Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye
While I haven't seen it in writing, I was told by a Toyota salesman when I was looking for my 2010 RAV4 that the reason for the higher capacity was heavier rear suspension. While I could see that raising tongue weight, I don't see how it increased towing capacity...
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Toyota and some others define the tongue weight as a nearly fixed fraction of the total trailer weight. If tongue weight is the limiting factor (as it is for some vehicles), then if you can have more tongue weight, you can then have more trailer weight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaglo
Why wouldn't they make the heavier suspension an option? Do I have to leave the 3rd row seats in my carport to get more capacity?
I can't follow the logic. I can see a heavier suspension with 5 seats might ride rough, but how's that different than 3rd row seats that nobody sits in?
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In anything other than a pickup truck, it is very rare for a vehicle manufacturer to offer the buyer a choice of spring stiffness other than as part of a complete sport suspension package. Every component interacts with the others, and they neither want buyers building Frankenstein vehicles and holding the manufacturer responsible for the result, nor excessive complexity of inventory. The aftermarket fills in whatever people are willing to pay for... whether they're good ideas or not.
The stiffer springs without the weight of the third row seats has even worse ride than those springs with the seats, although the difference would be small.
And there's another approach...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye
I do know that when I brought home the 17B, I went to my local dealer and asked if the rear suspension on my RAV4 Sport could be exchanged for that of the 7 passenger. All I got was a smile...
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The Sienna equivalent is to put the taller springs from the AWD version into the 2WD version - you can buy whatever parts you want and what you do with them is your concern. There is also a seating option: 8 passengers versus 7, with the extra person going in the second row... and I think different springs due to the expected extra weight.
Added air springs are another way to get more spring stiffness, and can be inflated or (mostly) deflated to suit the situation of the moment. This is easier with some suspension designs than others.
Minivans all have the third row of seating, because most customers buy these vehicles for the seating capacity. Some of us buy them for cargo capacity - we've only used all three rows a couple of times in a dozen years - but there was no delete option for the third row seats, and I'm not surprised. In practice I often leave the middle row seats in the garage, but some Sienna owners have removed the third row (which is not intended to be removable).