Toyota Rush 2 GEN: review, testimonial

Toyota Rush, second generation. Small battery holds up well in December frosts.

There is not much information about Toyota Rush on the Internet, I decided to share my experience of owning a car.

Briefly about myself: I drive mostly Toyotas - Camry 25, 30, 40. I used to use a Prado 95, later a Prado 78 for fishing. I have been driving a Toyota Land Cruiser 100GX (105) for over 10 years. Additionally, we have had a Raf4 in the family for the past 13 years.

So, Toyota Rush, second generation, 2022 model year.
From the tags riveted to the body of the car, you can see the month, year of manufacture, VIN code and place of manufacture. Our car was manufactured in Indonesia, November 2022, then exported to UAE, and from Dubai was imported to Kazakhstan.
The car was in Almaty for one year, low mileage, then purchased from an Almaty resident.

Rush of the second generation is a ‘crossvan’, a hybrid of ‘minivan’ and ‘crossover’. I was surprised to read a new for me type of automobile class of transport.

Having looked through the Kazakhstani site of announcements ‘Kolesa’, the following statistics are available:

• Mitsubishu Xpander, Xpander Cross - 62 ads for sale. Xpander is the main competitor of Toyota Rush in international markets.
• Kia Seltos - 314 ads on sale. In Kazakhstan, the Seltos model is represented mainly by cars produced in China, differing in engine capacity, front-wheel drive layout and equipped with additional options.
• Toyota Rush - 26 ads.

Figures speak for themselves - Rush is unpopular in Kazakhstan, only the presence of parallel import made the car available in our market.

I'm not going to write down very elementary details here, it's enough to look at the reviews on YouTube and it becomes more or less clear.
I didn't find anything else worthwhile on YouTube: a lot of custom-made Asian reviews by YouTube-bloggers from Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Latin America. I saw a couple of promos from South Africa in English.
All praise the car, recommend to buy, which is not a full-fledged review.

I recommend you to pay attention to the English-speaking Internet: there are a lot of detailed reviews of Rash owners from UAE, South-East Asia in English.

After buying a car I study the manual - user manual - we got it in English and Arabic.
Looking ahead, the manual is written and visualised for ‘dummies’, like IKEA instructions - ‘pull out the table leg, screw the bolt with an octagon of size #8, etc’.

The design of Toyota Rush is quite modern, diode headlights up front, rear, interesting look.

Toyota Rush pros:

1. Reliable chassis design.
As many people know, the second-generation Rush is a rear-wheel drive car with a dependent rear axle (a full axle connected to the distribution box by a cardan mechanism) with an integrated frame. That is, the levers, Panara rod, gearbox, cardan and cross members are all available from Rush.
I believe that this is a plus rather than a minus - such running gear is structurally stronger than the overwhelming number of crossovers and lasts much longer without intervention of masters.

2. Integrated frame.
I believe that it is better than the principle of ‘load-bearing body’, accordingly the rigidity of the structure, ‘longevity’ of the car will be much higher, longer than in classmates.

3. High ground clearance.
Toyota Rush has a clearance of 220 cm, which allows to overcome obstacles on a dirt road, forest road practically as a medium-sized jeep on condition of dry, sunny weather. In the rain, I would not go out on the dirt, or at least I would go not alone, but paired with another, four-wheel drive car.

4. Short bumper overhangs.
A big and fat plus for operation, for passing small potholes.
On youtube there are some clips about passing of Toyota Rush polygon in Latin American country, it looks seriously.

5. ‘Conditionalness’ of aggregate units.
The expression is taken from the channel ‘Fox Rulit’, in principle I agree - ‘archaic’ four-speed automatic gearbox and one and a half litre ordinary engine will not cause problems at service or overhaul in any serious service station.

6. Simplicity of saloon options.
The interior is poor in a Spartan way - ringing plastic everywhere (torpedo, doors, boot). We have ‘G’ configuration, accordingly there are practically no options, which explains low cost of the car.
Rush is just lucky: TRC mode is necessary when skidding rear axle in rain, snowfall. Good heater (already checked in Almaty). ABS works well on snowy descents.
There is nothing else in our Toyota Rush set, so as not to distract the driver)).

7. Absence of interest for hijackers.
Allows you to install a simple security system (alarm system).

Because of its similarity to other Toyota models, especially at the rear - Toyota Rush was nicknamed the ‘Baby Fortuner’ in Southeast Asia.

Minuses of the car's operation, which are immediately visible:

1. A large ‘bulge’ or ‘peek’ outward of the plastic sill below the car doors.
Dirt on shoes or trousers is possible.

2. Weak painting of plastic parts of the interior under the colour of ‘aircraft aluminium’..
The steering wheel cover has already left a couple of black marks on the ‘silver’ decorative steering wheel insert. I'm thinking of going to a detalling shop to put a protective film on in places.

3. Quality of manufacturing and form-factor of second and third row seats.
As a front passenger or driver (182 cm, 95 kg) I feel great, on the second row - the fit is high, the seats are uncomfortable.
It will be difficult to stand a day route, for example in 1 000 km with two people on the second row of seats.
Rush - 5+2 seating layout, the third row will be used as a place for children.

Perhaps the figure of 1 000 kilometres in one day may surprise you, but Kazakhstan has long distances between cities, so distances of 500 - 1 000 kilometres are common here in the country.

4. Absence of mudguards.
After washing, there are traces of dirt on the doors almost immediately.
Mudflaps for Rush can be ordered on Aliexpress, the cost is reasonable, the service is proven.
Absence of mudguards as far as I understood - on all complete sets.

5. Absence of armrest of a front row of seats.
There are 13 cup holders in the car from the factory, 3 of them are located between the seats of the first row. Ordering a convenient armrest from Aliexpress, you can use a couple of cup holders between the seats as seats for installation.
One moment - I would not recommend to take armrest with USB ports inside, according to reviews on AliExpress - complain about the quality of workmanship, charging stops working over time, poor quality of ports on the front of the armrest, etc.

6. Absence of a false floor of a boot.
Nothing can be hidden under the floor in the rear part of the car. You will have to take a box and carry it constantly in the car, for first aid kit, emergency sign, small set of keys, tyre inflation compressor and so on. And it takes up the already small space of the boot.
The fire extinguisher is placed in the legs of the front passenger.

7. Behaviour of the car when passing pits, lying policemen.
Rush swallows small bumps not like a car or a crossover.
It passes as a jeep, there is a feeling that dependent suspension, undresorbed masses.

8. The bare underside of the car.
In our conditions the absence of any protection of the lower part of the body is unacceptable, I have planned anticorrosion treatment and waterproofing of wheel arches in the near future.

9. Lack of cabin filter.
Almaty is famous for its excellent smog in the cold season))))
The presence of a cabin filter in our country is rather a necessity to maintain health than a car option.
Installation of the cabin filter in Rush is the simplest, on youtube there are clips from South-East Asia, it is clear and accessible. You can order the filter cover and the filter itself online.

10. Rear drive.
It is necessary to know how to drive rear-wheel drive, especially in mountainous terrain.
I consider it rather a disadvantage, which can be levelled by driving skills and installation of studded rubber in winter period of operation.

The listed disadvantages overlap the cost of the car. But this is IMHO, market statistics tells a different story.

Toyota Rush dashboard

Interesting nuances of Toyota Rush operation

1. When realigning across lanes, Rush provides an opportunity not to switch on the ‘indicator’ in the classical sense: ‘flick the switch, realign, switch off’.
   It's enough to slightly press the switch, the turn signal light will blink for 3-4 seconds and then automatically switch off.
   Interesting, never encountered this on any Toyota model before.

2. According to the manufacturer's manual, it is recommended to change the engine oil in the internal combustion engine every 7 500 km.
   There are other parameters specified in the manual - for police cars, taxis and other public transport - every 5 000 km. For cars that are used on snowy tracks or muddy dirt roads - another number. But in all cases it is recommended to tighten the engine fan mounting bolts.

3. Recommended tyre pressure on ‘cold’: front - 2.4 atmosphere, rear wheels - 2.6 atmosphere.

That's all for now. I hope it was useful.
Later I will post news of daily use of Toyota Rush.