Towing with 2020 Rav4 Hybrid

[Gaskell]

I’m thinking of changing my Land Rover Freelander diesel and am looking at the 2020 RAV4 Hybrid Excel AWD

Does anyone have experience of towing a caravan with one of these? I’d be interested to know how it does. 

Thanks

[Teresap]

Hi I tow a caravan with mine the weight limit at 1645 KG is a bit limiting but it tows my caravan very well with no loss of power on the hills. 
the fuel economy suffers badly towing only getting 25mpg I normally get 50 mpg 

[PeteB]

This YouTube video about towing may be of interest:

 

[Corkman 2]

Have now done two caravan trips with my RAV4. Previously had Honda CRV 1.6 D. RAV4 has much more torque available on inclines, massively exceeded my expectations. Getting 39 mpg but my caravan Is a light weight Eriba Troll ( about 1100kg)

[Graham Brooks]

On 9/11/2020 at 1:23 PM, Teresap said:

Hi I tow a caravan with mine the weight limit at 1645 KG is a bit limiting but it tows my caravan very well with no loss of power on the hills. 
the fuel economy suffers badly towing only getting 25mpg I normally get 50 mpg 

Which version do you tow with as looking into the All Wheel Drive self charging hybrid to replace our current Nissan XTrail which returns 30mpg towing a 1400kg caravan but only averages 37mpg not towing around towns (great on motorways at 50mpg!

[Flatcoat]

First off this thread is almost 2 years old! However I doubt the RAV will better the Nissan and in reality will almost certainly be worse towing mpg.  Petrol will never beat diesel economy when towing. 

[Graham Brooks]

18 hours ago, Graham Brooks said:

Which version do you tow with as looking into the All Wheel Drive self charging hybrid to replace our current Nissan XTrail which returns 30mpg towing a 1400kg caravan but only averages 37mpg not towing around towns (great on motorways at 50mpg!

I received this reply from a Face Book post earlier this evening: - I tow with a RAV4 hybrid AWD self charging hybrid 2021 model towing capacity 1650kg absolutely brilliant towing car the best I’ve ever had in 30 years of towing. When towing mpg 28-35,  urban without towing 48-56 mpg. Full of technology very very comfortable currently towing an Elddis Affinity 574 4 berth

[Flatcoat]

I simply don’t believe those towing economy figures. 

[ernieb]

Economy figures are always so very dependent on how you drive and this is especially true when towing coupled with the load that’s dumped into the van, car and number of passengers, wind speed etc.

When I used to tow I achieved some great numbers but just a few extra mph on my part of in the wind speed would knock these significantly.

[Flatcoat]

I have towed for 10 years including trips all over Europe so fully conversant with the impact of variables of driving style, speed and weather. I find too many rely on an arbitrary computer generated figure that is detached from reality - my previous diesel PHEV only achieved 28 mpg (brim to brim) on one occasion and was typically around 25-26mpg. Everyone who switches to petrol always say the one penalty is loss of economy. The best I am expecting from PHEV when towing is 22mpg.