This isn't true on the TCH. Just yesterday I tried sliding my hand behind the handle being careful not to actually touch it and the doors did not unlock. I moved my hand slowly forward and when my hand first came into contact with the handle the doors did unlock. It does seem to require contact. There's also no visible "hard strip" either as far as I can see.

Or maybe I just have weird hands...

 

Put the cruise control buttons on the wheel, not behind it. It is the most common set of buttons I use in highway driving and the next set is the audio controls. I do not see why they have to have the air-conditioning controls on the wheel as they are less likely to be used than cruise control. BTW, too many buttons on the wheel.

 

Flopshot right on about the armrest. I to came from caddi and after two days my elbow started to hurt.This has to go.The fix is going to happen next week when I have the wood steering wheel and dash installed.I brought this up to the people at the custom shop and they are going to fabricate a piece that will be wrapped in foam then leather.( they matched the ash color perfectly). I love my TCH but miss the comfort of the cadillac. If you like I will post pictures when completed.

 

So true. That armrest is incredibly hard. I think my bony elbow has been bruised.

I would love to see pics of that custom armrest they are making for you. Please share when it is complete!

 

I put a small folded towel on the armrest to save my elbow... It makes for less sweat too.

 

The passenger side seatbelt hardware -- if left in the position it normally assumes after being used it will knock on the right inside door frame and give the general impression that the door is not fully closed. It drives me nuts because I think I have a door rattle. After someone uses the front passneger seatbelt, I always need to position it so it won't rattle. The seatbelt needs a stowage pocket on the seat or sidewall.

 

Not being allowed full command authority over my vehicle.

Think Nav lockout and that hideous seat belt noise maker.

Sometimes a guy needs to leave the seat belt OFF whilst cruising at 5mph to the exit of a parking lot where access to the back pocket is needed.

 

As a potential buyer, there are a few items that bug me about the TCH;

10 Availability - Waiting 4-8 weeks for a car makes it almost impossible to trade in a car.

9 Overall interior storage. The lack of rear door pockets seems odd given the TCH's family car status. What storage there is seems unfunctional, like the hard front seat rear pockets, or the lack of a cover for the tray (where the acc socket is) in the center console.

8 Non Foldable Rearview Mirrors - This seems to be a Toyota thing (many of their models seem to lack this simple feature). When ever I park in a tight parking stall, I usually fold in the mirrors so that someone can't accidently bump and damage them. The last car that drove with solid mirrors was a 86 Pontiac Sunbird that my GF paid $9000 for brand new. Even Hyundai's have foldable breakaway mirrors.

7 Interior Trim - Would have liked to seen the metalic trim pieces from the SE or Plastic Wood of the XLE on the doors and center console to make the car more upscale overall.

6 Auto Dimming Mirror - The colour is greenish and does not seem as effective as every other auto dimming mirror I've used which goes dark grey.

5 Choice of Swith Locations - This should be on the arm rest, where you can adjust your mirrors from the position that you drive in. The cruise control should be on the steering wheel and the AC (Auto climate) controls on the dash.

4 Lack of Auto Up/Remote Windows - My current rides offer a cool feature where if you hold down the unlock button on the remote, all the windows roll down for as long as you hold down the button. It makes it real easy to cool off the car as you are walking up to it after it has sat in the sun all day. On this note, Toyota seems to recognize that the battery in the TCH needs to stay cool (hence the mondo battery vent on the back shelf) so why don't they just tint the back and rear windows as a standard feature?

3 No Energy/Consumption Screens - Canadian TCH's with NAV lack the Energy/Consumption screens. For a $2719 (before tax) option I can't help but feel a little ripped.

2 The Center Dash Lights - The center dash lights are way too bright and are not controllable. Having the radio surround glow at night is more a distraction and serves no purpose I can think of and is one of the first things I plan on trying to disable if I buy a TCH.

And my #1 complaint/observation is ...

1 Light coloured interiors - Being a family car, Toyota needs to realize that light colours and kids do not go together. Offering 2 interior colours choices that look almost the same is like offering no choice at all. My favorite quote on the TCH was made by a Driving Televison Host that said "... there's alot of shades of beige in the Camry ..." The fact of the matter is that many of the other complaints can be gotten used to or fixed with a bit of money, but changing out an entire interior is too much.

 

Hmm, this was an easy one for me. The Driver's side B pillar.. For us "vertically challenged types" everytime I turn to look for the lane change I have to tweak my head to look around that. I know that many people think the Prius has blindspots but I found them to be non-existent. Tho after driving a Previa (RIP) this is the only really bad blindspot compared to several in the Previa. Of course after 16 years you adjust so that you aren't even aware you have done that until you get into a totally different vehicle and the learning/adjusting to a new car curve starts again.

I am really enjoying seeing the 60/60 combo! mph @mpg wish it lasted longer tho!

And my second thing I don't like too much is seeing how quickly the mpg gauge goes down when I am going up these hills that I have here in and around Pacifica. Of course, I do my best to find the uninterrupted downhills. My oh my does the TCH coast nicely! I need to be careful of that because I am often going faster than the speed limit on the downhills often passing the cars that passed me on the uphill section! LOL!

 

Which leads me to the only thing I've found to complain about so far: With cruise control on, this thing still accelerates like a bat out of hell on the downhill! I just came out of driving a Saturn, which frankly is like coming out of night into day, but at least it was capable of maintaining the cruise speed within a klick or two going down steep hills.

Oh yeah - there is one more complaint: It's too addictive. My wife says if I spend any more time in this car, I'm going to wind up sleeping in it.