RAV4 Plugin vs alternatives (including EVs)

[Catlover]

I read the other week that an Israeli company had developed a car EV battery that fully charged in about the same time as filling a tankful of petrol. Even gone as fas far as a dummy production build.  Maybe a home charger for that would be prohibitive, bu you wouldn’t be waiting long for one to become free at a charging point.  Technology is moving fast now.

[ernieb]

Yes, the BZX whilst I understand will be shown in ‘22 it’s likely to be ‘25/‘26 before it will be in production and available to order.

I've only had a few hours driving the test car but I have to say that the handling was fine and the car happy to turn and drive through corners.  I’ve seen the YouTube videos and frankly the speed that some of these drivers try to push the car through the corners would not be likely for me at anytime.  The so called “moose test” just seems so unrealistic, I understand that they try to simulate the same test each time but it does seem to be a hit and miss.  

I should get my car next week and plan to do a test drive and then out and about in Derbyshire.

Get a test drive, I placed my order subject to a test drive and paid my returnable deposit (if I choose not to go ahead). My dealer was very happy with the arrangement. I asked the dealer to charge the traction Battery and the car is so quiet and being totally honest I was unable to tell when the ICE kicked in, I stopped in a lay by to check it was running. (I’d put the car in charge hold mode). The only thing that’s a pain is the reversing sound, load and sounds about like a Dr Who audio track!  On the other hand my neighbour who has a Toyota Hybrid says it’s a good thing as she’s few near misses when people have not heard she was there.

[Nicolai]

On 5/19/2021 at 1:07 PM, ernieb said:

Get a test drive, I placed my order subject to a test drive and paid my returnable deposit (if I choose not to go ahead). My dealer was very happy with the arrangement. I asked the dealer to charge the traction battery and the car is so quiet and being totally honest I was unable to tell when the ICE kicked in, I stopped in a lay by to check it was running. (I’d put the car in charge hold mode). The only thing that’s a pain is the reversing sound, load and sounds about like a Dr Who audio track!  On the other hand my neighbour who has a Toyota Hybrid says it’s a good thing as she’s few near misses when people have not heard she was there.

I had a test drive although only the standard 30 min. one and in the city. The dealer agreed to let me borrow the car later for a 3 hour drive though. So I'll take him up on that.

I agree that the ICE can hardly be heard: I noticed it kicking in once during my city test drive but not due to noise (I could hardly hear it). What gave it away was an ever so slight vibration. There was a bit of road noise during my test drive but to be fair it was rainy, cold and windy that day.

I'd like to have AWD as a safety feature and my current Auris eats tires like crazy although I'm a very cautious (bordering to slow) driver. I think  a measurement / adjustment is needed. In that light, I guess I won't notice the "increase in tire wear due to AWD at all.

Still, the Plugin needs regular oil changes and spark plug changes which all add up - the BEVs are free of such outlays. I read on a Danish Facebook group that someone claimed that "as a rule of thumb", a Battery degrades by 10 per cent over 60,000 miles. If that's true, I could live with it. It just seems stupid paying more forr a RAV4 Plugin than for an Audi Q4 Etron with long range Battery (Audi being the "premium" brand here) but again it has less BHP, RWD and possibly drum brakes in the rear. I know VAG tries to convince customers that drum-brakes will last longer with EVs. But they are also that as efficient at bringing the car to a stop, and I read that they are prone to "stick" if a car is left in the driveway for some time. The RAV also has 10 year Battery warranty whereas the EVs only have 8 years (which means that when I sell it in 8 years it'll be out of warranty and the RAV will still have two years left).