Our cars
Why we’re running it
We test the mileage and overall experience of the Toyota RAV4.
Struggling to be negative The plug-in RAV4 continues to impress, so much so it has led our tester to consider a mid-life career change. Pete Tullin
Don’t you just love those beaming Instatube influencers?
“Yo, what’s up people, have we got another brilliant product review for you today?” I swear, if just one of them, just once, were to say “today we are reviewing a product that’s rather mediocre” I’d run outside and start handing out free beer to random passersby.
Of course, my natural distrust of these glowing testimonials does put me in a bit of a pickle when it comes to writing about our long term RAV4 plug-in hybrid. This is because, try as I might – and trust me I’ve tried – I am struggling to find anything negative to say about Toyota’s best-selling model. I’ve even resorted to a dirty tricks campaign in an effort to throw
Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Design
P11D price £42,520 As tested £42,575 Official consumption 282.5mpg – includes 46-mile EV range Our average consumption 51.7mpg Mileage 5,241
it a curveball. I’ve always been somewhat suspicious of plug-in hybrids because if you don’t plug them in, and many folks still won’t, then you are simply hauling around a load of dead weight in the guise of a whopping great battery and therefore relying almost entirely on the petrol engine to get you from A to B, with the obvious negative effects on fuel economy. With this in mind, I have purposely not charged the RAV’s battery for a month now, thinking a big old bus with a fairly substantial 2.5-litre 4-cylinder engine under the bonnet would probably do well to better 30mpg. Well, the results are in, and believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, a sustained period of general motoring, including a fair mix of motorway hauls and urban commuting has resulted in average fuel consumption of 51.7mpg. Ok, so that’s not in the same stratosphere as the 282.5mpg average that Toyota claims the
44 | May 2022 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
RAV is capable of, but it is still pretty impressive given it has achieved this figure with zero plug-in assistance. Contrary to this strategy, I will be plugging the RAV in at every opportunity and running the drivetrain in its hybrid combo mode for the next month to see just how close I can get to the official combined average. Given the lack of matters to moan about, I have to admit to a bout of childish schadenfreude when I thought I had discovered a glitch with the RAV, but this turned out to be groundless.
Along with a reticence to offer a fully electric vehicle – something that will be remedied this year with the bZ series of models – Toyota was one of the last manufacturers to offer Apple Carplay in its European models. So, when my iPhone failed to connect, and I was left bereft of my favourite Waze navigation App, I was all for cursing Toyota’s lack of software development. Just to be sure, I checked the connectivity via a couple of spare iPhone leads and even resorted to gently poking a toothpick into the USB to tease out any signal hindering detritus to no avail. Consequently, I was beginning to feel pretty confident that there must be a rabbit off with the system, but as it turns out the problem was not with the RAV but with the iffy port in my old dog and bone.
Many people may look at the RAV and conclude it’s not the prettiest car in the world and others may question some of the rather plain Jane aspects of the interior design and I’d have some sympathy with that view. Overall though, I’ll gladly let the looks side of the equation slide because when it comes to just getting the job done, the RAV is as good as it gets.
As well as being impressively comfortable and extremely refined, it is also surprisingly powerful, exceptionally spacious, and insatiably practical. What’s more, if Toyota’s reliability reputation is anything to go by, I suspect this is situation that will continue for the foreseeable. I’ll keep you posted if anything changes but, in the meantime, don’t hold your breath.
Standard equipment: Automatic transmission, i 4WD, 18in alloys, 9in touchscreen with Apple Carplay and Android Auto, electric tailgate 4 electrically heated seats, roof rails, leather seats, heated front seats, dual zone climate control, pre-collision system with day and night-time pedestrian and cyclist detection, rear cross traffic alert.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
