Underwhelmed By New Rav4.

[ganticus]

Hello fellow RAV owners.

We have recently replaced our 5 year old Diesel XT3 with the 2010 AWD XTR Diesel and I have to say we are so far disappointed with both performance and fuel consumption compared to the old RAV. The new car feels heavy and sluggish and I do not have the same confidence in overtaking as I used to, despite the fact the car has a more powerful engine. It has also settled at 36 mpg which is a massive 10mpg less than the old car and way below published figures (admittedly we have only done 1000 miles). I spoke to the dealer and they said to give it more time for the engine to become fully tuned up plus used the winter, the choice of fuel and a wrong computer reading as excuses. But this simply doesn't stack up as nothing has changed in our circumstances except the car. Last winter was colder! All in all, not happy especially as it is it a more expensive model!

Has anyone else had the same experience? Any advice too (as I am not car savvy) greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Ganticus.

[bothwell_buyer]

Welcome to the forums RAV section. I won't comment as my opinions on 5 door oil-burning RAVs are well known !

Perhaps the new model is actually heavier than previous? Compared to the 1994 original version, the new models are more like tanks. Don't believe the mpg figure shown on the dash tho - best to keep a record from filling the tank full and logging the mileage.

[acetip]

Hello fellow RAV owners.

We have recently replaced our 5 year old Diesel XT3 with the 2010 AWD XTR Diesel and I have to say we are so far disappointed with both performance and fuel consumption compared to the old RAV. The new car feels heavy and sluggish and I do not have the same confidence in overtaking as I used to, despite the fact the car has a more powerful engine. It has also settled at 36 mpg which is a massive 10mpg less than the old car and way below published figures (admittedly we have only done 1000 miles). I spoke to the dealer and they said to give it more time for the engine to become fully tuned up plus used the winter, the choice of fuel and a wrong computer reading as excuses. But this simply doesn't stack up as nothing has changed in our circumstances except the car. Last winter was colder! All in all, not happy especially as it is it a more expensive model!

Has anyone else had the same experience? Any advice too (as I am not car savvy) greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Ganticus.

diesels take a lot more miliage than you have done to be at their best.you need to judge it when its loosened up.

[allycomet]

Sorry to hear you are not happy with your new RAV. Was your old RAV a 4.2?

I replaced my early 2008 rav with the same model as yours a month ago. Very pleased with mine. Although early days the fuel consumption appears the same however the new car to me feels more refined and responsive.

[DominicPriestley]

My 59 plate XTR is showing 38.9mpg on the on-board computer, but I know that I'm getting 42ish on a mix of short journeys etc, when working out mileage from tank to tank. When I'm on a run, I get nearly 48mpg out of it. The best thing I did when I got mine was take it up to Aberdeenshire for a week and put 2000miles on it in my first 3 weeks of ownership. It got everything settled and loosend up. The more powerful 150bhp engine is an improvement over the previous model, you just need to learn to use it, and learn where the power is, that will also come in when it's got some miles on it.

[vivianM]

Hello fellow RAV owners.

We have recently replaced our 5 year old Diesel XT3 with the 2010 AWD XTR Diesel and I have to say we are so far disappointed with both performance and fuel consumption compared to the old RAV. The new car feels heavy and sluggish and I do not have the same confidence in overtaking as I used to, despite the fact the car has a more powerful engine. It has also settled at 36 mpg which is a massive 10mpg less than the old car and way below published figures (admittedly we have only done 1000 miles). I spoke to the dealer and they said to give it more time for the engine to become fully tuned up plus used the winter, the choice of fuel and a wrong computer reading as excuses. But this simply doesn't stack up as nothing has changed in our circumstances except the car. Last winter was colder! All in all, not happy especially as it is it a more expensive model!

Has anyone else had the same experience? Any advice too (as I am not car savvy) greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Ganticus.

Let it get well run in - at least 1500 miles without flogging it - had a trip in Anchs. 4.3 before Christmas and the performance is very good not far short of my T180 and this was up narrow and hilly lanes and also flat roads. You can only expect a low fuel consuption if you drive without using the full performance !!

My Jensen Interceptor SP (7.2 L and well over 300bhp) I was lucky to get 12/15 mpg when making it fly !

Best wishes with it,

Guy

[Dorlyn]

Hi

Just felt I had to reply after reading this posting !

I have just obtained a new Rav XT-R its now got 149 miles on the clock over the last 2.5 days and the dash is reading an average of 39.8MPG.

Granted both days have been running from Uddingston to Falkirk with some local running showing it off to my friends, I traded in a Lexus IS 220D that had 53k on it, this was averaging 46 mpg on the same run, "Disapponted I am not" as my Lexus took up until approx 10k before it started to record fuel consumption of 46mpg on a regular basis.

Like others I have found that diesel engines do require a few miles on the the clock before they perform to their best, but I can honestly say that the difference between the engines, despite them being almost identical is like night and day, the Rav engine pulls better at lower engine speeds, you do not have too hold onto gears to build up revs like on the Lexus, it feels more responsive throughout the gears, gear selection is slicker and the clutch peadal movement is very light compared to that of the Lexus, all in all I am delighted with the Rav so far and fully expect it to deliver better consumption as the miles clock up.

My advice would be try and make better use of the available torque change up early and see if this makes a difference.

[ganticus]

Many thanks for all the replies. I feel reassured and will sit tight and hopefully the car will improve in both departments.

Thanks again.

Ganticus.

[Big Kev]

Many thanks for all the replies. I feel reassured and will sit tight and hopefully the car will improve in both departments.

Thanks again.

Ganticus.

Purely as a favour, just this once only, if you still feel unhappy in the near future with the car, phone me and I will come and take it away.....I will not see a fellow member unhappy.....don't thank me, I would do this for anybody.

On a more serious note, I bought mine at 3k miles, and it was still "tight" coz the wee woman who originally bought it new drove it like a wee woman. At 6000 miles it really seemed to take on a new lease of life, then I had The Kingo Chippo Kitto installed.....majeek.

Big Kev.

[RAV4Len]

It will take 10K before it settles down,trust me.

The other week I managed 56 MPG on a run, but it was no fun....

Today I managed a fun run and 44 MPG. Well happy with that :)

My last car when having fun was in the low 20's........

Kind of puts it all into perspective for me :)

[local hero]

Hello fellow RAV owners.

We have recently replaced our 5 year old Diesel XT3 with the 2010 AWD XTR Diesel and I have to say we are so far disappointed with both performance and fuel consumption compared to the old RAV. The new car feels heavy and sluggish and I do not have the same confidence in overtaking as I used to, despite the fact the car has a more powerful engine. It has also settled at 36 mpg which is a massive 10mpg less than the old car and way below published figures (admittedly we have only done 1000 miles). I spoke to the dealer and they said to give it more time for the engine to become fully tuned up plus used the winter, the choice of fuel and a wrong computer reading as excuses. But this simply doesn't stack up as nothing has changed in our circumstances except the car. Last winter was colder! All in all, not happy especially as it is it a more expensive model!

Has anyone else had the same experience? Any advice too (as I am not car savvy) greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Ganticus.

I do not have the latest 150 bhp version, however i changed like you from a 4.2 D4D to a 4.3 (136bhp)D4D and i also was dissapointed in performance, I am not a technical person so i may get shot down in flames here' but my thinking is that until you get used to it the gear ratios seem wrong, that is you have gone from a 5spd box to a 6spd box.. on the 4.2 if you pulled out to overtake and changed from say 4th to 3rd, there was immediate urge, on the 4.3 the gear ratios are closer so changing down from 5th to 4th or 4th to 3rd does not have the same urge, the fuel consumption will improve with age + better weather, I also thought the 4.2 was more "chuckable" but stick with it, give it time + i am sure you will grow to love it, performance can be improved if you feel you need it! Stew

[RAV4Len]

Coming from a 2 litre petrol turbo I found it difficult to get used to.

Now more than happy with it, but a few reservations....

Not as clever as the previous Skoda, but learning to live with it :)

[anchorman]

We are all suffering poor mileage knocking around and things won't get better until the weather does. On a trip cancel the display so it records the ave for that journey rather than lumping the poor knocking about stuff in.

Not sure why it doesn't pull well because compared to my last 4.3 this one flies and has done since day one.

[bothwell_buyer]

We are all suffering poor mileage knocking around and things won't get better until the weather does. On a trip cancel the display so it records the ave for that journey rather than lumping the poor knocking about stuff in.

Not sure why it doesn't pull well because compared to my last 4.3 this one flies and has done since day one.

behave yersel Ancs. Diesel oily motors don't fly. It might give you that impression but if you close the rear doors then the wheels will revert to tarmac contact !!