Toyota Problems

The first thing to check would be the fuse or relay that protects the power-windows’ electrical circuit. Designed to protect wiring from an electrical spike or short-circuit, these fuses and relays can also fail for no apparent reason apart from old age.

If one window went south on its own, you’d be looking for a problem specific to that door, but since they all went out at the same time, you need to look for a fault a little deeper into the wiring. Which is where a blown fuse or dud relay comes into the reckoning.

The first job is to find the fuse or relay in question. The owner’s manual (which should still be living in the glove-box) will have a chapter that shows the location(s) of the fuse boxes in the vehicle. You might find there’s one under the dashboard near the steering column, and another under the bonnet. The same chapter in the handbook should also identify which fuse and relay does what, but this info should also be printed on the inside of the fuse-box cover.

Once you’ve identified the fuse or relay, you can check the fuse visually, or have an auto electrician check the relay for proper operation. If that component is the problem, a quick, simple and cheap replacement will restore the windows to full health.

If that doesn’t work, then an auto electrician is probably your next stop, as you could be searching for a broken wire or a failed switch-block or some other obscure fault.

The Crown is a popular grey (private) import and there are plenty of them getting around in Australia these days. Mechanically, they share a lot of components with other Toyotas and some Lexus models, including the hybrid variants. Technically speaking, because the latter-day Crown was never officially imported here (earlier versions were) a Toyota dealership may or may not wish to take on the maintenance. But you should have no trouble finding a workshop that knows its way around these cars and perhaps even specialises in them.

Mechanical parts should not be too hard to get hold of, but body parts and trim pieces might be another matter as they will be Crown-specific and not shared across other models. As with any car, the price you’ll pay will depend on availability and whether you want brand-new or are prepared to accept second-hand parts.

While the sedan sold alongside the hatchback version of the Corolla in Australia, the hatchback easily outsold the sedan. And that’s pretty much the reason you still see a lot of hatchbacks getting around, but sedans are thin on the ground. They just didn’t sell in the same numbers back in the day. Fundamentally, buyers were much more likely to go for the extra practicality of the hatchback layout.

Of course, that’s in Australia. In some other markets (China, for example) the sedan version of a particular make and model is often more popular than the hatchback variant. It’s a cultural thing, in essence.

The last decade of dual-cab four-wheel-drive utes have emerged as the tow-vehicles of choice, and you see them everywhere filling roles exactly like the one you have planned. Popular models include the Ford Ranger you’ve nominated, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Isuzu D-Max. But there are also cheaper alternatives including makes like the South-Korean made Ssangyong and various Chinese brands like LDV and Great Wall.

Just make sure you know exactly how much you need to tow before making a decision as some of the cheaper models don’t have the same outright towing capacity and even if they do, some of them don’t have the engine performance to make towing as easy as it should be. For parts availability, the Toyota would be king in really remote areas, but any of the major brands are pretty well covered in Australia.

Meantime, don’t rule out ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuna. These offer better ride comfort when unladen thanks to more sophisticated rear suspensions and most have as much or almost as much towing capacity as their ute brethren.

There are three ways of charging the Toyota bZ4X – two at home and one in public. The first is the cheapest albeit slowest method and uses a standard 240V powerpoint with the charging cable provided by Toyota. The 71.4 kWh battery with 64kWh of usable capacity takes 30 hours to charge from 10 per cent to 100 per cent, with average energy prices in Australia costing between 21 to 36 cents per kWh. Prices can depend on demand and which state you live in, though. Alternatively, owners can install an AC wall charger through a licensed electrician. On average, the cost of these ranges from anywhere between $800 and $2000, with additional charges to install. A 7kW unit will deliver 10 to 100 per cent charging in 10 hours, while an 11kW unit will deliver a 10 to 100 per cent charge in 6.5 hours. The cost to charge can be free if your unit is hooked up to solar power. Finally, a public DC charging station will deliver a charge of 10 to 100 per cent at the bZ4X’s maximum capacity of 150kW in approximately 45 minutes. Charges depend on demand and time of day, but as a general rule you should never pay more than $40.

The Rukus was a really interesting vehicle, combining robust mechanicals with a no-nonsense layout that made the absolute most of the car’s footprint without the trendy all-wheel-drive or faux off-roader looks that many SUVs were trading on at the time. For all that, it wasn’t a huge seller in Australia, so they’re a bit thin on the ground.

The 2010 Rukus was about $30,000 brand new, but its Corolla-based platform and Camry-derived running gear means than 230,000km shouldn’t put it beyond consideration (where such mileage might in a lot of less robust vehicles). Even so, you’d want to see a full service history and complete maintenance record to be sure that it still has some life still in it.

A quick online check reveals a few of Rukuses for sale right now with similar mileages and similar price-tags. Which suggests the price you’ve been quoted is about right, all things considered. Once again, assuming that the service record is complete.

The Toyota GR86 has 228 horsepower (168kW).

Even though your car has a hybrid driveline, the bit that runs on petrol uses the same technology as any other Toyota petrol engine. So E10 is fine according to Toyota, although it also says 10 per cent (hence E10) is the highest percentage of ethanol you should consider using. Likewise, 95 RON petrol presents no problems.