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Not good in my opinion. That averages out to a maximum of about 1330 miles/year, so it's not been driven much, very likely has spent long periods sat undriven. If there's evidence it has been stored well with fluids drained etc then maybe, but I would much prefer loads of miles to very few.

Check the owners manual to be sure but it's usually something like this: 1) Press the lock button on your keyfob, motion sensor is activated (test this by being in the car when you do this and moving your arms around, alarm should go off) 2) Do the same and press the button, motion sensor should be deactivated (test by waving around in the car while locked, alarm should not sound) 3) After locking with the fob, press the lock button a second time. The hazards will flash again to indicate the motion sensor has been disabled. Again you can test this by being in the car when you do it. Note: this is how it has worked on previous cars I've owned, my current car doesn't have a motion sensor and yours may be different. Check the owner's manual for confirmation or test as suggested.

Disables/enables the motion sensor.

Well fair enough, I guess I should be consistent when I talk about designed service life. To be honest though I don't think it matters all that much, nobody wants their transmission to fail at either 100k or 150k so either way the recommendation is obviously to service it sooner than either of these points. I apologise again if what I said sounded confusing or misleading. This I did not know! Agree with everything else you said.

I'm still confused, could you perhaps explain how you think I've been inconsistent?

Driving my daughter to the park this morning, I pulled away from some traffic lights, turned right and was going along and suddenly noticed the car was revving and not accelerating. A deep sinking feeling of dread set in, before I glanced down and noticed I’d somehow knocked the shift lever into N. Coasted to a stop and put it back in D and all was well except my nerves! Never done that before, no idea how I managed to do it.

I'm confused, are you talking about this? Because as far as I can tell that's exactly the same as what I've said here and you liked that post.. I said 100k previously and 150k this time, both intended to be very vague approximate mileages because nobody can really predict exactly when a transmission will fail, is that what you're referring to?

In a semi-related note I got into a long argument with some others on our sister forum about oil change intervals. The same logic can be applied there - the service schedule for a car is based on a designed service life and things like the oil change interval are based on ideal operating conditions. If you don't drive a car much and take very short trips, changing more often is a good idea in my opinion. Apparently this is a controversial opinion though as I pretty much got told to be quiet over there 😄 but it does make sense if you think it through. Less maintenance looks good on paper which helps sell the car. Looks great to fleet buyers "this one costs less to run". All it has to do is make it well outside the warranty period and job's a g'd'un, as they say. Maybe most people don't care because they don't keep cars very long, but I plan to drive mine until the wheels come off so I want it to last as long as possible.

Yeah sorry that was tongue in cheek, I wasn't being entirely clear and humour doesn't carry well in text. Although what I wrote is technically true, the manufacturer has a designed service life of the transmission in mind which is very different from what most people would hope to get from it. So yes when the fluid's burnt up it's done - that is true, but most of us don't want that to occur at 150k miles. The manufacturer on the other hand, very much does, because then they have an opportunity to sell you a new car. So it's best to avoid the fluid getting burned up by changing it pre-emptively.

To be honest I think there are other exceptions to that rule as well, such as manufacturer oil change intervals, but that seems to be a controversial opinion 🙂

It's means exactly what it says. Sealed for life. When the fluid's burned up that's the end of it's life!

Unless it's that you shouldn't change your transmission fluid because it's "sealed for life".

It's overdue at that mileage so definitely do it. You want a transmission service that includes replacing the fluid and the filter assembly, *not* a flush. Since you're in London I would highly recommend taking it to Russell Birch at Toyotec in Redhill, if it isn't too far. They have loan cars.

Oh - if you have another key that was working before you got the new one, you should be able to run through the sequence using that key and just do the remote bit with the other key. So steps 1-9 with the original key, and then step 10 (buttons on the remote) with the new key.

Actually if step 9 isn't happening then this is actually before the remote is even used. The dance you're doing with the key and the door is telling the car to go into programming mode, the authentication of this process is the key in the ignition (using the transponder chip). Until you execute step 10 the remote unit isn't involved at all. So I think either there is some very weird glitch with your transponder chip and somehow it can start the car but can't enter programming mode, or you're doing the sequence slightly wrong.

I can't make sense of this to be honest but I'm glad you're making progress. The transponder chip is normally separate from the remote unit, the transponder being the bit that needs to be correct in order for the car to start. The remote unit should be generic and as long as it's the right frequency you should be able to add it to the car using the procedure described above. When cloning a key it's my understanding that the transponder chip is cloned, that shouldn't have anything to do with the remote unit. I'm sure CKO know this stuff much better than I do though..

My RX over-reads consistently by about 5mph. I have an aftermarket cruise control system with two persistent memory buttons on the stalk, so I've programmed them to 50mph and 70mph true speed (according to gps) as these are the most common speeds I'll cruise at on the motorway.

Define "dropping out"? Without more detail it's hard to really know but that sounds like possibly another wifi issue (so not actually anything to do with the BT internet connection itself).

Just to add that I bought a remote from car keys online and was able to program it with the sequence mentioned above, and my car is a JDM import so had to get a remote with a different frequency. Yours should probably be fairly standard if it's european spec so I'd be surprised if carkeysonline had got it wrong. When doing step 7 you need to turn the key all the way to position 2 where all the electrics come on, not position 1. Could that be where it's going wrong?

Nope, those are for the security system that allows you to start the car. If the remote unit is the wrong frequency for the car then that might stop it from working. You can possibly order a new one (from car keys online) and swap it out into the shell you have, if it's the TOY48 style. The transponder chip will be in a little section of the remote fob that you can remove and swap into a new one.

I agree with the sentiment, but the 4wd system is only going to activate over loose surfaces at slow speeds, i.e. very infrequently. The reason permanent all-wheel-drive systems require equivalent tyres on all four corners is because the wheels are locked together, if there's a difference then something has to give somewhere and if it isn't the road surface then it's the differential. Over time it can become damaged. I'm hoping though that with this car it's less of a concern.

Which step didn't work? There are subtle differences indicated for some models, here is a more complete guide, try the alternate sequence indicated for the other models. ------------------------------------------------- Procedure To Program Toyota Wireless Remote Transmitters: Begin with: The driver's door open and unlocked. Key out of the ignition. 1. Insert and remove the key from the ignition switch 2 times within 5 seconds. NOTE: Steps 2 and 3 should be performed within 40 seconds. 2. Close and open driver's door TWICE. 3. Insert the key into the ignition and remove it. NOTE: Steps 4 - 6 should be performed within 40 seconds. 4. Close and open the driver's door twice. 5. Insert the key into the ignition. 6. Close the door. NOTE: Steps 5 and 6 should be reversed for the following models ONLY (close door first, then insert key into ignition): 2000 - 2005 Celica 2001 - 2003 Prius 2001 - 2005 ECHO 2001 - 2005 RAV4 2003 - 2004 Avalon 7. Turn the ignition switch from "Lock" to "On" and back to "Lock" at about 1 second intervals to select the desired mode: 1 time for ADD mode. 2 times for REWRITE mode. 3 times for CONFIRMATION mode. 5 times for PROHIBITION mode. 8. Remove the key from the ignition. 9. To confirm your mode selection, the power locks will now cycle "lock" to "unlock" a number of times corresponding to your key cycles in step 7. NOTE: If Confirmation or Prohibition modes have been selected, opening the door will complete the procedure. 10. For Add or Rewrite modes do the following within 40 seconds of Door Procedure Lock confirmation: A. Press both car transmitter Lock and Unlock buttons simultaneously between 1 and 1.5 seconds and release. B. Within 3 seconds of step A, press the transmitter Lock button for more than 1 second and release. If the keyless entry remote transmitter has been successfully programmed, the power locks will cycle "lock" to "unlock" once at this time. If there are problems with the remote transmitter or the procedure up to this point, the locks will cycle twice. If this occurs, verify that you have received the correct transmitter, and then repeat the above procedure. C. If multiple remotes are to be reprogrammed, repeat steps A and B. 11. Open the driver's door to conclude programming mode.

No, it's a simple process you can easily do yourself. I'm surprised a professional auto locksmith wouldn't jump on this chance to make some easy money! See Herbie's post for the sequence

run a continuous ping to the access point over a minute or two, post the output.

That's my hope - thanks.