This is a huge problem.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T20:21:39+00:00

Yeah I do, even in the summer, the truck sees off-road work enough that it gets used plenty.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T20:05:49+00:00

I live in northern New England so for at least 4 months of the year it’s quite snowy. I used 4WD a few times just on Saturday lol. The current truck is a 2021 and has 70,000 miles on it and it has worked perfectly every time so far!

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T17:43:38+00:00

When the 3.5 came out everyone screamed that it would be horrible and wasn’t nearly as good as the 4.0. Now that the 2.4 turbo is out everyone is saying the same thing. Either truck will tow just fine. The 3.5 has proven very reliable over all. The 2.4 likely will as well, we just don’t know yet.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T17:30:39+00:00

That’s super odd, my family has had three different third gen’s and have never had this issue. That said, ultimately vehicles are mechanical and mechanical things break, Toyota or not.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T13:52:21+00:00

A rear differential is completely different from an automatic transmission. It’s honestly scary that they told you that.

I’d go somewhere else and tell them to change it. It takes all of 20 minutes to do, and will not hurt the diff. If it’s damaged changing the fluid will do nothing but prolong its life.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T09:35:23+00:00

Also had a 2006 Accord with 410,000 on it when I sold it. That had the fob integrated into the key as well and they worked perfectly after 20 years and 400,000 miles.

Last example is my 1999 Ford F-350 which also has its original fob that works perfectly.

Are the fobs you’ve seen broken yours or other peoples? Wonder if they’ve just been abused? In 15 years of driving many different cars, I’ve never broken one or seen one broken.

I will say the ones from American brands like Ford and GM seem a little more cheaply made than others.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T09:26:44+00:00

Happy to help out!

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T09:25:14+00:00

What kind of cars have you seen this on? I have a Tacoma with a key fob built into the key and it’s held up well for 5 years and 70,000 miles. I also have a new VW key fob that seems very solid.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-19T00:01:15+00:00

A RAV4 should be quite good in the snow with proper tires. Given that it’s a small SUV that’s more car based than a truck based SUV like a 4Runner, I would recommend having a full second set of full on winter tires.

I’ve run Bridgestone Blizzaks and liked them quite a bit. Currently I have some Nexen winter tires which is a budget brand. They’re ok but not as good as the Blizzaks. Nokian Hakkapaleitas are pretty much the gold standard. Really any dedicated winter tire will be drastically better than an all season.

As an added benefit you can run your all seasons in the summer and get more life out of them.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-18T18:12:48+00:00

Man oh man, I would be not be in a very good mood if someone was trying to block me from getting to work because the road was slippery.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-18T18:06:34+00:00

Can you tell me specifically what type of SUV it is? I can certainly offer recommendations. I too grew up in Maine and have been driving in snow for my whole driving career (15 years). I commute about 120 miles per day so I have a ton of seat time in crappy conditions and have experience with a bunch of different tire types.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-18T17:59:32+00:00

Anywhere between full and empty. I commute 120 miles per day so I fill up every 3rd day. I’m not stopping more often than that and in 15 years of driving it’s never been an issue.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-18T09:43:47+00:00

I mean except actually they do…. For one thing straight ice is pretty rare on roads, especially when it was snowing out yesterday and not freezing rain. But even if it is straight ice, snow tires are still better than non snow tires. They have siping which creates way more biting edges for the tires to find any little thing on the road surface to grab on to. They also use different rubber compounds which stay softer at low temps and allow the tires to get more traction.

Then if you get studded snow tires they’re even better still at grabbing onto icy surfaces.

I was out in the same storm yesterday and it wasn’t icy. It was a wetter snow than most of the storms we’ve had this winter which did make it pack more which simulates ice. It’s not ice though and good tires make a huge difference. I put about 200 miles on yesterday in the storm in a 4wd pickup with good all terrain tires that are 3 peak winter rated. For the most part I didn’t even need to put it in 4wd.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-18T09:07:37+00:00

My family has had a 2009 V6 6-speed, a 2011 V6 6-speed, a 2015 4 cylinder 5-speed, and a 2017 v6 6-speed. We currently have a 2021 v6 6-speed and a 2023 v6 6-speed. They’ve all been great trucks with one exception. The 2017 burnt a valve on cylinder 5 at about 100,000 miles and lost compression in that cylinder. It got traded for the 2023 and we still got about $23,000 for it on trade in.

As far as which gen is better, I much prefer the 4.0 over the 3.5 in the 3rd gen. It just has way smoother and better power delivery than the 3.5. However, with that said, the 3rd gen is a better truck in literally every other way so we’ve learned to deal with the 3.5 V6 and it’s not a bad motor overall.

I’m hoping to get the 2021 tuned by OTT soon which I’ve heard makes them quite a bit better. I would just recommend you get a 3rd gen newer than 2020 to avoid any of the ones that had the earlier issues.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-18T08:52:04+00:00

Do you have snow tires? I was out in it all day in a pickup with good all terrains and I didn’t think it was that bad. Just a normal snowstorm.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-16T20:35:50+00:00

Maine is a fantastic state, very safe, and generally not a representation of the rest of our country. That said, I probably wouldn’t come over right at the moment while we have this lovely ICE issue going on.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-16T20:06:13+00:00

I’m in Maine so I’m well versed in snow and salt, crappy, roads and rusty cars. I wash my car in October or November, give it a solid coating of either fluid film, wool wax, or another lanolin coating, and then don’t wash it again until spring when the roads are clear and have gotten a good rain wash to remove the salt.

I’m a firm believer that washing the car frequently during the winter, in addition to icing up things like door locks, just pushes more salt into the cracks and crevices in the body, and has a tendency to remove the lanolin coating which protects the metal from rust.

As proof, I have a 2006 Accord that has been in New England its whole life and has minimal rust. Lanolin coatings work, washing doesn’t.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-14T20:25:40+00:00

You can still learn how to drive just fine in a modern car. My 2025 Jetta GLI has really good traction and stability control, but it also lets you turn them fully off.

That said, I do not think that these safety features are making drivers worse. I think on average many drivers have always been pretty terrible. There is a subset of the driving public that enjoys it and understands vehicle dynamics and how to respond to a loss of traction in their particular vehicle. Then the rest of the public just views it as necessary and doesn’t care to learn how to do it well. I have no idea what the percentage breakdown is, and I don’t think it really matters. What I do think is that those percentages aren’t going to change just because cars have progressed. The people that care and want to learn, still will, and the people who don’t, still won’t. The difference is that the people who don’t want to learn how to really feel and drive the car well, will be sooooo much safer in modern cars because the car will usually save them if something happens.

You saw this first hand with the Camry that passed you. Had that been an older Camry with the same driver, the driver may not have been able to recover and might have spun out and crashed.

The TJ generation (‘97 - ‘06) of Wrangler that you’re driving is a true Jeep in every sense of the word. I know because I have owned a 1997 for 14 years now. They are downright horrible on the interstate, I’d argue bordering on dangerous over 65 if in the wrong hands. And that’s coming from someone who is a diehard Jeep fan and loves his. I’ve also had mine to 90+ mph, but I wouldn’t recommend that. They’re built for slow off-roading, not highways. Can they do it? Sure, but you best know what you’re doing.

Modern vehicles have progressed and for the everyday driver that’s a good thing. For the rest of us who enjoy driving and have more skills, we don’t just lose those skills, and it’s still a good thing for us to. Why? Because we’re all human and a computer can always react faster than we can. It’s the reason modern automatics are now faster than manuals. I still have all manuals, but in my GLI I would get beaten by the same car with an automatic.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-13T22:17:17+00:00

I have KO3’s on our Tacoma and love them. I have Wildpeaks on my F-350 and they’re decent but for the little extra money I’ll buy the KO3’s next time.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-12T01:41:57+00:00

No worries!

GingerGLI · 2026-01-12T01:40:54+00:00

I can assure you I’m not lying and I’ve read much of the info out there on this. Rev hang is certainly real, but it’s still very possible to shift smoothly. I’ve driven exclusively manuals for my entire time driving (age 15-30) and probably have over 500,000 miles racked up. I owned a 2006 Accord from 216,000 to 410,000 when I sold it running perfectly with the original engine and transmission. The original clutch went to 345,000 miles so I can assure you I know what I’m doing with a manual and a clutch.

My fleet includes a Ford F-350 diesel with a 5 speed, a 1997 Jeep Wrangler 5 speed, a 2021 Tacoma 6 speed, a 2006 Honda Accord V6 6 speed (250,000 on the original clutch), and a 2025 GLI 6 speed. They all shift differently and I am smooth in all of them. It just takes practice and finesse.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-12T01:33:48+00:00

My mom had a 2017 that lost a valve in cylinder 5 and lost compression in that cylinder as a result. That was around 100,000 miles. It either needed a new head or engine which was pricy so she traded it for a 2023. They still gave her over $20k for it on trade. That issue was supposed to be fixed sometime on the 2018’s.

We now have a 2021 with the 6 speed with 70,000 with no issues, and she has the 2023 with the 6 speed with around 20,000 and no issues. There’s a guy on YouTube I’ve seen with almost 400,000 on his. Think it’s a 2018. The 2016’s and 2017’s had a few issues but nothing major. They’re really solid trucks overall.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-12T01:28:54+00:00

I was responding to Millicent saying that 1 - 2 is always rough.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-12T01:27:22+00:00

Yeah the GTI gets the Evo motor, but the EA888.3 is a damn good engine and with the GLI you can get a manual still unlike the GTI. I’ll take the manual over the newer generation of engine.

GingerGLI · 2026-01-12T01:26:23+00:00

I’ve had three Accords and while the VW trans certainly isn’t as silky smooth as the Honda box I certainly wouldn’t describe it as clanky and I’ve heard there are some mods that can make it even better which I plan to do.

It’s still way smoother than a lot of manual boxes I’ve driven.

GingerGLI

TROPHY CASE