Another annoyance I have - the climate control when on auto seems to surge the fan, it goes fast and then slow instead of being constant. The vents also whistle quite annoyingly when you close the vents with the switches below them to cut off the airflow since it is always blasting out the face vents when on auto. Is this all considered normal on this car, I have had lots of cars with auto climate control and they all just worked, but it on auto and forget - this one I can't leave on auto.

Rob

 

My wife drives our GX, but I've noticed that the fan will "surge" when the moonroof is vented. Close the moonroof and the fan slows considerably.

 

The AUTO climate control on the GX and 4Runner have caused a lot of confusion over the past 3-4 years. I've noticed that if you set the temperature on 70 on a cool morning on your drive into work, the fan kicks on when the engine warms up and starts to warm the car via the floor vents. as the temp increases the fan starts to slow up. as the temp reaches the desired setting, the vents on the dash open up and start to blow moderately warmed/slightly cool/almost like vented air. if you lower the temp, the system will then change back to your feet until that temp is reached. i have found that most people don't like that the A/C is automatically on in the winter when heating the car and most want to turn it off. However, I have found that it comes on to function as a dehumidifyer so your windows don't fog up.
CV

 

I wish mine worked like that - it just blasts air form the dash vents all the time on auto, never goes to the floor and the fan seems to surge speed up and slow down a fair bit. If I close the vents at the vents it whistles because the fan is on fairly high.

 

Rob,

Unfortunately mine works pretty much like yours. Thus, I rarely use the auto climate control.

Antonio.

 

Yep - I have probably had 5 cars with auto climate control (including an rx300) and all of them worked like expected, put it on auto and forget about it for the life of the vehicle. In the GX I cannot stand it on auto and always leave it off auto! It's very annoying that this worked better in my 20k Honda!

 

I have it on Auto, leave it on Auto, year round. Just adjust the temp as needed. Works great for me. My areas ambient temp range is to the warm side, winter lows around 35F (some excursions lower), and summer highs around 95F (some excursions higher!).

HOWEVER, my wife and daughter are "fiddlers". Every time I get in the GX, it's off Auto, one or more vents closed, other vents pointing in odd directions, 10 degrees difference between driver and passenger temp setting, etc. Irritates the heck out of me!

In conclusion, GX works fine, I need to "reprogram" my family!

 

Better yet, hide the keys!

 

At least they don't re-program all your radio settings.

 

Ha! Well to be honest it's her car, I drive something a little smaller and a lot faster.