Bad Weather

[johnny p]

Hi all,

Just purchased a 2001 rav4 this week & i was wondering what you guys think of them in the bad weather.

What i mean is that if there is snow on the ground do you still use them without hesitation & are they a good 4x4.

Ive only owned it less than a week & i think its a great car.

[Mike JD]

Hi all,

Just purchased a 2001 rav4 this week & i was wondering what you guys think of them in the bad weather.

What i mean is that if there is snow on the ground do you still use them without hesitation & are they a good 4x4.

Ive only owned it less than a week & i think its a great car.

Hi Johnny and welcome to the forum.

You will find it is pretty good in the white stuff and the deep wet stuff. A field bashing Land Rover it isn't but it is radically better that other manufacturers'Chelsea Tractors with only part-time 4WD systems. As ever, driving technique is the key but I am sure you know that already.

Have a look for some of our older topics from last winter as quite a few RAV owners on here had a ball in the snow and reported so, with pictures in some cases. As I am sure our Scottish members will tell you the bad news is that you won't have an excuse any more for not getting to work!

Enjoy the car. They are great workhorses and you have made a good decision.

I am off to a steam fair in Somerset this afternoon and I am smirking at the thought that, after the rain we have had, the show ground might be nice and muddy.

If you need to know anything about your car the knowledge base amongst our cleverer members is brilliant.

Cheers m'dears

Mike D

[NMaria]

I second everything Mike D has said. They really come into their own in snow, mud, water, wet grass.... No need for monstrous knobbly tyres - I've got the standard Geolandars on mine and they are great all year around, even on sheet ice, to my astonishment.

I have driven a few 4WDs in the snow (Honda CRV, Volvo XC90 or whatever it's called, Daihatsu Fourtrak, Defender) and it beat all of them hands-down, except the Defender and that is mainly because if its ground clearance. Never been stuck. See also my post from last winter about towing one of those XC90 things when it had got stuck in the snow.

It's great to have a reason to look forward to winter - it's awfully nice feeling smug!

Happy motoring!

Maria

[bothwell_buyer]

haha - RAVs are for life !!

Folk are amazed at how versatile they actually are. And modestly robust too. I've had my number 1 RAV since new back in 1994 !

[webleymk3]

Sooooo much fun in the snow!!! You'll love it..

Just watch out for monstrous puddles!!! http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127004

[Big Kev]

Sooooo much fun in the snow!!! You'll love it..

Just watch out for monstrous puddles!!! http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127004

I should have phoned the bookies', Webblers....ah just KNEW you may have some mild input to Ravs versus Wattery Areas..!!!!

Big Kev

[webleymk3]

Sooooo much fun in the snow!!! You'll love it..

Just watch out for monstrous puddles!!! http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127004

I should have phoned the bookies', Webblers....ah just KNEW you may have some mild input to Ravs versus Wattery Areas..!!!!

Big Kev

It was too good an opportunity to miss my friend!!!

[johnny p]

Thanks for the replies

So its drive em in the snow but keep well away from the water

[Worlds End Stu]

I've had my 1995 RAV4.1 for a little over a year now and I bought it as a cheap and cheerful run around for the winter.

I slapped winter tyres on it and it was simply awesome during last winters snowy & icy weather.

4WD is great but adding the winter tyres too, remarkable.

It sailed through its MOT in July (not suprising as i only did 2,300 miles in the year) and I feel confident should we have a load of snow again this year it'll handle anything nature can throw at it.

Thanks to the RAV i'm almost looking forward to winter :-)

[rambler]

Hi all,

Just purchased a 2001 rav4 this week & i was wondering what you guys think of them in the bad weather.

What i mean is that if there is snow on the ground do you still use them without hesitation & are they a good 4x4.

Ive only owned it less than a week & i think its a great car.

Hi Johnny

You have purchased a great little 4x4 there,its very good at most things folk want it to do,it struggles with ground clearance a little...but with correct driving and being aware of what its capable of...it'l get you almost anywhere in this country.

I have all terrain tyres on mine and have taken it through 18" of water happily (not too much speed),also up hill off road through 8" of soft (but compressed) sand with no acceleration...just used engine torque.

It has good approach / departure angles so very little risk of damaging bumpers etc...due to the short overhangs.

I use mine off road a fair bit,only slowly though ( as a previous post said....its not a land rover ).

Check out the various vids on youtube...you may suprise yourself on just how good they are......but overall..just enjoy it

[RedRoss]

Last year prior to the snow hitting, i bought an old 4.0 ltr '97 Jeep Grand Cherokee. When the snow hit, it was superb.

As a result of our first 4x4 experience, we decided to trade in the wifes Seat Ibiza and get a newer 4x4 (08) for her and my infant son. Whilst i dont expect the rav to be as good as the jeep in the snow, im eager to find out just how well it performs.

I will be selling the jeep in the winter when people are panic buying and hope to at least make my money back. :-)

ps My audi a4 is atrocious in snow.

[rambler]

Last year prior to the snow hitting, i bought an old 4.0 ltr '97 Jeep Grand Cherokee. When the snow hit, it was superb.

As a result of our first 4x4 experience, we decided to trade in the wifes Seat Ibiza and get a newer 4x4 (08) for her and my infant son. Whilst i dont expect the rav to be as good as the jeep in the snow, im eager to find out just how well it performs.

I will be selling the jeep in the winter when people are panic buying and hope to at least make my money back. :-)

ps My audi a4 is atrocious in snow.

Though audi A4's were AWD,would have though they would be reasonable in the white stuff ?

[Uncle_P]

Redross, that sounds pretty similar to my situation. I've had a Mondeo for daily drving and a Jeep Cherokee for green laning for the last few years. The Jeep stood up to some serious abuse, but it was during the snow that it came into it's own, especially with AT tyres. So when the Jeep went to the scrappers, I traded the Mondeo for a Rav. Now I just have one car that gives me the best of both worlds.

I've not a good track record with cars and water and would generally say that if you've got a bow wave around the windscreen, you're in too deep! Amazingly, the Cherokee survived it's dunking and carried on for another year. If you've ever wondered what a Jeep full of water looks like:

I didn't realise I'd been filmed until a few weeks later when I found the clip on youtube.

It did eventually dry out, but smelled like a wet dog for a few months. To get the water out of the engine, we took out all six spark plugs and spun the engine on the starter which spat all the water up and out of the plug holes. A squirt of WD40 and put the plugs back in and I carried on playing in the mud for the rest of the day.

[RedRoss]

Yeah the Jeep was amazing on the smow. In one of the worst days ive ever sern (the day the M8 was shut for over 24 hours with people stranded) it was a genuine life saver. I was 50 miles from home and every road was blocked. Managed to work my way home through snow drifts, over roundabouts, through fields etc and eventually made it - 9 hours later!

I did stop at the rare shop / cafe etc, but thanks to the Jeep managed what 99% of the people around me didnt. Lost count of the number of times i heard "c*&t" being shouted. Lol

[Joylove]

Is the RAV4.2 2.0 full time AWD or does it have something like a Haldex to drive the rear wheels? It sounds like you are saying it is full time 4wd!

[pgp001]

The 4.2 is permanent AWD. There are no diff locks to play with, you just point it where you want to go and keep driving.

The sales leaflet says it has a limited slip rear diff as well, but there seems to be differing opinions as to that being true.

If you have a snow problem.............. it's no problem.

Phil