RAV4 Hybrid Winter performance ?

[57North]

Hi, i am on the verge of a new RAV4 AWD Hybrid in UK. I,m in north Scotland where we can get very hard frosts in winter, anywhere down to -20 deg C,

my concern is i need to defrost a heavily frozen car, does the hybrid detect the cold conditions and switch the engine on immediately? 

Another thing is steep hill starts, i sometimes will need to go over iced up seriously steep mountain passes, i,m assuming the system will hold auto on hills and pull away without spinning out,?

Thanks for your advice

Graham

[2bikes]

As no one else has bothered 🤔although we don't get our excel 2wd till march I've watched endless reviews and tests on both 2wd & 4wd and we test drove just before lockdown .As i understand engine will kick in when needed for whatever reason  it decides ,excel has auto hold and the electric motor on pull away is really smooth and powerful ,the 4wd system is pretty good going by the many off road you tube  tests I've seen ,limiting factor is always the tyres, living in Scotland you'll be aware that winter or all season tyres make a massive difference. Excel has heated wipers !steering wheel and seats so ideal for Scottish winters I would say . 

 

 

[Parts-King]

The engine ECU will take control of when the car stays in EV or ICE mode, so on a cold day, it will start in EV but will kick the engine in immediately, nothing to worry about there.

Traction is really good, I got stuck behind a huge Audi last year on a tiny slope, his car was slipping sideways and backwards, not going forward at all. I just crept forward on light throttle and didnt even spin a wheel, left him to his own struggles   

[PeteB]

Most of the time when you start the car the petrol engine doesn't start until 7 seconds after the car is 'READY'.  This gives time to press the EV button if, for example, you just want to move the car a few feet.  When the air temperature is below a certain value (I think it is mid to high teens Celsius) the engine then starts and goes into a warm-up cycle.

Even after 18 years and over 330,000 miles in Hybrids, I'm still fascinated by the way the car seems to be powered just by the electric motor (even though the engine is running and even when the HV Battery is fairly low) while the engine is warmed up as quickly as possible.  In cold weather the valve timing is adjusted quite substantially to make as much heat as possible, but this mode is inefficient for motive power, which is why the engine is largely excluded from driving the car until it reaches a certain temperature.

Two things will affect this:

1. if you try to accelerate rapidly, the engine instantly reverts to normal operation and drives the car
    
2. if the front screen demist/defrost button is pressed, the car refuses to go into EV mode (via the EV button) and will start the engine immediately during the initial 7 seconds wait if it's cold outside, again using Battery power to drive the car and warming the engine as fast as possible - subject to item 1.  If the EV button has already been pressed, selecting demist/defrost will cancel it.

My winters on the  East Anglia coast won't be as cold as yours, but I think you'll find the car will clear ice pretty rapidly.  It certainly does here on the odd frosty winter morning.

One thing I've noticed in the RAV4, that I'd not picked up before, is that in warmer weather, the car actually takes longer (in miles) to reach normal temperature than in the cold of winter.  I'm fairly certain this is because in warmer weather it doesn't go into the aggressive warm-up phase, and engine just runs normally from the start and helps accelerate and cruise as usual even before it's warmed up.  Previous Hybrids haven't had a temperature gauge (just warning lights for too hot, and a blue one for 'not warmed up' on earlier models) which is why I'd never noticed it before.  Never stop learning new things about the Hybrids!

I've found Toyota Hybrids work well in snow/ice because of the gears-less faux-CVT system which enables power to be applied very gently and smoothly.  I find ECO (which I use all the time anyway) particularly helps when setting off in slippery conditions.

Winter tyres help even more, which I suspect you will be using given your location.  They came into their own a few times on my last Prius, and there a some YouTube videos that demonstrate a 2WD vehicle on winter tyres will fare better than a 4WD/AWD on regular ones on icy surfaces.

On my RAV4 I've decided to try All-Seasons (Vredestein Quatrac 5 SUV) in my case.  Until the stock Bridgestones wear out, my dealer is swapping them twice a year and storing the 5 unused tyres for me (I bought a full size spare - it just fits under the boot floor).

When I bought my first set of winter tyres for a gen 3 Prius my dealer did me a deal where the charge £30 a time to swap all the tyres including balancing etc.  For a one-off set up fee of £40 they agreed to store them free of charge for as long as I need them too.  This avoids any issues with tyre pressure sensors and makes my life relatively simple.  If I'm happy with the All-Seasons after a few winters, once the original tyres wear out I'll stay with the All-Season all the time, otherwise I'll buy winter ones when necessary.

[scar]

I have found the ease of pulling away on slope excellent. There is a hill close by with a set of traffic light just before the top, in the RAV the hill hold works perfectly. One of the features I do like is the ability to pull away smoothly, that will be a bonus in icy conditions. Note I have the 2WD model. Like PeteB I run in eco mode all the time.

I had assumed hill hold was a feature on all grades of RAV. Am I wrong ?

Had hill hold on my last motorbike BMW R1200rt LE. Thought it was a gimmick, a tour of the Pyrenees converted me, it was feature I used loads.

Graham I think the RAV 4WD will do the job for you, With a set of winter tyres it should be even better. 

I am not certain but I think the 4WD is not a mechanical link. The rear axle is drive is electric only, may be incorrect on that.

2bikes I have a excel, heated steering wheel yes but heated wipers ? are you talking a electrically heated front screen ? mine doesn't have that feature. It may be available but I had the chance of a excel in the right colour with a Pan roof, grey leather 4 weeks wait. If I had to wait till march 2021 as you said it would have seen me in a Honda CR-V hybrid.

 

[PeteB]

1 hour ago, scar said:

I had assumed hill hold was a feature on all grades of RAV. Am I wrong ?

...I am not certain but I think the 4WD is not a mechanical link. The rear axle is drive is electric only, may be incorrect on that...

Yes Hill Start Assist is standard on all grades.

AWD is an electric motor on the rear axle.  On the Energy Monitor display, it's nice to see regeneration coming from both ends going into the Battery.

[for info, one big difference with the Honda CRV Hybrid is it has a mechanical AWD system which I think is standard on all Hybrid versions.  It is able to send more power to the rear wheels than the RAV4 and US YouTube reviewers have said it feels even more sure-footed than the AWD RAV, although they have been universally complimentary of the AWD RAV's performance on poor terrain.]

[PeteB]

2 hours ago, scar said:

...2bikes I have a excel, heated steering wheel yes but heated wipers ? are you talking a electrically heated front screen ? mine doesn't have that feature...

Just realised I forgot to comment on this:

like mine, your Excel should have a heated panel on the bottom of the windscreen under the place the Wiper Blades park.  There is a switch for it in the row of switches by the driver's right knee, along with the boot opening, heated steering wheel and auto high-beams switches.

This is different to the US models which can have a fully heated windscreen, and heated washer nozzles!  (along with several other nice things that we can't have at any price).

[see here for list if interested:]  https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/187753-2019-rav-4-delivery-lead-times-order-to-delivery/?do=findComment&comment=1504815

[182_blue]

And AWD excell would be my choice with a decent set of winter tyres should give you no problems at all on the winter roads, it's a shame we don't get fully heated windscreens in the UK but I guess a windscreen cover would help. 

[gavioliuk]

I miss the heated windscreen  Strange as I had it on Ford Focus' from 2007.

 

[182_blue]

9 hours ago, gavioliuk said:

I miss the heated windscreen  Strange as I had it on Ford Focus' from 2007.

 

Ford used to own the patent on heated screens (ran out in about 2005) so even fairly low spec ones used to get this, not sure on the reasons these days for not fitting except for cost, that and the fact a screen is very expensive to replace with cameras and sensors as it is and will only be more expensive if its heated, I know VW used it on a few cars but also found that it blocked the signal on handsfree phones etc on certain models.

I wonder what the reason is ?, I guess I will have to live with just my heated wiper area for now 😏

[GREEBO12]

I can safely say now after last winter everytine the outside temp us 3 or below the car start with engine running untill the Battery is warmed up.