Not trying to be a smartaleck but, most of your questions are answered in
your owner's manual. Read through it and you'll be more enlightened on your
wise choice of a Highlander. They got a "Most Reliable" rating for large
SUV's on Consumer Reports.
davidj92

It is not really necessary to drive easy.  If you prefer to pamper your new
Highlander, then drive easy until the newness wears off.

This is normal, it does not lessen after some miles.  If you are worried
about it, you can ask the dealer to show you another '06 Highlander for
comparison.

Scotchguard works well, as do good fitting seat covers.

I am not an audiophile, listen to news radio most of the time so I am not a
very good source for advice here.

The rear spoiler is more of a cosmetic accessory than a functional one
although on our Sequoia, I've noticed that the rear window does have a
slightly less dirty pattern that looks like an upside down windshield wiper
sweep.

What kind of interior light are you looking for?  If you are looking for a
map light, auto parts stores sell ones with a gooseneck that plugs into the
12 volt socket.

Enjoy your new ride!

 Not really "Easy", just don't do your imitation of Mario Andretti.
You can floor it if you need to get out of the way of someone else or
get up to speed on the freeway, but don't flog it continuously.

 And on longer trips with a new car, vary the speeds constantly every
few minutes, go hang out in the left lane at 75 for a few minutes,
then slow down in the right lanes for a while, then go take the
"Business Loop" surface street route through town and stop at the
signals.

 Don't set the cruise control and have the engine holding exactly
2,100 RPM for hours on end as you cross the entire Texas flatlands -
that's bad for getting the rings to seat.

 Normal to some degree on all cars.  There has to be a little slop in
the drive train, or it binds up.  The Clunk is just the slop being
taken up when you apply torque to the drivetrain, and you get another
Clunk when you shift into reverse.

 There are slip splines so the driveshaft can lengthen as the
suspension travels that creates most of the Clunk, and a little slop
in the U-Joints and between the gears in the transmission, transfer
case, and rear axles.  Sometimes curing the Clunk for a while is as
easy as giving the slip splines a shot of grease.

 What you have to listen for is when that Clunk starts getting a lot
louder, most people get used to it through the years and don't notice
changes.  It might be a sign of normal aging, but it can also be an
early sign of trouble that a mechanic should check out.

 Anything you want - Scotchguard is good stuff, but buy a can and do
it yourself - they want WAY too much money for it at the stealership.

 Don't let them butcher the dashboard or the existing truck wiring
harness installing the new radio - they have wiring adapters that plug
into the truck harness, and mounting kits that fit in the existing
dashboard hole.

 If they cut up the car now, and you ever want to put it back to
stock later to sell it (and keep your good radio bits) you'll be
shocked at the price of interior panels and covers.  You can spend $50
on a stupid radio surround trim, or several hundred on door panels.

 You CAN find good speakers that will fit in the stock holes without
a lot of trouble.  They just want to sell you what they already have
on the shelf and move the inventory.  On the '84 truck the stock front
speakers looked really odd, but a regular 4" speaker fits right in
with a quick tin-snip snip to take off one mounting ear, and bending
another mounting ear up about 15 degrees.

 And stay with a major brand headend, they have realistic power
ratings.  If they start claiming 400 Watts in a dash mount headend,
they're lying - yeah, 400W at 25% distortion.  Any THD rating over 1%
and you'll hear it, some people can hear far less.  You want clean
sound first, volume second.

 Go look around at Camping World or any local RV Supply shop, a lot
of what they have is 12-volt and very easily adaptable to cars and
trucks with a bit of planning on how to mount it without butchery to
your car's interior.  And they have trained installers who can put
them in without a lot of fuss if you can't.

 I took the two stock dome lights out of my LandCruiser and put in
triple units, each with a dome light and two bullet reading lights
with #194 lamps. (And I added a matching rocker switch on the side of
the front-seat light to cut off both dome lights like the stock units
had.)  Or you can leave the stock dome light and put the reading
lights separate.

 Make an aluminum or plywood mounting adapter plate so you can use
the existing screw mounting points for the old dome light - and make
reversal to the stock lights again easy without leaving holes in the
headliner.  Again, you don't want to find out how much it costs to
have a replacement headliner installed...

Same goes with plugging tab crimp connectors into the existing stock
dome-light harness socket to connect the new reading lights, or using
"vampire tap" connectors, rather than chopping the socket off - you
might need it again someday to hook up a stock dome light.  ( And
don't use over-long screws and go through the roof...)

 If you want a light where there's nothing to mount it to, you can
always drop the headliner and epoxy a piece of plywood to the body
steel.  Or make an aluminum strip stock bar that stretches across the
gap and screws to the roof ribs on either side.  Or both.

 On my old pickup, I left the stock dome light over the rear-view
mirror and mounted a double 15W Thin-Lite fluorescent over the back
window - Lots Of Light.  But I had to leave it in when I sold the
truck because of the whole 'holes in the headliner' issue.

 Need to do that on the Work Van, and no headliner to worry about...

     --<< Bruce >>--