6 years & 1.60 lakh km ownership with my Toyota RAV4

My SUV is a live example of Toyota's hassle-free vehicle ownership.

BHPian Waheedy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction:

Even though I have been hovering around for at least 15 years here, there was almost nothing worthy enough with me to share before, maybe I was a bit lazy / occupied for the same, or to honestly confess, there is only one other article (unfinished) which I had penned down back in 2009, on another forum, after doing a trip to Ladakh on my P220.

But this milestone event in my life with my humble RAV4 (humble in the context of the automotive scenario here in KSA), prompted me to pull out my keyboard and jot down my ownership experience, to honour a companion, which will be completing 6 years of togetherness next month and in the process, try and preserve my memories with it.

Being from a middle-class background, owning a car was a rich man’s privilege for us back in the ’90s, but that never stopped me from laying hands on literally any opportunity I could get to drive or ride. Which translated to regular use of my father’s sparkling Green new Bajaj chetak since I was 9 to a single drive to pick up my cousin in my uncles 800 from his when I was 11. To keep it short, below is a glimpse of my past ownerships/rides, to give you an idea about the analogy that I might dwell into with my writing.

A brief ownership history (cars):

1. Premier Padmini: Was in 8th Grade, when I first laid my hands on a premiere Padmini ( a used car bought by my dad) and polished my driving skills in the tight bylanes of Delhi. It was soon discarded after the ownership costs were too much for him to bear, against the scarce usage.
2. Hyundai I20 Asta: My second stint was a new I20 (2010) ASTA, which introduced us to a completely new world of features and comfort, but never impressed me with its driving dynamics, as the steering feels on highways was quite unnerving for me. This was again sold after a mere 3 years when I planned to move to KSA and there was practically no one to keep it up.
3. Kia Optima: After securing my first job, I started scanning the market for a used commute & wandered through a relatively good deal with a used Optima which had done about 80k and was running smooth. It turned out to be my smallest stint with any vehicle which I have owned (will share the story later) and had to part ways with it in just 4 months. But this was also the vehicle that I enjoyed driving the most and will always remember it for the 220kmph drag that I did on it.
4. Toyota Rav4: Kia was sold to make way for this new member in Feb 2016 and the story henceforth will be dedicated to it.

Selection:

Even though I had always enjoyed driving hatchbacks/sedans, the ingress/egress from them was always a hassle for me being a 6’2”. Hence my priority was to buy a Compact/SUV, which coupled with my budget constraints of around 80k SAR (roughly 15lac INR) left me with very limited options, which included RAV4, Nissan X-trail, Mitsubishi Outlander, Mazda CX-5 & Honda CR-V (slightly above budget).

Since my intended use was mostly for highways, and reliability was a big factor, these coupled together turned out to be a major deciding factor, apart from the easy financing options available for a newbie, both of which could only be met by the hugely popular and immensely penetrated network of Toyota in this region & hence it was.

Buying Experience:

I headed out to a nearby ALJ showroom (the only one in town) and scanned for the available options, where the sales guy was hell-bent to sell me a Camry which was also cheaper (at 75k), and scared me with a waiting period of over a month, particularly when I was in need of a car within a week. But upon my insistence, they agreed to get it within 2 weeks and after negotiating with them for a different finance option (which I had found to be cheaper in a different car showroom), I paid them an advance amount of 5k and sealed the deal.

Upon reaching the showroom after the due date, I was told that the delivery is already in the country but might take another couple of days to reach our town, at which point I had to literally explain the hardships that I was enduring without a vehicle to which they agreed to compensate the delay with another rented vehicle from their dealership until my consignment arrived.

Finally, I received an evening call after three days that my car was ready in their yard. I went there with my family and we received our car just before the closing of the dealership. A built-in Japan masterpiece, smiling in all its glory, with a manufacturing date of just within a month, it was all that I could have asked for, with this experience.

It was a real moment of joy for my family and the start of a long journey of togetherness that we have immensely enjoyed over the last 6 years, and during which the car has served us pretty well, with practically anything that we could throw at it, including moving furniture, appliances, long road trips in 50.c, sand dune sunsets, a trip to the edge of the world and much more.

Ownership experience:

Being in a new job, one of my key duties were to travel between our head office and branch office (350km) delegating between clients and our design team, to keep the projects running and updated & hence just the next day after taking delivery I out was out on the highway with my R4 ( without even having a peaceful moment of bonding in my garage).

These were two-way trips twice a week and hence within a month I safely lost my 1k & 5k free services to it.

Confronted by the dilemma of further servicing it with Toyota or locally, I dialled up to some experienced friends who have stayed beyond generations in this country and they safely guided me with some key tips of vehicle maintenance, after obliging to which, I was guaranteed to enjoy a premium ownership experience of a Toyota, which were:

• Change engine oil at every 4k km, with alternate filter changes
• Change transmission oil with a filter at every 80k km.
• Use genuine Toyota parts only

And to my utter satisfaction, these were the only things that I have adhered to apart from the usual wear and tear items like tires and batteries.

Averaging at around 30k km/year, I am using it more for long-distance touring from my current location in the eastern province to visit the holy cities in the west, which leads to trips of around 3000km during weekends & never has this car taken us off guard or caused even the slightest of trouble with any electronics (yes a Toyota does have some!!) or its mechanicals.

Some of the key features in this base version are:

• 4x4, ABS & ESP, HDC, Dual airbags, etc.

Some of the features that I sorely miss to date (but have become used to) are:

• Cruise control and sunroof (demanded by kids).

Ownership and maintenance costs:

The car to date, is a tightly packed unit, without any squeaks and sounds and the only other maintenance that I had to undertake was:

Replace one of the leaking rear shocks at 80k= around 350SR with labour

Change one of the front connection rods at 120k (which has a broken seal) = around 400 SR with labour.

Some of the regular maintenance undertaken ( for your reference) are:

• Change oil/alternate filter, up to 120k km, at every 4000 km & thereafter I started changing oil & filter together at each oil change at every 3000-3200 km, which translates to roughly 5000SR (up to 120k)
• Changing brake pads at every 40k (approx.) cost around 250k with labour each.
• Changed the front discs at around 150k (this one was slightly high) at around 1000SR.
• Have changed the transmission oil only once (the second is due now), cost around 450SR with labour.

To summarize, this car is a live example of hassle-free vehicle ownership for me, from Toyota, and my worst fear is that I may be hooked on to them for a lifetime.

Next is the LC300, I guess.

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