Rav 4 Potential Buyer

[shelly8]

Hi,

I am interested in buying a used RAV4, initially i was looking to get a diesel, but reading this Forum put me off because of all the problems that i've read about - eg Turbo, flywheel and clutch problems.

I am now looking to buy a petrol with an auto box (2006 reg), i have a budget of around 14K.

The question I have is; are the petrols generally more reliable and is there anything i should be aware of and check before I buy.

I am looking to buy from a dealer so i should have a years' warranty.

Any advice/help appreciated.

[igormus]

Hi,

I am interested in buying a used RAV4, initially i was looking to get a diesel, but reading this Forum put me off because of all the problems that i've read about - eg Turbo, flywheel and clutch problems.

I am now looking to buy a petrol with an auto box (2006 reg), i have a budget of around 14K.

The question I have is; are the petrols generally more reliable and is there anything i should be aware of and check before I buy.

I am looking to buy from a dealer so i should have a years' warranty.

Any advice/help appreciated.

hello mate

i own my rav (2007 --2.0 petrol VVT-i) since an Aug 2009 and since then i ve only serviced it as for 30k. MrT dealers have checked all car and told me that no any issues since car launching.

i ve only had issue with wipers due to their life time has gone. i use to drive each day whithout hesitation whether or not the weather allows it subject to respective tyres installing (summer/winter). as to fuel economy -- the computer shows 9.7-9.8 ltr/100kms in city drive and i ve reached 7.5 ltr/100kms on a long highway drive at 90-100 kms/hour. I hope this helps

Cheers/Igor

[shelly8]

Hi,

I am interested in buying a used RAV4, initially i was looking to get a diesel, but reading this Forum put me off because of all the problems that i've read about - eg Turbo, flywheel and clutch problems.

I am now looking to buy a petrol with an auto box (2006 reg), i have a budget of around 14K.

The question I have is; are the petrols generally more reliable and is there anything i should be aware of and check before I buy.

I am looking to buy from a dealer so i should have a years' warranty.

Any advice/help appreciated.

hello mate

i own my rav (2007 --2.0 petrol VVT-i) since an Aug 2009 and since then i ve only serviced it as for 30k. MrT dealers have checked all car and told me that no any issues since car launching.

i ve only had issue with wipers due to their life time has gone. i use to drive each day whithout hesitation whether or not the weather allows it subject to respective tyres installing (summer/winter). as to fuel economy -- the computer shows 9.7-9.8 ltr/100kms in city drive and i ve reached 7.5 ltr/100kms on a long highway drive at 90-100 kms/hour. I hope this helps

Cheers/Igor

Thanks Igor.

ANyone else have any advice?

[anchorman]

Hi,

I am interested in buying a used RAV4, initially i was looking to get a diesel, but reading this Forum put me off because of all the problems that i've read about - eg Turbo, flywheel and clutch problems.

I am now looking to buy a petrol with an auto box (2006 reg), i have a budget of around 14K.

The question I have is; are the petrols generally more reliable and is there anything i should be aware of and check before I buy.

I am looking to buy from a dealer so i should have a years' warranty.

Any advice/help appreciated.

Hi Shelly and welcome to the club.

The model you are talking about is just about bomb proof reliable. There were a few minor issues with steering creaks that you should pick up on the test run or if not certainly in the first year. Failing that, make sure you get it up to about 70 on a dual carriageway and then see if the brakes judder when you brake fairly promptly (but not stood on its nose) for a traffic island. Some judder and the dealers fix it with new discs and pads.

Be prepared for fuel consumption ranging from mid 20s to low 30s.

Other than that you can't go wrong.

Enjoy!!!

[shelly8]

Thanks Anchorman.

I drive an auto Merc. C 180K at the moment which gives me 32mpg, so economy is not too much of an issue - not that I have money to burn:)

I'm after reliability and the 4X4 capability, as I live in the Chiltern Hills and the snow left me stranded at home for several days. The rear-wheel Merc is useless in snow.

I've considered the Honda CR-V and the Subaru Forester - but I love the shape of the Rav4 .....i think it looks great.

[abraxas]

Hi there.

Anchorman is as technically capable as you are likely to get on this forum so if he says they are bomb proof, I’d take his word for it.

In fact, I just got mine back from the dealer and they I had the brake disks skimmed as they were juddering a wee bit. Other thing I had done under warranty was the tiny plastic bits on the bottom of wing mirrors that were rattling about. (2 min job) I also had some problems with an early 06 one in the past with an “air intake cowl seal” which resulted in a wet and smelly RAV. The problem is really trivial and fixed in minutes by a better seal, but I found the fallout (smelly wet car and carpets I couldn’t get the smell out of) a rather bigger problem. Make sure your dealer searches for the TSB and gets the minor problem fixed _before_ it becomes a really big one. (This is a body issue, nothing to do with the engine type, Im sure it affects petrols and diesels) You can search the forum for this issue, there are PDFs about with the TSB details.

I thought I’d also pitch in a few opinions as well, hopefully you’ll find them helpful. :)

I took a few test drives of RAVs before I bought our one (07 D4D XTR) and amongst a few I have driven I did test drive a petrol auto. I found it a bit sluggish and very noisy. I found the petrol manual a lot better than the auto, but I still didn’t get on with it too well. I liked the diesel the best, out of the lot, and coupled with decent residuals and reasonable economy (for the size of the car), it made total sense to me. I have to admit that, in hindsight, I must have also been guilt-tripping a bit into seriously considering whether I _need_ a large 4x4. The fact that diesel returned better than a lot of 2WD “normal” saloons went quite far to alleviate the guilt. And I wanted one! :P

However, these are just my opinions; you will find loads of people with exactly opposite and equally valid ones. I suppose the only advice here is: make sure you have a nice long test drive to make sure it is the right one for you. As far as I know, DMF was a problem on the previous gen (4.2), and as you are looking at 4.3 this may not be a concern to you. I say “may” as I am sure that there is no one who can guarantee that your car will not develop problems with DMF but there are no large-scale-reports of problems with 4.3 DMF. Then again, they have only been out for 4 years or so... To be honest, I’d be surprised if Toyota didn’t learn the lesson on the previous gen. Kaizen and all that...

Hope that helps. Good luck, I am sure whatever you decide, you’ll be getting a nice car.

[shelly8]

Hi there.

Anchorman is as technically capable as you are likely to get on this forum so if he says they are bomb proof, I’d take his word for it.

In fact, I just got mine back from the dealer and they I had the brake disks skimmed as they were juddering a wee bit. Other thing I had done under warranty was the tiny plastic bits on the bottom of wing mirrors that were rattling about. (2 min job) I also had some problems with an early 06 one in the past with an “air intake cowl seal” which resulted in a wet and smelly RAV. The problem is really trivial and fixed in minutes by a better seal, but I found the fallout (smelly wet car and carpets I couldn’t get the smell out of) a rather bigger problem. Make sure your dealer searches for the TSB and gets the minor problem fixed _before_ it becomes a really big one. (This is a body issue, nothing to do with the engine type, Im sure it affects petrols and diesels) You can search the forum for this issue, there are PDFs about with the TSB details.

I thought I’d also pitch in a few opinions as well, hopefully you’ll find them helpful. :)

I took a few test drives of RAVs before I bought our one (07 D4D XTR) and amongst a few I have driven I did test drive a petrol auto. I found it a bit sluggish and very noisy. I found the petrol manual a lot better than the auto, but I still didn’t get on with it too well. I liked the diesel the best, out of the lot, and coupled with decent residuals and reasonable economy (for the size of the car), it made total sense to me. I have to admit that, in hindsight, I must have also been guilt-tripping a bit into seriously considering whether I _need_ a large 4x4. The fact that diesel returned better than a lot of 2WD “normal” saloons went quite far to alleviate the guilt. And I wanted one! :P

However, these are just my opinions; you will find loads of people with exactly opposite and equally valid ones. I suppose the only advice here is: make sure you have a nice long test drive to make sure it is the right one for you. As far as I know, DMF was a problem on the previous gen (4.2), and as you are looking at 4.3 this may not be a concern to you. I say “may” as I am sure that there is no one who can guarantee that your car will not develop problems with DMF but there are no large-scale-reports of problems with 4.3 DMF. Then again, they have only been out for 4 years or so... To be honest, I’d be surprised if Toyota didn’t learn the lesson on the previous gen. Kaizen and all that...

Hope that helps. Good luck, I am sure whatever you decide, you’ll be getting a nice car.

Thanks Abraxas,

If the 4.3 does not have the DMF problem, then I may reconsider and go for a diesel.

I hope this is not a silly question, but how do I know that a 2006 model is a 4.3 and not a 4.2?

[dave.m]

Have a look here -

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=91067

But for a quicky answer if you know the model details, 4.2 diesel is 2.0 litre, 4.3 diesel is 2.2 litre.