2013 Toyota Venza

[KegRiver]

I'm looking at a 2013 Toyota Venza.

Would like to know what owners think of it.

I have looked at online reviews, but one question in particular remains.

We have a 2001 Camry that I find difficult to get in to because it is so low to the ground.
Would the Venza be higher off the ground.

And what's this I hear about the gear shift getting in the way of reaching drink trays, heater controls and such?

If you don't own one but your buddy does, I'd like to hear what he is telling you as well.
And anything else owners might like to share.

I hope to drive down this afternoon to test drive it.

[Twisted Canuck]

Yes, great vehicle. I had a Camry, the Venza is much higher, good ingress and egress. I bought Venza new first year, in 2009. Drove it till 2016, and my son bought it from us. He is still driving it, it is like new still. We got the 2.7 L 4 cyl, decent mileage, awd, and it handles snow and icy roads incredibly with good Nokian Hakappolitas on it.

Gear shift doesn't get in the way at all, never had an issue, so that is nonsense. I really liked it. The seats are quite big and comfy too. I'd highly recommend it. I don't regret for a second owning it, and other then regular maintenance and oil changes it has been bulletproof like a Toyota.

[pittman]

My wife's ant and uncle have had one for a number of years - they have nothing but good things to say.

Seat height seems higher than a sedan.

[reddeerguy2015]

My wife drives a 2016 venza AWD limited. 3.5l V6

Okay on fuel. Exceptionally reliable. Solid car.

Would recommend and we'd buy it again.

[KegRiver]

You guys make my day!

That is what I was hoping for.

The Camry blew the alternator last spring.
I got a new alternater but the old belt is too short and I haven't been able to get a belt the right length since so it's not usable, and it's about miled out anyway. 380,000 miles. It's a US car so not in km.

We need a new ride for the wife.

Oh and I have a hard time getting into the Camry.

So a bit more about this Venza.

It's a 2013,
2.7L 4cy
6 speed auto
AWD
128,000 km
one owner
Clean carfax, no leans.

List $13,999

I'll offer $11,000 all in and see what they say.

[Dean2]

We test drove one in Jan last year when looking for a new vehicle. Shorter in height and length than the 4Runner or Highlander but taller than a sedan. Was easy to get in and out of, no long leg lift and not low to the ground. Did not notice anything about the shifter. We ended up with a Jeep Grande Cherokee becasue it had more interior room, WAY more power and a better ride but the Vensa was in the running with the Honda Pilot until she drove the Jeep.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Dean2

We test drove one in Jan last year when looking for a new vehicle. Shorter in height and length than the 4Runner or Highlander but taller than a sedan. Was easy to get in and out of, no long leg lift and not low to the ground. Did not notice anything about the shifter. We ended up with a Jeep Grande Cherokee becasue it had more interior room, WAY more power and a better ride but the Vensa was in the running with the Honda Pilot until she drove the Jeep.

Good to know Dean.

I can understand that. My sister made the same choice and chose a Grande Chrerokee as well.

We took it to Tisdale Saskatchewan two summers ago, just the two of us. I did half the driving. I loved the Cherokee but it's a bit out of our price range.

The only down side to this deal is, the next best option I found was in Edmonton. So if I do this deal I won't be able to buy you breakfast.
I still owe you one.

[Twisted Canuck]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

You guys make my day!

That is what I was hoping for.

The Camry blew the alternator last spring.
I got a new alternater but the old belt is too short and I haven't been able to get a belt the right length since so it's not usable, and it's about miled out anyway. 380,000 miles. It's a US car so not in km.

We need a new ride for the wife.

Oh and I have a hard time getting into the Camry.

So a bit more about this Venza.

It's a 2013,
2.7L 4cy
6 speed auto
AWD
128,000 km
one owner
Clean carfax, no leans.

List $13,999

I'll offer $11,000 all in and see what they say.

Low miles, that would be something you could drive for years and years. The 4 cyl isn't super powerful, but more then enough for highway and passing. You aren't racing it anyway. If the body and interior are good, go for it. I would be surprised if you get if for $11K, honestly. But good luck with it Keg.

[Dean2]

Hope it works out and the vehicle is in great shape. How is the Nissan you bought treating you? Those Grande Cherokees are expensive, but what really amazes me is with a 5.7 Hemi is gets 20 Imp MPG in town and 32 on the highway. It gets better gas mileage than my buddies Highlander, by a lot and there is no comparison in room, ride or get up and go and it was not much more than the Highlander new.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Hope it works out and the vehicle is in great shape. How is the Nissan you bought treating you? Those Grande Cherokees are expensive, but what really amazes me is with a 5.7 Hemi is gets 20 Imp MPG in town and 32 on the highway. It gets better gas mileage than my buddies Highlander, by a lot and there is no comparison in room, ride or get up and go and it was not much more than the Highlander new.

The Titan has been great, no issues and better fuel economy then the last one I had. About 13.8 averaged over a month of driving.

I was surprised at the mileage my sister's Cherokee gets. Evem better then the wife's Camry, and the comfort was tops. It was a real pleasure to drive even after ten hours behind the wheel.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck

Low miles, that would be something you could drive for years and years. The 4 cyl isn't super powerful, but more then enough for highway and passing. You aren't racing it anyway. If the body and interior are good, go for it. I would be surprised if you get if for $11K, honestly. But good luck with it Keg.

Yeah I doubt we will ever need another vehicle. We probably won't be driving long enough to mike it out.

Everything looks great inside and out, in the listing. We'll know more when we see it, but so far so good.

I'm hoping we can settle on $13,000 all in. 11k is just an opening offer.

I did some research and 13K is about what they are going for.

[General Practitioner]

I had one as a service loaner while a recall was being done to my truck and loved it. I did not notice any issues with shifter in the way and found it very comfortable to get in and out of.

While lots of other vehicles may get better fuel economy, I'd prefer the reliability of a Toyota over an extra couple miles per gallon any day.

[KegRiver]

I just got home from looking at the vehicle.

It's a no go.

They jacked the price to $17K and would not negotiate price at all.
Worse still the manager repeatedly tried to deceive me.

First he repeatedly insisted that I would not find anything in my price range, and make preferences that did not have a CVT transmission.

Then he showed me a 2014 Pathfinder listed for $11,500 at another dealer and claimed he could get it for me at $11,500 plus shipping.

Twice I asked him if I understood him correctly, that he was saying that there would be no additional fees other then shipping? Twice he responded in the affirmative.
So I asked him how much shipping would be. He stated that it would be around $750.00

So again I asked him if I understood him correctly, that I could have this Pathfinder for $12,250.00 all in. No other fees, and he said yes.

So then I asked him why he could sell be this Pathfinder, from another dealer of only $750 over list price, with the included shipping but he couldn't sell me a vehicle on his lot for less then $3,000 over his list price.

Whereupon he changed his tune and said there would be additional fees.
When I asked what they would add to the final price he came back with a total price just under 17K

That is when I got up and walked, never to return.

[Twisted Canuck]

Wow, that sucks Keg. I hate dealing with guys like that, unfortunately far too many like that.

I was a bit surprised by the price on the Venza with those miles though, my son got offered $11K for his 09 with close to 250K km on it. He was smart and kept it though.

Hope you can find a good vehicle bud.

[reddeerguy2015]

Our 2016 limited venza was around 21k from a dealership in Edmonton, with 85k on the odometer. However has unlimited warrany (go auto group) until 250k. Two years ago.

Have 140k on her now - not one single issue. Love Toyota's for that.

I got tired of rolling around underneath my wife's Yukon playing "guess that noise" at least once a month.

[OL_JR]

That's unfortunate, pretty darn dirty to jack up the price like that. I'm a firm believer that there is a special place in hell for most car salesman. Good ones are few and far between.

One other thing I will mention is that I wouldn't expect to get to much off list price for a Toyota. When we were shopping for our toyota car we visited a number of dealerships and they seemed pretty willing to let you walk out the door. It took a lot of time to find the right car at the price point I wanted.

[KegRiver]

I wasn't expecting them or anyone to go much below list price, but to tack on 3k and then not negotiate is not something I will accept.

To my thinking that is deliberate deception. If 17k is the price they have to get then state that up front.

If you intend to negotiate and jack up the price so you end up at or close to list, I don't see a problem with that.

At any rate, I'll be talking to Lakewood again. They listed the Titan in my yard at 13K and accepted 12K all in. I'm happy with that deal and will deal with them again.

Only reason I didn't go to them first is there is no way for me to bring a vehicle home from Edmonton at the moment.
There is no bus or air service from here to the city now or for the foreseeable future.

Come spring the wife and I can go down and each drive one vehicle back, but she is not competent on winter roads.

That's not really an issue though because we have one vehicle so waiting till spring is not a problem.

[OL_JR]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I wasn't expecting them or anyone to go much below list price, but to tack on 3k and then not negotiate is not something I will accept.

To my thinking that is deliberate deception. If 17k is the price they have to get then state that up front.

If you intend to negotiate and jack up the price so you end up at or close to list, I don't see a problem with that.

At any rate, I'll be talking to Lakewood again. They listed the Titan in my yard at 13K and accepted 12K all in. I'm happy with that deal and will deal with them again.

Only reason I didn't go to them first is there is no way for me to bring a vehicle home from Edmonton at the moment.
There is no bus or air service from here to the city now or for the foreseeable future.

Come spring the wife and I can go down and each drive one vehicle back, but she is not competent on winter roads.

That's not really an issue though because we have one vehicle so waiting till spring is not a problem.

As you shouldn't, that's beyond low. I'm curious who you were dealing with. Would be a good PSA for folks who are in the market as a dealership to avoid.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

As you shouldn't, that's beyond low. I'm curious who you were dealing with. Would be a good PSA for folks who are in the market as a dealership to avoid.

The dealer is Peace River Chrysler.

And I just found what the manager there clearly said does not exist.

A 2014 Toyota with a 4 speed auto trans. Mind you it's technically not a SUV, it's a Crossover. And it's listed 11.5K with 95,000km on it.

I did tell him I wasn't married to any particular model or body type.
I did say I was looking for an SUV or similar vehicle though.

Anyway, I am a long way from making a deal on this one, but I did buy my Titan from them.

[sendero]

You might want to call AMVIC and report your concerns. The 2013 Venza is advertised on both the peace river Ford and Chrysler dealership websites (same company) for 13,999 all in and they clearly state “no additional fees” just GST.

Something doesn’t seem right.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by sendero

You might want to call AMVIC and report your concerns. The 2013 Venza is advertised on both the peace river Ford and Chrysler dealership websites (same company) for 13,999 all in and they clearly state “no additional fees” just GST.

Something doesn’t seem right.

I had not noticed the "no extra fees"

Thanks for pointing that out.

So that would total $14 698.95, more then $1.000 under what the manager said was the lowest he could go.

For sure I made the right decision.

As for AMVIC I have no faith they would do anything.

When a dealer in Edmonton tried to sell me a truck with a lien on it a year ago I talked to them. They told me there was nothing they could do about that.
I'm sure the answer would be the same in this case.