Rav4 T180

[blue monster]

So, today was the day that I picked up my 2008 RAV4 T180. 30k on the clock, 1 owner, FTSH, black, 4 new bridgestones, 1 year Toyota warranty and absolutely spotless

Some of you will be aware from my other posts that until today we had a 2006 Nissan X-Trail dCi Aventura which is Nissan's top spec, all singing, all dancing SUV.

I had a 90 mile drive back home which was mainly motorway but I did have about 10 miles of A roads too.

1st impressions:

• The RAV is so quiet compared to the X-Trail which did sound agricultural when cold.
• The power delivery is very impressive - I found myself on the M7 doing 70 feet per minute in 6th only to drop my foot & find myself catapulted in to warp speed - much better than the X-Trail.
• Very comfortable & better driving posistion than the X-Trail.
• Good satnav/stereo combo - again better than the X-Trail.
• Averaged 34mpg which is similar to the X-Trail but a completely different experience.

All in all, very happy & pleased with my purchase & hope not to be asking too many questions on here.

Cheers

Martin

[Big Kev]

Nice to hear you're pleased with yer new toy, Martin....now go break the piggybank and order (ot get the one on eBay that's almost new at a nice discountment...?) a Lindop Chip Kit from Kingo / Parts King on here. Or drive to Glasgow and try before you buy. Then the fun intensificates.....

(Kingo....golf balls are Titleist Pro V1...THEY ONLY COME IN BOXES OF 200....)

Big Kev

[crofter]

Good to hear another fella safely in the driving seat of one of the best (some may say THE best)motors,heres wishing you many happy and worry free mileage with your new wheels

Del

[Lupidog]

I picked up my T180 in December 20010 and just 2 weeks ago put a Lindop Chip on the car. I admit to being mechanically minded and it only took me 10 minutes to fit using the supplied idiots guide. But a non mechanical person would not striggule to fit this. Only lack of confidence would push your elsewhere to fit, and that is a good thing. If your not sure don't risk harming yourself or the vehicle. Get somone who knows what hes doing to fit it.

What can I say.... OMG it's only on setting number 6 (which was the original factory power setting on the original, non adjustable Lindop Chip) and it has transformed an excellent 4x4 into a perfect 4x4. The power pick up, torque and acceleration are very noticably improved and if you can find the patience to be gentle with the accelerator you have a good increase in fuel consumption. You have to work at being light on the accelerator as you still get better response from the "chipped" Rav4 by being light than you did from driving in your old style on your "pre-chipped" Rav4.

The reason it is only on setting number 6 is because I am getting the brakes upgraded and changing the tyres before I keep it permanently on the max setting.

Which cunningly leads me on to my next two topics. I hope i don't get flagged for spamming here by going slightly off Topic.

I have found a garage in Fraserburgh which has experience in removing the run flat inserts without damaging the rims. So I am getting these removed this week and Vredestein Wintrac 4 Extremes fitted. There are better dry road tyres available but alot of my driving is in the wet and on farm usage B roads. Plus after last winter the Pre fitted Bridgestone proved non to good in the winter weather. Toyota Aberdeen does not even have a machine for removing the tyres from a car that it sold.

Next I am getting Mtec drilled and grooved front and rear discs supplied with Mintex Redbox Pads. I don't know if this is a good deal, but they are supplying all for £204.95.

So, Big Kev if your listening (and probably tutting about new posters going off topic), do you know at what point T180's went from a standard 276mm front disc to a 296mm front disc. Was this an time line improvement or was this an option at purchase? Mine appears to be fitted with 276mm front and back and is a late 06 reg. It goes forwards very well and stops very well. I just want the stopping to match the new "chipped" going forward... Will the 296mm front discs fit withouts any other alterations or modifications??? Worried about the calipers and wheel.

[igormus]

So, today was the day that I picked up my 2008 RAV4 T180. 30k on the clock, 1 owner, FTSH, black, 4 new bridgestones, 1 year Toyota warranty and absolutely spotless

Some of you will be aware from my other posts that until today we had a 2006 Nissan X-Trail dCi Aventura which is Nissan's top spec, all singing, all dancing SUV.

I had a 90 mile drive back home which was mainly motorway but I did have about 10 miles of A roads too.

1st impressions:

• The RAV is so quiet compared to the X-Trail which did sound agricultural when cold.
• The power delivery is very impressive - I found myself on the M7 doing 70 feet per minute in 6th only to drop my foot & find myself catapulted in to warp speed - much better than the X-Trail.
• Very comfortable & better driving posistion than the X-Trail.
• Good satnav/stereo combo - again better than the X-Trail.
• Averaged 34mpg which is similar to the X-Trail but a completely different experience.

All in all, very happy & pleased with my purchase & hope not to be asking too many questions on here.

Cheers

Martin

hi mate

congratulations

the first thing to do is have it watered :) have you done it yet???

in any case you ve done a good choise -- it;s in fact quite.

be carefull on roads mate

good luck

Igor

[blue monster]

What can I say.... OMG it's only on setting number 6 (which was the original factory power setting on the original, non adjustable Lindop Chip) and it has transformed an excellent 4x4 into a perfect 4x4. The power pick up, torque and acceleration are very noticably improved and if you can find the patience to be gentle with the accelerator you have a good increase in fuel consumption. You have to work at being light on the accelerator as you still get better response from the "chipped" Rav4 by being light than you did from driving in your old style on your "pre-chipped" Rav4.

I have thought about chipping it as there is still one of these Lindop Chips on flea bay, but typically more power means more tempation to put the boot down.

How much more noticeable is the fuel comsumption - can you give an idea of numbers as with the current cost of fuel the chip could pay for itself in no time!!

[Big Kev]

I picked up my T180 in December 20010 and just 2 weeks ago put a Lindop Chip on the car. I admit to being mechanically minded and it only took me 10 minutes to fit using the supplied idiots guide. But a non mechanical person would not striggule to fit this. Only lack of confidence would push your elsewhere to fit, and that is a good thing. If your not sure don't risk harming yourself or the vehicle. Get somone who knows what hes doing to fit it.

What can I say.... OMG it's only on setting number 6 (which was the original factory power setting on the original, non adjustable Lindop Chip) and it has transformed an excellent 4x4 into a perfect 4x4. The power pick up, torque and acceleration are very noticably improved and if you can find the patience to be gentle with the accelerator you have a good increase in fuel consumption. You have to work at being light on the accelerator as you still get better response from the "chipped" Rav4 by being light than you did from driving in your old style on your "pre-chipped" Rav4.

The reason it is only on setting number 6 is because I am getting the brakes upgraded and changing the tyres before I keep it permanently on the max setting.

Which cunningly leads me on to my next two topics. I hope i don't get flagged for spamming here by going slightly off Topic.

I have found a garage in Fraserburgh which has experience in removing the run flat inserts without damaging the rims. So I am getting these removed this week and Vredestein Wintrac 4 Extremes fitted. There are better dry road tyres available but alot of my driving is in the wet and on farm usage B roads. Plus after last winter the Pre fitted Bridgestone proved non to good in the winter weather. Toyota Aberdeen does not even have a machine for removing the tyres from a car that it sold.

Next I am getting Mtec drilled and grooved front and rear discs supplied with Mintex Redbox Pads. I don't know if this is a good deal, but they are supplying all for £204.95.

So, Big Kev if your listening (and probably tutting about new posters going off topic), do you know at what point T180's went from a standard 276mm front disc to a 296mm front disc. Was this an time line improvement or was this an option at purchase? Mine appears to be fitted with 276mm front and back and is a late 06 reg. It goes forwards very well and stops very well. I just want the stopping to match the new "chipped" going forward... Will the 296mm front discs fit withouts any other alterations or modifications??? Worried about the calipers and wheel.

Hi Lupidog,

I wasn't in the slightest aware that there were two sizes of disc fitted to 4.3 variant. If it helps you save some Aberdonian pennies, I have at no point found the standard braking system wanting or lacking from any speed applied, and this after 17 months of the Kingo Chip Kit fitted. I am not aware whether I have 276 or 296mm discs either....goes like stuff off a shovel, and stops well too.

Big Kev

[Davrav]

with the current cost of fuel the chip could pay for itself in no time!!

Well that should sway SWMBO

[Lupidog]

The chip on eBay that was removed a couple of days ago was a sliverstone Racing chip which is a "sister company" of Lindops. It appeared to be an original chip and not the New MkII version which is adjustable.

The new MkII version can be can be adjusted to well over the stated power increases of the old chip and the wiring loom is less complicated. The Website does not as yet seem to have been updated to show this. This was explained to me on midweek last week by "John" in the parts dept. I ordered the chip by phone giving the car reg so that they can check for exactly the right model and i received the chip and had it fitted by the weekend.

More Power doesnt necessarily mean putting your boot down as with the greatly increased torque, you have a vast inprovement in acceleration driving the way you did "pre chip".

I found that I was actually using less accelerator naturally because of the increased performance. My biggest shock was after chipping the car and letting it idle (reccommended" for 5 minutes to let the ECU and chip mate properly). I jumped into the drivers seat and went to reverse out of my yard (thinking of how I was going to go and see how the car performed on the open road)and very suddenly realised I was reversing a hell of alot faster with the same ammount of accelerator that I always reversed out of the yard with.

You actually need less pedal to acheive the same speeds in the same gears.

So, in a long winded awnser to your question. The fuel consumption depends entirely on your driving style. When I chipped my Rav I also added a K&N air filter (3 min job to replace).

I acheived 47.9mpg average on monday on a 106 mile round trip I do very often. I used to (pre chip) average 43.7mpg. I have only done the run once since "chipping" a few says ago, but the results look good. This is uncongested country lane driving so I would expect to see a better differtial on dual carrigeway or motorway. This isnt a vast improvement in mpg so far but it is an improvement. The "smile factor" alone is worth the investment.

It is very, very, very, hard to resist the temptation to check the acceleration every now and again just to persuade yourself you wern't imagining the improvement.

If your used to driving an unchipped T180 then try to find somone to let you try their chipped version. If your local to Aberdeen, we may be able to something.

[Lupidog]

Hi Big Kev

I was informed by the disc manufacturer that very early T180's were fitted with 276mm front discs. I don't know either way but I defer to their experience.

I have had issues in the past and brake discs becoming "warped" at service time, with Toyota on my previous XT4 while I was abroad and my wife left to have the car serviced.

I have no issues with the stopping power of the standard Toyota discs, but as I have found a manufacturer that can supply Performance discs comparable with the life of standards discs and at what I consider a very reasonable price.

I will try those instead as I am unhappy with Toyota for trying to push new discs on my wife when they just needed cleaning. This is a very common misconception that discs are warped just because the steering wobbles when you brake. Normally prolonged use of the foot brake instead of the handbrake, lends itself towards binding and then deposits on the discs. This is the most common cause of brake wobble and is very easily and cheaply remedied.

The reason I am changing all of the discs now is that my current front discs are becoming worn and I am just about to remove my wheels and take the inserts out. So I may as well do everything at once on one of the 3 sunny days I expect this year up here on the Moray coast.

[Big Kev]

What can I say.... OMG it's only on setting number 6 (which was the original factory power setting on the original, non adjustable Lindop Chip) and it has transformed an excellent 4x4 into a perfect 4x4. The power pick up, torque and acceleration are very noticably improved and if you can find the patience to be gentle with the accelerator you have a good increase in fuel consumption. You have to work at being light on the accelerator as you still get better response from the "chipped" Rav4 by being light than you did from driving in your old style on your "pre-chipped" Rav4.

I have thought about chipping it as there is still one of these Lindop Chips on flea bay, but typically more power means more tempation to put the boot down.

How much more noticeable is the fuel comsumption - can you give an idea of numbers as with the current cost of fuel the chip could pay for itself in no time!!

Wotsha Martin,

Further endorsifying that what which Lupidog has eloquently posted, it really is a strange experience to describe after the Lindop Chip goes in.....for what seems to be significantly less pedal pressure / throttle openings, you get the same if not increased speed. Then if sitting on motorway at 65mph (aye...right....)in 6th gear, it takes a mere blip of the gas pedal and you are easily in excess of 80mph and more, which I would not dream of advocating, officer.

I too immediately saw an improvement of some 4mpg, which I wasn't really looking for at October 2009 fuel prices, but will now accept as an inadvertent bonus. The best way I have described the Kingo Kitto is in its increased "flexibility", and I had no complaints how the SR180 performed in standard guise.

Big Kev ;)