I have a tendency to FOLLOW the scheduled maintenance guide. Your needs will be determined by how you normally drive your vehicle. This means that for normal everyday driving where you drive on normal paved roads most of the time, you do not tow most of the time, you do not drive in dusty conditions most of the time, you do not drive on salt-covered roads most of the time; then generally you do not drive under "special operating conditions". Now, your Toyota dealer will debate this with you and tell you that your vehicle will need a certain service, say a tranny fluid replacement at 30k or 60k or so on. If you bought the vehicle used and you're not certain how well the previous owner maintained it, it may be a great idea to go ahead and do it. I bought my '04 in summer of '06. It had just under 48k miles on it, and it was in great shape, but I didn't really know how the previous owner treated it. It drove and handled well; hell, if I didn't know what year model it was or how many miles it had on it, I would have thought it was new. But in the summer of '07 I was going to tow a camping trailer with it; this involved driving through some pretty nice hills in the Ozarks of Arkansas. I figured that it probably would be a good idea to get the 60k service done, since that mileage was getting close. It cost me $350, but the dealer did a thorough job, and even did some services that I didn't expect. They had the 4R most of the day, but they gave me a free rental car for that time! My 4R towed the trailer nicely. I don't know if I'll ever tow anything that big with it again, but I don't regret getting that service done. I think that once you invest in a major service like this, you're restoring some very critical parts that make your vehicle tick. And you'll at least know what YOU have done with the vehicle. So, do your research and try to find out the service history on yours. If your Toyota dealer can do it for a reasonable price, have it done there. Usually, they are competitive with other shops, PLUS they know your vehicle. BUT they are pretty good at trying to sell unnecessary services. Just my 2 cents.
