RE: Lack of tinted glass.

Is this a big "problem" with the TCH? You'd think Toyota would have special solar energy absorbing glass for obvious reasons. On the other hand, you can use that energy in the winter.

How about the halogen headlights? Anybody come off an HID equipped vehicle and miss them on the TCH? This is another thing I don't get (along with no auto up/down windows) - HID's should be a part of the NAV package at least. Geez, we have them on our '04 Sienna XLE LTD w/o NAV and they're available on the XLE and Prius.

 

Yes, it's bizarre that Toyota skipped a lot of stuff that should be there.

The tinting is for me, a requirement - completely lowers the temp in the car, and protects the insides. It also look cool too, as well as makes it tougher for prying eyes.

 

Tinting may not be legal in all states and each state has a different set of standards.
With each state being different, imagine the cost to a car company of having different versions available for each of the states? They save money by having one configuration, that is, no tint.
Toyota is a value manufacturer, they sell reasonably priced cars in volume.
They try to cut costs where they can (driver side seat is electric, passenger seat adjusts manually).
If you want a fully loaded car with all the extra stuff, go to Lexus, Mercedes, etc.
Those companies sell premium (translation...add in the bells and whistles and charge an arm and a leg for them).
Toyota sells value (translation...keep costs down).

 

That's funny, I could swear that the front passenger seat in my 07 TCH is power...

Other than that, I agree with you.

 

ehh... the TCH has High Solar Energy Absorbing Glass (HSEA). Just because it's not dark tinted, doesn't mean it doesn't keep the heat out.

Your Sienna is a lot more expensive. The Prius is a niche vehicle. You're the only country in the world that gets HIDs on the Prius (the rest of the world gets halogens only)

 

I have the non-NAV, non-moon roof 2008 Camry. This car is configured with driver power seat, but passenger manual seat. It comes without factory leather nor heated seats. I upgraded to dealer installed heated leather seats.
I'm too tall to sit comfortably in the moon roof version and too cheap to pay $2000 for NAV (still considering an aftermarket GPS unit).
I was shocked to hear that the two seats were configured differently.
In any event, I attributed the lack of passenger side power seat to 'penny pinching' on Toyota's part.

 

Tideland Plus, thanks for the clarification on the HESA glass. I'm "new" to researching the TCH and had not some across that info.

Regarding the power passenger seat, it is part of the leather package but apparently requires one of the Upgrade Packages as well:

"Leather Package -- includes leather-trimmed seats and door trim with integrated armrests, driver and front passenger power seats, and dual front and rear map pockets."

Lack of the power passenger seat was almost enough to cross the TCH off my list.

Haroldo, I understand where you're coming from, but IMO the TCH should be offered in XLE trim so you can at least get all the bells & whistles available on non-hybrid Camrys.

This has all probably been kicked around before on this forum before. The REAL problem is that Lexus does not build an ES with a hybrid powertrain. As gas gets increasingly more expensive, maybe they will.

 

The penny pinching part isn't the fact that they don't offer power passenger seat (because they do as BobBass explains above) but it's the fact that they have it as a 4-way power passenger seat. Our old 02 Camry XLE had 8-way power passenger seat and 8-way power driver's seat with manual lumbar. It allowed for height and tilt power adjustment on the driver's seat

This year, it's 6-way power driver's seat with power lumbar (hence the "8-way that they advertise to make it seem like they're offering the same configuration as the old Camry but it's lacking the tilt function) and 4-way power passenger seat.


No worries. They improve it all the time. Our 02 Camry had HSEA glass and so does the Prius. But our Prius seems to feel cooler after its been left out in the sun in the same amount of time (despite having a smaller interior to heat up and having a black dashboard). Maybe they have the same or an even more aggressively "tinted" HSEA glass on the TCH to keep it even cooler.


Yeah wood trim and a rear sunshade on the TCH would be nice eh?

 

FYI...the TCH do not keep the heat or as much UV out. Test it next to any other recent model car. They all are about the same.

Also, Sienna's with privacy/tint glass are CHEAPER than a TCH.

 

Mike,
I think Tideland Prius was referring specifically to my '04 XLE LTD which stickered ~$35K as I recall.

I just did a quick "build" for an '08 Sienna like mine and it's $38,550, considerably more than a loaded TCH.