Brother-in-Law knew we were in need of a potential car for one of our children, and asked if we wanted his 03 Highlander. We agreed and shipped it from CT to TN, last week. It suffers from the dreaded 'no heat' on the manual heat control, so I've seen how to fix that. He says it has a 'whine' from the rear, but, claims his local Toyota shop couldn't find the whine. They, he and his wife, took very good care of the machine, and the interior is pristine, at 179530 miles! It's a Connecticut native, so, some rust below the body, and I was shocked to see how corroded the aluminum of the engine was, however, the vehicle pretty much sat from Feb 2020 to last month in 2022, started monthly, but not driven. Some of that was bound to occur, right? I've a few things I can Driveway DIY on it, but will have to refer potential brake work to a shop (I heard a grinding from right rear as I drove 1 mile from transport drop-off to my driveway). My driveway is sloped in a way that I can't safely jack-up the vehicle. Luckily, I can crawl under to lube things! I've been a Honda owner since 1985, have owned two Buicks, a late-90's Mercedes C280, and a 2002 Saturn. Most of those have been reliable transport. I'm looking forward to experiencing the reliability (so says Scotty Kilmer...) of a Toyota engine and drive-train.
