Part of our planing for having a second kid was to get rid of the wife’s Jetta for a larger vehicle. The 4Runner is the perfect size but to a point is has kind of turned into a a bit of a purpose built adventure vehicle of sorts. It’s not the most practical vehicle, it gets terrible gas mileage, and while it will make it anywhere, we don’t necessarily want to drive it everywhere.
I generally don’t buy used cars, I prefer brand new and pristine. I like knowing every detail of a vehicles history. When we started looking for a Highlander money was not a consideration, I wanted the best vehicle available to own indefinitely for the long haul. In the end I decided a 2016 Toyota Highlander XLE AWD in any color but white was the way to go.
- 2016 was the year to get, it’s the last year of 6 speed transmission and port fuel injection before they changed it to the somewhat problem prone 8 speed transmission and went to dual port and direct injection fuel systems in the 2017 and newer. I don’t want to give up long term durability and dependability for systems that add cost and complexity to repairs in exchange for a very small bump in efficiency, if you want to keep it forever, start with keeping it simple and reliable. Ironically about a month after we bought our Highlander, a class action lawsuit against Toyota was announced over problems with the 8 speed. 2020 is an all new model, and being an all new model it wasn’t even a consideration. You never want to purchase the first model year of a vehicle, your basically paying a premium to beta test the vehicle for the manufacturer so they can work out the kinks. Lease, maybe, own... hell no!
- XLE trim level was the way to go because it’s as loaded as you can get (nav, heated seats, leather, 3 zone climate control, smart key, power lift gate, heated windshield when the wipers sit, etc) without having to get driver assist systems or the huge panoramic sunroof. Drivers assist systems add significant cost to minor repairs and maintenance, plus they are more expensive to insure. And no manufacturer builds a good panoramic roof, they are all garbage and prone to leaks.
- AWD was a must because we’re avid Colorado skiers, AWD with snow tires is standard equipment for safe travel in the mountains during winter.
- Any color but white is because even though Toyota builds great quality vehicles they have way too many issues with trying to make white paint stick to vehicles. The Highlander is NOT included in the white paint warranty extension Toyota put out on a bunch of models, but it’s just not something I want to deal with either way. White is out.
So we started shopping.
Dillerman sucks but our new car doesn’t!
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
- Posts: 829
- Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 3:20 pm
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We had a nightmare of time car shopping in general. The level of salesmen incompetence was off the charts and so wide spread. We had 1 get sold from out from under us when they didn’t answer the phone the first time I called to put the deposit down once pricing was settled via text. One of them had “call for price” on the website but wouldn’t quote a price unless I came to see it in person. One of them we had discussed pricing, trade (sent them pics, vin, etc), timeline to buy and we setup an appointment under the pretense that it was a done deal and we were coming to check it out and everything was what it should be, buy it and take it home. We showed up title in hand to buy the car and the guy was surprised we were there, he forgot about the appoint and then had zero recollection that we talked price and trade in value. Plus we couldn’t even drive the car because it hadn’t gotten a safety inspection yet. So he pulls up with a smashed windshield and it was disgusting inside and out. So many vehicles that seemingly fit the bill on paper but ended up being company cars from the rust belt that got insurance claims to clean up front and rear damage before getting turned in at the end of the lease and sent to auction, a lot of them ended up certified. Legit 4-5 truly bad experiences with sales, compared to just a couple that were fine but didn’t pan out, it was a joke.
So we looked for a long time, about 6-7 months of searching nation wide to find the right vehicle, but we eventually did. It was originally sold locally, mudflaps, roof rack cross bars, tint, and clean bra were all installed by the local dealer before the customer took delivery. The local dealer did the 5K, 10K, 20K, 30K, and 40K services based on time, the car had under 30K on it. It was 1 owner, never a lease vehicle, not from an area with road salt, clean car fax showing the full vehicle history, no damage, it was in great condition inside and out. Plus it had the optional captains chairs for the second row. It was priced above fair market value, but it was the vehicle we had been looking for.
Enter fuckin moron sales guy from BMW dealership.
This car was just listed, they only had 1 picture of the car so knowing how quickly they had been selling I made an appointment for the next morning to come see the car. That night the salesman texts me and says the car hasn’t gone through the shop yet so it hasn’t even gone into the shop yet for a safety inspection and we wouldn’t be able to drive it. I told him that’s fine I’ll drive down without my wife and check it out, if it’s looking promising I can bring her back to see it and drive it once it’s ready. I asked him if he had any idea on time until it would be ready but I never got an answer.
So the next morning I make the 2 hour round trip to see the car. The salesman was late for our appointment, then when he came up he’s like “ok let’s go try to find the car”. I don’t know why he didn’t have it ready if he had an appointment to show it, the car should have been up front washed and waiting, but whatever. We get into a BMW and drive around trying to find it, we’re driving all over the parking lots before we start going through the shop looking for it. We finally find it on the turn table. It’s been through the shop, it has new tires and brakes, it’s detailed, it’s ready to go, and the photographer is doing the photos for the website. I left my wife behind because as of late last night it hadn’t even gone into the shop but first thing the next morning it’s done and ready to go?
As we walk up the salesman, who up to this point has spoken maybe 15 words to me, says “so I’m not a Toyota expert, so I’m not going to be able to answer any questions you might have.” I’m thinking wtf kind of bullshit statement is that?! How about “I’m not real familiar with Toyota but if you have any questions let me know, I can do some research and get back to you”. I guess he was lucky that he didn’t need him to actually sell me on the car. So we’re standing there awkwardly while the photographer does his thing. Like literally 5 minutes of uncomfortable silence goes by and the salesman says “so what do you think, do you want it?” I’m like right now I just want this guy to finish doing his thing so I can actually get in it and drive it and check it out. He’s like “oh, I didn’t know you were wanting to drive it.” So he tells me to just take the car off the turntable and pull it outside. Strange but ok, I do and follow him back to the BMW building and I start going over it. First he starts questioning what I’m doing when I popped the plastic engine cover off to inspect the engine for leaks and signs of rodents.... fuck off is what I’m doing, dickhead. I gave it a relatively quick look over and I ask the salesman if we can take it to service and have them put it up on a lift it so I can look it over underneath. He’s like “no, we’re not going to be able to do that”. I asked why. He says “well our technicians are the best in the industry and every vehicle goes through an X point inspection and the car are brought back to like new condition, there’s really no reason you need to see under it.“ I’m like well, in the couple minutes I’ve been looking it I’ve found the right door seal falling off, corrosion on the negative battery terminal, and a chip in the windshield, I’d to see underneath to make sure there’s nothing else your super tech might have missed. Low and behold 10 minutes later it’s on a lift and I check it over. Then it was right back to “so do you what it?” I told him assuming they fix the items they missed, we can come to terms on a trade in, and I come back with my wife and she likes it then yes. He says “you should probably just put the deposit on it right now, if someone calls in a deposit while were wasting all this time we’re going have to sell it to them.” I’m like well, we better get going on that trade eval instead of wasting all this time talking about deposits....
Long story short grandma (my mother in law) was interested in our car. We decided we’d trade in her old 200,000+ mile ‘06 Saturn for whatever could get and she could just have our 60,000 mile Jetta. I had drove the Saturn down so they start checking it out and going over it. Sales douche actually wanted me to go to the dmv, get it retitled and registered in my name, so I could trade it in myself. I’m like is that a joke? Absolutely fuckin not! There was zero chance I was going to spending a single penny on this car just to get rid of it. He’s like “well if grandma and grandpa are on the title they will need to come and sign paperwork”. I’m like correct... I’m failing to see the problem here?
They agreed to $1500 on the Saturn and to fix the things I found wrong with the Highlander but he wanted me to take the car as is and schedule an appointment to bring it back at a later date. I refused. He’s like “well typically we just include a we owe in the paperwork and we make an appointment to have the repairs made.” I said I’m not driving 2 hours round trip to come back. I’ll put the deposit down, you will fix it, and when it’s 100% ready to go I will come back with my wife so she can see it and drive it, since that didn’t happen today, and if she’s on board we’ll do the paperwork and take it home. He agreed so I put a $1000 deposit down on it and I went home for the night. He starts texting me that night that everything else is done but it’ll be a couple weeks until their windshield guy comes, so he want me take it. I’m like dude we have been over this multiple times, I’m still not willing to take it and bring it back. He’s says “well what’s your insurance like, do you have glass coverage.” I told him straight up I’m just going to ignore that you asked me to commit insurance fraud just so you guys would have to fix a windshield chip. I went online and got a safelife quote for aftermarket glass and factory glass, told them to split the difference between them and take that off the price of the car ($685) and I’ll deal with the windshield on my own. They are one of those “1 price dealers” where the price is set and it is what it is, they do not negotiate the selling price of the cars and seeing as it was like the worlds smallest chip and no spider webbing, I didn’t have high hopes of actually saving $700. He said he’d have to ask boss man in the morning if they can do that.
The next morning they agreed to give money off for the windshield and wanted my to come that day. I said sure we can make that work. From there he starts pressing me about numbers, how much we were going to put down etc. I had already talked to my CC company and told them to expect a large purchase and I got my credit limit extended. I told the salesman the down payment was going to depend on interest rates. In fact I had mentioned that multiple times by that point. He’s like ok after you do the credit app we’ll submit it to the bank and we’ll pass along the best rate to you but I’ll get started on the paperwork blah blah blah. I’m thinking this ain’t a done deal, this still very dependent on the wife giving the thumbs up. Talking about it with her she like I’ve driven one ready so I know it’s comfortable and I like it, you’ve seen it already, if your ok with it I’m ok with it. So we do the online credit app. Dude calls us and he’s like “all right everything looks good with credit app, we got it submitted to the bank, we’re good to go for 5.25% for 72 months, how much do you want to put down?” I’m like no dude wtf is wrong with you? I’m like don’t even waste my time with that bullshit, literally 3 minutes of research and I’m seeing non-manufacturer CPO finance deal bank rates on regular used cars at like 3.6-3.7% all over the place without even rate shopping for the best deal. I’m like don’t even call me back until you can figure out how to get a reasonable rate for 2 credit scores well over 800. I‘m thinking is this fucking dickhead trying to stick us with extra points or what? 5 minutes later he’s calling me back again, “ok I got 3.25% and you can pick the term length.” I said ok great, that is reasonable, give us a few minutes to discuss down payment and I’ll text you info in a few minutes. He was in a big hurry to try to paperwork done and ready for us to sign when we got there, this was literally all happening during our hour drive down that’s. We talk about and I text him that well add an additional 14K on top of the 1K deposit, so a total of 15K down on the card and that we’ll be there in 5 minutes.
We showed up and I’m like ok my wife is going to take a look at and then we’ll be back to do paperwork. Dudes like “hey I saw your message, you can only use a CC for $1000, any amount above that needs to be a personal check.” I’m like why the fuck have you not mentioned that up to this point? I’m like I didn’t bring a check book, we don’t use checks for anything ever, it’s not something we carry around. He’s like “well you wouldn’t tell me how much money you were going to put down, I kept asking and you just kept saying it was going to depend on the rates.” I told him if if I put $1000 down as a deposit yesterday with my credit card, literally anything else additional would have had to be via check at this point.... but it’s my fault you didn’t put that together. I’m like YOU failed to mention that until I’m standing here in the building trying to buy it. We looked up Chase banks nearby and all of them were closed by then (3pm on a Saturday). I said this is the second 2 hour round trip down here, I will not be making a third. Tell you what, let’s go do the paperwork for $15,000 down and when we’re done, you can find a porter to follow us home so they can pick up and bring back a check. He’s like no way, we can’t do that blah blah blah. I told him fine, go get the sales manager, I’d like to explain to him that my lazy condescending salesman that I’ve somehow managed to tolerate to this point is fuckin up a done deal because he forgot to mention this apparently major detail and like to ask him if he’d rather watch us walk out, or send someone to follow us home to pick up a check. He walks off turning red in face all pissed off muttering under his breath. A few minutes later the sales manager is over there apologizing that they were clear about their process and since they won’t do the CC for that amount, they have a new sales trainee that needs some seat time in some different BMWs so it’s not a problem to send him to follow us home and grab a check.
I never said anything about my background in the auto industry or anything like that, frankly it’s irrelevant, and I’m not going to pretend it’s something that should get me special treatment or anything like that. It stayed that way until he absolutely insisted I needed an extended warranty and wanted a good reason why I wouldn’t buy it. I’m like it’s none of business why but I have 12 years experience in a shop as dual brand master tech and shop foreman. He’s like “oh... well... you’d still have to pay for the parts, what dealership do you work at? I said I can buy a lot of parts for the price of that warranty, but I don’t work at a dealer anymore, now I do quality testing and development of preproduction and prototype vehicles and technology. From that point on it was just finishing some paperwork, we really didn’t have anything else to say to one and other.
I didn’t go into this with an attitude but I sure as hell left with one, I don’t like being a blunt sarcastic asshole to people but man this guy this guy just brought it out of me. He really just gave off this “You’re just a stupid kid” vibe right from the beginning.
So we looked for a long time, about 6-7 months of searching nation wide to find the right vehicle, but we eventually did. It was originally sold locally, mudflaps, roof rack cross bars, tint, and clean bra were all installed by the local dealer before the customer took delivery. The local dealer did the 5K, 10K, 20K, 30K, and 40K services based on time, the car had under 30K on it. It was 1 owner, never a lease vehicle, not from an area with road salt, clean car fax showing the full vehicle history, no damage, it was in great condition inside and out. Plus it had the optional captains chairs for the second row. It was priced above fair market value, but it was the vehicle we had been looking for.
Enter fuckin moron sales guy from BMW dealership.
This car was just listed, they only had 1 picture of the car so knowing how quickly they had been selling I made an appointment for the next morning to come see the car. That night the salesman texts me and says the car hasn’t gone through the shop yet so it hasn’t even gone into the shop yet for a safety inspection and we wouldn’t be able to drive it. I told him that’s fine I’ll drive down without my wife and check it out, if it’s looking promising I can bring her back to see it and drive it once it’s ready. I asked him if he had any idea on time until it would be ready but I never got an answer.
So the next morning I make the 2 hour round trip to see the car. The salesman was late for our appointment, then when he came up he’s like “ok let’s go try to find the car”. I don’t know why he didn’t have it ready if he had an appointment to show it, the car should have been up front washed and waiting, but whatever. We get into a BMW and drive around trying to find it, we’re driving all over the parking lots before we start going through the shop looking for it. We finally find it on the turn table. It’s been through the shop, it has new tires and brakes, it’s detailed, it’s ready to go, and the photographer is doing the photos for the website. I left my wife behind because as of late last night it hadn’t even gone into the shop but first thing the next morning it’s done and ready to go?
As we walk up the salesman, who up to this point has spoken maybe 15 words to me, says “so I’m not a Toyota expert, so I’m not going to be able to answer any questions you might have.” I’m thinking wtf kind of bullshit statement is that?! How about “I’m not real familiar with Toyota but if you have any questions let me know, I can do some research and get back to you”. I guess he was lucky that he didn’t need him to actually sell me on the car. So we’re standing there awkwardly while the photographer does his thing. Like literally 5 minutes of uncomfortable silence goes by and the salesman says “so what do you think, do you want it?” I’m like right now I just want this guy to finish doing his thing so I can actually get in it and drive it and check it out. He’s like “oh, I didn’t know you were wanting to drive it.” So he tells me to just take the car off the turntable and pull it outside. Strange but ok, I do and follow him back to the BMW building and I start going over it. First he starts questioning what I’m doing when I popped the plastic engine cover off to inspect the engine for leaks and signs of rodents.... fuck off is what I’m doing, dickhead. I gave it a relatively quick look over and I ask the salesman if we can take it to service and have them put it up on a lift it so I can look it over underneath. He’s like “no, we’re not going to be able to do that”. I asked why. He says “well our technicians are the best in the industry and every vehicle goes through an X point inspection and the car are brought back to like new condition, there’s really no reason you need to see under it.“ I’m like well, in the couple minutes I’ve been looking it I’ve found the right door seal falling off, corrosion on the negative battery terminal, and a chip in the windshield, I’d to see underneath to make sure there’s nothing else your super tech might have missed. Low and behold 10 minutes later it’s on a lift and I check it over. Then it was right back to “so do you what it?” I told him assuming they fix the items they missed, we can come to terms on a trade in, and I come back with my wife and she likes it then yes. He says “you should probably just put the deposit on it right now, if someone calls in a deposit while were wasting all this time we’re going have to sell it to them.” I’m like well, we better get going on that trade eval instead of wasting all this time talking about deposits....
Long story short grandma (my mother in law) was interested in our car. We decided we’d trade in her old 200,000+ mile ‘06 Saturn for whatever could get and she could just have our 60,000 mile Jetta. I had drove the Saturn down so they start checking it out and going over it. Sales douche actually wanted me to go to the dmv, get it retitled and registered in my name, so I could trade it in myself. I’m like is that a joke? Absolutely fuckin not! There was zero chance I was going to spending a single penny on this car just to get rid of it. He’s like “well if grandma and grandpa are on the title they will need to come and sign paperwork”. I’m like correct... I’m failing to see the problem here?
They agreed to $1500 on the Saturn and to fix the things I found wrong with the Highlander but he wanted me to take the car as is and schedule an appointment to bring it back at a later date. I refused. He’s like “well typically we just include a we owe in the paperwork and we make an appointment to have the repairs made.” I said I’m not driving 2 hours round trip to come back. I’ll put the deposit down, you will fix it, and when it’s 100% ready to go I will come back with my wife so she can see it and drive it, since that didn’t happen today, and if she’s on board we’ll do the paperwork and take it home. He agreed so I put a $1000 deposit down on it and I went home for the night. He starts texting me that night that everything else is done but it’ll be a couple weeks until their windshield guy comes, so he want me take it. I’m like dude we have been over this multiple times, I’m still not willing to take it and bring it back. He’s says “well what’s your insurance like, do you have glass coverage.” I told him straight up I’m just going to ignore that you asked me to commit insurance fraud just so you guys would have to fix a windshield chip. I went online and got a safelife quote for aftermarket glass and factory glass, told them to split the difference between them and take that off the price of the car ($685) and I’ll deal with the windshield on my own. They are one of those “1 price dealers” where the price is set and it is what it is, they do not negotiate the selling price of the cars and seeing as it was like the worlds smallest chip and no spider webbing, I didn’t have high hopes of actually saving $700. He said he’d have to ask boss man in the morning if they can do that.
The next morning they agreed to give money off for the windshield and wanted my to come that day. I said sure we can make that work. From there he starts pressing me about numbers, how much we were going to put down etc. I had already talked to my CC company and told them to expect a large purchase and I got my credit limit extended. I told the salesman the down payment was going to depend on interest rates. In fact I had mentioned that multiple times by that point. He’s like ok after you do the credit app we’ll submit it to the bank and we’ll pass along the best rate to you but I’ll get started on the paperwork blah blah blah. I’m thinking this ain’t a done deal, this still very dependent on the wife giving the thumbs up. Talking about it with her she like I’ve driven one ready so I know it’s comfortable and I like it, you’ve seen it already, if your ok with it I’m ok with it. So we do the online credit app. Dude calls us and he’s like “all right everything looks good with credit app, we got it submitted to the bank, we’re good to go for 5.25% for 72 months, how much do you want to put down?” I’m like no dude wtf is wrong with you? I’m like don’t even waste my time with that bullshit, literally 3 minutes of research and I’m seeing non-manufacturer CPO finance deal bank rates on regular used cars at like 3.6-3.7% all over the place without even rate shopping for the best deal. I’m like don’t even call me back until you can figure out how to get a reasonable rate for 2 credit scores well over 800. I‘m thinking is this fucking dickhead trying to stick us with extra points or what? 5 minutes later he’s calling me back again, “ok I got 3.25% and you can pick the term length.” I said ok great, that is reasonable, give us a few minutes to discuss down payment and I’ll text you info in a few minutes. He was in a big hurry to try to paperwork done and ready for us to sign when we got there, this was literally all happening during our hour drive down that’s. We talk about and I text him that well add an additional 14K on top of the 1K deposit, so a total of 15K down on the card and that we’ll be there in 5 minutes.
We showed up and I’m like ok my wife is going to take a look at and then we’ll be back to do paperwork. Dudes like “hey I saw your message, you can only use a CC for $1000, any amount above that needs to be a personal check.” I’m like why the fuck have you not mentioned that up to this point? I’m like I didn’t bring a check book, we don’t use checks for anything ever, it’s not something we carry around. He’s like “well you wouldn’t tell me how much money you were going to put down, I kept asking and you just kept saying it was going to depend on the rates.” I told him if if I put $1000 down as a deposit yesterday with my credit card, literally anything else additional would have had to be via check at this point.... but it’s my fault you didn’t put that together. I’m like YOU failed to mention that until I’m standing here in the building trying to buy it. We looked up Chase banks nearby and all of them were closed by then (3pm on a Saturday). I said this is the second 2 hour round trip down here, I will not be making a third. Tell you what, let’s go do the paperwork for $15,000 down and when we’re done, you can find a porter to follow us home so they can pick up and bring back a check. He’s like no way, we can’t do that blah blah blah. I told him fine, go get the sales manager, I’d like to explain to him that my lazy condescending salesman that I’ve somehow managed to tolerate to this point is fuckin up a done deal because he forgot to mention this apparently major detail and like to ask him if he’d rather watch us walk out, or send someone to follow us home to pick up a check. He walks off turning red in face all pissed off muttering under his breath. A few minutes later the sales manager is over there apologizing that they were clear about their process and since they won’t do the CC for that amount, they have a new sales trainee that needs some seat time in some different BMWs so it’s not a problem to send him to follow us home and grab a check.
I never said anything about my background in the auto industry or anything like that, frankly it’s irrelevant, and I’m not going to pretend it’s something that should get me special treatment or anything like that. It stayed that way until he absolutely insisted I needed an extended warranty and wanted a good reason why I wouldn’t buy it. I’m like it’s none of business why but I have 12 years experience in a shop as dual brand master tech and shop foreman. He’s like “oh... well... you’d still have to pay for the parts, what dealership do you work at? I said I can buy a lot of parts for the price of that warranty, but I don’t work at a dealer anymore, now I do quality testing and development of preproduction and prototype vehicles and technology. From that point on it was just finishing some paperwork, we really didn’t have anything else to say to one and other.
I didn’t go into this with an attitude but I sure as hell left with one, I don’t like being a blunt sarcastic asshole to people but man this guy this guy just brought it out of me. He really just gave off this “You’re just a stupid kid” vibe right from the beginning.
www.aguyagirlandatrail.com
instagram.com/aguyagirlandatrail
instagram.com/aguyagirlandatrail
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
- Posts: 829
- Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 3:20 pm
- Drives: Built 4Runner & Pontiac Vibe
- Location: Colorado
- Contact:
The dealership did the used car inspection, they had put new brakes and tires on it all the way around, but they had missed the chip in the windshield, a door seal falling off, some corrosion starting on the negative battery terminal, and the coolant overflow bottle was at the minimum mark. Not to mention the owners manual case still had paperwork showing the original owners names and address. The “Home” address in the navigation was still save as their home, the address book listed info for their work, kids schools, relatives, etc. plus the homelink hadn’t been wiped. I could have told the nav to take me home, and gone to the previous owners home and gone in through the garage. The dealer had slathered on so much tire shine that it splattered all over the entire exterior the moment we hit the highway on the way home. The whole interior and all the door jambs were absolutely drenched in this greasy slimy detailer spray as well. Clearly this dealer wasn’t the most competent so as soon as we got it home it was time to get to work on it.
I started with a very thorough inspection of everything, a full detailing, and then in depth maintenance to start preparing it for the long haul.
This greasy crap was all over the door jambs and the interior.
It’s always difficult to clean around emblems, and I flat out don’t like them, so debadging it was part of the exterior detail.
Initial clean up
For the maintenance I did pretty much everything. Replaced engine oil, oil filter, oil pan drain plug crush washer. The oil change was done during the used car inspection but who knows what oil they actually used, did they get 0W20 or did they throw in whatever they had in stock? I’d rather just replace it with 50 miles on the oil and know it’s correct. Replaced transfer case fluid and drain and fill plug crush washers. Replaced rear differential fluid and drain and fill plug crush washers. Replaced trans fluid, filter, gasket, and crush washers. Replaced engine air filter. Replaced cabin air filter. Coolant flush. I did a brake flush, it got new tires during the used car inspection but of course the dealer didn’t clean up the old wheel weight residue so while they were removed I cleaned up the inner barrels, got the tape residue off, and actuall torqued the wheels with a torque wrench that still has a valid calibration certification. When taking them off I had found 1 finger tight lug nut they forgot to actually tighten. I set tire pressures, the 4 new tires were all 8 psi overfilled and the spare was 35 psi low! So much for the Toyota service department that had done all the maintances to that point and this dealers used car safety inspection. Replaced both remote batteries. Degreased and power washed the underbody. And then I took to a friend/former coworker for a 4 wheel alignment.
Old brake fluid
Fresh clean brake fluid
Inflate to 60 psi...
Its easier to just literally never check the pressure
Then is was paint correction, wash, clay, buff and polish, wash again, paint sealer, wax.
The last thing was to start buying some accessories and mild upgrades for it. I went with 1st and 2nd row Husky X-Act Contour floor liners opting to keep the factory 3rd row all weather mats. I got a Weather Tech sunshade, OEM cargo liner and retractable cargo privacy cover. Swapped out all the interior lights and the rear plate lights with Philips LEDs and changed the fog light housings to the Diode Dynamics SS3 SAE Pro LED cubes in amber. I installed a 12 Volt Solution plug and play remote start that utilizes the factory key fob. And I got an OEM hitch for the mounting up a bike rack.
I still need to pick up a second set of wheels, snow tires, and another dash cam to go in this car. I’m also thinking I’ll probably replace the 12v battery before winter rolls around seeing it’s still factory original.
I started with a very thorough inspection of everything, a full detailing, and then in depth maintenance to start preparing it for the long haul.
This greasy crap was all over the door jambs and the interior.
It’s always difficult to clean around emblems, and I flat out don’t like them, so debadging it was part of the exterior detail.
Initial clean up
For the maintenance I did pretty much everything. Replaced engine oil, oil filter, oil pan drain plug crush washer. The oil change was done during the used car inspection but who knows what oil they actually used, did they get 0W20 or did they throw in whatever they had in stock? I’d rather just replace it with 50 miles on the oil and know it’s correct. Replaced transfer case fluid and drain and fill plug crush washers. Replaced rear differential fluid and drain and fill plug crush washers. Replaced trans fluid, filter, gasket, and crush washers. Replaced engine air filter. Replaced cabin air filter. Coolant flush. I did a brake flush, it got new tires during the used car inspection but of course the dealer didn’t clean up the old wheel weight residue so while they were removed I cleaned up the inner barrels, got the tape residue off, and actuall torqued the wheels with a torque wrench that still has a valid calibration certification. When taking them off I had found 1 finger tight lug nut they forgot to actually tighten. I set tire pressures, the 4 new tires were all 8 psi overfilled and the spare was 35 psi low! So much for the Toyota service department that had done all the maintances to that point and this dealers used car safety inspection. Replaced both remote batteries. Degreased and power washed the underbody. And then I took to a friend/former coworker for a 4 wheel alignment.
Old brake fluid
Fresh clean brake fluid
Inflate to 60 psi...
Its easier to just literally never check the pressure
Then is was paint correction, wash, clay, buff and polish, wash again, paint sealer, wax.
The last thing was to start buying some accessories and mild upgrades for it. I went with 1st and 2nd row Husky X-Act Contour floor liners opting to keep the factory 3rd row all weather mats. I got a Weather Tech sunshade, OEM cargo liner and retractable cargo privacy cover. Swapped out all the interior lights and the rear plate lights with Philips LEDs and changed the fog light housings to the Diode Dynamics SS3 SAE Pro LED cubes in amber. I installed a 12 Volt Solution plug and play remote start that utilizes the factory key fob. And I got an OEM hitch for the mounting up a bike rack.
I still need to pick up a second set of wheels, snow tires, and another dash cam to go in this car. I’m also thinking I’ll probably replace the 12v battery before winter rolls around seeing it’s still factory original.
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Tar
- Chief Master Sirloin
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- Drives: Beige Family Sedan sans Dent
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Wow that's a sweet looking ride, good on you to power through the morans and take care of the maintenance thoroughly. If that trucks wasn't banged up then it should be great for you guys. Congrats!!
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
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- Drives: Built 4Runner & Pontiac Vibe
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Thanks, we’re liking it.
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
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Yeah it was ridiculous. It took a lot to put up with that guy and not just walk, especially when the car wasn’t particularly a great deal. It seems like the size difference from the RAV4 is a slightly more trunk and but a lot in between first and second rows which comes in handy with car seats, especially rear facing.
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Johnny_P
- Chief Master Sirloin of the Wasteful Steak
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You gonna keep the audio system stock or replace it? Curious what you think of the stock stuff, the rav I rented seemed ok but certainly not “great”. It just had the base stereo I think.
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
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Is has the mid level stereo, which honestly is pretty bad.it’s not likely we’ll change it though, she doesn’t seem care.
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Huckleberry
- Senior Chief Patty Officer
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- Location: Hi. I'm in Delaware.
I would have told him to fuck off once he started texting me about the windshield and using my insurance.
Possibly before then.
Possibly before then.
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Dbest
- Meat Patty 1st Class
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If we weren’t 6+ months into actively searching I would have told this asshole to suck all the dicks. In the end, I looked at it on a Friday and we bought it the next day. Frustrating both worth it in the end.Huckleberry wrote: ↑Sun Sep 27, 2020 8:17 am I would have told him to fuck off once he started texting me about the windshield and using my insurance.
Possibly before then.
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