Thoughts after 1,600 mile trip

I am in the middle of our annual summer road trip 4000 miles over 4 weeks. Two teens, tHe wife and two small dogs. Rooftop Thule frontier box and hitch platform I got at Walmart. I keep a storage box and a cooler on the hitch low enough that the hAtch still opens. Trip computer shows 21.3 mpg. 2wd sr5. Running 70-90 on the hwy depending on who is driving. Great road trip vehicle. I would say adequate room for kids and dogs in the back. Up front is great. Entune and nav is mostly good. The usb drive with 3000 songs is much better than Sirius .

No problem getting off the highway and using two track seasonal roads in Michigan to access some more remote sites. Can't say enough good things about the ride. Wife got rid of minivan and I got the runner as a replacement family size vehicle and couldn't be happier.
 
gmatherly said:
I love hearing how well your new T4R did on your trip because i just bought one yesterday after a long trip to the Carolina beaches ( i may have been one of those people struggling uphill as i had a LOADED silverado).

What kind of cargo carrier did you use on your trip (on top or hitch) and if on top (skybox style) how was the wind noise?
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It's the Karrite Explorer (label says Explorer by Karrite - it's gray on the top and black on the bottom).

Here's an image: http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mqU4SY4cVZkKlLKj-RPBq_A.jpg

I bought it about 12 years ago at Walmart. Wind noise is good (it's aerodynamic unlike other "box" top carriers). It was very cheap, and I would NOT recommend it. It's lasted for all those years, but my issue is it only opens from the side (there are two key locks on the right side, and "clamp locks" on the front and back end). When the sun is out, the plastic tends to get soft which causes the carrier to close when loading/unloading because it's somewhat melting where the front and back hinges are. And it's extremely terrible if you are installing it because that's when you absolutely need to have it stay open for a long time.

Installing it is a nightmare. Even when using a ladder, getting the two clamps on the hinge side is almost impossible to reach around to install. Again, if you're doing this in the hot sun, expect to have your arm pinched while trying to tighten the clamps. One year, I had my daughter go up on the roof inside the carrier to line them up for me to tighten the screws. But she's too big to go up there now.

Before I owned this one, I borrowed one from a friend. It's made by Sears (X-Cargo), and has a lock on the front and opens from front to back. It was very roomy, and I regret not paying the extra $ to buy that one before I found the Karrite. I never tried the Thule and I think Yakima makes some, but I would bet those are much nicer than the Karrite.

Lastly, I store all of our beach gear in the carrier. I fit four beach chairs (they are the Tommy Bahama ones from Costco -- which I would definitely recommend because they have pockets, headrest, and are made of aluminum so they don't rust), a beach umbrella, a "stroller type" cart with big wheels, sand toys/shovel, and fabric cooler that fits into the stroller. It's a tight squeeze but if you strategically place the items in, the lid covers just fine. This keeps all the sand in the carrier so all you need to do is dump it out after vacation.

BTW, have a great time on your trip!
 
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FordyceCreek said:
On a first big road trip ourselves right now, hanging out in a condo. Biggest issue is definitely power, really works hard at high speeds and hills.

Here is something crazy though, my wife mentioned it and I did not believe her, but it gets BETTER gas mileage with the cruise control off and by manually shifting in the mountains.
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I agree, the engine does work hard and you feel like something is going to "give" because of how hard it works. But in my experience, all engines work hard on steep hills. For how loaded down we were though, I was never in a situation where I said to myself that I wish it had more power. Of course, if you have ever driven an I4 RAV 4, fully loaded with the same cargo carrier like we did the last two years (and even the I4 Venza we took without a cargo carrier 3 summers ago), it was nice having the extra power in the 4R.
 
ECBMCC said:
Are you able to turn the car on more than once? Also, do you know how long it runs? I'm curious because our dog doesn't do well in the heat and we're moving to Florida. Thanks, on my wife's MDX, an indicator on the remote turns green when it's on, but I can only turn it on twice for 15 minutes each time. Thanks again. Cheers!
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I think you can turn it on more than once, but honestly never tried. Also, I think it stays on for 20 minutes, but again, never tried it and I'd need to read the manual to find out. I didn't notice any indicator on the key to indicate when it's running so I'll have to look into that too.

My personal opinion, and this is not a dig, I wouldn't trust it for leaving your dogs in to stay cool. Unless you're sitting right outside the car and can tell it's running, and you know the air is blowing out cold, I wouldn't recommend "trusting" the system because you never know what could happen. What if you thought you left the AC on, but forgot to push the AC button? It would only be a matter of minutes before the dog would be overcome by the Florida heat. Also, what if you accidentally bumped the lock button for a few seconds and it turns off. I know you know better than to do that (I'm a dog owner too), but I'm too paranoid to trust it in a life/death situation.
 
Got done with a similar road trip and will tag on my impressions.

adoihcj said:
Pros
T4R was fully packed with 4 of us plus lots of luggage and a full cargo carrier. Regarding power, there was more than enough needed. I was able to set the cruise and would keep in front of other vehicles going up mountains in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Other cars would pass me when going down hills only for me to pass them when going up the hills. I was very impressed with the performance given we had a heavy load. For anyone on the fence about buying one because a V8 is not available, there's plenty of power in these when you need it.
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It's not that I ran out of pedal travel for lack of power, but the V6 feels like the I4 on my 7th Gen Accord. Disabling the cruise control or going into 4th on every rolling hill on the interstate gets old after a while. A V8 would help there.

Averaged about 18 MPG. This was about 2 MPG better than what I get around town. Had we not needed to go up so many mountains, I'm sure it would have been a lot better.
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I got 22 while doing 70. Was quite impressed!

NAV was extremely helpful using HD to warn of upcoming traffic jams/safety issues. At one point, I had at least a 10 mile warning about approaching traffic and once again at the 2 mile mark. It was amazing because I never would have known the traffic was coming up without the warning.
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Waze blows the NAV out of water. NAV seems oblivious to all but the worst traffic.
Cons
NAV was terrible with choosing routes. It always seemed to pick the route that was the least logical. Also, there no "on the fly" volume control for voice commands. You have to adjust in settings rather than while the voice is being heard.
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Agreed. No mute button for NAV is also annoying.
Satellite radio reception was terrible. That's while I refuse to subscribe. There were times on I 95 through the Carolina's where it would cut out for a long time due to trees on both sides of the route.
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Poor reception seems to be a common problem with OEM system. My Accord, Prius v, and 4Runner all similarly suck when there are obstructions nearby.
My friend's aftermarket setup with decade old standalone head unit and magnet antenna is unflappable, so it's not the service itself, but the hardware in the vehicle.
 
Just returned from a similar trip to the Carolina's and VA with much on 95 and no issue with the Sat Radio so yours may have some issue / problem.
 
Good info above - thanks. We are planning a trip from Wichita KS to San Francisco then down the PCH to San Diego and then over to Phoenix in September. We have a 2013 SR5 that has never been on a trip of any length.
 
phillyd2 said:
Just returned from a similar trip to the Carolina's and VA with much on 95 and no issue with the Sat Radio so yours may have some issue / problem.
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Something I just thought of after reading your post. Maybe my cargo carrier was causing some of the blockage of the antenna??
 
FordyceCreek said:
On a first big road trip ourselves right now, hanging out in a condo. Biggest issue is definitely power, really works hard at high speeds and hills.

Here is something crazy though, my wife mentioned it and I did not believe her, but it gets BETTER gas mileage with the cruise control off and by manually shifting in the mountains.
Click to expand...

i've always gotten better mpg with cruise control off in any vehicle in the mountains or wind...aside from from my jeep tj cruise control--which was a hand throttle on the 5-speed used to lock it at rpm, that one was a wash, ha
 
Did a road trip to Oklahoma with my 2011 TE a few weeks ago and the navigation was off as well. My brother had to turn on his phone to help guide us to the better and faster route.
 
I drove from Colorado Springs to Mobile, AL in one day with over 1500 pounds of crap in the back.

I used my Nexus 5 to navigate, the Entune was used to play music.
 
slor209 said:
Did a road trip to Oklahoma with my 2011 TE a few weeks ago and the navigation was off as well. My brother had to turn on his phone to help guide us to the better and faster route.
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Did the same thing. I had both Apple maps on my iPhone 6 and the T4R NAV going at the same time.
 
Surprised by the contrast of the satellite reception experiences. I never have any issues unless understandably under a gas canopy, wooded area, etc.

Also, I tested MPG for cruise/no cruise when I had my 3rd gen and always got about 1 MPG better using no cruise.
 
Don't worry the speed limit in Oregon is 55mph so the hills shouldn't be that bad. you will probably want to jab needles in your eyes..
 
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