2019 RAV-4 South African Style

[LesU]

Hi Everybody,

Currently in the middle of a holiday in the Western Cape. The previous two holidays here I've rented a RAV-4 because it swallowed the luggage and gave me a bit of an edge on some of the back roads out here. I booked a RAV-4 again for this year and was pleasantly surprised, at the rental company in Cape Town airport, to be handed the keys of a brand new RAV-4. The model was released out here at the same time as in the UK, about April. This one had 20km on the clock! It is interesting to see the difference between my car back home and this variant in SA.

I always select an auto when renting and this car now uses the CVT box, which is a change from previous RAVs I've driven. This is obviously a low end spec car, the GX, and it is a much lower level of trim than mine back in the UK. It has a 2.0l petrol engine. Gone are the folding wing mirrors, traffic aids, navigation, customised speed display, auto rear hatch opening, front distance sensors, sensor unlocking and climate control. It does still have a rear camera, touch screen audio control, electric hand brake, rear sensors, and amazingly, a CD player built into the display screen. The most disconcerting thing is that it is a proper right hand drive vehicle. The buttons around the screen are in reverse to the UK version. Home is on my side. Unfortunately this also means that indicators and wipers are reversed. I have been constantly wiping the window while maneuvering the car!

I've driven it along 120 kph roads  and over a lot of dirt roads, some very corrugated.  I'm not over impressed with the CVT box. I know I have one on my car back home, but the electric addition makes it feel completely different. On this car pushing it to the extreme to get past a truck on a mountain pass, results in it wailing like a banshee with the gears going all over the place. The only way to make orderly progress is to select Sport mode when about to overtake. This results in a more controllable and less frenetic experience. Longer trips have resulted in a consumption of about 7.2 l/100k, which I think is about 40mpg, so not too bad.

The vehicle does feel extremely well screwed together, and the somewhat bumpy trips haven't created any loose trim. The ride is better than the previous model and the rear load space is bigger. I can now get my cases in sideways, as opposed to flat.  The whole ride experience is better over all surfaces.  I've seen quite a few of the new RAV-4's over here, far more than back home. But this is Toyota country.

I have another 2 weeks to go to experience the car, with some long drives ahead. This should be interesting.

[Southern Softy]

The info screen in AUS is the same and they are RHD, why could we not have this in the UK rather than the EUR version. Having said that my previous BMW was the same so a cost saving exercise although that does not make sense if there exists another and in the is RHD version - come on Toyota UK sort it out !

[FROSTYBALLS]

For Europe, most car manufacturers standardised the positioning of the Indicator/lights/wiper controls in the mid 70's and 1980's - which meant that UK owners had to put up with these controls positioned for LHD. The last car we had where the controls were correctly positioned for RHD was a Honda Concerto we bought new in 1994.

[roadster-rav]

I don't think the CVT in this model has much in common with the hybrid one but so far all my attempts to find out more about the design and layout of the hybrid transmission have completely failed. I'm fairly convinced that its a planetary gear design rather than variable pulleys but if anyone has up to date information I would be very interested. Your reaction to the CVT behaviour of the 2.0 model seems to be echoed by comments from the US.

[robo1]

Although it’s about the Prius I’ve found Graham’s Toyota Prius website explains how the hybrid system works. 

http://prius.ecrostech.com/original/PriusFrames.htm

The link understanding your Prius takes you to all the information about the power split device which is as you said is a planetary gear. I thought the hybrid RAV had a stepped CVT till till reading this.

 

 

[Gerg]

This link is to a Prius gen 4 transmission, but all the videos from this series (Weber) are very thorough, and broadly the same as the one in your car. 

 

[PeteB]

3 hours ago, roadster-rav said:

I don't think the CVT in this model has much in common with the hybrid one...

The CVT transmission in cars other than Toyota/Lexus Hybrids are generally 'real' gearboxes containing cones and a special steel belt that causes the ratio to change infinitely as the codes move closer together or further apart.

The T/L Hybrid so-called CVT is not a 'real' gearbox in the usual sense, because it achieves CVT-like behaving by swapping rpm between wheels, motor/generator and engine with a sun/planet gear arrangement that never slips, disengages or swaps cogs.  Beautifully simple, in fact.

Until recently Honda Hybrids, by contrast, also had CVT but it was done with a real CVT gearbox containing cones and belt.

Interestingly, I've driven a quite few cars (including Honda Hybrids) with 'real' CVT gearboxes as well as numerous T/L Hybrids, and the way they sound and respond to throttle use is remarkably similar, despite the very different technology behind them.

[roadster-rav]

Thanks to PeterB and everyone for the information and links. I have watched quite a few of the Weber videos and they are certainly informative. I particularly found the one about Battery management systems and the test procedures for the inverter/control box useful for understanding how the two batteries interact. It would be really good to see the components of the Rav 4 Hybrid gearbox shown both physically and diagrammatically. I understand the principles of epicyclic gear trains well enough but it would be fun to know how the relationship with the electric motor/ generators is managed. Definitely some wizardry going on there! Having said all that the performance from the drivers seat is faultless and completely smooth, unlike the ZF 9 speed auto which I previously put up with but never enjoyed.