Trying To Find A Rav4 !

[Hoovie]

Hi Guys,

As mentioned on one on Anchormans post, I am also looking to return to the RAV4 Family after 18 months in the Nissan Wilderness, but .... having trouble finding a car

This is what I am after and my problems:

After readings Dons advice, after the engine fitted from (I think) March 2010 onwards. And I DO like the current facelift bonnet that came in around May 2010 (I think?) - the ones with the Chrome slats - so far so good

I want 4WD, but lots of ads on Autotrader describe their RAV4 as 2WD in the title and then 4WD in the blurb. I am assuming they have just checked a body style rather then a transmission. If they DON'T say 2WD in the description, say to assume it is probably 4WD (obviously would check this if really interested in a car, but for elimination purposes ....)

I gather that the upgrade to 4WD also upgraded the seats from cloth to Leather - is that always the case?

Another Must-Have for me after having the Qashqai is Keyless entry and start, plus Rear view Camera and Full Screen Sat Nav - I have found all of those really great and don't want to do without - and handily, they are all bundled together as a single upgrade option now. Not sure when that came in, as I have seen on Autotrader 2010 and 2011 cars advertised with Sat Nav but the interior photos show a normal looking radio/CD as far as I can tell.

Oh, and I am looking at the XT-R and 150BHP Diesel, and NOT the SR Model as want Manual and don't want to pay the extra for the SR as I cannot see the benefit.

At the end of the day, I am after lateish 2010 to 2011 XT-R, with 4WD, and the Sat-Nav/Smart Entry/Smart Start/Rear Camera upgrade option, and have having a lot of problem finding one with the confusing ads :( Or is what I am after very rare (despite only one optional extra really)

Also, can the roof rails be fitted at the dealer (or as a DIY job) or is it factory-fit only? I know it could be done ex-factory before, but don't want to assume this. Same for the Style Pack (I do like the nudge bars )

HELP!!!

[Hoovie]

Example: this is described as having Sat Nav, but the photo of interior does not look like it?

RAV4 with Sat Nav

[CharlieFarlie]

The SR is automatic only... You will struggle to find a car with full nav unless its an SR.. Roof rails are an absolute doddle to fit and Kingo is Your man for those. He supplied a set for My Neighbours car 100 quid less than Our local Dealer..

If You do find an XTR with all of Your wish list it will likely be as much as an SR but without the auto trans.. Bear in mind that later on maybe come trade in time it will be valued as an XTR not an SR...

[CharlieFarlie]

Example: this is described as having Sat Nav, but the photo of interior does not look like it?

RAV4 with Sat Nav

Dealers use a generic spec list.. Its more likely that the car does not have Nav.. Ive seen this so many times and when You qeustion the seller they just blame it on Autotrader eBay or someone else.................

[Hoovie]

The SR is automatic only... You will struggle to find a car with full nav unless its an SR.. Roof rails are an absolute doddle to fit and Kingo is Your man for those. He supplied a set for My Neighbours car 100 quid less than Our local Dealer..

If You do find an XTR with all of Your wish list it will likely be as much as an SR but without the auto trans.. Bear in mind that later on maybe come trade in time it will be valued as an XTR not an SR...

The Sat Nav option is only meant to be around £1200 more, so I have to admit it is surprising how rare that is, especially as the XT-R to SR jump is around £5k or so (and the difference in Road Tax is another £300 a year)

Seen some more XT-Rs on eBay with Sat Nav (backed up with photos) after posting this but none mention keyless features - was this bundled very recently with the sat nav option?

[CharlieFarlie]

The specs vary so much ! Getting one with Nav and Keyless and all of Your wish list is possible but it could be a slog !!

You can buy fantastic machine that looks like a genuine Toyota sat nav unit but has an 8 inch screen Ipod connector and a raft of other kit for 800 quid.. I fancy one for My T180 but I'm spent up on it now !!

Its hardly surprising that few took the £1200 option when a Tom Tom is easier to use and updates don't cost 150 quid...

XTR may be 5k cheaper until You add all the options.. Then the divide narrows... As said when trade in time comes the book for an XTR will be far lower than an SR.. Plus of course the SR being top of the range will be a little more desirable and therefore have better residuals

Are You sure about the VED ?????? Doesn't sound right somehow.... My T180 is 210 a year so could the SR be 510 ??????

[Heidfirst]

out of interest (that might be on the list for my next car) what didn't you like about the Qashgai?

[Hoovie]

The specs vary so much ! Getting one with Nav and Keyless and all of Your wish list is possible but it could be a slog !!

You can buy fantastic machine that looks like a genuine Toyota sat nav unit but has an 8 inch screen Ipod connector and a raft of other kit for 800 quid.. I fancy one for My T180 but I'm spent up on it now !!

Its hardly surprising that few took the £1200 option when a Tom Tom is easier to use and updates don't cost 150 quid..

Hi Charlie,

A chinese Sat Nav won't give me keyless entry or keyless start though

I added a Kenwood Full Screen Sat Nav + DVD + iPod +++ to my last RAV4 for around £700 and added the Rear View Camera for an extra £30 from eBay, but still no keyless entry/start, and I am a total convert to that feature now after 18 months with it on the Qashqai.

XTR may be 5k cheaper until You add all the options.. Then the divide narrows... As said when trade in time comes the book for an XTR will be far lower than an SR.. Plus of course the SR being top of the range will be a little more desirable and therefore have better residuals

Are You sure about the VED ?????? Doesn't sound right somehow.... My T180 is 210 a year so could the SR be 510 ??????

Looking at RRPs, the price leaps seem to go as follows:

2WD to AWD - around £800 - seems cheap to me! considering it also includes Electric driver sear adjustment, leather & alcantra facings and heated seats - so a No Brainer IMO

Sat Nav £1600 - not cheap and can see why not a common option, but I don't actually think that is a bad price for a OEM unit (plus it includes keyless stuff and Reversing Camera.

Auto Gearbox - around £1300 - if you want auto, you want auto but the downside is economy down around 15% compared to Manual and higher RFL/VED

Leaving the jump from XTR AWD (inc Sat Nav option and Auto) to the SR as actually just abut £300, which is not a big jump and gets you 18" alloys instead of 17" (who cares really?) and a bit of pimping on the chrome and lights

So..... IF there were an Manual SR, that could be a good option for the relatively small extra (and likely to recover extra on resale), but don't want to spend an extra £1300 on Auto and also get worse economy (Auto again) :(

Ref VED, I rechecked this and there IS a big jump between the two initially due to the Year One hike (£445 on SR) BUT that drops after year one and the difference is only about £80, so not quite as bad as I thought and said

out of interest (that might be on the list for my next car) what didn't you like about the Qashgai?

It is a good car and a few months after I got it I did a 4,000 mile 10 countries in 10 days tour of Europe round it and drove very well, but there are two things that I wish I could change ....

1) Car is a 1.5D and I sometimes find myself on the wrong side of the road for too long when overtaking due to lack of power. When you have 99% single carriage roads you don;t want to be having to spend ages trying to pass.

2) Expected the Winter of 2009 to be a bit of a aberration and when I sold my old RAV4 after that was over (needed better economy then the 25mpg I was getting in the RAV4), I didn't expect another one like that for a while and bought the 2WD version of the QQ. Come Nov 2010, the QQ was not too clever in the snow and now with this winter likely be be bad again (snowing now), I want to be able to drive in the Winter like in my old RAV

End of the day, I chose to change to a car that would give me economy but in doing so while I got the economy, I also got a car that is frustrating in terms of power and ability in adverse conditions (I could have gone for a 4WD QQ, but that would be a car that also does 25MPG typically, so whats the point!)

And those frustrations are getting to me and I want a car with the right balance of reasonable fuel economy v performance & abilities and I think the RAV4 is that (especially considering the weather that seems to be getting more and more prevalent - last winters bad weather lasted 6 months up here :ffs: )

[anchorman]

The VED on mine is £165. The current spec RAV has Leather side panels and Alcantara main panels which is a kind of suede feel but still heated. The keyless entry on mine is superb and very practical.

If it helps Hoovie, I reckon I can get you 4k off a brand new one and then you would have to add the sat nav/keyless option so perhaps a bit over 24k. Let me know if thats any good.

[anchorman]

Oh and the 150 has astonishing pulling power and soon has it at wharp speed.

[Hoovie]

The VED on mine is £165. The current spec RAV has Leather side panels and Alcantara main panels which is a kind of suede feel but still heated. The keyless entry on mine is superb and very practical.

If it helps Hoovie, I reckon I can get you 4k off a brand new one and then you would have to add the sat nav/keyless option so perhaps a bit over 24k. Let me know if thats any good.

When I got my QQ, I 'accidently' got keyless entry as got the top spec as a cancelled order and thought it a gimmick, but now would be lost without it. The other car in the household is a '08 Suzuki Swift and even that has keyless entry/start (so should be standard on a £25K+ car? )

I am starting to think New may have to be the way to go, but painful on the depreciation (I expected to want to keep the QQ for 4-5 years like the RAV and HR-V before that) so I may well be in touch on that one, Don

Was there a post May 2010 SR with Manual rather then Auto transmission at all?

[anchorman]

I think all SRs are manuals.

[Hoovie]

Oh and the 150 has astonishing pulling power and soon has it at wharp speed.

Well, it is not that I like to drive fast (well I do actually!) but being stuck on the limiter trying to overtake a car doing 60mph on the straights to avoid following it at 20mph when they have to turn the steering more then 5 degrees is painful.

[Hoovie]

I think all SRs are manuals.

Not the current ones on Toyota.co.uk - seem to be just the auto option

[Big Kev]

Great to have the Hoovz on the way back, and talking his usual brand of sense...except...the Sat Nav doodah.....I would not encourage the gubbers by giving them that kinda money and then taking out a mortgage to update the blasted thing.....!!!!

Separate pluggy-in systems may not look so neat, but at less than 10% of the cost....?

Big Kev

[CharlieFarlie]

This is no cheap Chinese item !! If You buy a car with normal Hi fI kit You could install one of these and sell Your existing one....

One of these is on My wish list but as said I've spent enough on My car for this Year at least !!!

http://www.car-vision.co.uk/toyota-navi-dvd/12418-toyota-rav4-oem-upgrade-dvd-gps-sat-nav-bt-easy-fit-media-system.html

[Guest]

Having just been through this as I was seriously looking at trading in the current Rav for a new one, I am sure like a lot of folks looked at the extra £1532 for a deficient satnav with map updates at £150 ish and compared that to a TomTom live at £132 + £90 a year for live services and 4 map updates with full postcode yada yada, and only have the actual benefits of a reversing camera and smart entry/start, it just didn't stack up.

I didnt get anchs offering me a good deal either

Just listened to the news and new cars sales are down 4.2% on November last year, I think I made the right decision to wait and see, I think there may be some deals to have in the near future either that or I can wait for the 4.4 or new Kuga or even the new CR-V.

Gus

edit just looked on toyota.co.uk and there are a few round London for sale with full satnav and therefore I presume smart entry etc.

[Hoovie]

TBH, I think that while the map updates on OEM units are way to expensive, how often do people feed the need to update them in reality?

Working backwards, the Qashqai I have was registered in May 2010 and the maps were dated 2008 - I have not updated them and while there ARE some roads I travel on that are not shown correctly (or at all), one (the new A68 south of the Edinburgh I can handle without it being on the map (is it on latest maps anyway?) and the other one that comes to mind are the roads around the M4 J11/A33 going towards reading which seems to be changed everytime I drive on it and I doubt ANY Sat Nav system has it right.

Before that, the Kenwood build in Sat Nav - never updated the maps on that; before that the Honda built in Sat Nav - never updated that .... I HAVE got a Tom Tom XL actually (never updated it yet)

On the car search side, I have, despite my own arguments against it, have leanings towards an lovely looking SR I saw on line :!Removed!: just over 3 months old and effective saving over list of £5.5k Runnng cost of Auto over Manual I am estimating to be around the £500 pa mark, based on worse economy, bit more VED and using premium fuel due to D-CAT engine (the D-CAT was revised in the same way as the D-4D engine back in March 2010 I presume?)

[Guest]

To be honest I am with you, I dont update the maps, just update the tomtom when I change the car although I do find the live services useful and keep the subs upto date, as regards J11 dont need tomtom as I travel over it every day :censor:

Gus

[jedi134]

This is no cheap Chinese item !! If You buy a car with normal Hi fI kit You could install one of these and sell Your existing one....

One of these is on My wish list but as said I've spent enough on My car for this Year at least !!!

http://www.car-vision.co.uk/toyota-navi-dvd/12418-toyota-rav4-oem-upgrade-dvd-gps-sat-nav-bt-easy-fit-media-system.html

Charlie this will be a Chinese eBay sat nav unit costing £300. But this company has stuck their name on it and is charging you £800 for the privlige. Do you know what sat nav software it runs?

[MarsKy]

I am sure like a lot of folks looked at the extra £1532 for a deficient satnav with map updates at £150 ish and compared that to a TomTom live at £132 + £90 a year for live services and 4 map updates with full postcode yada yada,

Even BMW have caught on and have starting selling a retro-fit of what looks like a re-branded TomTom with lifetime updates, and customised cradle and electrical installation.

Still a wee bit pricey at £495, but going in the right direction.

[anchorman]

I didn’t get anchs offering me a good deal either

If you or anyone else wants me to barter on a new motor just let me know

[Big Kev]

I didn’t get anchs offering me a good deal either

If you or anyone else wants me to barter on a new motor just let me know

....and if he gets angry with the Salesman, he becomes a bad tempered barter....

Made that up masell,

Big Kev

[Davrav]

I didn’t get anchs offering me a good deal either

If you or anyone else wants me to barter on a new motor just let me know

How many chickens we talking?

[Hoovie]

very close to deciding on the RAV4 now.....

P-Ex'ing the QQ (got offered on my car just about £500 less then the Dealers have equivalent Qashqais on for, so makes sense to just p/ex) and treating myself to a 11 plate SR in White at £5.5k off list.