is doggy is because it starts in 4th gear in the regular drive. Once up to speed staying with traffic is not really a problem. My Ford F 150 has the standard V8 and they run about the same on acceleration and passing. The HL V6 would be more powerful and I wonder what gear it starts in.

fongster · 08-23-2011, 11:56 PM

I see about the cig/acc socket--wonder why they don't do that on cars anymore? Probably some safety reason. As for starting in 4th, you don't mean "regular" as in Drive, do you? I believe it starts in 1st as I hear it shift up thru several gears from a dead stop in Drive. It shifts pretty quickly so it's got to be winding out 1st, etc.. Now, when I move the stick to sport (or whatever it's called), it always defaults to 4th whether stopped or rolling. I don't think that means Drive was in 4th. I'm sure it defaults to 4th as that is a safe gear that is not too low if someone went into sport at higher speeds. My 4 cyl is pretty peppy in Auto/Drive from a stop--even at cruising speeds it flies when I punch it. We bought the 4 over the 6 for better MPG.

AVConsult · 08-24-2011, 08:37 AM

I think "dead battery" and "unattended device fire hazard" is probably why manufacturers do do that a lot. All it takes is for a few ding dongs to dangle a 100W inverter with XBOX on it and forget to shut it off. Of course, that happens on family vacation, overnight at a hotel...

Haven't looked at the HL manual in detail, but some cars still allow for the "dealer" to move a link on the fuse block or add a jumper to make one lighter socket always live.

pesticide1480 · 08-24-2011, 06:10 PM

I have a 2011 4cylinder highlander and it starts off in 1st. gear each time it takes off because I can counts the times it shifts and it shifts six times every time...

AVConsult · 08-24-2011, 11:21 PM

Shifts 5 times maybe? Or are you counting 6th lockup as #6?

rrgr · 08-25-2011, 07:20 AM

You are right. I thought it started in 4th because it allways shows 4th when I move stick over. I guess I am such a light foot that I did not notice the quick shifts in regular drive. One of these days I am going to see what it will do 0-60 in both in drive and using the manuel. Going to Wichita today and I am going to do a milage run.
What is the best you have ever recorded?

AVConsult · 08-25-2011, 02:55 PM

My wife drives the '08 and doesn't tell when she fills, so I have no idea what mileage it gets. Will probably be a Holiday trip where I get to measure highway mileage.

rrgr · 08-25-2011, 04:55 PM

Back from wichita VA. a 90 mile trip one way. Re filled in Wichita and came back on turnpike at a steady 65. Read out at home was 29.1 mpg. At the border it was reading over 30 mpg. I still think because of the speedometer error that the factory odometer may be a little optimistike. Still a lot better then any other car I have owned including my 1st new car a 1960 Falcon which I paid $ 1960 for.

***TrailDust*** · 08-25-2011, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrgr

Y
What is the best you have ever recorded?

Coming back from Monterey once by myself with little extra baggage and keeping it at 65 MPH I got 28.7 MPG over an entire tank of gas. Damn impressive for an SUV this size!

rrgr · 08-26-2011, 08:13 AM

One other quible. Cruise Control. This thing needs to go on steering wheel . This little lever hanging down and not lit up behind the steering wheel is a real pain. I have not looked at a lot of other cars but there has to be a better design.
What say you?

***TrailDust*** · 08-26-2011, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrgr

One other quible. Cruise Control. This thing needs to go on steering wheel . This little lever hanging down and not lit up behind the steering wheel is a real pain. I have not looked at a lot of other cars but there has to be a better design.
What say you?

I will agree to this one trillion percent! Ideal for me would be to take the exact cruise control mounting on my Avalon's steering wheel, and put it together with the electronics/computer from the Highlander's cruise control and that would be the most perfect cruise control in the known universe.

Many are the times I say out loud to myself when I'm driving my Highlander and engaging my cruise control, "WTF were the engineers at Toyota thinking when they designed this!!!"