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

I have 55 years of driving now. I find that the neck doesn't turn as far as it used to. The camera's a big help in tight spots. I've never whacked a car in a parking lot and want to keep it that way.

My neck is in the same shape, hard to turn and painful at that . Had it not been for the camera and blind spot monitoring I would have been in multiple accidents this year alone. Too many people are distracted.

We have had our 2017 CRV for one year next week. It just rolled 32,000 miles. I just got home from a 5,000 mile round trip to BC in it, fully loaded down with three people and all our gear. We averaged almost 36mpg for the whole trip, which was awesome compared to the 18-20 I usually get in my vehicle. The CVT transmission was no problem once I got used to giving it more gas than usual when I needed to go quickly. It was great on the interstate.

Having a 2017 RAV and a 2017 CRV, plus previously owning a 2013 RAV, my choice would still be the CRV for most uses.

Our daughter had a CRV, the older style that looked like an SUV. She bought it 1/2 worn out then completed the job. I don't know how many miles it had but it was a bunch. She loved it and was very disappointed when they changed it from an SUV to a car.

then and now

Haw many have that auto braking (when cruise control is engaged) that is in my Tacoma?

Car pulled over into the safety lane and slammed on the brakes, so my automatic system slammed on the brakes also, but in the left hand driving lane.
Had someone been tailgating me as some do around here there would have been a pretty high speed accident.
A hazard created by Toyota's safety system.
Wonder how many accidents it will cause?

I have to go back to the manual to see how to turn it off, I did read back when I was perusing the manual originally that disabling the system sends a "Note" to the computer telling that you disabled it.

Had to read the manual, I went from stick, crank windows to this thing with every system in the world . . . Whether I wanted them or not.

I imagine adaptive cruise will soon be standard on every vehicle. Some work much better than others. Our Honda occasionally will try to brake when someone exits the interstate, but is more sensitive to the right and not the left. I now anticipate it and apply gas prior to it happening. The Volvo was much better and never got confused by vehicles to the right or left. I haven't used it in the Toyota enough to have an idea of it's sensitivity.

I prefer the adaptive cruise. It makes interstate travel much better. I don't use it in congested traffic, but never used the old type cruise in traffic either.

Certainly new technology will cause accidents, especially while it's being fine tuned. It will also reduce the overall number of accidents though and be safer than the old technology. Antilock brakes sucked when they first started using them, but how many people today would prefer some old school drums on their new car?

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.[/quote]


First day of truck driving school.

"To avoid accidents, never, ever back up. Sometimes you have to. When you do, consider all factors, and choose the safest ones."
Backing up is a riskier maneuver than going forward.
Ito unbelievable to me, watching people at my kids events.
They show up one at a time, few people around,no one waiting on them.
At some point, theyou are going to back that car up, why not now?

They fly in the lot, pull into a back out spot.

Two hours later, dozens to hundreds of kids running around,
Parents, grandparents, siblings walking to the cars.

It's dark.

Everybody is in their car, leaving.
90%+ of these f'not idiots have to back up, kids everywhere, contending with headlights in the eyes, cars trying to leave, opposite cars in conflict.

Possibly, those old people were just smarter than the "wise" grandkid or the advice columnist.

I'm the first one to work every morning. I back in because the lot is empty and safer.....and since I don't have to back out when leaving I can haul azz a little safer at the end of the day!

So, we just went through an entire tank of gas in my wife’s 2018 Hybrid RAV4... mostly in town driving, 34.8 mpg.

Pretty nice!

Hence the earlier discussion of backup cameras. They help a lot in tight spots.

OTOH, I've done a fair bit of truck driving. In many cases, you can back a truck into a tighter space than going forward simply because a good set of mirrors on both sides gives you a good look at where your rear wheels are. That goes for semis, too.

Which would probably get closer to 40 MPG on flatland. Thats fantastic mileage

Those hybrids do get great mileage. My son's Prius gets about 50 on the highway.

I was given a loaner '18 Rav4 SE when they replaced the airbags (recall) on one of my other Toyotas. It was a snowy crappy day, and the awd was sure nice. As to "extras" that are not necessary, I sure liked the bum burners that day. The Rav4 is certainly on the list of possibles to replace an almost dead commuter we have. Great thread folks.

I got a 2014 XLE in 2wd with a salvage title with 30K on the meter. Paid $14500. 14500 is a bit stiff for a salvage title but the car was mint... nothing wrong with it at all except some smudges in the headliner. Other than that, the car is just like new. I got 5500 miles on it so far... not problem one yet.

I specifically bought a 2wd because I did not want the extra running gear or weight or maintenance, I was for maximizing the MPG . I average 24 to 26 MPG with my poor driving habits.

It is my local run around grocery getter. The front wheel drive will get me in and out of any grocery store parking lot... room enough to haul the dog... dosn't cost anything to go on a trip... If the weather gets bad.. I got the Chev K1500 FWD... It gets me 12.5 to 14.5 MPG

It's a good car... Kind of utilitarian... not very refined... But I see this car going to 300K miles with no problem.

I bought a case of oil filters on E-bay for $3.50 each and I change the oil every 10K with full synthetic 0-20. It will be the most cost effective car I have ever owned.

This car saves me $200.00/month over running my 1/2 ton truck. That savings will pay for the car in 84 months. And it will keep my 1/2 ton truck newer for longer.

The water must have been pretty deep to damage the headliner.