Advice sought on latest RAV4 models

[mobi]

Hi

I have not yet purchased any Toyota but interested in Toyota RAV4 2L petrol CVT AWD model in Design or Excel trim.

Is there anything about this car I should be aware of? I couldn't find any user review as such (compared with many other similar cars).

I like RAV4 because there are few very few petrol auto AWD SUVs in the market. The other car in my shortlist is Kia Sportage (currently own a Kia Ceed). Reasons for leaning towards RAV4 over Sportage are:

1. No AEB or Adaptive Cruise Control offered in petrol Sportage
2. Fuel economy is better in RAV4 (how much in real life?)
3. Interior feels bit roomier in RAV4.

I prefer to buy a ~1 year old car. However, I am finding it difficult to spot a RAV4 in my desired trim in used market!

I don't fancy the hybrid model.

Does the RAV4 really live up to stellar Toyota standard? I know old RAV4s had good reputation for reliability, but don't know about new models.

Thanx in advance for all the advice :-)

 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

There are approx five of varying specs on the Toyota used car locator which are under approx 18 months which one can find using a national search.

[Kos_ta]

I drive mk3 RAV4 (62 plate) which is mechanically very similar if not the same as MK4. Mine is 2 litre petrol with CVT box. I quite like it and in 16 months of ownership I haven't had a single issue. It's not particularly a racing car (which it shouldn't be anyway 😀) but I found it quite nippy especially in sport mode. I like CVT, it's my first car with CVT and I found it very smooth (obviously). Fuel economy is about 22-26 round the doors, depending on outside temperature, traffic conditions and your right foot, I think it's pretty good for AWD naturally aspirated petrol car. On a run you can get up to about 34-35 mpg. Seats are good as well, I once done over 1k miles in one day (very long one 😀) and didn't feel a bit tired.

What I didn't like was a bad soundproof of the car, road noise was that bad, especially on a run, that I had to soundproof the whole car couple of months after I bought it. Heard it's a common issue with all Toyotas. My wife was never bothered about it, so it might be just me.

Hope it helps.