Rav4 Mk2

[Daddy dave]

After spending the last week hunting rav4s and taking on what people have said about mk3 diesels I have decided to go for a late mk2 petrol .. can i enquire is there anything to look out for .. Thanks

[gjnorthall]

If it's the later facelifted 4.2 (this model has round front foglamps) - theres actually not a lot that goes wrong. Obviously the car will be getting on for 10 years old so needs inspecting as you would any other car. Some things are grounds for negotiation - e.g. worn tyres (around £100 each), keys - should have 2 remote keys (£150 from Toyota if you need to replace), service history or lack of. 4.2's in common with many other cars suffer from cloudy / yellowing headlamps - these will polish up.

As you've probably know - the 4.2 petrol comes in 3 models - XT3,4 and 5 - even the base XT3 is well equipped but ensure you're comparing apples with apples when you look at different cars.

[firemac]

I'd second gjnorthall's comments. Having had 3 4.2's over the years, a D4D manual & two 4.2 petrol automatics (one was an 02-reg VX that we had from new & owned for 11 years & 82K miles) I would say that they are amongst the best all-round vehicles you could buy. They are extremely well put together, ultra reliable and very nice to drive. The chain cam vvti engine in the petrol car is bullet-proof & will give years of service as long as it's been looked after according to Toyota's service regime.

In our 11 years of ownership the only expenses, other than normal servicing & consumables, was a couple of O2 sensors and a catalyst - however the catalyst failure was the fault of an unusually useless dealer having missed all the symptoms; if he'd been competent and diagnosed the failure in time, it would have been covered under our extended warranty. Unfortunately, by the time it was recognised as the problem, the extended warranty had expired. We also had to have the ECU reflashed to correct autobox problems but those issues were resolved by Toyota in the facelifted 4.2's that you are looking for.

The only other thing to bear in mind is that the petrol engine is not particularly economical; our automatic averaged about 25 mpg. Manuals do considerably better however. Diesels are more economical but then you have lots of potential problems with DPF's, EGR's. DMF's, etc. that can result in substantial repair bills. The petrol engine is brilliantly straightforward & has none of those issues so the cost of increased fuel consumption has to be weighed against those possible problems.

Our other 4.2 was a 54-reg 3-dr which required zero expense other than servicing. It used to average about 33 MPG but it was used mostly for long main road commutes whereas the 5-dr was mostly used for local running about, e.g. school runs, shopping, etc. If a 3-dr suits your lifestyle & you can find a nice late one at a decent price, they are definitely worth going for as their values are beginning to firm up. I reckon that they are a classic in the making since they have not been available in the subsequent RAV models.

[Daddy dave]

Thanks for reply ... I'm looking for a 5dr as it will be our main family car ... We do around 10k a year which consists of mainly school trips ... rides up to local forests to go bike riding and then every couple of months a 200 mile burn up down the me to Devon to see me parents ... so thinking a petrol manual will be best ..

[firemac]

Thanks for reply ... I'm looking for a 5dr as it will be our main family car ... We do around 10k a year which consists of mainly school trips ... rides up to local forests to go bike riding and then every couple of months a 200 mile burn up down the me to Devon to see me parents ... so thinking a petrol manual will be best ..

That's pretty much how we used our 5-dr for 11 years. We had the roof bars with three bike carriers fitted for regular bike trips out. Also a roof box for family hols down to Cornwall.

It was an ideal family car and you'll find it the same I'm sure. As you're going for a manual the MPG should be reasonable.

Good luck in your search and let us know how you finally get on.