RAV 4 Hybrid Pre Purchase Queries

[SC489]

I'm think of buying a RAV4 hybrid. What's your opinion on the following:

1. What typical fuel consumption do you expect to get on a long motorway trip at 70mph?
2. What's the wind and road noise like at motorway speeds?
3. How effective is Toyota's underbody corrosion protection on suspension components?
4. Does the fuel tank issue affect every car? When might the issue be fixed when buying a new car?

[MrBee]

1. Assuming you are looking at a 4.5 (2019 onwards) there have been threads on MPG which I am struggling to find.  There is something in this:

2. I find it a bit blustery at 70mph, but the best way to see if it's an issue for you is to get a test drive.

3. Toyota has a good repuation for reliability so I expect point 3 is OK, but other can comment.

4. I do not have the fuel tank issue.  Filled up to the first click and when starting the car the guage is well above full and stays there for about 100 miles!!

Hope this helps.

 

[BigR1ch]

56 minutes ago, SC489 said:

I'm think of buying a RAV4 hybrid. What's your opinion on the following:

1. What typical fuel consumption do you expect to get on a long motorway trip at 70mph?
2. What's the wind and road noise like at motorway speeds?
3. How effective is Toyota's underbody corrosion protection on suspension components?
4. Does the fuel tank issue affect every car? When might the issue be fixed when buying a new car?

Hi I'll try and answer this for you. Hand my car since 2nd March and done nearly 1000 miles 80% of which is on Motorways with Radar Cruise on.

1: since having the car I'm seeing 48mpg measured at pumps not off the trip. trip is out by about 1mpg i have found so far. (click on the fuelly link below and you shoudl be able to see what i've acheived. It is a very relaxed drive on the MWay.

2: Its no noisier than other SUV's its about the Same as our Yeti. but noise is a subjective thing

3: no idea sorry

4: I've not had any issue with filling the car, so far. getting range of ~560miles after a fill up.

Get yourself a test drive and see fgor yourself would be the best idea.

[MrNuts]

On 3/10/2020 at 3:00 PM, SC489 said:

I'm think of buying a RAV4 hybrid. What's your opinion on the following:

1. What typical fuel consumption do you expect to get on a long motorway trip at 70mph?
2. What's the wind and road noise like at motorway speeds?
3. How effective is Toyota's underbody corrosion protection on suspension components?
4. Does the fuel tank issue affect every car? When might the issue be fixed when buying a new car?

Hi there,

I had a diesel Tiguan before my 2019 RAV

1. I'm getting average 42.19mpg actual this year, second column is litres, 3rd is trip distance, 4th total miles last is MPG, 

2. Wind noise is grand, a lot quieter than my old Tiguan.

3. No idea, car will be gone at 3 years old.

4. Fuel tank issue is a gauge issue, took this up with my dealer at the service, they said thats how it is, its to protect the hybrid system, they said that if i continued to drive past range zero too far the car would run out of petrol, it would then run on electric, but the hybrid system needed the engine for cooling and thus without the engine running it is at risk of overheating. They also said if I ran it out of fuel the car would need to be recovered and a charge of £140 to restart it would be levelled. When i think of it my boss had a C300h as a company car and he ran it out of diesel, when this happened the electric motor wouldn't drive it, to his disgust, but using the toyota dealers explanation it kind of makes sense. When the gauge says zero range there are still 10L left, i'm still driving up to 40/50 miles past that, hence the 50L fills.

 

Kevin

[BigR1ch]

On 3/13/2020 at 10:34 AM, MrNuts said:

. When the gauge says zero range there are still 10L left, i'm still driving up to 40/50 miles past that, hence the 50L fills.

Kevin

Hi, to clarifiy you are running to zero on the range indicator? Not done that yet, at what point does the refuel warning light come on at?

[ROCKETRON]

I have been averaging 52mpg on my 2019 RAV4 hybrid computer shows 53-54. I am very pleased with that. I notice though that the insurance is a lot more than my old 2.2d cx5 (about double) Does everybody find insurance is higher than they are used to.

[MrNuts]

15 minutes ago, BigR1ch said:

Hi, to clarifiy you are running to zero on the range indicator? Not done that yet, at what point does the refuel warning light come on at?

Hi there, sorry should have said, fuel light comes on at 25 miles range and i've been running past zero on the range. At zero the most fuel i could put in was 45L, in a 55L tank, so i had been going almost 80 miles over, but after talking to the dealer i'm not not going past 50 miles.

 

Kevin

[Parts-King]

Why would anybody run so low on fuel, range or guage, it makes no sense. You do NOT want to run out of fuel in a Hybrid, you will be in for a hefty bill that you will have to pay yourself, just fill it up when it gets low, simples 

[MrBee]

On 3/10/2020 at 3:00 PM, SC489 said:

4. Does the fuel tank issue affect every car? When might the issue be fixed when buying a new car?

I assumed that SC489 meant the reported issue (mainly in the US) of not being about to get a lot of fuel into the car?

[MrNuts]

54 minutes ago, Parts-King said:

Why would anybody run so low on fuel, range or guage, it makes no sense. You do NOT want to run out of fuel in a Hybrid, you will be in for a hefty bill that you will have to pay yourself, just fill it up when it gets low, simples 

Couple of reasons, first off i'm doing 35,000 miles a year, so refuelling when the range says so would mean 400 miles per fill, if i drive on i manage 500, this would mean fuelling more often over a year, if I did 10k then yes it wouldn't bother me, the second is fuel price, I do not want, nor afford to fuel up on the motorway, so I want more flexibility on where i fuel rather than looking for petrol after 350 miles. and another point is that I live in NI and when i travel "down south" i want to be able to buy my fuel in northern ireland, as the fuel in the tesco was £1.14 yesterday and €1.40 in the south, so a big difference.

[SC489]

On 3/13/2020 at 10:34 AM, MrNuts said:

Hi there,

I had a diesel Tiguan before my 2019 RAV

1. I'm getting average 42.19mpg actual this year, second column is litres, 3rd is trip distance, 4th total miles last is MPG, 

2. Wind noise is grand, a lot quieter than my old Tiguan.

3. No idea, car will be gone at 3 years old.

4. Fuel tank issue is a gauge issue, took this up with my dealer at the service, they said thats how it is, its to protect the hybrid system, they said that if i continued to drive past range zero too far the car would run out of petrol, it would then run on electric, but the hybrid system needed the engine for cooling and thus without the engine running it is at risk of overheating. They also said if I ran it out of fuel the car would need to be recovered and a charge of £140 to restart it would be levelled. When i think of it my boss had a C300h as a company car and he ran it out of diesel, when this happened the electric motor wouldn't drive it, to his disgust, but using the toyota dealers explanation it kind of makes sense. When the gauge says zero range there are still 10L left, i'm still driving up to 40/50 miles past that, hence the 50L fills.

 

Kevin

Thanks. Is your figure of 42 mpg quoted based on US or imperial gallons? What economy have you experienced for long motorway trips at 70 mph?

[SC489]

10 hours ago, MrBee said:

I assumed that SC489 meant the reported issue (mainly in the US) of not being about to get a lot of fuel into the car?

Yes - I've seen various reports in the US of not been able to fill the tanks leading to a class action law suit. I'm not sure if this is world wide problem or related only to RAV4s for the US market.

[philip42h]

The WLTP Extra High figure seeks to simulate high speed highway / motorway driving. The figure quoted for a current RAV 4 is around 41.5 mpg - which is not bad for a petrol engine (since the hybrid system will have relatively little impact in this scenario) and accords pretty closely to Mr Kevin Nuts reported experience. (From what he has posted, he is clearly something of a 'road warrior', based in Northern Ireland where they still use imperial gallons ... 😉 )

As for the fuelling issue, I've yet to see any reports from UK drivers alluding to this so it seems likely that, if it exists at all, it relates to US gas pumps that you can lock on whilst filling and automatically switch off. Personally I wouldn't worry about that issue at all. 🙂

[MrNuts]

16 hours ago, SC489 said:

Thanks. Is your figure of 42 mpg quoted based on US or imperial gallons? What economy have you experienced for long motorway trips at 70 mph?

Hi there,

Its UK gallons based on litres, so 1 Gallon is 4.54609 litres, on motorways at 70mph it averages 44/45mpg (UK), 75mph is where i tend to drive (72mph true speed) it averages 42mpg. I'm expecting the economy to improve with the higher ambient temps in spring/summer

[SC489]

26 minutes ago, MrNuts said:

Hi there,

Its UK gallons based on litres, so 1 Gallon is 4.54609 litres, on motorways at 70mph it averages 44/45mpg (UK), 75mph is where i tend to drive (72mph true speed) it averages 42mpg. I'm expecting the economy to improve with the higher ambient temps in spring/summer

Thanks - my Mazda 3 2.0 petrol gives about 49mpg at a true 70 mph (TomTom calibration) so 45 mpg for the RAV is quite good considering the type of car.  

[MrNuts]

22 hours ago, SC489 said:

Thanks - my Mazda 3 2.0 petrol gives about 49mpg at a true 70 mph (TomTom calibration) so 45 mpg for the RAV is quite good considering the type of car.  

I'm happy with the economy, my previous car a diesel Tiguan 2wd didn't better the RAV and didn't have its performance.