Help Me Choose A New Rav

[Ladyowner]

Hi Everyone. I own a 57 plate T180 which I have had for 5 years and I love. Recenly had probs with a sooted up EGR valave - cleaned then replaced. Garage says I do too many cold-start short journeys which I have to. Am trying to keep up the revs and do more longer runs but am worried about DPF problems in the future.

With 75k miles on the clock I am looking at a replacement. I have seen a 62 plate petrol/auto and a 61 plate diesel/manual. In view of my low mileage (9K a year) would I be better off with the petrol despite higher running costs?

Are the newer diesels less problematic than the old ones?

Also has anyone got a newer model - 63 on? I don't like the styling but am looking for a long-term buy to see me into my dotage!

Any inputs would great. Thank you.

PS. Love the forum - really useful and informative.

[152bobby]

Avoid diesels, play safe and go for a petrol.

Good luck.

[alan333]

If you do mainly short journeys with a cold engine you'll almost definitely get problems with a diesel. The petrols aren't the most economical, but as far as I can gather from reading on here neither are the diesels, especially on short journeys. You'll probably spend an extra £30 per month fuelling the petrol but you'll save a couple of grand buying it.

[philip42h]

The 4.4 is a far better car than the 4.3 - maybe not quite so much fun (particularly in 180 guise) but a far more refined, more road oriented car. The newer diesels are far less problematic that the older ones and the 150 auto that I have is great to drive - a good balance of performance, refinement and economy. The auto box is excellent (and good for those of us heading dotage-wards). As others have said, if you are doing many short journeys the petrol will probably be the safer bet.

[Heidfirst]

if you plan to keep for a long time the petrols are simpler (no turbo, intercooler, DPF etc.) so less to go wrong, especially if you are not doing the type of journeys to let a DPF regenerate..

[Avalon]

A diesel is more economical on a longer run, however they take longer to warm up and the engine is really not economical till it gets to optimum temp. For the kind of commute you mention petrol is the logical choice.

That said I swapped a 50+mpg petrol Yaris to go to a 34.6mpg RAV4 and do 8 mile commutes. No EGR issues (I stripped it at 100k), it's and it's averaged 14.2p/mile where the Yaris managed 50mpg+ on petrol coming out at 11.7p/mile. For the sake of £80 a year fuel saving it's just not worth getting excited about.

[Ladyowner]

Thanks everyone. It seems that while petrol would be a better bet for me there is not much to be gained by selling my car and buying another, petrol, model. This was brought home to me at the weekend when I was offered £5.5K for mine in part exchange for an £18K VW. My T180 feels like a lot more car than £5.5K worth. Probably best to wait until the next big repair looms then think again.

[Avalon]

Thanks everyone. It seems that while petrol would be a better bet for me there is not much to be gained by selling my car and buying another, petrol, model. This was brought home to me at the weekend when I was offered £5.5K for mine in part exchange for an £18K VW. My T180 feels like a lot more car than £5.5K worth. Probably best to wait until the next big repair looms then think again.

Welcome to the reality of life - eating the depreciation on your current car is a LOT more expensive than the likely repair costs on your current one. Normally when you tell someone that they don't like it :)

[spencer44]

Hi

A little bit about myself first i have over the last 25 years purchased ten new Toyotas, the reason I started buying new Toyotas was because I got fed up with new Ford cars that kept having faults, so about 25 years ago I spoke to a good mechanic that worked for a Formula 1 race team who said he rarely saw a Toyota in for repair.

My wife has had several Yaris's and I have had various other Toyotas.

Eleven years ago I purchased a new RAV4 Granite which I have used continuously for 80,000 miles and only experienced one problem my fault when I left the interior light on.

We decided to buy a new 4x4 over the Christmas period not because there was a problem but because I got fed up with Toyota not doing their recall on airbags which has been going on for months and I wasn't happy.

We looked at BMW,Honda, Landrover and none of them could give us what we wanted without additional add on costs, we was surprised to see BMW wanted extra for cruise control.

We also wanted a spare wheel as we have had experience of having a car without a spare wheel and using a truly awful blow up air tin system for a puncture so we wanted in fact really wanted a car with a spare wheel without silly tins of air to rely on.

We then had to decide on diesel or petrol or wait for the hybrid Rav.

We did not like the possibility of in a few years replacing hybrid batteries however we do admit to be ignorant of hybrid technology so we found the subject questionable and not worth taking a chance when spending up to £30,000 on a new car.

I asked opinions several friends who owned diesel cars listened to all their for's or against's and decided to try both cars on test drives.

We decided on the Rav 4x4 diesel manual gears with the spare wheel in the boot, plus it has all the up to date technology, blue tooth, navigation system etc, we have now had the car two weeks and it is superb there is no decrease in performance, there is no increased noise and most of all we are gobsmacked at its economical use of fuel, from cold it works well with no problems whatsoever, it even has a indicator on it when to change gear either up or down to gain the most efficiency.

I hasten to add I had no problems with my last petrol Rav other than fuel economy did hurt when petrol was top dollar price, the new diesel Rav seem to very, very efficient.

It is superb to drive, very comfortable and like all Japanese products well made.

I hope this helps because before buying we also went through all the doubts and concerns.

[firemac]

Hi

A little bit about myself first i have over the last 25 years purchased ten new Toyotas, the reason I started buying new Toyotas was because I got fed up with new Ford cars that kept having faults, so about 25 years ago I spoke to a good mechanic that worked for a Formula 1 race team who said he rarely saw a Toyota in for repair.

My wife has had several Yaris's and I have had various other Toyotas.

Eleven years ago I purchased a new RAV4 Granite which I have used continuously for 80,000 miles and only experienced one problem my fault when I left the interior light on.

We decided to buy a new 4x4 over the Christmas period not because there was a problem but because I got fed up with Toyota not doing their recall on airbags which has been going on for months and I wasn't happy.

We looked at BMW,Honda, Landrover and none of them could give us what we wanted without additional add on costs, we was surprised to see BMW wanted extra for cruise control.

We also wanted a spare wheel as we have had experience of having a car without a spare wheel and using a truly awful blow up air tin system for a puncture so we wanted in fact really wanted a car with a spare wheel without silly tins of air to rely on.

We then had to decide on diesel or petrol or wait for the hybrid Rav.

We did not like the possibility of in a few years replacing hybrid batteries however we do admit to be ignorant of hybrid technology so we found the subject questionable and not worth taking a chance when spending up to £30,000 on a new car.

I asked opinions several friends who owned diesel cars listened to all their for's or against's and decided to try both cars on test drives.

We decided on the Rav 4x4 diesel manual gears with the spare wheel in the boot, plus it has all the up to date technology, blue tooth, navigation system etc, we have now had the car two weeks and it is superb there is no decrease in performance, there is no increased noise and most of all we are gobsmacked at its economical use of fuel, from cold it works well with no problems whatsoever, it even has a indicator on it when to change gear either up or down to gain the most efficiency.

I hasten to add I had no problems with my last petrol Rav other than fuel economy did hurt when petrol was top dollar price, the new diesel Rav seem to very, very efficient.

It is superb to drive, very comfortable and like all Japanese products well made.

I hope this helps because before buying we also went through all the doubts and concerns.

We too are long-term Toyota owners having owned a variety of RAVs, LCs, Yari and Aygos since 2000. I would say that the airbag recall is not limited to Toyota - quite a few manufacturers have recalled as well since the equipment in question is out-sourced to a specialist manufacturer who supplies most of the industry. Hence the delay is one that is being suffered by a number of manufacturers and is caused by the fact that it is very difficult to provide the spares required given that the airbag manufacturer normally works at full capacity anyway and therefore to produce the requisite number of spares (and it runs into mllions worldwide) they have had to invest in additional facilities to produce the extra kit. You don't magic up a factory or two overnight, hence the delay.

It's also worth noting that this isn't a critical safety issue - if it were the DVLA and VOSA would require the cars affected to be taken off the road until repaired. As Corporal Jones would say, "Don't panic!".

[Ladyowner]

Thanks Gordon and Jim. I am still coming back to wanting another Rav. I have my eye on a diesel manual 62 (2013) with only 14K miles. Don't think I can afford a newish one. Most people seem to be very happy with their Toyotas. My local dealer is rubbish though - now joint Hyundai dealership - so not happy about having to use them for servicing etc. I will keep you posted. Thanks again.