Rav 4 - Pros And Cons

[XT2]

Hi all.

Yet another curious question from the 'survivor of an ancient civilisaton'.

What are, in your own and very personal opinions, the best, or should I say 'unique' points in a Rav 4?

Then again, what is it that you don't like about a Rav 4?

As far as your experience goes, what are the common faults, head-aches and frustrating points that make you sick of your Rav 4?

Cheers. B)

[MillemanUK]

Tricky this but here goes,

Pros: Good comfort, nice styling, good handling, fuel economy

Cons: Price, Unique styling now imitated, lack of rear leg room, noisey on motorways, !Removed! tailgate

Did ask the wife as she uses it daily but all I got was a blank look and an "I duno" through a mouthful of peanut M&M's!

[sjrainsford]

I have an older one, but here goes

Pros: Pretty nippy, and handles very well for such a heavy car. Practical cause it's like a small van with the seats down. Although it handles like a car, it doesn't have the downsided such as worrying about clipping the curb with your tyres, or getting stuck in the snow (what there is of it anyway). Good driving position.

Cons: Not as good on fuel as you may expect due to being relatively heavy and having permanent 4wd. Not refined enough like on high speed runs. Not as big as you may think inside. Sticky gearbox. Back door. D4D engines proving to be a little troublesome of late.

Put it this way, I got a BMW 5 series at a good price a couple of months ago. Still haven't sold the Rav4, and now the BMW is up for sale. That's how much I like owning the Rav4. If you want to buy one, i'd say you definately wouldn't regret it. The niggles are only niggles, not real down sides.

[redlew]

Pros -diesel fuel economy, toys (on XTR at least) such as cruise, climate , VSC , traction

Cons -tailgate -side opening and limited opening (don't think anyone can find a good thing to say about this ), limited boot space (much smaller than X trail) -and of course Toyota dealers charge the earth for servicing

[Uncle Bob]

PROS...drives like a car, 4 wheel drive road grip, good MPG ( 34 plus 2.0 VVTi ), quite, easy to drive, good looks, versatile rear seats (take them out and use it as a little van) , the list goes on...:) .

CONS....Errrrr, i need to think about this one .

[JITSU]

Pro's....They're FUN and the older ones are very reliable and of course it's a Toyota

Cons....Not as good on Fuel as they could be and the 3 Doors are useless for carrying anything but people :)

[mooranger]

Pros: Great load capacity (5 door) - especially height, economy (40mpg D4D), good motorway pull, good looks, handles well

Cons: Noisy on the M Way (drivers seat seems worse than passengers) - and that's about it

[Toyota PR]

My favourite line about a RAV4 (2nd gen) was in CAR magazine's sum up; If Nike made cars.