Rav4 plug-in - more detail

[Rav4ster]

If anyone is considering Suzuki A Cross, I finally got the answer regarding the service and extended warranty cost.
Minor / Major is £191 / £328 - very similar to Toyota.
Extended warranty (with road side assistance) is £258 per year in today prices.
 

 

 

[ernieb]

I’ve just joined the forum recently.  I have a RAV4 PHEV on order due at the end of the month.  It’s been on order for a few months subject to a test drive which I managed to have at the end of April when a car had become available. I was handed a set of keys and given the opportunity to go have fun.

I was very impressed with the car overall and whilst I agree it’s a shed load on money I intend to keep this one for a few years at least during the 5 year warranty.

I’m retired and currently own a Subaru XV, good car but turned out it was small for our needs and I became increasingly frustrated by the windscreen reflections. Without polarised glasses it’s a real pain to drive and very tiring. (Maybe a combination of my height, seat position etc.)

the MyTotota App says the car is in transit from Portbury docks….

[Nick72]

Just wanted to say this was a great mega thread. Just skimmed it. New R4P coming in a few weeks.

Made a lot of sense for me. Company car driver. 7pc tax rather than 27 to 40.

Just come from a Peugeot 3008 hybrid4 GT 300. PHEV. Very fast car. Luxurious. Amazing icockpit. Superb 3D TomTom integration. Never used GoogleMaps as a result. Faster than the Toyota in all weather conditions given the power distribution. 112hp emotor rear. 110hp emotor front. 180hp turbocharged ICE. Good off road performance. Descent control. And 5k cheaper than the Toyota.  

Sounded great on paper and when it worked it really worked. Lovely car.

Except, the transition between EV and ICE was monstrous. All noise and clunky. Not pleasant. Mysteriously the EV range would fall down from 32 miles (of 38 max theoretical) to 9 miles followed by inability to select EV at all. Very frequently occurring. Plagued by software and subsystems issues and recalls. Constantly leaking pan sunroof. Connected services hardly ever worked. Peugeot such a dreadful organisation. 4 of 9 months of ownership it was in the dealers workshop waiting for fixes from Peugeot head office. No exaggeration. Most unreliable car I've ever owned even when I added up all other cars together. Carbage. It got sent back for good so I chose the RVP after careful consideration for the following reasons... (I needed a PHEV SUV AWD rather than an EV to meet my needs).

It has permanent AWD unlike the Peugeot where you had to select it and watch the EV range drop by 30 percent.

Best hybrid drive train in the business. Smooth transition. Don't notice the ICE unless flooring it.

Toyota reliability and customer service has been excellent (wife had a Toyota for 7 years from new). Awesome all round.

Things I wished Toyota would have changed on a 52k car...

1. Driver display and infotainment display size and resolution. And better dash integration. 

2. Parking and surround camera resolution. 

3. Put LED interior lighting in and all external lights.

4. Load through hatch.

5. Given us the electronic rear view mirror they get everywhere else it seems.

6. Built in storage netting in the cargo zone. My AMG Merc had netting everywhere. It was awesome. Including under seat drawers. Miss that.

That's it.

 

Now I did order a 2022 Volvo XC60 T6 recharge after being wowed by all the features and packs and luxury. Including Google integration which is amazing. Close call between the R4P but as the Volvo was a 10k more expensive car yet cost the same amount as the Toyota per month on my company car scheme I'm thinking Volvo. Except two problems. On the spec check it transpired only after a voracious set of enquiries from yours truly that half of the safety features weren't going to be supplied. On a Volvo? WTH! Chip crisis. Sneaky they didn't let on. That and my doubt about this being another ICE but with a bolt on weedy c. 84hp rear emotor assist (no front emotor) meant I cancelled the order and switched to the R4P. No regrets.

 

 

[Catlover]

2 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Just wanted to say this was a great mega thread. Just skimmed it. New R4P coming in a few weeks.

Made a lot of sense for me. Company car driver. 7pc tax rather than 27 to 40.

Just come from a Peugeot 3008 hybrid4 GT 300. PHEV. Very fast car. Luxurious. Amazing icockpit. Superb 3D TomTom integration. Never used GoogleMaps as a result. Faster than the Toyota in all weather conditions given the power distribution. 112hp emotor rear. 110hp emotor front. 180hp turbocharged ICE. Good off road performance. Descent control. And 5k cheaper than the Toyota.  

Sounded great on paper and when it worked it really worked. Lovely car.

Except, the transition between EV and ICE was monstrous. All noise and clunky. Not pleasant. Mysteriously the EV range would fall down from 32 miles (of 38 max theoretical) to 9 miles followed by inability to select EV at all. Very frequently occurring. Plagued by software and subsystems issues and recalls. Constantly leaking pan sunroof. Connected services hardly ever worked. Peugeot such a dreadful organisation. 4 of 9 months of ownership it was in the dealers workshop waiting for fixes from Peugeot head office. No exaggeration. Most unreliable car I've ever owned even when I added up all other cars together. Carbage. It got sent back for good so I chose the RVP after careful consideration for the following reasons... (I needed a PHEV SUV AWD rather than an EV to meet my needs).

It has permanent AWD unlike the Peugeot where you had to select it and watch the EV range drop by 30 percent.

Best hybrid drive train in the business. Smooth transition. Don't notice the ICE unless flooring it.

Toyota reliability and customer service has been excellent (wife had a Toyota for 7 years from new). Awesome all round.

Things I wished Toyota would have changed on a 52k car...

1. Driver display and infotainment display size and resolution. And better dash integration. 

2. Parking and surround camera resolution. 

3. Put LED interior lighting in and all external lights.

4. Load through hatch.

5. Given us the electronic rear view mirror they get everywhere else it seems.

6. Built in storage netting in the cargo zone. My AMG Merc had netting everywhere. It was awesome. Including under seat drawers. Miss that.

That's it.

 

Now I did order a 2022 Volvo XC60 T6 recharge after being wowed by all the features and packs and luxury. Including Google integration which is amazing. Close call between the R4P but as the Volvo was a 10k more expensive car yet cost the same amount as the Toyota per month on my company car scheme I'm thinking Volvo. Except two problems. On the spec check it transpired only after a voracious set of enquiries from yours truly that half of the safety features weren't going to be supplied. On a Volvo? WTH! Chip crisis. Sneaky they didn't let on. That and my doubt about this being another ICE but with a bolt on weedy c. 84hp rear emotor assist (no front emotor) meant I cancelled the order and switched to the R4P. No regrets.

 

 

Wow, Nick. What a load of problems you have had. You deserve to have a good run of no problems, let’s hope you have found it.

[Nick72]

59 minutes ago, Catlover said:

Wow, Nick. What a load of problems you have had. You deserve to have a good run of no problems, let’s hope you have found it.

Cheers buddy. Horrendous escapade. Be glad to receive a reliable car from a good solid brand.

R4P looks like a great car. Function over flair any day for me.

[ernieb]

@Nick72,  sounds like you've been very diligent in your evaluation of the various offerings.  I've also found that the headline offerings that appear in the product releases and advertising does not always translate to the UK spec, always put down to the UK company who "understand the local market".

The US market seem to get the options but still in packs allowing you to build the car.

The R4P is great to drive with few similar alternatives being able to match the ability to run EV at 84mph.

I hope you enjoy your new motor.

[Nick72]

8 hours ago, ernieb said:

@Nick72,  sounds like you've been very diligent in your evaluation of the various offerings.  I've also found that the headline offerings that appear in the product releases and advertising does not always translate to the UK spec, always put down to the UK company who "understand the local market".

The US market seem to get the options but still in packs allowing you to build the car.

The R4P is great to drive with few similar alternatives being able to match the ability to run EV at 84mph.

I hope you enjoy your new motor.

Cheers Ernie. Really looking forward to it. The Hyundai Tucson I've got as a loaner is a surprisingly good car. So I expect the new PHEV version will attract some attention. But nobody does the drive train like Toyota. Just not having to think, do I need to engage AWD today in the snow, ice, or wet roads up in the mountains, is good in itself.

It's an odd set of differences to the US and Canada. For example, only the very top spec model gets the 6.6kW charger. And the functions on the App are different according to trim. On the lower end trims they don't even get state of charge never mind preconditioning. So I guess it's pros and cons. Loved that digital rear view mirror though.

[ernieb]

Just ordered a longer Mode 2 Type 2 mains plug “granny” cable from Screwfix.  Master plug, good reviews and excellent ‘price locked’ price.  I’ve ordered the 10m but they sell the 5m version. Might worth looking at for anybody looking for a new charging cable.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-10a-2-3kw-mode-2-type-2-socket-electric-vehicle-charging-cable-10m/595gv

https://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-10a-2-3kw-mode-2-type-2-socket-electric-vehicle-charging-cable-5m/267gv

 

[ernieb]

Quick update, I picked up my new 10m cable today all looks good, white car connector, green cable to the interface box and black cable from the box to the mains plug.  The interface box has three LED’s , fault, power, charge.  There is also a none backlit LCD screen giving settings and actual charge details, charge status, temperature, voltage, current etc.  Not easy to read but frankly it’s a bonus I did not expect.  Connected to the car OK no problems and charge status controlled via the MyT app.

[duncerduncs]

Was having a look around a RAV4 PHEV a couple of weeks ago whilst my HEV was being serviced.

It's just a shame it couldn't be £10k cheaper as it would be perfect for me!