First impressions... Day 1

1. It's Big... way Bigger than I expected... I did not drive or see one in person before I bought... Don't care about ride quality or noise. (Can't hear anything anyways over my Classic 70-80"s rock station....)

2. Ride quality sucked driving home. felt every bump... Then noticed the tire air pressure was about 45psi... The spare was at 50.... Quick road side stop and tires dropped to 33psi... Wow what a difference! Nice.

3. Front windshield is tiny.... I mean tiny. I would have to cut my Subaru Forester window cover in half just to fit! Even my Wife stated.... why is the windshield so small? But has great views... so non issue!

4. Gas milage was great coming back from the dealership... a 1 Hour and 20 min drive... got about 29mpg... lots of down hill!

5. Heavy traffic MPG suxs... BAD... I got Stuck in a long line when interstate was shut down today... was getting 11 mpg while moving so slowly.... then hit about 19 to 20 mpg when not in traffic... this was on detour surface streets... I think this is quite the opposite from other hybrids that rock at low speeds? (Not sure as this is my first hybrid)

6. Technology overload... I think I bought a babysitter... getting text alerts that my door is open... while I'm standing next to my door... What can I say... Thanks for letting me know???

7. The need to log in and delete all the crap that records your driving style/habits including on line log in to op out of data sharing with your insurance!

8. It's a beast... that should easly cover any off road needs I may have! The youtube videos don't do this Justice... And... I'm going to do half what they are doing...

9. Tight fit in garage... about only 1 to 2 inchs to spare with roof rails... Thank god it fits!

10. Everything about this LC is new to me... Big, Bold, and lots of Torque! Going to take some time to get use to the changes... I really like this vehicle but it's so different from my past rides.

The windshield is smaller because it’s at less of an angle. The Subaru windshield is probably angled more making it bigger.

Pierac said:

2. Ride quality sucked driving home. felt every bump... Then noticed the tire air pressure was about 45psi... The spare was at 50.... Quick road side stop and tires dropped to 33psi... Wow what a difference! Nice.

6. Technology overload... I think I bought a babysitter... getting text alerts that my door is open... while I'm standing next to my door... What can I say... Thanks for letting me know???

8. It's a beast... that should easly cover any off road needs I may have! The youtube videos don't do this Justice... And... I'm going to do half what they are doing...

Click to expand...

2. Yea, I lowered the air pressure from 39 to 40 psi, down to 35 psi (cold) the following morning. Much improved ride!!! The next morning, I lowered the air pressure to 33 psi (cold). Now Miss Daisy’s ride is buttery smooth on the Michelin’s!

6. Ditto. Slowly but surely I am learning my way around all the high tech stuff! It’s going to take a while.

8. Initially I thought I would only have the OEM Michelins on Miss Daisy. Now, I am jonesing for some Toyo Open Country A/T III’s 265/70/18’s (or what ever the OEM size is ). They are still one of those ‘triple peak’ all season tires. Not as good as Blizzaks or Michelin ICE, but should work okay for the very rare icy conditions where I will be living full time, in a few weeks or a month. If they don’t, I will find a tire shop that can sipe the tires for me. That worked great on my 2006 Avalanche.

I've had mine 5 days and 150 miles now. Here's what I have found:

It looks great without screaming Hey Look At Me!!!

The ride is very trucky but I have not yet lowered my tire pressure from the 41 as delivered. On the highway, it smooths out nicely.

I was worried about the noise but I've had it up to 80 and it was very quiet. Some wind noise from the mirrors but little road noise. I removed the cross bars from the roof immediately and I'm sure that helped.

The handling has not been an issue. Yes it leans but it holds well and does not feel ungainly. And my other car is a BMW.

The size is not an issue at all. I had it on the narrow, one way streets of downtown Annapolis and felt very comfortable, even with the big mirrors. The boxy shape, and especially the hood, make it very easy to judge the right side of the car.

I'm generally willing to give the nanny features a chance. I've left them all on but usually giving only visual, not auditory feedback. The 2 exceptions are the rear cross traffic alert, which I love and left on audible, and the driver monitoring, which I hate and turned off completely. It's a great concept and would probably be useful on a long trip, but it is poorly designed. It comes on too fast and I tend to put my hand at the 12 o'clock position when driving around town, and that triggers it instantly. I'm pretty comfortable with technology but it takes a long time to truly understand all these features and set them up the way you want them. I would agree that there is a bit of sensory overload going on.

Love the Head Up Display.

I wish all the settings could be done through the big screen rather than the little MID on the dash. All the abbreviations and acronyms don't help people understand what they're doing.

The AC rocks. It's been 90s and humid here and my LC is black, but I'm comfortable. Had to turn the fan down - it was freezing us out.

I suppose the chill box is nice but I would rather it be optional. I'd rather have a big storage bin because in cabin storage is not great. The two compartments under the back floor are very nice though.

Day 2

Tech is still an issue.... Slow to learn all the different icons. It's easy when you know what the icons actually mean... (IE... Was looking in settings to turn on break hold at red lights and stop signs. Saw there was a hold button next to the Parking button... but falsely assumed it was to hold the Parking break on until you turned it off. Well the button was actually the setting I was looking for... ) Just a learning curve I did not expect, not a big deal... So I'm limiting myself to 1 issue to research each day.... Soooo many damn buttons and settings!!! My wife says... your lucky to have such problems... I agree!

Gas milage is not good in City driving where most hybrids excell!!! Getting about 18MPG in the city with short trips and in ECO mode with a feather foot during break in! Not even close to how I normally drive!
....
Almost never see the (Electric Boost Gauge that Shows that the power of the motor assists the engine) ever in the blue... but for a bout 1/10 of a second... It's like the electric motor is not even there??? Really?

I'm beginning to think the milage will be about 18MPG... Over all for me. But with much better torque in low RMPs? I was really hoping for about 21 mpg... over all... but my driving its about 80% city now! So not looking good for me... However.... don't buy a $70,000 car if you can't pay for the gas! Yet...the Grand highlander is getting 8 to 10 mpg more than me!

But I have a LandCruiser.... Baby!

Pierac said:

Day 2

Tech is still an issue.... Slow to learn all the different icons. It's easy when you know what the icons actually mean... (IE... Was looking in settings to turn on break hold at red lights and stop signs. Saw there was a hold button next to the Parking button... but falsely assumed it was to hold the Parking break on until you turned it off. Well the button was actually the setting I was looking for... ) Just a learning curve I did not expect, not a big deal... So I'm limiting myself to 1 issue to research each day.... Soooo many damn buttons and settings!!! My wife says... your lucky to have such problems... I agree!

Gas milage is not good in City driving where most hybrids excell!!! Getting about 18MPG in the city with short trips and in ECO mode with a feather foot during break in! Not even close to how I normally drive!
....
Almost never see the (Electric Boost Gauge that Shows that the power of the motor assists the engine) ever in the blue... but for a bout 1/10 of a second... It's like the electric motor is not even there??? Really?

I'm beginning to think the milage will be about 18MPG... Over all for me. But with much better torque in low RMPs? I was really hoping for about 21 mpg... over all... but my driving its about 80% city now! So not looking good for me... However.... don't buy a $70,000 car if you can't pay for the gas! Yet...the Grand highlander is getting 8 to 10 mpg more than me!

But I have a LandCruiser....

Click to expand...

Featherfoot is why your hybrid engine isn't engaging. It's primarily a torque motor. If you ever try getting on the throttle some you'll see it kick in.

Fort7365 said:

Featherfoot is why your hybrid engine isn't engaging. It's primarily a torque motor. If you ever try getting on the throttle some you'll see it kick in.

Click to expand...

You can definitely get it to engage with a "featherfoot". I drove miles with just the electric motor by featherfooting.

Pierac said:

Day 2

Tech is still an issue.... Slow to learn all the different icons. It's easy when you know what the icons actually mean... (IE... Was looking in settings to turn on break hold at red lights and stop signs. Saw there was a hold button next to the Parking button... but falsely assumed it was to hold the Parking break on until you turned it off. Well the button was actually the setting I was looking for... ) Just a learning curve I did not expect, not a big deal... So I'm limiting myself to 1 issue to research each day.... Soooo many damn buttons and settings!!! My wife says... your lucky to have such problems... I agree!

Gas milage is not good in City driving where most hybrids excell!!! Getting about 18MPG in the city with short trips and in ECO mode with a feather foot during break in! Not even close to how I normally drive!
....
Almost never see the (Electric Boost Gauge that Shows that the power of the motor assists the engine) ever in the blue... but for a bout 1/10 of a second... It's like the electric motor is not even there??? Really?

I'm beginning to think the milage will be about 18MPG... Over all for me. But with much better torque in low RMPs? I was really hoping for about 21 mpg... over all... but my driving its about 80% city now! So not looking good for me... However.... don't buy a $70,000 car if you can't pay for the gas! Yet...the Grand highlander is getting 8 to 10 mpg more than me!

But I have a LandCruiser.... Baby!

Click to expand...

But you have a Land Cruiser . . . Baby! That's the point. I think the one per day approach makes sense. I'm pretty comfortable with technology but I have slowed down my attempts to conquer everything right away. I'm about 90% now.

One really Bad bad thing... Getting notices from the app about every 4 hours.... Even got a alert at 2am that the doors were unlocked... no $hit... It's in my garage... Did you really have to wake me to tell me that? I have turned off notices everywhere I can find... and still get very frequent status messages...

I'm open for suggestions before I just delete the app.

Pierac said:

One really Bad bad thing... Getting notices from the app about every 4 hours.... Even got a alert at 2am that the doors were unlocked... no $hit... It's in my garage... Did you really have to wake me to tell me that? I have turned off notices everywhere I can find... and still get very frequent status messages...

I'm open for suggestions before I just delete the app.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah! The app sucks. I turn the sound down on notifications at night. The app offers a few benefits I want to keep, otherwise I would nuke it

You can tell you phone not to alert you for the Toyota app. I get visual but no sounds.

Go into the app. Hit the person symbol top right, then Account, Notification Settings, scroll down and you can turn off a bunch of stuff.

Pierac said:

One really Bad bad thing... Getting notices from the app about every 4 hours.... Even got a alert at 2am that the doors were unlocked... no $hit... It's in my garage... Did you really have to wake me to tell me that? I have turned off notices everywhere I can find... and still get very frequent status messages...

I'm open for suggestions before I just delete the app.

Click to expand...

Just got my LC last week and this is annoying me too. Getting a notification that the doors are unlocked could be a really useful thing, but not when it's in my garage. This feels like a relatively easy feature enhancement that Toyota could add to the app. (they know what your home address is, and the vehicle has GPS and knows where it is so..)

elsie said:

Just got my LC last week and this is annoying me too. Getting a notification that the doors are unlocked could be a really useful thing, but not when it's in my garage. This feels like a relatively easy feature enhancement that Toyota could add to the app. (they know what your home address is, and the vehicle has GPS and knows where it is so..)

Click to expand...

Someone else has already mentioned that you can turn off certain types of notifications. So you can stop the doors unlocked notification when it's in your garage but it turns it off for every situation. I agree that it already knows your home location but not everyone keeps their vehicle in a garage. I've opted to turn this one off.

Day 3

1. No change in Milage... Somehow... I'm missing the electric motor boost... Even putting the car in drive and never touching the gas pedal... Yet still have RPM's at 1500 or more? I guess it suxs to only live 8 miles from your job!

It's freaking HOT here in Arizona! Soooo..

2. Got Window tint today..... Front windshield... Driver and passenger windows... and Sun Roof.... OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got this Suntek Evolve ceramic tint.... The issue is I left out the tint... Meaning it's not tinted... This stuff is clear...yet some how blocks ALL the heat!

I can't even describe.... how it is to have 110 heat blazing down on your sun roof... Only to feel ilke it's a very overcast day... WOW!!! No really...WOW!!!

The cabin cools so much quicker meaning that it is... actually noticable!

Paul

Pierac said:

Day 3

1. No change in Milage... Somehow... I'm missing the electric motor boost... Even putting the car in drive and never touching the gas pedal... Yet still have RPM's at 1500 or more? I guess it suxs to only live 8 miles from your job!

It's freaking HOT here in Arizona! Soooo..

2. Got Window tint today..... Front windshield... Driver and passenger windows... and Sun Roof.... OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got this Suntek Evolve ceramic tint.... The issue is I left out the tint... Meaning it's not tinted... This stuff is clear...yet some how blocks ALL the heat!

I can't even describe.... how it is to have 110 heat blazing down on your sun roof... Only to feel ilke it's a very overcast day... WOW!!! No really...WOW!!!

The cabin cools so much quicker meaning that it is... actually noticable!

Paul

Click to expand...

Looking forward to getting my front windshield tint as well. Houston heat is no joke either.

Is the tint a film that is applied?

JMD said:

Is the tint a film that is applied?

Click to expand...

Yes. Do ceramic tint instead of regular tint. I did that for my Tesla. Life saver.

Pierac said:

6. Technology overload... I think I bought a babysitter... getting text alerts that my door is open... while I'm standing next to my door... What can I say... Thanks for letting me know???

Click to expand...

This especially! I’ve been trying to turn off all the nanny controls as much as possible. It takes time to figure it all out.

One thing I love about my ‘18 Jeep Wrangler is since it’s an off-road vehicle, I can kill the seat belt chime. There are legitimate reasons off-road to not have all the electronic nannies constantly distracting you. I do wish Toyota understood this.

Now has been about 3 weeks.... I named my new LC... The Beast!
In some ways miss my smaller turbo Subaru Forester XT. But love this new Beast too!

Gas milage suxs when driving short distances... My work is about 5 miles from my home.... I'm lucky to get 16.5 to 17 miles per gallon on this trip... However.... Church is a little longer and I'm getting closer to 19-20MPG as there is some hwy driving. I'm around 600 miles over all...at 3 weeks driving as much as I can to break her in!

Anyway... My Subaru only got about 19MPG with the same short drive to work.... But with a much heavier foot!