Hello from Music City!

[SuperT]

My wife just purchased an '09 Rav4 Sport V6 4x4 this past Saturday. She traded in her '01 Corolla with 150k + miles on it. It was time to move on especially with a toddler already and planning on having another.

So far we love it. Tons of room, more than adequate performance, great brakes, etc. One small issue is the slight whine we started noticing yesterday. I'm trying to not get too far ahead of myself on it, but after doing a lot of post-car buying research on it I obviously became concerned. It's a constant faint whine at all RPMs, not the loud whine at certain highway crusing speeds that I read mostly were the ones that needed new trannys, but it does concern me. Not sure if that's just the sound it makes and I'm paranoid or if it's something I should look into more. I had an '03 Acura CL Type S that needed the tranny replaced after only a few thousand miles of ownership, so if it is something that's going to be problematic, I want to get it figured out ASAP.

I own a '07 Mazdaspeed6 which uses the same 4 wheel drive technology that the Rav4 uses. Front wheel drive until slippage is detected and then the rear wheels get power. I replaced my tranny, transfer case and rear differential with AMSOIL fluids and it's been trouble free, so I'm wondering if I should just do the same with the Rav4 or if I should bring it to the dealership for a diognosis. Any recommendations?

Anyway, enough of the bad, the good aspects of it so far outweigh the possible bad. I hope it serves us well and I'm looking forward to browsing the forum for good stuff!

[rob west]

Congrats! Good looking Rav. You will find a wealth of knowledge on this forum...welcome!