Have had two rav4's a 1999 and 2000. Good little awd cars, though a bit under powered. The 2000 got totalled out, the 1999 was bought as a college commuter car for son but he ended up transferring out of state so now is a spare car with ~230k on it.
The only concern is if it's a manual transmission a clutch replacement will set you back $2500 due to the labor involved. I tried to save money by doing the job myself and after two days getting to the point I realized I couldn't get the tranny off the engine and another two days putting it back together before driving it to the shop I realized I'm going to limit my auto repairs to rotating tires, oil changes and brake jobs.
When my current car gives up the ghost I'll likely just use the rav as my commuter/beater. Even though the engine is gutless, you can have some fun with the short wheelbase drifting it on snowy/icy roads.
