Thinking of buying a Toyota Rav 4, then drive on slowly.

Fireman1

If you are thinking of purchasing a new Rav 4 and perhaps other Toyota models, you might want to look again at exactly what you are getting. The sales brochure will promise you a car equipped with a Toyota Touch 2® an “intuitive user-friendly multimedia system”. It will also promise “hands-free calls via Bluetooth®”

What the brochure doesn’t mention is that unless you opt for the optional extra of the Navigation System then you don’t get any voice activation. Voice activated phone calls were possible on previous Toyota models that didn’t have a Navigation System but Toyota have now decided to require you to purchase the Navigation option. As it stands the phone Hands free is limited to receiving calls and adjusting the volume on calls.

If you page through the menu screens on the Toyota Touch 2® you will find screens for text messages and emails. Once again this seems more aspirational that real. This system has a very limited range of phones that it can collect texts and emails from. When Toyota were asked about this they suggested that one should use a Blackberry !!!

I checked using a number of phones. With a HTC Desire, two different models, contacts and call history synchronised, no texts or emails. With a Samsung S5, Contacts, call history Texts and emails all synchronised. With an iPhone 5C contacts and call history but no Texts or emails.

Given the miss information and clear lack of understanding of their product it was time to RTFM [read the owners manual ]. This very clearly explains how to pair devices and use the Voice Activation. Some features do say that the instruction apply “If Fitted” or “Navigation required” but the instructions for voice activation has no such limit. There is also a very interesting section on using MirrorLink software. This is really cool software that allows one to mirror the phone on the head unit. One can then use application such as Google maps if you have an internet connection. But sadly though the Owner’s manual says that the unit is MirrorLink compatible it doesn’t work.

Why are Toyota pushing their Navigation System and why link it to being able to use the phone. Given what they are charging for it there is a very healthy profit margin. If you do go for it then it appears you are still going to get the short end of the stick when compared to what UK and other European customers get. From what I have been able to find out the Navigation software is not optimised for Ireland. It has a poor success rate for finding a lot of addresses in Ireland. It is very far behind what you can do with Goole Maps. Being an Irish customer you will also not get a lot of apps that come with the system in other countries.

Back to Toyota to ask again why things don’t work as described in the owner’s manual. The answer had changed. Instead of being advised to purchase an obsolete phone I was now told that Toyota no longer worked with most Android phones and were no longer Mirrorlink compatible.

The only combination that would allow voice activated phone calls was to purchase the Navigation System and downgrade to an iPhone. However if you do use an IPhone then no text messages or emails.

In April the Advertising standards Authority of Ireland found that Toyota Ireland should no longer use the slogan “The Best Built Cars in the World” in their advertising as it could not be justified. Given just how poor a product the Touch 2 system is then it looks like Toyota are comfortable with misleading and inaccurate claims.

Perhaps the “entertainment System” is not the most important attribute when purchasing a new vehicle. One could always stop before making a call. It is probably the safest thing to do. If you have a death wish and a total disregard for others on the road you could make a call when looking at the touch screen. Of course that means you are not looking where you are going. That would be rather stupid.

Aside from the Touch 2 the new BMW technology diesel engines are quieter and more fuel efficient than the older Toyota plant. They drive well. Have improved pulling power. Only time will tell if these Toyotas are reliable. Toyota are certainly way behind others in providing safe connectivity for phones. A very long way from the days when Toyota USP was reliable cars that lead the way in providing extras.

colm_mcm

Nobody buys Rav4s anyway these days.

ba_barabus

Bullet points please

For Forks Sake

colm_mcm wrote: »

Nobody buys Rav4s anyway these days.

1615 of them sold this year. Where they're all hiding, I have no idea. Or maybe I just don't notice them due to their incredible blandness.

bazz26

I wonder how many of them were prereg?

I find the interior of the current Rav4 to be utterly terrible and low rent, looks like Fisher Price supplied and built the dashboard.

colm_mcm

Tucson outselling it 3:1

R.O.R

bazz26 wrote: »

I wonder how many of them were prereg?

I find the interior of the current Rav4 to be utterly terrible and low rent, looks like Fisher Price supplied and built the dashboard.

Luna Sport is quite nice, it's either leather or Alcantara on the dash which makes a pleasant change from cheap plastic.

The infotainment system isn't the best, but if those features are really important you'd be best to check they work before buying a car.

James Bond Junior

Apparently the dipped lights on them are dangerously weak. A colleague bought one and is having awful problems.

Bigus

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Apparently the dipped lights on them are dangerously weak. A colleague bought one and is having awful problems.

And it's summer :eek:, I bet he's looking forward to dark wet evenings.

bazz26

I just cannot warm to that interior:

Fireman1

Colm_MCM, Fair comment. It is a long post. But bullet point don't get the full story over.
Poor system on a car costing that money. Couldn't care less attitude of Toyota. Misleading description promising something they know this system cant deliver.

colm_mcm

You should put that on their Facebook page,

I wonder if there's a software issue or what?

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

colm_mcm

Maybe they could use that as their new slogan

Fireman1

Hi Colm_mcm

Facebook is grand but post here last longer.
I did some checking before deciding on the Rav 4. It is a MPV so lets be honest there are not the most beautiful cars going. There are definitely better looking better fitted out cars for the money.

The diesel Rav 4 is rated to pull 2000KG. The Tuscon 900 kg or less depending on the engine. There are few two wheel drive MPV that pull up to 2 tonne.

4 Wheel drives come at a premium. You expect to make compromises when you are not buying the most expensive top of the range car. The thing is to have the information out there so that people make an informed decision.

The dishonesty of Manufacturers who appear to set out to mislead needs to be challenged.

Fireman1

HI ROR
"The infotainment system isn't the best, but if those features are really important you'd be best to check they work before buying a car."

There is some truth in that. But realistically how do you check that a car has certain features. Read the description in the brochure. Done. Ask, Has anyone actually sat there asking the sales person if each statement in a brochure is really true? I have never done that nor do I know anyone that has. In the case of voice recognition Look to see if it appears to be there. Yes the screens are there. Yes the button is on the steering wheel. Yes it has worked in previous Toyota cars so they know how to get it to work. Yes google it and there are many youtubes showing Touch 2 systems working on Toyota cars.
If it didn't work with a particular phone or even phones from particular manufacturer one might say OK. But a system that is not fully compatible with any phone!

Yes one checks. However if the information is not out there and the dealer and manufacturer set out to mislead the purchasers then you can get caught.

That is the reason for the post. Get the information out there so that others will make an informed decision. There are many people driving Sportage but Kia are up front about it, There cars do not have speech recognition. Toyota mislead

Posting here will not make Toyota into a responsible merchant. I have other options that may be more persuasive

Meanwhile if others do research the RAV 4 or are thinking of other Toyota cars they may find this post and it may save them some trouble.

maglite

Sounds like a near identical issue we had, is this where their "hands free" option requires you to take your hand off the wheel to use?

For a supposed top tier manufacturer they're lagging in the doldrums of in car technology, most of the optional extras would be what i'd expect as standard in nay modern car these days. Unlikely we will be going Toyota again when we need something new.

EDIT- just re read the comment about Android, More than half the phones in use in Ireland use android. It just reinforces the backwardness of Toyota Ireland if they can't/won't support the most popular electronic devices in use...

bazz26

I doubt Toyota Ireland have any say in what mobile devices are supported and what aren't. The Irish market is tiny in the big scheme of things. Could be poor software or incompatible cable.

audi12

Fireman1 wrote: »

If you are thinking of purchasing a new Rav 4 and perhaps other Toyota models, you might want to look again at exactly what you are getting. The sales brochure will promise you a car equipped with a Toyota Touch 2® an “intuitive user-friendly multimedia system”. It will also promise “hands-free calls via Bluetooth®”

What the brochure doesn’t mention is that unless you opt for the optional extra of the Navigation System then you don’t get any voice activation. Voice activated phone calls were possible on previous Toyota models that didn’t have a Navigation System but Toyota have now decided to require you to purchase the Navigation option. As it stands the phone Hands free is limited to receiving calls and adjusting the volume on calls.

If you page through the menu screens on the Toyota Touch 2® you will find screens for text messages and emails. Once again this seems more aspirational that real. This system has a very limited range of phones that it can collect texts and emails from. When Toyota were asked about this they suggested that one should use a Blackberry !!!

I checked using a number of phones. With a HTC Desire, two different models, contacts and call history synchronised, no texts or emails. With a Samsung S5, Contacts, call history Texts and emails all synchronised. With an iPhone 5C contacts and call history but no Texts or emails.

Given the miss information and clear lack of understanding of their product it was time to RTFM [read the owners manual ]. This very clearly explains how to pair devices and use the Voice Activation. Some features do say that the instruction apply “If Fitted” or “Navigation required” but the instructions for voice activation has no such limit. There is also a very interesting section on using MirrorLink software. This is really cool software that allows one to mirror the phone on the head unit. One can then use application such as Google maps if you have an internet connection. But sadly though the Owner’s manual says that the unit is MirrorLink compatible it doesn’t work.

Why are Toyota pushing their Navigation System and why link it to being able to use the phone. Given what they are charging for it there is a very healthy profit margin. If you do go for it then it appears you are still going to get the short end of the stick when compared to what UK and other European customers get. From what I have been able to find out the Navigation software is not optimised for Ireland. It has a poor success rate for finding a lot of addresses in Ireland. It is very far behind what you can do with Goole Maps. Being an Irish customer you will also not get a lot of apps that come with the system in other countries.

Back to Toyota to ask again why things don’t work as described in the owner’s manual. The answer had changed. Instead of being advised to purchase an obsolete phone I was now told that Toyota no longer worked with most Android phones and were no longer Mirrorlink compatible.

The only combination that would allow voice activated phone calls was to purchase the Navigation System and downgrade to an iPhone. However if you do use an IPhone then no text messages or emails.

In April the Advertising standards Authority of Ireland found that Toyota Ireland should no longer use the slogan “The Best Built Cars in the World” in their advertising as it could not be justified. Given just how poor a product the Touch 2 system is then it looks like Toyota are comfortable with misleading and inaccurate claims.

Perhaps the “entertainment System” is not the most important attribute when purchasing a new vehicle. One could always stop before making a call. It is probably the safest thing to do. If you have a death wish and a total disregard for others on the road you could make a call when looking at the touch screen. Of course that means you are not looking where you are going. That would be rather stupid.

Aside from the Touch 2 the new BMW technology diesel engines are quieter and more fuel efficient than the older Toyota plant. They drive well. Have improved pulling power. Only time will tell if these Toyotas are reliable. Toyota are certainly way behind others in providing safe connectivity for phones. A very long way from the days when Toyota USP was reliable cars that lead the way in providing extras.

Used to work in car sales used to get some amount of whingers coming through to the door and of course timewasters thought we should treat them like king cause they were looking at a car. Anyway toyotas hyundais etc are all mass produced crap makes of car.

bazz26

So what exactly did you sell?

audi12

bazz26 wrote: »

So what exactly did you sell?

Hyundai

pippip

audi12 wrote: »

Hyundai

They're so crap they're the top selling brand so far this year. :rolleyes:

audi12

pippip wrote: »

They're so crap they're the top selling brand so far this year. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE

There no worse than Toyota or kia all about the same no like most people can go out and spend 50,000 on proper car like a new audi or bmw there mass produced average cars they will do the job make the neighbors jealous when they see the 162 plate get you to a to b there fine.

Not that it matters but they are no 1 because of the Tucson when I was selling them most of the cars we sold were the Tucson hardly anything else was moving.

ThisRegard

Do you think Audi or BMW are all hand made by virgins upon order or something? Hate to tell you but they're also mass produced.

audi12

ThisRegard wrote: »

Do you think Audi or BMW are all hand made by virgins upon order or something? Hate to tell you but they're also mass produced.

right. My audi is 02 more quality in it than a lot of 162s used to see newish i40s coming in with clutches gone pathetic.

colm_mcm

Were you on work experience in transition year or something?

It doesn't sound like you're cut out for the job TBH.

AMKC

Fireman1 wrote: »

Hi Colm_mcm

Facebook is grand but post here last longer.
I did some checking before deciding on the Rav 4. It is a MPV so lets be honest there are not the most beautiful cars going. There are definitely better looking better fitted out cars for the money.

The diesel Rav 4 is rated to pull 2000KG. The Tuscon 900 kg or less depending on the engine. There are few two wheel drive MPV that pull up to 2 tonne.

4 Wheel drives come at a premium. You expect to make compromises when you are not buying the most expensive top of the range car. The thing is to have the information out there so that people make an informed decision.

The dishonesty of Manufacturers who appear to set out to mislead needs to be challenged.

It is a MPV so lets be honest there are not the most beautiful cars going. Is not on MPV it is an SUV and some of them are very nice.

Sam Kade

audi12 wrote: »

Used to work in car sales used to get some amount of whingers coming through to the door and of course timewasters thought we should treat them like king cause they were looking at a car. Anyway toyotas hyundais etc are all mass produced crap makes of car.

Did you ever hear the saying "the customer is always right"? How many of those whingers bought cars?

Fireman1

AMKC wrote: »

It is a MPV so lets be honest they are not the most beautiful cars going. Is not on MPV it is an SUV and some of them are very nice.

The registration certificate describes the body type as MPV

Toyota in their sales brochure describe it as an SUV, but we have already discussed just how reliable Toyota descriptions are.

Aston Martin Vantage, Jag F-Type, Audi R8, those are good looking cars. Lotto advertisement aside they are not the best for towing.

Which of the MPV or SUV would you put in a beauty lineup? 

stimpson

FWIW OP, I too have had buyers remorse over the Touch 2 system. It's a pile of shite. One of the dealers told me that it would have iPhone screen mirroring in a future update. Me bollix.

I can offer you a workaround though. I bought one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RM75NOW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You stick it to your dash and pair it with your phone. When you click it Siri (or whatever it's called on android) activates and the audio comes in through the car's bluetooth. It works pretty well (you do have to click it once to wake it after).

Fireman1

Thanks. That is a really useful post for the many people I have come across that also found the Touch 2 was a let-down.

It is not just a Rav problem. Most people seem willing to accept that they are just out of luck. Or because they never asked specifically what Toyota meant by hands free think it is an oversight by the purchaser and not Toyota’s problem.

We should of course turn off the phone when driving, but for people who spend a lot of time in a car that’s a big ask. The temptation to use the touch screen on the Touch 2 is powerful. Using it though is probably a worse idea than using the phone itself. You won’t get penalty points for using it but that is no help if you run into some other poor sucker on the road. The device you found could save lives.

For myself, I solved the problem by returning the car after a month of pushing Toyota to fix the problem. I got back the money I had paid and the car that I had traded in. Pain in the derrière, but I don’t have to deal with a system that just doesn’t work as had been described.