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Tag: toyota

2025 Toyota Camry Has Impressive Gas Mileage

After visiting my folks for a couple of weeks in Georgia, I rented a car from Enterprise to drive back home to Brooklyn, because I wanted to load up on bulk-buy and shelf-stable grocery items that are difficult and/or expensive to purchase locally without a car.

I had reserved a Toyota Corolla or similarly sized midsize car, but none were available when I arrived at the Savannah-Hilton Head Airport location. They upgraded me to the 2025 Toyota Camry shown above. It has a hybrid gas-electric drivetrain with an estimated 51 MPG fuel efficiency.

This post reports on my experience with the Camry’s fuel economy over a long drive.

My four-day trip route was from Savannah to Atlanta where I would spend a day, then drive to Delaware, and finally arrive in Brooklyn where I would return the car to the Park Slope Enterprise location. Going from point-to-point, the drive took about 16 hours 59 minutes over 1,113 miles. But, I did a lot of city driving in Atlanta over one day. I estimate that I drove an extra 50 miles for a total of 1,163 miles.

When I picked up the car, I already had about 100 pounds of grocery items that I loaded into the trunk and backseat. While in Atlanta, I added another 20 pounds of items to the car’s overall load. This is combined with my weight and the weight of fuel.

The Camry has three different driving “modes.” I set the mode to “Eco” as opposed to “Normal” or “Sport.” I adhered to the speed limit and avoided using high-RPM, passing gear driving except in a couple of situations.

Over the entire trip, I purchased about 25 gallons of gas (returning the fuel level in the car to the same level that I received it), which yields a combined 46.52 MPG efficiency. Considering the awful traffic conditions in Atlanta (congestion, stop-and-go driving, low speed, etc.) and its fuel use, I suspect that my highway driving is much close to the estimated 51 MPG fuel economy.

I was happy about the fuel economy of the Camry on this trip–it reduced its pollution footprint and it saved me some money. It is impressive how a larger vehicle achieves better fuel economy than the best gas mileage of my old gas-powered Corolla.

Driving the Camry was comfortable for the most part. This was the first car that I drove with a fob/start button combination. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to disable the lane following feature of its cruise control, which I was fighting against (making me think there was something wrong with the steering before disabling this feature). The seat material–I think faux leather–wasn’t breathable, which made it uncomfortable for sitting against over long periods of time.

One big complaint that I have about the car that has nothing to do with fuel efficiency is Toyota’s radio accessed via its in-car screen. It is designed to present radio stations as a series of square icons that can be browsed by scrolling with your finger and tuned to by pressing. By accessing a station, there are tuning plus and minus buttons at the bottom of the station’s screen. All of these things–scrolling and pressing different areas of the screen to access a station or tune to a different frequency–are difficult to do safely while driving and maintaining attention to the road. The wrong areas are pressed leading one to cycle back through the process from the beginning by turning it off and re-accessing audio source > radio > station. To toggle through stations, I perched my right hand on the lower air vent below the screen and reached my index finger up to tap the station up and down buttons. It was awkward and frustrating. If automakers insist on using screens, there are situations like this where skeuomorphism and button placement and size should be consistent and easily used by the driver.

July 10, 2025
How to Rat Proof a 2013 Toyota Corolla

Last year, I wrote about removing a mouse infestation in my 2013 Toyota Corolla before driving it from Georgia to New York. At that time, I didn’t rat proof the Corolla, but since I recently did that work on my folks’ RAV4 as I wrote about yesterday, I figured that I should do the extra work to mouse proof the Corolla while I was primed to do it.

Preventing mice from entering the Corolla is slightly more involved than the 2017 RAV4 as I couldn’t find any evidence for mice entering the pressure vents on the RAV4, but I did find that in the Corolla. So, I wanted to prevent mice from entering the cabin air vent under the windshield cowl and the two rear pressure vents on the rear quarter panels inside the trunk of the Corolla.

I used metal wire with a 1/4″ grid.

I used tin snips to cut the metal wire.

And, I wore leather gloves while working with the metal wire, because the cut end easily cut and poke skin.

The first place to prevent rodents from entering the vehicle’s cabin is the cabin air intake under the windshield cowl. Unlike the 2017 RAV4, you don’t have to take off the windshield wiper arms to access it (I wasn’t paying attention to how the cowl was designed with a break, which would have saved me this trouble). The cowl is held on with plastic push pins and built-in snaps. Due to the plastic being brittle, the pins broke, but the built-in snaps remained usable.

Pulling the cowl out of the way, you can see the cabin air intake below the windshield on the passenger side of the vehicle.

With the Corolla, the cowl has a metal mesh built-in mean to stop the entrance of rodents into the vehicle’s cabin. Unfortunately, mice can squeeze through where the cowl contours against the metal body of the vehicle on the edges, which is likely how some of the rodents got into my Corolla.

I cut a 14″ x 6″ sheet of metal mesh to cover the cabin air intake.

I shaped it with my hands and a hammer to enter the opening and contour around the body, and I used one zip tie to secure this first sheet.

To further reinforce it, I cut a narrow and long piece that I wedged under the body lip under the windshield and under the lip where the cowl’s bottom edge sits. This applies pressure to the middle of the mesh covering the cabin air intake to ensure the mesh can’t move.

I pushed the cowl back into place and secured its left edge with a zip tie through the push pin hole that had broke during removal.

Next, I worked on the pressure vents in the driver and passenger rear quarter panels, which are accessible via the trunk. To find them, remove the trunk floor covering the spare tire, pull out the plastic latch cover above the bumper, and pull out the pins holding the upholstery over the trunk’s sides. You’ll find one pressure vent on either side behind the upholstery.

I worked on the driver’s side pressure vent first.

I cut a 14″ x 7″ piece of metal mesh to cover this opening.

Using my gloved hands and a hammer, I shaped the metal mesh to contour around all sides of the vent against the metal body, and I used a zip tie to hold it securely in place.

I worked on the passenger side pressure vent next.

I cut the same size piece of metal mesh, shaped it around the vent against the body and fastened it with a zip tie run through the middle of the vent.

I hope that we don’t have to deal with rodents in the Corolla again. When we purchase a new vehicle, I will secure these openings in that vehicle as the first thing that I do.

July 1, 2025
How to Keep Mice Out of a 2017 Toyota RAV4 SUV

Recently, my folks were unable to drive their 2017 Toyota RAV4 due to an unexpected and unbearable smell inside it. This post details what I did to resolve the situation and prevent it from happening again.

Resolving the Odor

Suspecting mice, I used a video endoscope that I purchased online for about $25 to find their nest under the center console below the radio and AC controls.

To remove it and clean that area, it required disassembling the console and removing the panel covers under the dashboard on the driver and passenger sides. The main tools that I used were a plastic wedge tool to pop the plastic clips loose, a Philips head screwdriver to remove a few hidden screws toward the front of the console, and a socket driver with extension to remove four bolts in the armrest compartment. See this guide for more details and pictures of this process.

The mouse nest was positioned under the plastic air ducts that send air from the AC to the rear of the RAV4.

I removed all of the insulation underneath the nest as it had absorbed the odor from the nest.

To improve the smell inside the vehicle, I shampooed the carpets with a Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner, vacuumed after it had dried, wiped down all the surfaces, and put out activated carbon pouches throughout the car.

To ensure the AC system was clean, I emptied a bottle of A/C Pro Vent & Duct Cleaner Odor Neutralizer–half in the ducts and half into the blower with the cabin air filter removed. This released a lot of build up, which clogged the AC system drain. After failing to unclog it with a pliable wire, I used compressed air to unclog the drain (admittedly this probably pushed some of the matter back into the AC system, but I immediately ran the AC for about an hour to have ample water flow out the system). I replaced the cabin air filter with a new Fram filter.

Finally, I opened the sunroof and windows while letting the car sit in the sun over several days.

When the car is left to sit, it still has a slight smell, but this is quickly dealt with by opening the sunroof and windows, turning the AC on high, and leaving the car to ventilate for a minute or two. I think with time, the odor will decrease.

Preventing Mice from Reentering the Vehicle

Having spent days cleaning the mouse infestation from the RAV4, I didn’t want to have to go through this again. I read that the cabin air intake under the windshield cowl is the likely point of entrance.

To access it, you need to remove both windshield wiper arms. There are windshield wiper arm puller tools that you can find for about $20, but I found applying ample WD-40 to the nuts (to remove them) and the bolts (after removing the nuts) permitted the removal of both arms. It’s important though before you remove them to mark the bolt head to align with the direction of the wiper arm (I scratched a line on top of the bolt with a flat head screwdriver).

With the wiper arms removed, there are a couple of plastic push pins that need to be removed and plastic tabs to pop out. Pull the cowl forward enough to see the cabin air intake on the passenger side. See this guide for more pictures and details for removing the cowl.

After releasing the cowl, pull it down and out of the way.

It’s easy to see all of the teeth marks on the plastic grill covering the cabin air intake. Obviously, plastic is insufficient for keeping rodents out of a vehicle.

Wearing leather gloves and using large metal tin snips, I cut pieces of wire mesh to fashion into a cover over the air intake. I used a hammer to tap and push on the wire to mold it to the contours of the vehicle body, and I secured it with zip ties. I added extra wire mesh below the opening to push against the lower lip of this area to push and hold the wire mesh cover in place.

Just for peace of mind, I added a larger flat piece of wire mesh over the intake to ensure nothing could get inside through this opening.

The plastic pins securing the cowl broke during removal, so I used longer zip ties to hold the cowl in place through the pin holes.

I used the video endoscope to explore the AC system ducts and areas under panels in the front and rear of the vehicle, but I couldn’t find any other evidence of rodent infestation. I hope that this guide might be useful to others dealing with this design issue with Toyota vehicles.

Stay tuned, because I will post how to do this for a 2013 Toyota Corolla tomorrow.

June 30, 2025
Beware Banging on Sun Drenched Brittle Plastic in a 2013 Toyota Corolla: Replacing Center Console AC Vents

Before driving back to Brooklyn, my 2013 Toyota Corolla’s center console began rattling something fierce! It began as an occasional annoyance, but it quickly became insistent and unavoidable.

The rattle, of course, manifested while I was driving. So, I began holding and pressing around the center console that I had recently disassembled a few days earlier to try to identify the culprit of the noise. I figured out that the sound came from the air vent assembly at the top of the center console. Impatient, I rapped and then banged on it with my fist. One ill-placed strike busted the air vent assembly’s top in a spray of plastic puzzle pieces. The picture above shows them carefully reassembled. Of course, the rattle was amplified by this destruction, so I ripped out the top of the assembly and made the long drive with the top off. When I got to Brooklyn, I ordered a replacement (sans clock assembly as it was significantly cheaper) on eBay. When it arrived, I installed it and restored the interior look of the car.

Above, you can see what the air vent assembly looked like when I drove back to Brooklyn. I completely removed the top so that it wouldn’t make any rattling during the long drive.

To begin the replacement, I pulled the silver plastic covers from the top of the center console. These pull off directly toward you and are held in by plastic clips. Using a thin plastic shim helps you get a hold on these. On the right side, you can open the top glove box to make their removal easier.

This is a close-up of the broken air vent assembly before removing it.

As I pulled the air vent assembly out directly towards me, I unplugged the cable from the back of the caution lights switch, because this would need to be re-installed in the new air vent assembly.

The caution switch is held in by two plastic clips–one on the top and one on the bottom. If these hold tight, you can use a plastic shim to depress the clip from the back and free the top and then bottom of the switch so that it pulls out easily.

Since I had a clock in the old air vent assembly, there was a corresponding plug on the same run as the caution lights switch cable. I used a twist tie to secure it. I pushed this cable between the two air vents so that there would be minimal possible movement by them once I put everything back together.

This is the replacement air vent assembly that I purchased on eBay for $21. Unlike my old console kit, it doesn’t have a place for a clock, which is fine for me. This saved about $20. Also, it doesn’t include the caution lights switch, which is also okay as I will be reusing my old one.

The first step for reassembly is installing the caution lights switch in the air vent console assembly. I ran the cable through the hole of the air vent where the caution switch goes, plugged the cable into the old switch, and pushed the switch into the hole. Unfortunately, the hole for the switch was slightly too large and the switch’s plastic prongs wouldn’t catch and hold it properly. I solved this problem by cutting small pieces of masking tape and putting two layers on top of each prong–top and bottom. Then, I pushed the switch in and it held securely in place.

The penultimate reassembly step was to line up the air vent assembly with the air ducts and clip receptacles. Perhaps because this was a new replacement, it was very tight to push back in. I took my time and checked and double checked the alignment as I worked it into place.

Eventually, it clicked on both sides and was flush with the radio below and dashboard above.

Finally, I pushed the center console’s side covers in place and double checked the caution light switch to make sure it was working.

I think it looks better than new now–at least that one part!

January 17, 2024
Prepping the 2013 Toyota Corolla for the Long Drive from GA to NY

Before making the trek from Georgia to New York, I had a few things to do to the car’s interior. As I mentioned yesterday, Woodard’s Auto Center worked on the engine, drive train, and wheels, which with over 100k miles, it sorely needed. However, the car’s front bumper and interior needed some attention, too.

The first thing that I tried to address was the mess pictured above under the front of the car. My dad had accidentally hit a ditch in the yard some years back that pulled the passenger side bumper off and popped out the bumper from the front grills. The grills were easy to fix–pull them all out, align, and pop them in starting at one end and working toward the other. The trouble was getting the bumper connected to the car’s chassis since some of the bumper’s plastic parts and lower engine compartment cover had been ripped out and torn underneath the car. But, this is what we have zip ties for! I removed the ones shown above that I had used when I visited home a few years back. I did have to make one new hole with a drill to create a loop for one zip tie, but the others were able to use existing openings.

Now, there’s nothing hanging precariously–everything is pulled tight and secured to something substantial on the chassis.

Then, I turned my attention to the car’s interior.

During the past nine years, rats or mice had infiltrated the car and built nests at the expense of the car’s interior insulation and air duct work. So, one of the first things that I did was pull apart the center console to vacuum and clean out the nest that I knew was there nestled on top of the storage compartment above the gear shifter and below the AC controls.

After copious use of disinfecting wipes, vacuuming everything several times over, and shampooing the carpet and seats, I turned my attention to the cabin air filter. As others have experienced, rats and mice find their way into these Toyota vehicles via the cabin air intake below the windshield wipers. Which means they work their way toward the cabin air filter before working through it to make their way into other areas of the vehicle. I don’t think the mice had been in the car for some years as I had removed the cabin air filter two years ago, found a rat’s nest, vacuumed it out, and replaced the filter.

When I opened the cabin air filter compartment, there were no signs of rats creating a new nest there or any attempts at tearing it up. However, I noticed that they had ate their way through a thin piece of foam that had covered a duct above the cabin air filter so that outside air came through that duct before going through the cabin air filter. I created a new flap to cover this duct out of a piece of nylon strap that I found laying around my dad’s shop.

Behind those three holes inside the handler is a thin piece of plastic with three prongs that snap through those holes. I pulled it out and the remaining strip of foam. I matched up that piece of plastic with a piece of nylon strap cut to the length of the duct space. I used a belt hole punch to put three holes in the nylon strap.

I pushed the new nylon duct cover through the cabin air filter opening and up to where the plastic prongs would meet with the three corresponding holes and popped each into place in turn.

While holding the bottom of the bottom of the new duct cover, I slid the cabin air filter into place.

Then, I buttoned up the cabin air filter (immediately before my trip, I replaced this old CarQuest filter with a Fram True Air cabin air filter CV10285) by returning its plastic cover and snapping it into place. As you can see in the photo below, I noticed the duct flap had come loose at the bottom. After the photo, I opened the filter compartment cover again and pulled the duct cover tight before closing it up the last time.

While I was wrapping things up, I pulled out the rear seat to fix the seat belts; pulled out and cleaned everything in the trunk–discovering another rat’s nest in the process; and installed a dash cam with an extra rear-facing camera–running its wires behind the weatherstripping and cabin upholstery. I used Armor All Protectant Wipes and Glass Wipes to clean the build-up off the interior’s hard surfaces. There were also several layers of country road that had to be scrubbed off the car’s body.

This past week, the car carried me majestically to my destination. I kept it on the speed limit out of concern for my safety, the aging engine’s struggles, and fuel economy.

Now, the tests are dealing with local drivers and their aggro, hunting for parking like a Neanderthal, and maintaining the alternate side parking schedule. Depending on how long I can put up with those things, Y and I can enjoy jetting around a little easier than we have done the past nine years for awhile. Eventually, though, I will lead the car back to the south where it can resume its carefree life in the country, but hopefully sans rats.

January 10, 2024