On Saturday 04-Aug-2007 Lee and I drove up to Haverstraw in Rockland County to look at a 1999 RAV4. Now it's mine and this is where I'm keeping my notes.
After two cases of walking to the RAV to find a dead battery, I took the RAV to Jerry's and had them yard out the alarm. It was annoying enough without being a drain on my battery as well. I'll miss the remote entry, but I've been unlocking car doors for decades, so I'll manage.
I managed to keep starting the RAV even though it was clear the battery was on its last legs. I took it in to Jerry's Auto on Monday 05-Nov to have the battery checked, and while it was there I had them do a lube, oil, and filter and flush and fill the radiator. Came to just over $300 (with a new battery, obviously).
I feel like I can relax a bit with winter coming on. I should probably replace the wiper blades, and the passenger side front parking light is out. It would make sense to take care of these items before I drive to DC on Saturday, but I'm not sure where I'm going to find the time. At least I can check the manual and see what lengths of wiper blades to buy and what type of bulb.
And before that trip to DC I should stash some good driving/listening CDs in the RAV.
I drove the RAV to Bellport on Sunday 14-Oct for an SBRA club ride.
Upon returning home I parked it and didn't attempt to start it again until Tuesday 23-Oct, to take some bike stuff to Bob's house and have lunch with him. RAV wouldn't start. The battery had enough charge to turn the engine over once or twice, and then just gave up the ghost.
I called AAA, and it was easy to jump start. The AAA guy pointed out corrosive build-up on the negative battery post and suggested I needed a new battery. I'll definitely have it checked out.
I drove to Bob's house, parked the RAV for a couple of hours there, and drove back, with no issues.
The RAV has now been parked since Tuesday night. I plan to take us to dinner in it tonight, mostly to see if it starts. It started just fine.
I need to find out the hours Jerry's Auto is open. I think I'll take the RAV in for lube, oil, and filter, flush and fill the radiator, and electrical system check.
On Sunday I went on my first club ride since I was hit by a car while cycling (more than two years ago). SBRA had a 25-mile C- ride beginning at 1pm. Perfect.
The ride start was in Bellport, so I took my Atlantis (front wheel off) to the ride in the back of the RAV. It's certainly faster folding and unfolding the rear seats in the RAV than mounting and dismounting the bike rack from the Supra. Not only that, there are no worries about where to store the bike rack.
Being able to sit on the floor with the rear door open is really nice as well.
Once again I congratulated myself on my vehicle choice!
Dan and I took the RAV along with the Rivendell Atlantis, the Bianchi Volpe, assorted bike parts and tools, and our personal luggage for the weekend, to the Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath in New Jersey over Labor Day weekend.
What an excellent choice I made buying the RAV!
The only items we had to take any real care loading were the bikes (front wheels off). There was plenty of room for everything else. And sitting on the floor of the RAV with the rear door open makes a pretty good bike repair work station.
Yesterday I removed the rear seats. It took me awhile to find a 14mm socket, but once I had it, the process was straightforward. Ratchet, 6" extension, fold up the seats and then remove four bolts per seat and Bob's your uncle!
Two of my Bianchi Volpe will fit in the back with the seats out. I'm reasonably sure that the Atlantis and a second bike will fit. Front wheel has to come off and it may end up being useful to remove one pedal from each bike.
Update: I got an email yesterday to the effect that the bike rack I ordered won't be here in time for our mini-tour. I'll probably cancel the order. And I need to remove the rear seats and see if I can shoehorn two half bikes back there, or if I need to buy a rack locally.
I did some experiments last night and I can put one half bike in the back with the rear seats folded up and the front wheel off the bike. I'm almost positive that two won't fit in that configuration. I really should remove the rear seats and see how that goes. They appear to come out fairly easily.
One can flatten the seats to make room for long objects, but a bike is too tall to go in the RAV with the seats flattened. I should put a tape on it, though, to see how long a kayak I could put it there. Not long enough, I fear.
At any rate, I ordered an "over the spare tire" bike rack last night. It looks to be pretty "easy on, easy off" and got good user reviews. Not too much money. I've discovered that one can spend a lot of money on roof racks and special purpose devices that attach to them.
The rack is coming UPS Ground from the west coast and is supposed to ship today, tomorrow, or Thursday. If it takes a week it will be here in time for our trip to New Jersey.
The most common scenario for me will be to take one bike to a ride starting point, and I'll just put it in the back. The bike rack will be reserved for carrying multiple bikes (it's supposed to handle three).
No suprise, passed with no comments on the invoice from Jerry's.
I'll be driving the RAV to Philly on Monday to pick up my Atlantis frame. I really want to test "seats out, how much room in the back" this weekend.
Well, I have my plates on, but it was a hard birth. First I tried the bigger screwdriver. No joy. Then I walked down the street to the auto parts store and bought some penetrating oil and added that to the mix. Still no joy. So I bit the bullet and took the RAV to Jerry's Towing and gave them ten bucks to do the deed. They treated me well so I'm going to take the RAV to them first thing Thursday morning (a day off for me) for a state inspection (re-inspection is required because of the title/registration transfer).
I drove the RAV to Syosset yesterday afternoon to pick up some bicycle parts, and I figured out both the A/C and the radio. I also finally found the radio's model number and later was able to download a PDF manual from the web.
I got the Chilton's manual for the RAV4 in the mail and browsed through it. I doubt I'll be doing much, if any, work on the RAV myself, but I really want to have an idea of how everything is supposed to work.
The next thing I want to do is see if I can put a bicycle in the back, with or without removing the rear seats. Ideally it will take two. It would be nice to be able to take Dan and both our bikes to our NJ/PA "tour" destination over Labor Day Weekend without having to add a bike rack of some sort.
We got to the Haverstraw DMV four minutes before it closed at 6pm. We were out of there in about 20 minutes, some kind of record I'm sure.
Went back to the previous owner's house to take her plates off and put mine on, and there we had a problem. The sheet metal screws holding the plates had rusted to the bumper inserts and there was no removing them (well, we did get one out of four out, but that was no help). She had an important appointment, so she just gave me an envelope and a note to enclose and I agreed to mail her plates to the DMV. I'll do the plate swap on Saturday (I have a bigger screwdriver and can get some penetrating oil if I need it).
I drove my RAV4 home and thoroughly enjoyed the drive, taking only one wrong turn and narrowly avoiding some ugly traffic nastiness on the Triboro Bridge.
Using all the basic functions is not much different from driving an unfamiliar rental car, but there's plenty for me to learn. One of the first things I want to figure out is the radio. There's no manual for the radio among all the documentation she gave me. It's a Sony, so hopefully I can find something online.
I'm on a train to Penn Station where the RAV4 owner is picking me up (she was in Manhattan with her new car today) to drive up to Rockland County where I'll exchange a bank check for a title, and then we'll go to the DMV and have the transaction blessed. I believe I've filled out all the forms I need, and I have an insurance card. Everything should be relatively painless.
Since Roslyn has very few midday trains I'm on a Port Washington train. I was able to catch an N23 bus right in front of our complex and take it right to the LIRR station in Port Washington. It was supposed to get me to Port Washington with four minutes to make the train, but the bus was about five minutes early so I had plenty of time.
I should have used some of that spare time to determine whether or not there is free parking at the Port Washington train station.
This train is a bit of a milk run through Queens but it bypasses Jamaica which is a good thing, I believe. We just left the Bayside stop and the next station was announced as Broadway. I wonder which Broadway that is? Out the window I see 64 Dr--must be Flushing? Next station is Flushing Main Street. I'll look on a map.
At first look the car was as advertised. The owner had a five-year-old so she let us take the car for a test drive without her. "You'll be leaving this car here," she smiled, nodding at Lee's Mazda parked in the driveway.
When I drove slowly and carefully out of the sloped driveway, threading my way between parked cars, there was a big clunk. I thought it was the rear door not closed or something loose in the back. I stopped the car and checked and all seemed well. Later the owner told us that this "clunk" happened when the car went over a dip. It had always happened and the shop had never been able to find anything wrong.
The test drive went well. Car seems very solid, everything seems to work. We were able to drive both in the village and on the parkway. A common criticism of the RAV4 is that it is under-powered, that it can cruise at 80, but any kind of maneuver at speed (including passing) requires aggressive use of the transmission, a heavy foot, and patience. I believe all that after our test drive, but it's not a deal breaker, just something to be aware of.
The shifting seemed a little stiff, but it's probably me. She had the clutch replaced fairly recently.
We returned the RAV4 to the owner's driveway and made a deal. I'll be picking it up on Thursday.
1999 Green Toyota RAV4 5 speed, good condition - $5500 (Rockland County)
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Reply to: sale-387306156@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-08-01, 10:21PM EDT
148K, 4 wheel drive, a/c, alarm, daytime running lights, power
windows/locks/steering, runs very well, Sony CD/AM/FM, alloy wheels with
locks, original owner, all records available, small dent in rear bumper.
Call 845-300-3737 to see.
> I'm interested in your RAV4. A couple of questions:
>
> Clear title? Yes
> Date last passed NYS inspection? November 2006
> Condition of tires? Excellent
> Condition of brakes? Very good
> Condition of clutch? Very good
Kelley Blue Book (generally seller-friendly values) Excellent $6,475 Good $5,905 (most private party vehicles are Good) Fair $5,150 edmunds.com (generally buyer-friendly values) Base Value $6,655 This Car $5,621 (big hit for mileage)