![]() ![]() The center rear seating position is quite narrow and the center seat belt extends down from the roof. Two of them were happy enough sitting back there, but with the addition of the third daughter (my girls are 10, 12 and 14) this car fell from grace in our family. In the back, my kids had access to storage pockets on the backs of the front seats as well as small in-door bottleholders. Narrow pockets in the front two doors give you another option for storing odds and ends, but they’re not large enough to fit a water bottle or travel coffee cup. The optional heated seats up front (standard on the Limited trim) have high and low settings and can warm up your tush in short order on cold days.īetween the driver and front passenger, there are two cupholders as well as a shallow open tray and triangular storage area that worked well for stashing my phone, lip balm and toll transponder. The faux carbon-fiber trim pieces made out of a stamped plastic material, however, sadly cheapen the effect. There’s a definite attempt at niceness inside the Toyota RAV4 the Limited trim I drove had leatherlike SofTex seat upholstery, soft-touch door panel inserts and a leather-like panel on the dashboard with contrast stitching. And, hey, everybody needs a pair of comfortable shoes. It’s the flats you wear to work, not the super-fun heels you lug around in a tote bag to change into for after-work drinks. Sure, it has a Sport mode in addition to an Eco one, but in a world of turbocharged compact SUVs, the RAV4 won’t be your go-to for a joyride it’s more of a practical daily companion. While I wouldn’t really characterize the RAV4 as fun to drive on shorter trips around town, it’s effective enough in terms of both acceleration and braking to get you where you need to go. ![]() Perhaps some additional focus on insulating from road noise would help. On the highway, the Toyota RAV4 has a tinny sound to it and a too-light feel that resulted in my passengers noticing all the vibrations from the grooved pavement where I live. Any shoppers who have yearned for higher mileage from a RAV4 will get their wish in fall 2015 in the form of the 2016 RAV4 Hybrid, the first gas-electric option in this model’s history. This bumps up ever so slightly to 26 mpg combined in the front-drive RAV4. In this case, the pudding is all the tiny, seemingly trite individual details that add up to create either a positive or negative daily life experience inside the car.Ī RAV4 with its 2.5-liter four-cylinder and AWD gets an EPA-estimated mileage of 22/29/25 mpg city/highway/combined. They all more or less function the same the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Is there anything distinguishable about any of the cars in this class? They all look essentially the same - cute and sporty. Compare AWD versions of all three trims here. The Toyota RAV4 comes with either front-wheel or all-wheel drive in three trim levels: LE, XLE and Limited. If you don’t want to go out with the RAV4 for a second coffee date, plan an online speed-dating session with the Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage here.įor 2015, there are only a few minor changes to the RAV4, the most important being an optional programmable-height power liftgate. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it it just doesn’t get you all twitterpated on the inside. Some joie de vivre, an unknown X factor, that mysterious thing that makes you return date number one’s call but ignore date number two’s. It just seems to be missing a little … something. The RAV4 is an interesting animal, though, in that its upper trim levels manage to incorporate all the individual features you’d want - and might even consider upscale. Over the years, it’s become an icon of practical people upsizing from practical sedans, like the Toyota Camry. The Toyota RAV4 is one of the original compact SUVs - arguably the first car-based SUV, or crossover. The 2015 Toyota RAV4 is a little like the jeans and T-shirt you wear every day they get the job done, but just a little extra effort would take it from yawn to yay. ![]()
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