Hey Scotty, I live around houston and I just bought a toyota 2009 rav4 sport with a 4 speed automatic for $12,250 with 50k miles on it. I checked the frame and there was no rust. I used my bluedriver scan tool and no codes showed up. It was a one owner car from an elderly woman and I bought it from her directly. Just wondering was this a good purchase price wise and is a toyota 2009 rav4 with 4 speed automatic a good reliable vehicle. Is there anything you would recommend checking? (Car was taken care of and changed all fluids)
I just bought a toyota 2009 rav4 sport with a 4 speed automatic for $12,250 with 50k miles on it.
Unlike the '08 model, for '09 Toyota switched from the oil burning 2.4L AZ to the great 2.5L AR (for most cars, it's rare to see an '09 with a 2.4)
Although the 2.4L is quite terrible, by 100k miles it's not uncommon to see them consume 2-3 quarts per 1,000 miles,
Toyota's 2.5L engine is great (I'm assuming that's what you have), one of the BEST engine's Toyota used to make.
If you perform all of the required maintenance as suggested by the manual and replace engine oil every 5k-7.5k miles, it should be able to get the 2.5L easily last over 200k miles.
At high milage, the only common issue is timing codes and VVT sprockets rattling. It's solved by installed a new timing kit with VVT sprockets. Usually it's not too expensive and if you'll ever need this repair, it's worth it (on many other engines, usually by the time you need a chain, everything is worn - but that's not the case with this one, the chains are just on the weak side.)
Toyota's 4 speed automatics used on heavier cars are great,
They're good for well over 200k miles if you replace the fluid and filter on regular basis (50k miles at most, I think 20k-30k should be ideal - fluid is usually very cheap on old Toyotas)
I can't put into words how much these are better than Toyota's new ones - the New ones hesitate, shift poorly, cost a fortune to just maintain and no one knows how to repair them, nothing like good old 4 speed autos.
In general, yeah that car is as solid as they get.
“cost a fortune to just maintain….“ - maybe an exaggeration. Toyotas are not German vehicles or some exotics, and we still recommend modern Toyotas over other makes (at least here in North America).
@DayWalker I meant that the maintenance on a new Toyota transmission costs a fortune and that's not an exaggeration at all. (The rest of the car costs the same as most others to maintain)
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FIY, changing the fluid in a Corolla Corss/ some RAV4's transmission seems to more expensive than in an exotic.
The fluid on an AMG GT (MB DCT 236.21) costs $15/L, so $75 worth of fluid every 30k miles.
The fluid on a RAV4/Corolla Cross K120 (Toyota CVT FE) costs $19-$25/L, so $150-$200 worth of fluid every 20k-30k miles.
But on the good old '09 Rav4? $50-$100 fluid that can last for 60k miles - and you can just check it to see if the service is needed instead of replacing it just incase it has gotten dirty.
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Are Toyotas still better than competition? Yes, MOST products are better than their competition.
Do I think that ALL Toyota models are recommendable? No, some models like the '07-'08, '19 Rav4 aren't.
I agree with you that not all Toyotas can be recommended. In fact, one should run away from those specific ones.
Well they are very reliable and since it was an elderly woman I'm assuming that's the real mileage then yeah that's a fine deal just maintain it like any car I haven't seen those things with 190,000 miles on them
