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Disapointed with our 2013 limited.

13K views 38 replies 26 participants last post by  Leonard1818 
#1 ·
We purchased a 2013 with 5 k on it. Seems like there is always something going on with this thing. Rotate tires, tire light on, read manual it was aparently written for a diffrent vehicle in that it says we can check tire pressures on the apps. We can not. GPS is undoubtedly the worst gps I have ever seen. Anyway, the nut fell far from the tree compared to the corolla we bought in 05...

Am I the only one disapointed with these things?
 
#3 ·
I think you'll find 99% of owners to be very happy with their rav. But, lemons exist among all brands. Not saying yours is, just that trading in a car with 5k on it is a red flag.

I'd hardly say that your tire light coming on is grounds for any sort of concern or complaint though. Check your tires, reset it and carry on.
 
#5 ·
I have a Limited in Canada. GPS itself is ok...the problem I have is that it's missing a lot of roads that are @ 3-4 years old. I thought the GPS was updated yearly.

Other issue I'm having is the stereo used to show/read me my texts until I flattened my iPhone to factory and started fresh. Now the the text feature is ghosted out.

The rear power actuators that lift the tail gate squeal every time it's activated both up & down.

Rear wiper makes a sound as well when not on intermittent. Like a internal scraping sound from the wiper motor housing.

It's going in on Dec 2 for it's 2nd service. Hopefully all are quick fixes.
 
#6 ·
I owned the 2011 RAV4 Ltd and loved it... so I am extremely disappointed with the 2013 Ltd...the lack of V6 engine being the first thing...
They removed many small conveniences that I still miss almost a year later - sun glasses holder in the roof, the outlet in the middle console, the location of the cup holders, and over all the car feels smaller than the old one... Small frustrations everyday. Oh and I hate having to wait for the truck to open and close. Why mess with a good thing?!
 
#8 ·
I'd have to agree with you about the GPS. I've used many GPS's over the years, my job required me to travel extensively and I would always request a GPS in every rental car.


Admittedly, i have not spent alot of time getting familiar with the unit in our Rav, but the little things i've noticed are the lack of current speed traveling (i like to compare it to the cars speed-o). Also, the little icon that shows what the speed limit is at your present location does not seem to update very quickly. And just the over-all layout of the screens image, don't like it.


Unless Toyota comes out with a software update for the present system then i'll just need to either learn to live with it or simply use our portable one, which is sad. They could certainly learn a thing or two from Garmin.
 
#9 ·
How is the tire rotation schedule on the Rav any worse than rotating tires on any CUV? Do it every 5K miles or so and be done with it... I don't see how this is a complaint....


And the tire pressure light... Thanks Obama.


It's a government mandate that ever vehicle after 2007 (I believe....) has to have them. These are actually a GOOD thing for most people who don't understand that for every 10 degree drop in temperature, your tire pressure drops by 1-2 psi


under-inflated tires use more fuel and wear differently than properly inflated tires. So heed the warning of the light and go fill up your tires to the proper pressure!


I will echo that the Navi. unit is bad. It's not HORRIBLE -- but it's not great. If you take a few minutes to get acclimated, it's much easier. I don't quite understand entering the address in REVERSE order (first you enter the city, then the street, then the street number) but hey, it's not the first one that I've had that does it that way. My biggest gripe is not allowing the unit to be utilized while in motion (by a passenger).


Would I get it again? Maybe... but they'd have to make some serious changes. Otherwise, google maps on my iPhone is going to be preferred.


Oh, and back to TPMS -- I do think it's bogus that we can't actively see the exact pressure in each tire. The manual IS dumb for being written as if we can check the pressure when we can't. It's not like the technology doesn't exist.....


Oh well, we all live and learn. Overall, we like our Rav quite a bit. I'm sure my next vehicle will have a tire pressure readout on the dash but then the seats won't heat up as quickly or I'll lose some other small thing that I like more about the Rav. So it goes...
 
#10 ·
And the tire pressure light... Thanks Obama.


It's a government mandate that ever vehicle after 2007 (I believe....) has to have them.
I'm no fan of Obama. But wasn't he still just an obscure junior senator in 2007? Not to mention that the legislation had to have been passed years earlier for it have taken effect in 2007. Have to give the manufacturers some lead time to get the technology implemented across their lineups.

Thank Ford Motor Corp if we want someone to blame.
 
#15 ·
Leonard18 has a very good point.

Always check our tire pressure manually when in DOUBT! :) and if traveling that far, we might as well check our spare (or check this with the rest of the tires because you might have a TPM sensor there too, :) smart eh?)

Then reset your TPMS manually, so the sensors or TPMS inside the tires and rims send the freshly tire pressure value information and then computer will reset the value of every TPM parameter of the TPM system.

If we do NOT have a manual RESET button, probably we have the auto-learn TPMS system. What we can do IS? to drive the car and let the computer receives the new tire pressure information from the 4x or 5x sensors. Then wait for the computer to restart and reset our BLINKING/STEADY TPMS light. What we have noticed, if the TPMS light is blinking, something is MISSING. :)

Probably, we are using the winter wheels without TPMS sensors. Well, here in Canada, people forget that they are on their winter wheels without the TPMS sensors. :-( OK, wondering why NOT put TMPS sensors on the set of the winter wheels, which some of us think it is better to have it in the winter season? EXPENSIVE! 4x or 5x sensors? wow, and we are going to ask the dealer or a shop to re-programme the sensors.

Then monitor.

If this persists, something is air LEAKING! we know what to do if something is leaking, right?
 
#19 ·
I have a 2013 Limited. I really like the car, but the sat nav is poor. It is the worst unit I've had to deal with. Reflections, small screen, old map data, poor night lighting, etc. Mapquest on my Iphone is better. It is not worth the extra money. My other complaint is Entune. Quite frankly its useless.
 
#21 ·
Couldn't agree more…..

Since getting my MotoX phone, I haven't even bothered to use my Navi in the Rav Ltd at all.

My phone is much faster and more accurate ……. and looks waaay better.


It's sad, but the ONLY thing I really use my navi system for is to get to the Pandora App…lol
 
#23 ·
Have a 2013 Limited. it's my first SUV so I don't have anything to compare it to, but so far I've been very satisfied with it. Only a few minor "complaints": hate the onboard Navigation (software & daytime display not as good as previous Toyota ones) but it works. I do get that "squeaking" sound on our rear lift gate that someone else mentioned (Toyota techs couldn't figure it out). suspension is a bit stiffer than I'm used to. seat cushioning is a bit stiff as well but tolerable on long road trips. other than that, everything else has been fine with the RAV4. handles great in the mountains and switchbacks so I don't have any issues with lack of power from not having a V6
 
#24 ·
Had mine in for the 2nd service and they couldn't find the squeak. So they're replacing both uprights. Almost $900 for parts.(under warranty)
 
#25 ·
I love my 2013. Almost 20,000 miles now. Nothing has gone wrong. My wish list is short.....only that it was a bit quieter at highway speed and that more of its switches were illuminated. Strangers have told me what a nice looking car it is. Like the OP, my TPMS warned me of low pressure when the temps began to drop. I was glad it did.
 
#26 ·
You are likely reading the portion of the manual written for the LE or XLE units. I've had a 2012 Camry LE at work several times and it does show the TPMS per corner. That feature seems like something that Toyota has removed in newer units, though. The 2014 unit that I have in my Limited is a good deal improved, IMO, over the one that shipped in the 2013, but it was all new for 2014, so you unfortunately got on the tail end of an older unit life cycle.

I have a Limited in Canada. GPS itself is ok...the problem I have is that it's missing a lot of roads that are @ 3-4 years old. I thought the GPS was updated yearly.

Other issue I'm having is the stereo used to show/read me my texts until I flattened my iPhone to factory and started fresh. Now the the text feature is ghosted out.

The rear power actuators that lift the tail gate squeal every time it's activated both up & down.

Rear wiper makes a sound as well when not on intermittent. Like a internal scraping sound from the wiper motor housing.

It's going in on Dec 2 for it's 2nd service. Hopefully all are quick fixes.
The maps do have an available update each year, but you are still at the mercy of the company that compiles the maps for Toyota.

Second, check the bluetooth setting on your iPhone. By default, the use of messages is turned off when you create the new connection on the phone side. If the function is available, there should be a toggle switch in the iPhone's bluetooth profile for the Rav4 where you can turn messages on and off. That is how it was on our old 2012 Prius v and our 2014 Rav4. Both are different units than what you have in your 2013 Rav4, though.

I have a 2013 Limited. I really like the car, but the sat nav is poor. It is the worst unit I've had to deal with. Reflections, small screen, old map data, poor night lighting, etc. Mapquest on my Iphone is better. It is not worth the extra money. My other complaint is Entune. Quite frankly its useless.
I have found a use for Entune. You can run the Bing app when you are still in your house and do searches for places you are planning on visiting. My wife and I went to Columbus, OH a month ago and I just searched the restaurant, shops, etc that we were planning on visiting in the Bing portion of the Entune app and saved the destinations. When I turned on the Rav, I went to the saved destinations app on the Rav head unit, and synced all my saved destinations. Voila, I instantly had all of my destinations for that trip easily available in the Rav's nav without having to individually enter each of them in. It is also a nice way to allow your passenger to search for POIs on the phone and sync them on the go without the passenger trying to navigate all of that through the head unit. I like the Pandora interface, but since iTunes radio came out, I never use it. No need for the Facebook, movie ticket, etc stuff.

Personally, I just want CarPlay in my cars. It is such a slick interface and it lets the phone do all of the heavy lifting. POIs are always [nearly] up to date where these built in Nav units will be pretty obsolete in 5 years as far as the data that is on them. Even using always up to date Garmins, TomToms, Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc, I always still make sure I have a pretty good idea where I'm heading before I strike out and confirm directions on two different apps or systems before I go. Too often one of the apps has an error and I end up in some insane location that the other app would have caught or at least required me to do more investigation. It is always good practice to double check up front and have a solid plan.
 
#27 ·
I am not totally toyota fanboy or really any car maker. Car, truck, suv, are vehicles used to get from A to B. You can spend $$$$ or $. Some are better than others.

Like a friend who is a toyota fanboy told me, its better to have a reliable vehicle than one which needs servicing every other week. One reason for my purchase when I see the new jeep suv/cuv. Got rav.

Sorry to hear of disappointment and trouble with your rav. Yes i too have small complaints. Even about dealer who is very cold all business. I go to him cause other one is way worst. Rav is working for me now and happy most of time with it. One reason why I got just le model. I will wait until all fancy eqpt and add ons work better. Maybe all makers will never get it right. And there will always be complaints by everybody. But in your case if unhappy and its cool imho. I currently have a small complaint which I will post to see what other have to say. Good luck and hang in there. No car like someone said will perfect product.
 
#28 ·
I had a 2011 Chevy Malibu where it would show you the tire pressure individually for all 4 tires (wasn't really a big fan of the car, but it did have some neat features), so yes, just having a light come up and having to check each tire to find out which one needs to be filled is kind of a pain. Yes the GPS is kind of a few years behind. Maybe Toyota should cut a deal with Apple or Google or something. You'd think Toyota and Japanese electronics would take the time to pay a little attention to details.
 
#30 ·
Quite honestly, a single light forcing you to check each tire is probably BETTER because most people wouldn't even take the time to look at their tires otherwise.


I'd like to have the individual readout, but then again I do a lot of visual inspection of our vehicles and check everything under the hood regularly.
 
#31 ·
Someone posted here how to display the tire pressures. It requires a finger dance on the display buttons and going down several pages to get the pressures. Only guess why they buried the pressures so dearly is there were too many complaints - comments about the displayed pressures. Complaints = demerits on ratings, so remove the source of complaint. Burying the tire pressure display so deeply is an overkill, holding a couple buttons down for a second would keep the curious away, and let the more technically inclined see the pressures without nearly a dozen button pushes.
 
#34 ·
On out 13 RAV4, I have not been able to get the tire pressures to show by going through the dance on the display buttons and through the pages as posted some time ago. When you reach the last step the MPG bar graph pops up with no indication of the tire pressures.

Has anyone got this to work?
 
#38 ·
Junebug,

After stumbling through the dialogue windows, I finally got to the part where you see the pressure readings. Except I see weird readings like 78 kPa (nowhere near to what I measured with a digital pressure guage) .... Guess it needs some kind of calibration or something. But still not that much help because you don't really know which tire is which. Oh well...

Anyway, thanks for the info.

Philo
 
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