Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives RAV4 experience?

My wife bought a new rav4 in 2002 put about 200k on it then sold it to our office manager. She drives the piss out of it. The only major fault it has had was the computer died. We replaced it then a couple years later Toyota sent us a check for the complete job price including labor. Hard to complain.

My sister-in-law had a Rav4, she owned it forever it seemed put nearly 300K on it. Traded it for a Honda CRV last year because she wanted something a little more refined.

The CRV and RAV4's used to be SUV's. Not any more.Now they're just cars with AWD.

Yep, they've "feminized" just about everything these days. Nothing much left for a man to drive that's actually off road capable.

For the more "manly" Toyota SUV you have to jump up to the 4Runner, or take out a second mortgage and buy a Land Cruiser. I've been trying to talk my wife into driving a new 4R but no-go on that one.

The wife bought one new in 14. Its been just fine so far. Great gas mileage.

Depends what you consider a SUV. I never considered them anything other than an AWD car. For their intended use, they are great. The RAV has been a great college car for my daughter and the new model CRV a good daily commuter for my wife. Having both the 2017 RAV and 2017 CRV in the driveway right now, I'll say the RAV is a better daughters car and the CRV a better wife's car.

They don't call these little ones SUV's any more. Now they're called crossovers. It used to be that an SUV you could get into some pretty rough stuff. There is/was the 4Runner, several Jeeps, Bronco, Blazer, Durango, etc. The crossovers are almost totally highway cars. Most don't have enough clearance to make it over a sack of spilled marbles. I'm not saying they're bad cars, just that they aren't SUV's anymore.

For my wife and daughter, they have enough clearance that they don't tear anything up when they drive over a curb. My wife has a camaro for a weekend car, and am just waiting for her to tear the spoiler off, or worse.

My sister's had one since she lived in Nambla, ID. She moved back to the midwest 8 years ago. She been trying to find a replacement for it she likes as well for about five years now with zero results. Other than the interior being covered in a fine layer of dog, it's still Kool and The Gang after 300k miles.

I have a buddy that lives back in the foothills of the Mogollons, six or seven miles from the nearest paved road. He is high enough that they get snow and the road to his house goes up a couple of canyons that have running water in them anytime there is rain or snow melt. Their go-to-town vehicle is a four or five year old RAV4 that has never failed to get them in or out. My Mom had one that she drove for almost ten years before she gave up her keys, and one of my nieces drove it for another couple of years until she could afford to buy a newer car. I have a lot of respect for them.

If it matters to some the Toyota RAV4 still uses a 6 speed auto transmission. The CR-V now uses a CVT. Having said that, my wife is running a 2008 CR-V and that little thing has really surprised me. We bought the car and had it 2 years before we ever got to try it out in more than an inch of snow. The little car just flat out goes and as others have said, is only limited by ground clearance.

IMHO a true SUV is a 4wd truck chassis with a 4 door cab and enclosed rear, essentially a station wagon body on a truck.

The Rav 4 has never been an SUV by that definition, it's a unibody with a Corolla drive train. Doesn't mean it isn't capable in somewhat rough terrain, but it simply doesn't have the ground clearance for serious terrain or deep snow.

It's a good little car/crossover/whatever you want to call it and pretty fun on windy roads with the short wheelbase. Does reasonably well on snow and ice with awd and winter tires.

The pre 2000 Rav4's were a true compact SUV with good ground clearance. Surprisingly capable off road as was the chevy Tracker. Some of us would like a compact SUV for the gas mileage and increased maneuverability on tight trails. Seems like there's more than enough of these feminized soccer mom crossovers and not much left in an actual compact SUV.

Going off my experience with both 2017 models in my garage(plus three other RAVs), the CRV is the better vehicle. My wife is happy with the CRV. She would not be so much with the RAV. The CRV gets considerably better real world gas mileage. I've driven both quite a bit and I'd rather have the CRV, although the RAV is fine. Honda completely redesigned the CRV in 2017 and the RAV is still the 2013 design, although they made structural changes in 2015 to meet the newer crash test standards. Both good cars, but to me the RAV is more of a college kid or younger adult car and the CRV is better for the wife.

My daughter had a 2013 CR-V and the driver seat to me was extremely uncomfortable. Specifically on longer drives (100+ miles).

My 19 year old son drives a '97 Rav4. Like the previous mentioned teenager, this kid can some how break an anvil with a rubber mallet.

It was tired when we bought it with 220k miles...but 3 years later and another 35k miles, it's still zipping around town.

It's not a real 4x4, but if he hits the obstacle fast enough, it clears.

Awesome story. I had a chance to test out a rav 4 when they first came out in 96 I believe. It was a loner vehicle because my new toyota tacoma had engine problems at 26,000 miles. The dealership took their sweet azzed time to get me into a loaner vehicle, so I took my frustrations out on that poor little rav. It was winter time when I was using it and I remember losing track of the road and went into a ditch. I gunned it and came up out of the ditch, but left the skid plate laying there. While I was in search for a replacement tacoma from toyota, I ran it pretty hard to and from. One day I went to check out a tacoma about 90 miles away, and ran that rav so hard that it was smoking when I got to the dealership. The salesman said he'd never seen a rav smoke like that. The brakes were so hot, I thought they were going to melt. I only put 15,000 miles on that little rav while I was waiting for a replacement tacoma from the dealership. Their jaws dropped when they saw how many miles I put on that thing in 2 months. I told them they should have had a replacement tacoma for me sooner. That rav was fun to drive and it got great gas mileage. It was fantastic on slick roads. I still wonder where that poor little rav ended up and if its still on the road...

That was the older body style. The newer ones are much more car-like.

We test drove one yesterday, liked it well enough, Toyota is throwing in a lifetime powertrain warranty for as long as you own the car, not transferrable. That's a pretty good incentive to buy new.