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

My wife is on her 2nd Rav4. First one was a 1997, gave it to my dad three years ago and it's still running with over 300k+ miles. Put a new water pump and radiator in it at 200k miles a few years before I gave it to my dad. Great vehicle, and he will drive it until it dies. Current one is a 2008 with 170k miles. Again, typical Toyotas, very low maintenance. Another great vehicle.

Anyone know much about the Hybrid RAV4?

The problem is they have all the extras in packages. To get the 1 thing you want, you have to buy the whole package that has a bunch of expensive stuff you don't want and might never use.

I drove one at the Dealers a year ago, pretty impressed with it actually. Super quiet, tight as a drum, typical toyota quality.

if you are going to buy one in the 2000 to 2003 range make damn sure it's had the shift computer - not sure of the correct term- replaced. otherwise it goes and it costs 1000 bucks for a new one and may ruin your tranny while you wait for the part and for them to replace it. mine is an 01 and i loved it and would have driven it forever but with 180k- only a couple years of ownership- the damn computer was fried and slammed my gears so much my guy told me it likely would need a tranny and the computer. i said no since it was high miles and a gamble. really liked that thing. kinda disappointed.

Wife just bought a '13 Highlander with 25K on it. That was about the last year before all the whiz-bang, foo foo bullcrap was added. More stuff to breakdown and get updated unless you buy a comprehensive package. Salesman told me last week that the '19 or '20 trucks will all have a rear camera too.

There isn't much anymore that is going to be "simple".

Thanks OEH

Joe, the backup camera on my 14' Tacoma may be one of my favorite things on the truck. I didn't expect that to be the case at all, but I'm a believer. I flat love that thing.

Those cameras are great. Neither my pickup nor van have them stock. I added one to the pickup for trailer hooking. It worked great so I added one to the van for backing. They're one of the really good improvements in car. All the late model Toyotas I've been in recently have had them from the factory. I wouldn't buy a new car without one.

My wife's car has a backup camera, what seems like foo foo crap turns out to be a pretty slick advancement. Same can be said of traction control in winter driving conditions, amazing what it can do in limited grip situations.

Well, just came home with a 2018 Hybrid RAV4 for my wife... guess I'll be the guinea pig, although Toyota has been at this hybrid thing longer than anyone. And it is a Toyota. One thing I like about the hybrid, apart from better mileage, is it's noticeably quieter, and it's a heavier vehicle. The Battery is in the rear. Good thing here in windy MT where you can get blown around the road pretty good in light vehicles.

And yeah, the Toyota backup camera is the chit.

Well I've been driving for 49 years without a backup camera and don't see that its "value added". Friends that have them have to clean them frequently during winter and after trips down wet dirt roads. We'll see now, with the wife's Highlander how it works. I've looked at it but still use mirrors and my neck. All the other whiz-bang bulllcrap has a little " * " after them. The manuals' fine print says: none of the safety features are a substitution for drivers attentiveness and situational awareness. New drivers I've talked to say they are a distraction until you get used to them and ignore them.

I wonder what the charge will be when the backup camera stops working? After warranty - no doubt.

Talked to a Toyota salesman two weeks ago. Asked if there was any chance they would sell a "common sense" model without all the bells and whistles. He is the one who said you have to go back to pre '14 to get away from them. He said the millennials want all the "modern conveniences". You know - lane departure, side collision warning, front brake override, parallel parking assist, WiFi, XM, large touch screens, full navigation capability, on and on.
He said there invariably will be software upgrades to be made for everything necessitating a service department appointment. It all will eventually break and well after $145/hr. that will add up. Insurance rates have been re-structured for all the electronic sophistication that vehicles now have. After all this, how ironic is it that some passenger cars don't even come with a "donut spare"? Buddies wifes Altima had a flat last fall and 2.5 hours later, the tow truck arrived. Sometimes we think we're so smart.

My pickup is a 4 door long bed. I added the camera with a license plate mount for trailer hooking as I trailer something or other regularly. With the camera, I can back in and hit it right every time. I have a goose neck hitch that I don't use but if I did, I can't see the ball from the cab. I'd add another camera in the bed in a heartbeat. Many of them are made to run several cameras with the same monitor.
For backing, mirrors are a must but in tight quarters, being able to see exactly how much room you have is a big help. It can prevent parking lot dings and save small children. You use it along with the mirrors, not instead of mirrors.

Yep, that was the biggest driver for installing a back-up camera on my F350; I can back up to the trailers every time without getting out multiple times or asking the wife to help...which is usually not much help in the end.

Yeah, I guess if I had been driving 49 years instead of the 41 years I have been driving I might think differently... but chalk it up to idiotic youthfulness, I love the backup camera.

Reminds me of a column I read a few years ago. Young teenager wrote the car guy and said that her grandparents always parked somewhere that they did not have to back out of. When she asked why, they told her that they were "saving reverse." She asked the car guy, if they really needed to "save reverse." His answer was something like, "I imagine that your grandparents are getting fairly old and older people often can't crane their necks around far enough to see well when backing up. I suspect that they are more comfortable and feel safer with parking spots that they can just drive out of."

At 75 years of age, I can no longer get my neck around far enough to see what's behind me when backing up. I use the mirrors, but I am haunted by accidents that happened to several friends who injured small children, backing over them, because they could not see them behind the car. A good friend here in the valley, backing up his pickup, killed his grandson that way. The little boy had rushed in behind the truck to help hook up the horse trailer.

I really appreciate the backup camera in my Tundra and I won't be with out it if I can help it.

The RAV4 included a V6 motor in addition to the 4-cylinder one up to 2012 or so. If you can get your hand on a 2010-12 RAV4 V6 you have a rocket. Not kidding! The V6 produces 269HP, and is relatively good on fuel. My wife's 2010 burns around 29-30MPG on the open road, and about 21 combined driving (city/highway). Press the pedal a little too hard, and you will move your body against the seat

I have been driving 47 years and love backup cameras, Blind spot monitoring and parking avoidance. I am more worried about the "other" driver wacking me then doing something stupid myself.

My wife just bought one on Friday, but not the hybrid model. Time will tell.