The original soft-roader grows up
The original RAV4 was out almost half a decade before anything else in the small SUV segment. Back then, it was a frothy little toy of a thing, but the current model is a grown-up family wagon with five doors and a big dose of common sense.
Every model in the RAV4 range is well enough equipped to keep you happy. Rather bizarrely, though, if you want leather you also have to have four-wheel drive. Not that the price jump is too great, though if you want a diesel-engined 4x4 itll cost you another grand. Cruise, climate, alloys, Bluetooth, a touch-screen console and automatic lights and wipers are standard across the board, with bigger alloys, sat-nav and a reversing camera among the extra goodies on the SR. One final odd twist is that if you want your RAV4 in red, brown or white, youd better also want it to have four-wheel drive.
It costs more, but the 2.2 D-4D diesel is absolutely the engine to have. The 2.0 VVTi is lively and revvy, but its only availale with a Multidrive auto box and manages to be both the slowest and the thirstiest unit in the range. The diesel auto runs it close, though, ending up in a higher CO2 bracket as a result, but in manual form its a little quicker, a lot more fun and a whole lot more economical.
Toyotas are famous for their build quality, if not always their flair. The RAV4 bears that out, with a cabin whose controls and materials feel totally robust and immaculately put together but which wants only for the feel-good factor some others deliver with such panache. Its well thought out, though, with excellent seats and plenty of hidey holes, both up front and beneath the boot floor. The rear seats are very good, too, sliding backwards to accommodate tall adults and folding flat to let you carry big, awkward cargo. The tailgate is side-hinged, though, so youll get rained on in the process.
good, too, with none of the moany straining you sometimes get from auto diesels. You can take control of the gearbox using paddles on the steering wheel, and it works really crisply in this mode. Its nippy in town and willing on the open road, where its suspension is as entertaining as that original RAV4 used to be back in the days when people called it the GTi of 4x4s. Its well controlled and pleasing to steer, but theres no penalty in terms of refinement or ride quality. Pot holes dont set your teeth on edge and dips and crests dont make you feel seasick; it just follows the road unerringly, dealing with all the imperfectons as it goes.
Buying a RAV4 isnt an exercise in haggling for a price the way it can be with some cars. But what you lose in discounts you gain in depreciation: compared to many of its rivals, the Toyota will be worth more come sell-on time. In any case, even the top model tested here is pretty keenly priced next to some other small SUVs, and a more modestly specced manual example looks like a full-on bargain. That does need to be the one you go for if you want to keep on top of your running costs, though.
