New Rav4 owner, some initial questions!

[dennis10]

Hi all, new Rav 4 owner here from the UK - I've just purchased a lovely looking 2006 Rav4 XT4 in Carbon Quartz with a 2.0 petrol and manual transmission!  She's generally in very good condition, but I have a few questions about some niggles that I am going to need to sort.

1.  Firstly, I did quite a bit of research before buying, as you would expect, but for some reason I was sure I was buying an XA20 mk2 Rav4, but now am not sure and think it might be an XA30 mk3, or right at the changeover point - please could somebody tell me how I can definitively tell?  It has the engine with red lettering on cam cover and no airbox on top, round fog lights at the front, but still has the spare wheel on the rear hatch, which has me confused as I thought mk3s had those removed?  The dash and clocks are what I think are the new style - in some places I can see that a mk2 is listed as 2000-06, but others it is listed as 2000-05?

2.  The air conditioning isn't working, the compressor runs when I turn the fan up and press the AC switch, but the air never gets icy cold.  Previous owner (private not trade) said they had taken it to be regassed, but technician said it was full already, so it appears to not be a leak - please can somebody tell me how to diagnose properly?

3.  Retro-fitting cruise control - I've seen some videos showing that I can just buy the mk3 stalk, remove airbag, connect up and secure, hole saw through the side of the steering wheel hub as it doesn't have the factory hole and then change the clutch switch for a cruise control switch, is this right?  Please could anyone give me the part numbers?

4.  Rear brakes aren't sweeping the disc clean, quite a bit of rust on the inner edge and discs look old, are the rear calipers known for binding / sticking?  I'm thinking, just replace discs and pads, clean up and grease caliper sliding bolts?  Anything else to be aware of?

5.  The Rav seems to have a weird little issue whereby when I depress the clutch to change gear, either up or down, the revs rise a bit and then drop - is this a problem with the clutch switch, throttle body alignment or something else?  I've seen this issue on other cars and it is usually something like this.  It changes gear perfectly and clutch seems generally good, no slippage.

Thanks in advance!

[FROSTYBALLS]

Not all mark 3s lost the tailgate mounted spare wheel - see:

https://mag.toyota.co.uk/history-of-the-toyota-rav4/

[philip42h]

55 minutes ago, dennis10 said:

I was sure I was buying an XA20 mk2 Rav4, but now am not sure and think it might be an XA30 mk3, or right at the changeover point - please could somebody tell me how I can definitively tell? 

Take a look at the pictures in the history as linked by Mike and look specifically at the headlights and the shape of the rear quarter light - they are distinctively different ...

A 2006 car is likely to be a Mk 3 but could be a late Mk 2 ...

An XT4 would have had a tailgate mounted spare. Toyota didn't 'remove' the tailgate mounted spare until after they discontinued the "XT4" designation.

[Dippy]

Mk2 and Mk3 are very different body shapes, whatever is under the bonnet. I have a Mk3 (diesel) and it has the rear mounted spare, but other versions didn’t.