Being Petty about manuals?

V

Vinosaur

New member
Yes, probably I am: but it bothers me that for a vehicle that has an MSRP pushing $40K, the manuals and books come in a crappy paper "envelope".

My Jheeps and my Accord all had at least faux leather booklets to put the manuals in.

For a vehicle that costs 2X more I expect more.

Anyone have any ideas on a replacement? I am thinking of contacting the guy I use for custom leather for some knives and firearms and having him make me something.

Does anyone have a PDF file for the manual? I wouldn't mind a backup copy for the phone / laptop.

Thanks
 
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My dealer gave me the keys to my TE with the manuals, floor mats, and cargo tonneau missing. Then they sent me a set of carpeted 2012 mats that didn't fit.

I just got the PDF and printed out the parts I needed and stuffed them in the glove box.
 
Mine came in a cheap plastic case with a dealer ad on the outside. Ask the dealer if they have any plastic ones or look online. And yes, you are being petty. Unfortunately $40k isn't what it used to be.
 
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Your not being petty. I was the same way. The fact that they expected the manuals to sit loose in the glove box was annoying. Then when I heard them sliding when driving I got on eBay and purchased a manual case for them.

I purchased my vehicle 5 hours away from where I live because they had the exact model I wanted. If I purchased it local I would have gone back in demanding a case for the manuals.
 
Mine came with a pretty nice case. Fits everything perfectly with room for registration and a few deer cards too. It's nice and fits in the glove compartment perfectly.
 
jangoforhire said:
Mine came with a pretty nice case. Fits everything perfectly with room for registration and a few deer cards too. It's nice and fits in the glove compartment perfectly.
Click to expand...

Same here, a nice pleather case with button closure. Holds all navigation, owners manual, insurance cards, registration easily and fits in glove box.

Maybe it is a dealer thing..
 
Here's what my 2010 SR5 came with. Bought it used, but it was basically as close to brand new as any vehicle I could ever hope to find. Hard to see, but that little silver thing has the Toyota emblem. All the manuals were there, and it had a nice little section on the inside flap for cards like Triple A, insurance etc through a see-through window. The flap buttons down and snaps shut.

So perhaps Toyota sells these cases individually among their various models? I have heard you can buy an owner's manual from most car manufacturers regardless of year within the last few years at least. They probably sell these cases. If not, they should. They're nice.

eBay also has car manual cases for sale all the time... with/without manuals.
 

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I think the case is a importer thing. Gulf States Toyota seems to have the ones pictured above. I bought mine from Colorado and they are not a GST dealer and I got some rinky dinky plastic folder with the dealer's name all over it. I negotiated a new case in the deal when my in-laws bought their 4R LE from a dealer here in OK.
 
I find it amazing that anyone has any questions about a manual or case or anything. If you actually read it OP you will apparently belong in a most esoteric club similar to the Mensa or 999 societies. Very few read read their manuals, as evidenced by some of the questions asked here.
 
1engineer, I may be accused of being a lot of things, but esoteric has never been one of them. Am I a bit anal about my vehicles? YES! Petty? Yes, I can admit that. I will look for a better book. I use my manual and like to reference it before shooting straight to the forums or youtube for an answer. I take care of my belongings as well, and like them to last.
Yes, this is a minor complaint, and I love the 4Runner. Great vehicle and VERY well built. Exactly what I was expecting. Hopefully, I will only have minor complaints.
My favorite feature so far is the one touch open / close on ALL the windows. That rocks. Driving with all the windows open and the sunroof back is great.
One other minor complaint is that when you use the "child lockout" button for the windows it also locks the driver from putting them up or down. The Accord did the same thing. The Jheep had manual cranks so no comparison otherwise.
 
Mine came in a leather (fake) case that holds all of the manuals, which TexasAg pointed out may be a Gulf States thing. If they're going to give you a 750 page manual plus various other manuals for all the bells and whistles, they better give us something to put them in. I keep mine in the front passenger door pocket.
 
I purchased my 2010 new from a dealership in WA, and it also came with a nice faux leather case for all the manuals. It sounds as if the case may be an option/benefit provided by a particular dealer.
 
We got the same faux leather case for our manuals. You can also download the owners manuals from Toyota.com.
 
Vinosaur said:
Yes, probably I am: but it bothers me that for a vehicle that has an MSRP pushing $40K, the manuals and books come in a crappy paper "envelope".

My Jheeps and my Accord all had at least faux leather booklets to put the manuals in.

For a vehicle that costs 2X more I expect more.

Anyone have any ideas on a replacement? I am thinking of contacting the guy I use for custom leather for some knives and firearms and having him make me something.

Does anyone have a PDF file for the manual? I wouldn't mind a backup copy for the phone / laptop.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You can select your vehicle model and year, and download the PDFs straight from Toyota here: Toyota Online Owners Manuals and Warranty

For what it's worth mine also came with a faux leather holder that fits inside the glove box. I always thought that was standard issue, but maybe not? I guess it certainly couldn't hurt to give the dealer a call and ask.
 
Vinosaur said:
1engineer, I may be accused of being a lot of things, but esoteric has never been one of them. Am I a bit anal about my vehicles? YES! Petty? Yes, I can admit that. I will look for a better book. I use my manual and like to reference it before shooting straight to the forums or youtube for an answer. I take care of my belongings as well, and like them to last.
Yes, this is a minor complaint, and I love the 4Runner. Great vehicle and VERY well built. Exactly what I was expecting. Hopefully, I will only have minor complaints.
My favorite feature so far is the one touch open / close on ALL the windows. That rocks. Driving with all the windows open and the sunroof back is great.
One other minor complaint is that when you use the "child lockout" button for the windows it also locks the driver from putting them up or down. The Accord did the same thing. The Jheep had manual cranks so no comparison otherwise.
Click to expand...

I was making a tongue in cheek comment at how very few actually read the manual lol. You wanting the better sleeve means you will probably read the thing, which means you are one of the few who actually do! I probably did not make myself clear, which happens often. Sorry and welcome to the forum!
 
no offense taken. Thank you for the welcome.

Now to completely steal Antman's mod for a hidden rear cargo box. This weekend will be a tear out and measure.

I also like the lift gate cup holder storage. Time to pull out the hole saw.
 
Vinosaur said:
Yes, probably I am: but it bothers me that for a vehicle that has an MSRP pushing $40K, the manuals and books come in a crappy paper "envelope".

My Jheeps and my Accord all had at least faux leather booklets to put the manuals in.

For a vehicle that costs 2X more I expect more.

Anyone have any ideas on a replacement? I am thinking of contacting the guy I use for custom leather for some knives and firearms and having him make me something.

Does anyone have a PDF file for the manual? I wouldn't mind a backup copy for the phone / laptop.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You are not being petty about the manuals. My SR5 was only "$35,469" list price and I thought out of all the cheap tricks to pull not giving the customer a nice faux leather portfolio was something that should have been included at the price. Then again I did get nailed $225 for floor-mats. I didn't buy a damn Yaris or Versa but a relatively expensive SUV. My GM cars all either had nice covers OR the dealer had a cheap plastic thingy to put them in.
 
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Thank you to everyone that posted links to the on line manuals. Much appreciated.

I picked up a manual case on ebay that looks just like the one Avalance posted.

I also installed a shorter antannae. It is soft though, and bends almost in half when I drive over 30. Reception is great, but don't like the bendy part.
 
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