6G Celicas Forums

That's what I always thought/ heard. Start the car for a minute or two before you leave because it's going to warm up faster when you're driving then if it is just sitting there.

I'll have to check on the heated seats.

[EDIT] She has heated seats. I don't know what she is complaining about.

This post has been edited by navseal345: Dec 10, 2017 - 12:15 PM

Our 4Runner takes forever to warm up so I see why she would complain, but if it takes that long to warm up while driving, I feel like a remote start won’t be that helpful. But, as stated before, happy wife, happy life. We are happy with the Viper remote start we have but seldom ever use it, and o do t know how it would work with the immobilizer in the 4Runner. Plus she may want something like Compustar’s Drone Service where she can start it from her phone, but that has a monthly service fee. I think Viper does something similar but I don’t remember what it’s called. I just know that I’ve heard anything Directed Electronics (who owns Viper) is supposed to be good.

If it's not warming up fast you need to look at the thermostat (opening early or partly open) or restrict airflow over the radiator in winter. I did that with my Geo and Mazda with some cardboard and it helped noticeably on the coldest of days. Heck, with the 195 stat in the Mazda it doesn't even open or stay open on real cold days. I can park after driving on the highway for 20 minutes and my radiator is still cold, it has to sit at idle with no air flow to get the radiator hot and thermostat opened up. The Mazda gets cooking hot 140 degree heat rolling from the vents on the highway which is nice, and with the thermal/air barrier installed in the front doors there's no cold air blowing up through the door panel switches or around the edges at highway speeds, the cabin retains heat a little better.

There's lots of small things you can do to really increase the winter comfort. I used FV516 (I think) insulation, it's peel n stick and easy to work with. Low R value but I was after the sealing properties not the insulation properties. The bonus of sealing the door panels like that is that the speakers sound better since there's more separation between back and front sound waves, science and stuff.

Amazon refunded me for the engine mount even though it was outside the return period.

I don't see the point in letting the car run for more than 30-60 seconds, since as already mentioned you're just contributing to wear and dumping fuel into the oil. Let it run for about a minute to give time for oil to circulate and then drive it gentle until it's at operating temperature.

As far as the "remote start" goes I think if you could get it to where the heated seats could be turned on from a distance that'd be more beneficial, say give it 5 minutes to pre warm the seats so not enough to really draw on the battery but enough time for it to warm up.

My 00 4runner take about 15 minutes to warm up, but I don't mind it since I have heated seats. If I were to drive the sc400, takes maybe 4 minutes to heat up. The 3s swap takes about 10 mins to get warm inside but I need to replace the blower motor soon

I can have my Mazda at operating temp with 75 degree air from the vents in about a 1/2 mile where I get on the highway ramp after it's sat in my garage over night, but I have an obvious leg up on a car sitting outside. I let it idle for about 30-60 seconds before pulling out of the garage then drive in 2nd gear only till I get to the highway on ramp, and then don't let it get into 4th gear for about a mile on the highway. This gets the engine good n hot in a hurry and gets cabin heat going faster. Also if you can run recirc without fogging windows that'll get the cabin hotter faster too, once they start to fog put it back to fresh air.

The 4Runner doesn’t take exceptionally long to heat up like anything is wrong with it, but it takes like 10 minutes of light driving where the Celica is like 3-4 minutes and the Supra is about 5. The old ’06 we had was like 37 seconds and it was warm. Yet another way the 4th gen was better than the 5th gen.

Wouldn't hurt to verify the thermostat opening temp just to make sure, but I know what you mean. My mom's 10 Mazda 3 2.5 takes a lot longer to get good cabin heat than any of the 3 cars I've owned and most cars I've driven at work. It's to the point where when she offered to basically give me the car cause she had the new car bug I talked her out of it, I mean not just cause the heat sucks but because there's so much new tech coming down the pipes in the next few years buying a new car now that you intend to hang onto for the next 8+ years is a bit silly. I'm pretty keen on that new HCCI engine from Mazda, when I'm ready to buy new I may consider something like a Mazda6, if the heat doesn't suck.

Definitely the 4th gen is better than the 5th gen in every way!! I love my 3rd gen, wouldnt mind getting a 4th gen, but never a 5th, underpowered, feels cheap inside, kinda like 7th gen celica from 00-02

The Firebird it depends. The slower you go the faster it warms up, the bottom feeder design works really well at cooling because even on a hot summer day if you're doing 70 mph or faster it doesn't want to move past 185º. The last time I drove during the Winter it didn't want to go too far off 160º when going down the highway. Which I like the cold so I don't particularly care in that regard, but it'd be nice to have it closer to 180º for the engine's sake.

That's ok brother doesn't think putting in a new clutch will help enough, I was 25% hopeful it'd help enough but I guess can't really expect too much of an improvement since the clutch is fine otherwise. I don't know... I just don't think there's anything else I'll like as much or more than it outside of a Corvette. Yes I like the Miata and certain aspects of it I like more, but as a total package I dunno... Maybe turbocharged or supercharged I'd like it as much, same goes for a MR2 or 240SX. I think I'd like a 350Z, but would just have concerns of clutch weight on '03-06 models though I've heard the RJM pedal softens effort and fixes the engagement point. That's really about it in terms of other cars I'd be interested in that're also in my budget. Which at least the extensive time with my brother's Miata has given me an actual reality of expectations, which is good and bad in its own way. I guess I need to go out and find a 350Z to test it out. Or maybe Santa will bring me a new left leg for Christmas, that'd be nice.

Don't understand the "hatred" for the 5th gen 4Runner here honestly. Haven't spent much time in a 4th but from my small amount in it, I liked the 5ths interior leagues over it, and just the over all feel. The only thing that I've heard a lot of is the underpower but you buy a 4Runner to go over mountains not win races.

Because no glorious V8, and V8's are life.

The 4th gen V8 felt about right in terms of power. Not overpowered, not underpowered. The 5th gen has more power than the 2UZ on paper but nothing on paper translates to actual driving experience. The 5th gen lacks torque and the trans is programmed for efficiency, refusing to downshift and staying below 2,000 RPM until you floor it and keep it floored for a while. It’s actually proven to be downright dangerous on the highway, trying to merge or change lanes and the POS won’t accelerate. Couple that with the throttle map where pushing the pedal 50% gives you 10% throttle (thanks, DBW) and it exacerabates the issue. I don’t expect it to win races but I would prefer it to be slightly quicker than a 1970’s pickup truck. As for the build quality, it’s just crap. There’s no other way to put it. I didn’t mind it at first but all of the interior plastics are crap, seats are garbage, the sheet metal is thin and flimsy, brakes are crap, the carpet is Velcro which isn’t a problem for most people but you’re screwed if you have dogs, the suspension is known for squeaks and that drives me nuts, lighting is dismal as discussed earlier, and I could go on and on about the suspension.

Don’t mind me, I’m just ranting. TL;DR, spend a few hours driving a 4th gen 4Runner and a 5th gen, and you’ll find that the 4th gen is easily the better built vehicle despite a couple of known issues. I hear great things about the 3rd gens but I’ve never had the chance to drive one around. I want to get rid of our 5th gen but the wife says we’re keeping it so I guess we’re keeping it. I’ll just cross my fingers for a Colorado hail storm and let insurance take care of it.


The 2UZ really isn’t anything special as far as V8’s go, but it was definitely easier to live with than a 1GR. But I get the feeling that the next gen 4Runner will have the ridiculous 2GR-FKS and accompanying 6 speed trans, making things worse than they already are.

What we all need is a GT4 that should keep our minds happy. A little turbo AWD goodness. I don't think anyone would complain about that.

I do wish though that I could find a 6th gen. The idea of getting back into one is almost seared into my mind. But I also realize that may not be what I need right now.

The wife and I opened Christmas gifts early this year. She got me a dash cam! Yay! I've been wanting to get one and I finally have one.

I disagree, it's EXACTLY what you need right now..

Daniel, what did you go with as far as HIDs? I never know what is a decent brand, there's so many of them out there.

FWIW: I still love our 5th gen 4R. Admittedly, from what I remember about Daniel's 4th gen, I feel like the seats were probably more plush than the 5th gen, but as it's our first "truck" I have no basis for comparison. Although I do wish it had more power. Maybe that can be corrected with new ECU tuning software that is supposed to be good for all '05+ Toyota ECUs...

We went with DDM again. We’ve had good luck with them despite hearing about bad customer service. When I was doing my research, it seems like a lot of 5th gen owners go with Xenon Depot and are very happy with them.

It’s not that the 5th gen is “bad” by any means, I just personally preferred the 4th gen by a lot. It’s not like I’m going to trade it off for a Honda Pilot or even a Highlander. I’m just going to complain about it until it’s paid off or gone. Credit where it’s due though, it did kick butt on the trails I’ve taken it on. Crawl control was fun to play with. If ours had XREAS, I would be perfectly happy with the suspension. I think I would also be satisfied with KDSS but I can’t say for sure since I’ve nrver had a chance to test drive one. Brigette loves the 5th gen in red though so I’ve considered trading ours for a red TE Premium with KDSS if it drives better than the base suspension.

Have you looked into the Pedal Commander or Sprint Booster for your 4Runner? They are both $300 but they are plug and play for the gas pedal and they’re supposed to eliminate the wonky throttle map and make it more linear. I’m torn on them. I like the thought of the throttle doing what my foot tells it to but it’s also $300 to do the same thing that pressing the gas harder can do. I’m just annoyed that anything like that would be necessary.

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ooo, what car got chunked? 4runner is a good choice.