Faults:

I've only had the car about two months, and I'm still driving my Toyota Avalon daily until the rego runs out, to save putting kilometers on my Hilux.

However there is a strange problem with the gearbox. I was driving a little fast, I pulled up to a give way sign and had to stop fully. I left it in drive the whole time. I then tried to accelerate, not fast or anything, the engine revved but it didn't move, then suddenly BANG! It jammed into gear and spun the wheels a bit... it was like dropping the clutch in an manual, except it's automatic!

Also when I pull up to a stop I can feel a slight lunge after stopping; again I think it's the auto.

I got a full 120,000k service done by a Toyota dealer (cost a lot of money...) and they reckon there is nothing wrong with the gearbox, so who knows?

Otherwise, besides this small glitch, nothing has gone wrong; I think I haven't owned it long enough yet.

General Comments:

I love this ute. I put slightly bigger wheels on it (16 inch Sunraiser rims with Cooper Discoverer At3 tires), an ARB Deluxe winch bar, Hella 4000 driving lights, ARB Rear step tow bar. It now looks super tough.

Last weekend I put a CB radio in. Working on this ute is a dream, it is so easy to run cables and pull the dash apart, easier than any other vehicle I've ever worked on. I love it. I just ordered a 2013 Corolla 6.1 inch touch screen head unit to replace the stock unit, mainly because I want a reversing camera.

The car is great to drive, you sit very high compared to a road car so get a great view of the traffic/road. Visibility is excellent, massive door mirrors give you a great view. The view out the back is a little obscured because I have a canopy, but it's not too bad.

The V6 is very powerful, it can easily do burnouts! Not that I do that... It's got tons of torque, and it overtakes on the highway like a dream. I made sure I got cruise control on my SR model though.

Fuel consumption isn't too bad, but it's not great. If you drive it hard, it will chew fuel.

The driver's seat isn't the most comfortable seat ever, but it's not bad, and you could always change it if you want. Part of the problem with the seat is, it has no suspension built in like some seats do, which means you feel every bump on the road.

It can carry 1 ton in the tray, which honestly I don't really need. It also uses very old suspension technology with leaf springs, which are very rigid. It makes the ride quite bumpy and you really feel the road. Some people purposely put bags of rocks in the tray to smooth out the ride. I haven't found it so bad I need to do that (yet...).

The interior is put together well, and with vinyl floors it makes cleaning mud etc very easy.

Only thing I wish it had stock is lockers, even just a rear locker would make it instantly more capable off road. I will have to look at ARB air lockers, which are expensive.

Make no mistake, this ute is an expensive UTILITY vehicle, Toyota make no apologies for that. This is not a luxury SUV.