Rav 4.1 2 Year Review

[simesb]

Had the 5 door rav-4 '98 for a couple of years as a family car, I thought I'd post a general review of it so far.

It's been pretty good, the 4x4 has been handy in the wet and ice and we've even had occasion to take it off road a few times. Its the winter car of choice in this household.

My main niggle is with space, There's just enough space for 2 child seats and 2 adults, the seat backs over the rear wheel arches mean theres no room for a third occupant. The boot is good enough for shopping and a couple of pushchairs, but not much else. We've just had a renault clio courtesy car for a week while Rav goes in for a service, and I find myself reluctantly admiring the comfort and space (!), although a couple of nasty drives in the ice made me yurn for the rav again.

The rav seems to churn up the miles without problem and just seems to keep going, we're getting 26 mpg average and 30mpg on long runs. Personal best is 32mpg on a run to kent and back.

Maintenance has been little bother, I've changed the engine oil and filter every 6 months and thats about it.

It seems that the exhaust mountings rust quickly on the 4.1 causing a nasty rattling against the heat shield until it warms up. Several garages have advised not to bother fixing them as they'll rust in no time but to remove the heat shield instead - I'm a purist and have left it on.

One thing that does seem to be a problem is that of bolts shaking loose. The Rav is a fairly bumpy ride and We've recently had to tighten up the sump bolts.

About a year ago we noticed a lack of power, took it into the garage only for them to discover the spark plugs had shaken loose.

I'd recommend making sure things are tightend to the correct torque particularly if you DIY services or use independant garages.

I've just had the car in for a timing belt, tensioners, cam & crankshaft seals, pulleys, waterpump as a preventative measure. Also had the transmission and rear axle fluid changed (been meaning to do this myself for ages). The whole lot cost us £620. There were no problems with any of the components they replaced, although they had to break and replace the camshaft pulley to get at the seals as it was well and truly stuck.

The Garage did overtighten the belt however leaving us with a nasty whinning noise on acceration, they've now made good on this. Interestingly enough this also caused the handbrake light to come on - its ok now they slackened the belt.

The Alternator belt is currently making a whistling noise, The belt has been checked and seems to be fine, it could be a pulley bearing somewhere, but I'm not too fussed at the moment, it goes away quickly.

The Ravs been pretty good as a family car so far, but to be honest if we could afford to change we'd probably get an x-trail now as a replacement - bags more room but theres a question mark over reliability.

[dave.m]

Hi mate and welcome to the club

Any problems with your particular model of Rav we generally refer to the 4.1 expert, Bothwell buyer.

A Nissan X Trail ?I had one on hire for 10 days, a top of the range model. And I can honestly say that

I hated it, not a patch on a Rav.

[cruella]

Ooh that's interesting, as a potential Rav4 purchaser, I find it very interesting to see how others are finding theirs.

Also interesting that you didn't rate the x trail Dave; as that's another car people had suggested I look at.

Mind you, I feel quite at home here so I don't think there's much contest!

[bothwell_buyer]

Had the 5 door rav-4 '98 for a couple of years as a family car, I thought I'd post a general review of it so far.

It's been pretty good, the 4x4 has been handy in the wet and ice and we've even had occasion to take it off road a few times. Its the winter car of choice in this household.

My main niggle is with space, There's just enough space for 2 child seats and 2 adults, the seat backs over the rear wheel arches mean theres no room for a third occupant. The boot is good enough for shopping and a couple of pushchairs, but not much else. Your describing the 3 door!! I just rid of the kids We've just had a renault clio courtesy car for a week while Rav goes in for a service, and I find myself reluctantly admiring the comfort and space (!), although a couple of nasty drives in the ice made me yurn for the rav again. We'd a Clio as well but it was demolished when someone ran into the back of it. Thankfully the 4 occupants in the Clio survived, but as it was a slow speed collision, we chose not to get another Clio - the damage was a shock

The rav seems to churn up the miles without problem and just seems to keep going, we're getting 26 mpg average and 30mpg on long runs. Personal best is 32mpg on a run to kent and back.

Maintenance has been little bother, I've changed the engine oil and filter every 6 months and thats about it.

It seems that the exhaust mountings rust quickly on the 4.1 causing a nasty rattling against the heat shield until it warms up. Several garages have advised not to bother fixing them as they'll rust in no time but to remove the heat shield instead - I'm a purist and have left it on.

One thing that does seem to be a problem is that of bolts shaking loose. The Rav is a fairly bumpy ride and We've recently had to tighten up the sump bolts. Must say I haven't in 14 years had any bother with bolts shaking loose and I'm not a careful driver. Maybe it wasn't looked after properly in its early years?

About a year ago we noticed a lack of power, took it into the garage only for them to discover the spark plugs had shaken loose.

I'd recommend making sure things are tightend to the correct torque particularly if you DIY services or use independant garages. The only problems I ever had was 90% in a T dealer. Altho I did encounter a novel approach to engine removal by a garage who managed to get the engine out from the top!!!

I've just had the car in for a timing belt, tensioners, cam & crankshaft seals, pulleys, waterpump as a preventative measure. Also had the transmission and rear axle fluid changed (been meaning to do this myself for ages). The whole lot cost us £620. There were no problems with any of the components they replaced, although they had to break and replace the camshaft pulley to get at the seals as it was well and truly stuck. wise move - our original 3SFE engine got wasted as a result of a leaking crankshaft seal.

The Garage did overtighten the belt however leaving us with a nasty whinning noise on acceration, they've now made good on this. Interestingly enough this also caused the handbrake light to come on - its ok now they slackened the belt.

The Alternator belt is currently making a whistling noise, The belt has been checked and seems to be fine, it could be a pulley bearing somewhere, but I'm not too fussed at the moment, it goes away quickly. Could be the alternator - I've just replaced mine again. They don't last forever, but you can pick em up 2nd hand, or get it re-furbd cheaply

The Ravs been pretty good as a family car so far, but to be honest if we could afford to change we'd probably get an x-trail now as a replacement - bags more room but theres a question mark over reliability. I have a story about one of em ....naw - maybe another post :yawn: