PHEV advice

[Dave Alan]

Hi all,

last week I just picked up a RAV 4 PHEV (2021 model) and it had a silly low mileage on it. Any tips or advice from fellow RAV 4 owners ? Apart from go enjoy yourself 😉

[Nick72]

1 hour ago, Dave Alan said:

Hi all,

last week I just picked up a RAV 4 PHEV (2021 model) and it had a silly low mileage on it. Any tips or advice from fellow RAV 4 owners ? Apart from go enjoy yourself 😉

Make sure it has the software update for the DCM module (I think it's called that). Otherwise the 12V Battery goes flat frequently. Basically, it doesn't shut down properly after ignition off and that flattens the Battery.

Other than that just enjoy and work out some of the Japanese weirdness on the various controls.

[Dave Alan]

1 hour ago, Nick72 said:

Make sure it has the software update for the DCM module (I think it's called that). Otherwise the 12V battery goes flat frequently. Basically, it doesn't shut down properly after ignition off and that flattens the battery.

Other than that just enjoy and work out some of the Japanese weirdness on the various controls.

will do I will check this , thanks

 

[Dave Alan]

Can anyone advise on this ?

 

Quote

Make sure it has the software update for the DCM module (I think it's called that). Otherwise the 12V battery goes flat frequently. 

 

[ernieb]

Best to just ask the dealer if the car has had the DCM module software updated. Also:

There was also a recall for a software update to the heating system for ‘cold’ working, it would effectively make a grinding noise. It is still apparent it’s working when it’s cold but a lot better.

There was also a DC-DC converter recall, the whole module was replaced.

All of these have been covered extensively at one time or another in this forum.

Otherwise,  take your own advice, sit back, drive and enjoy. I found coming from other makers, as @Nick72 has indicated it took a little time to dive through the various set ups not only within the car menus but also by setting up a Toyota account and going into that account registering the car and then making additional car setups. The online account is where you can order map updates etc. (also covered in the forum) Download, if you haven’t already, the My Toyota app and go through the process of adding the car and registering the Navigation (head unit), can be a tricky process.

I and others have changed some of the various light bulbs to LED’s some make a massive difference, reversing lights, boot light, puddle lights and may be of interest. 

[Dave Alan]

12 hours ago, ernieb said:

Best to just ask the dealer if the car has had the DCM module software updated. Also:

There was also a recall for a software update to the heating system for ‘cold’ working, it would effectively make a grinding noise. It is still apparent it’s working when it’s cold but a lot better.

There was also a DC-DC converter recall, the whole module was replaced.

All of these have been covered extensively at one time or another in this forum.

Otherwise,  take your own advice, sit back, drive and enjoy. I found coming from other makers, as @Nick72 has indicated it took a little time to dive through the various set ups not only within the car menus but also by setting up a Toyota account and going into that account registering the car and then making additional car setups. The online account is where you can order map updates etc. (also covered in the forum) Download, if you haven’t already, the My Toyota app and go through the process of adding the car and registering the Navigation (head unit), can be a tricky process.

I and others have changed some of the various light bulbs to LED’s some make a massive difference, reversing lights, boot light, puddle lights and may be of interest. 

Ernie B

this is useful and appreciated , thank you. I will check with my local Toyota dealer ASAP. My PHEV RAV 4 only had done just over 9,000 miles in 3 years, an incredibly low mileage when I bought it last week. But all documented and Toyota FSH with it.

 

Any high RAV 4 high mileages out there ? I guess this is another thread 🙂. Anyway thank you so much for that info.

Dave

[ELD1970]

Stoplock Pro Elite steering lock.

[Nick72]

Not high mileage. About 20k. No issues with anything other than it took quite a few different USB cables to get android auto running reliably. It's actually reliably boring. But that's a good thing.

[Flatcoat]

32,000 miles in 28 months. Main fault has been sunroof failure 3 times. Otherwise all pretty good for reliability even if some of the material and tech quality is poor for such an expensive car. 

[Dave Alan]

1 hour ago, ELD1970 said:

Stoplock Pro Elite steering lock.

hey thanks good tip ! 

[Dave Alan]

59 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Not high mileage. About 20k. No issues with anything other than it took quite a few different USB cables to get android auto running reliably. It's actually reliably boring. But that's a good thing.

give me ''reliably boring'' please 😉. Came from Nissan and that was reliable, the Toyota range has reliable imprinted into it like ''Brighton Rock'' . Your one is just run in at 20 k 🙂

[Dave Alan]

24 minutes ago, Flatcoat said:

32,000 miles in 28 months. Main fault has been sunroof failure 3 times. Otherwise all pretty good for reliability even if some of the material and tech quality is poor for such an expensive car. 

fair comment, I'm hoping for 100% reliability

[Nick72]

3 hours ago, Dave Alan said:

give me ''reliably boring'' please 😉. Came from Nissan and that was reliable, the Toyota range has reliable imprinted into it like ''Brighton Rock'' . Your one is just run in at 20 k 🙂

On the American forums and Reddit there are people with 400k miles on the clock. Couriers and the like. No major issues.

[Dave Alan]

8 hours ago, Nick72 said:

On the American forums and Reddit there are people with 400k miles on the clock. Couriers and the like. No major issues.

AMAZING 400,000 miles whaaaatt 

[Nick72]

2 hours ago, Dave Alan said:

AMAZING 400,000 miles whaaaatt 

A few folks posted their maintenance and repairs breakdown, which was a surprisingly small number in total. Don't recall what but remember thinking that's small and the overall cost per mile very small. Both the RAV4 hybrid and the R4P. 

Not that many brake pad changes because the regen kicks in before the brakes. 

I guess this is why it's the most popular compact SUV best seller in the USA. And I think the RAV in general was the 4th or 5th best selling car in the USA last year. Only trucks came ahead of it.

[ernieb]

5 hours ago, Nick72 said:

A few folks posted their maintenance and repairs breakdown, which was a surprisingly small number in total. Don't recall what but remember thinking that's small and the overall cost per mile very small. Both the RAV4 hybrid and the R4P. 

Not that many brake pad changes because the regen kicks in before the brakes. 

I guess this is why it's the most popular compact SUV best seller in the USA. And I think the RAV in general was the 4th or 5th best selling car in the USA last year. Only trucks came ahead of it.

Not sure about current situation but for a long time in the US there was a generous federal and often additionally state cash back. Something like $10K I seem to remember.

The PHEV was classed on a similar basis to a full EV?

That said the RAV4 HEV or PHEV is a very reliable long lasting car.

[philip42h]

Don't forget that in the US they also have gas powered RAV4.5s ...

[Nick72]

4 hours ago, ernieb said:

Not sure about current situation but for a long time in the US there was a generous federal and often additionally state cash back. Something like $10K I seem to remember.

The PHEV was classed on a similar basis to a full EV?

That said the RAV4 HEV or PHEV is a very reliable long lasting car.

I think you're right Ernie. In some states where there were local state tax benefits atop of others the Prime was cheaper than the regular hybrid. But what happened over time was the dealers started to put huge mark ups on the Primes because of the high demand and limited supply. I've heard of US folks waiting over a year for their car. 

[Nick72]

4 hours ago, philip42h said:

Don't forget that in the US they also have gas powered RAV4.5s ...

Yep but I'm specifically referring to the R4P and hybrid. 

Here's just a quick search example. Several folks at the 100k+ mark with the only repairs being a new set of tyres on the Prime (PHEV) and similar minor jobs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/s/327quAXtI7

Some posts in RAV4 World which is where I saw the 400k mileage posts but not had time to try to find that thread. 

 

[Flatcoat]

17 hours ago, philip42h said:

Don't forget that in the US they also have gas powered RAV4.5s ...

Gas is what they often call petrol in the US…… 

[Flatcoat]

12 hours ago, Nick72 said:

I think you're right Ernie. In some states where there were local state tax benefits atop of others the Prime was cheaper than the regular hybrid. But what happened over time was the dealers started to put huge mark ups on the Primes because of the high demand and limited supply. I've heard of US folks waiting over a year for their car. 

Some UK buyers waited over a year for their cars not very long ago….. 

[Flatcoat]

12 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Yep but I'm specifically referring to the R4P and hybrid. 

Here's just a quick search example. Several folks at the 100k+ mark with the only repairs being a new set of tyres on the Prime (PHEV) and similar minor jobs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/s/327quAXtI7

Some posts in RAV4 World which is where I saw the 400k mileage posts but not had time to try to find that thread. 

 

There are a lot of RAV yellow cab taxis in NY. Suggests they are reliable and robust cars. 

[Nick72]

11 hours ago, Flatcoat said:

Some UK buyers waited over a year for their cars not very long ago….. 

Whoa.

[rbrtsn]

On 5/10/2024 at 6:34 AM, ernieb said:

I and others have changed some of the various light bulbs to LED’s some make a massive difference, reversing lights, boot light, puddle lights and may be of interest. 

What bulbs did you use? Ta. 
 

When I stopped selling Toyotas in 2022 we had a normal Rav Hybrid take 11 months roughly - didn’t get to deliver that actual car as we switched the customer into one we had in showroom just before we stopped being Toyota. 

[Dave Alan]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:09 AM, rbrtsn said:

What bulbs did you use? Ta. 
 

When I stopped selling Toyotas in 2022 we had a normal Rav Hybrid take 11 months roughly - didn’t get to deliver that actual car as we switched the customer into one we had in showroom just before we stopped being Toyota. 

Why did you stop being a franchise for Toyota ? I am assuming it was that Toyota wanted you to be a sole trader for their products ?