The cruise control issue could be a fault with the body computer whose job it is to talk to the computer that controls the car’s engine and transmission and turn the driver’s instructions into actions. If there was a problem with the physical actuation of the cruise-control, it would potentially not work at all. But a problem that resets when you turn the ignition off and on again is always cause to suspect a computer glitch.

The transmission issue is one that has been ongoing sine the 200 Series was launched. Top gear (sixth) is so tall for fuel-economy purposes that the vehicle in its original form would not select that gear below about 110km/h. That’s fine for the USA and Middle East where cruising speeds are higher, but in Australia, it meant that some owners were never seeing sixth gear.

The solution was to tale the vehicle back to Toyota for a reflash of the on-board computer which would then instruct the transmission to select top gear at 95 or 100km/h. If this reflash hasn’t been performed, you might find that the vehicle has never actually selected top gear in its life. Definitely look into this possibility before spending money on transmission services or anything mechanical.