Rav4 - Is It A 'girlie' Car?

[Sussex_Paul]

Having a discussion at work this morning which turned to what cars we drive.

Following the usual BMW 3 series, M-B blah-blah etc answers, I proudly piped up stating that I owned a Rav4.

I then endured a good 10 minutes of mickey taking, with most people's suggestions that it is not a 'real' off roader and is, infact, a 'Girlie' car. :censor:

Their argument centered on two points:

1. It's useless off-road.

2. It appeals only to women.

Now, I've not had the opportunity yet to go properly off-road, but my dealers told me that the Rav will cope off-road better than most of the competition. I drove it in the snow earlier this year, and it was fine and it's been on the beach down my way a few times and never had a problem either. Do any of you go on these off-roading days in your Rav or use the car regularly off-road to rebutt the 1st part of the argument?

As for driver/owner appeal, I can only argue that the car appealed to both my wife and me. I don't get the impression that it's been designed with one particular s*x in mind, infact I see more male drivers in Rav's than I do female down my way. My view, is the car is no more 'Girlie' than a BMW 3 series - there's certainly enough female as opposed to male drivers of that car.

I'm sure I speak the truth here and that my colleagues in fact just jealous!!!!!!

Any more for anymore on this subject????

[dave.m]

Hi Paul,

I think your workmates are talking :censor: . If you look at threads on this forum you will see that at

present ther only seems to be 2 or 3 girls/women active. Ok that does not mean a thing as not every

woman who owns a Rav might want to. But if you look at any being driven on the road I would say its

50/50.

As for off road ability you know its going to be limited because of ground clearance and tyres. But I think

it might surprise you. Why dont you do as I have done in the past to other people and call their bluff ?

Ask them if they want to go to the nearest bing (you may know this as a spoil heap) or quarry. And lets

see what the M3 will do after all any idiot can drive at twice the speed limit on a motorway no driving skill

required.

Keep on Ravin.

Cheers,

Dave.

[chatman]

Having a discussion at work this morning which turned to what cars we drive.

Following the usual BMW 3 series, M-B blah-blah etc answers, I proudly piped up stating that I owned a Rav4.

I then endured a good 10 minutes of mickey taking, with most people's suggestions that it is not a 'real' off roader and is, infact, a 'Girlie' car. :censor:

Their argument centered on two points:

1. It's useless off-road.

2. It appeals only to women.

Now, I've not had the opportunity yet to go properly off-road, but my dealers told me that the Rav will cope off-road better than most of the competition. I drove it in the snow earlier this year, and it was fine and it's been on the beach down my way a few times and never had a problem either. Do any of you go on these off-roading days in your Rav or use the car regularly off-road to rebutt the 1st part of the argument?

As for driver/owner appeal, I can only argue that the car appealed to both my wife and me. I don't get the impression that it's been designed with one particular s*x in mind, infact I see more male drivers in Rav's than I do female down my way. My view, is the car is no more 'Girlie' than a BMW 3 series - there's certainly enough female as opposed to male drivers of that car.

I'm sure I speak the truth here and that my colleagues in fact just jealous!!!!!!

Any more for anymore on this subject????

Ha ha ha get the old "Hair Dressers" car type jokes at work....Then most drive VW Passat or BMW's and loads of jokes..like BMW's cant turn left so always stuck in fast lane.... an excuse for something there short off or lacking in....bla bla bla... :) :)

Sure the RAV is not upto LR or Mitsu when it comes to off roading....Then breaking down miles from nowhere in a LR is no fun.... (sorry snigger there) but I see more Rav's driven by males than females so that "Girlie" car joke is off mark... When it snows bad...who's in the office...Me in my RAV and all the rest just slip and slide and complain about there cars rubbish handling in the snow/water/ice etc etc....

Went to a gymkhana not so long ago.... on slight hill and rained off course...Some bloke in his Estate car was having trouble getting out of field due to no traction.... who helps him out....Roped onto tow bar and pulled him up hill........."Must get myself one of these Rav's" was his reply... :D :D :D :D

[bitman]

a car is a car and who is gone make the decission for who is the car for?

all bollicks talk, in Dutch "bouwvakkers praatjes"

just ignore it and if you are happy with YOUR rav 4 let them happy in there boxes.

[dave.m]

Chatman,

Well said, where have you been recently ? Missed that wit.

Cheers,

Dave.

[anchorman]

Paul

You are too sensitive mate and by the sounds of things they know it.

Let them have their fun and just wait for the day that you get the chance to show them the teeth on your T180. They will soon back off.

Is it a girlie car? Of course it is. My wife is quite capable of driving mine (ours!) but when I'm in it I'm like a grown up kid so they can call it what they want.

As for off road capabilities, well if you had wanted a Massey Furgusson you would have bought one presumably but you wouldn't want to have a trip to the Scottish Highlands in it would you?

All these "green laners" with Land Rovers spend all week fixing the nails and raising suspension and fitting big nobbly tyres and if it slides into a gate stump they smash it out with a lump hammer. It would be interesting to see what would happen if you did the same mods to a RAV. Possibly not as good but might just be surprising.

It's horses for courses mate, take no notice.

Regards

[tufty9]

As a Girlie RAV owner - My workmates actually said my 3 door NRG looked too butch to be a girls car!! I spent a lot of time drooling over RAVs before I bought mine, and most seemed to be driven by blokes! Yet most LR's and CRV's and Vitaras were driven by women! So being a bit of a tomboy I have so far been proud to drive my RAV thinking it's quite a blokey car!

[chatman]

Chatman,

Well said, where have you been recently ? Missed that wit.

Cheers,

Dave.

If I told you you would be jealous.........

Just come back from a conference in...........................FLORIDA.........Marco Island actually.............

10 days of power points and demo's (well 4 days and rest sat on beach but shhhhhh ;) ;) ) white sandy beaches and cold beer and bronzed tanned lady's

Also RAV been in garage for ages....... :ffs: :ffs: :ffs: fuel problem.............may be resolved now though....finally

[Sussex_Paul]

Thanks for all the support guys (and girls)!!!!!

I'm not really the sensitive type to worry too much anyhow!!!!

All I did was explain to my so called friends at work about torque and then told them to look up the figure for the T180!!!!!

And as if that wasn't bad enough, I got my FIRST EVER shake of the head in disapproval from a member of the public this morning. Taking the kids to school (I'm a modern kinda guy) in slow traffic through my local RURAL town, some senior citizen started pointing and shaking his head calling my Rav a Chelsea Tractor!!!!!

Words fail me........................... :ffs:

[dave.m]

Chatman,

Well said, where have you been recently ? Missed that wit.

Cheers,

Dave.

If I told you you would be jealous.........

Just come back from a conference in...........................FLORIDA.........Marco Island actually.............

10 days of power points and demo's (well 4 days and rest sat on beach but shhhhhh ;) ;) ) white sandy beaches and cold beer and bronzed tanned lady's

Also RAV been in garage for ages....... :ffs: :ffs: :ffs: fuel problem.............may be resolved now though....finally

Chatman,

Sitting with a bucket on my desk, envy really is a terrible thing :shutit: Speaking of being sick, hope your Rav's feeling better.

Cheers,

Dave.

[chatman]

Chatman,

Sitting with a bucket on my desk, envy really is a terrible thing :!Removed!: Speaking of being sick, hope your Rav's feeling better.

Cheers,

Dave.

It's fixed.......Heads upto to davestringer for putting me onto right path......

Mechanic driving car back form Diesel Specialist (use specialist loosely here as it took them 6 weeks to find fault :censor: :censor: ) but hey I'm just happy to get my RAV back......public transport is :censor: :ffs: :censor: :ffs: :!Removed!: :censor: and £££££ than using my RAV....

well I can get back to my C02 output and make the day's sunnier ;) ;)

[Storm_SouthWest]

yeah i got a ribbing from the guys at work about it thinking of buying a "girlie" car..

then when i did buy and turned up in the T180 they soon shut up..

..especially since theve now seen its quicker than most of their cars !... hehe .. :D

something very satisfying about pulling away from them in a 4x4!

[Manxrav]

yeah i got a ribbing from the guys at work about it thinking of buying a "girlie" car..

then when i did buy and turned up in the T180 they soon shut up..

..especially since theve now seen its quicker than most of their cars !... hehe .. :D

something very satisfying about pulling away from them in a 4x4!

Defo not a girly car. (who am I to say). if you want an example of a girly car has got to be an MX5. My Dad drives mine as much as me and he would be most upset at it being called a girlie car.

Also nice to see Chatman back again ( lucky ****)

Clare

(Didn,t my beloved LFC do well the other night- Athens hre I come)

[chatman]

Defo not a girly car. (who am I to say). if you want an example of a girly car has got to be an MX5. My Dad drives mine as much as me and he would be most upset at it being called a girlie car.

Also nice to see Chatman back again ( lucky ****)

Clare

(Didn,t my beloved LFC do well the other night- Athens hre I come)

Good old LIVERPOOL Well done.................(never did like Chelsea)....always be a Liverpool man myself......

Yep back on form now....Just picked up RAV and she's all better and running nicely.....

Took 6 weeks to fix to say I was P****d off and angry is an understatement....but got a good wodge knocked of final bill.....and argued my case..... Don't ever get an air leak in the fuel system......original garage have been great.....it's the so called specialist who held things up....

And to top it all they busted my rear spoiler off.....so that's a new one they owe me....grrrrrrrrr just glad to have RAV back now.....missed driving it.....

Long weekend coming up so give it a good drive.......

Well best start saving again for the T180....(just spent savings)....again........

[stv1x]

The car isn't girlie but the horn definitely is!

I remember getting a new 300ZX that had the same problem, standard Nissan horn used across the range including the Micra! I changed that one and I'll be doing the same to this one :D

[anchorman]

The car isn't girlie but the horn definitely is!

I remember getting a new 300ZX that had the same problem, standard Nissan horn used across the range including the Micra! I changed that one and I'll be doing the same to this one :D

You never tried it on the road test did you? Niether did I!

It's more of a beeper than a horn! At least with the RAV you get twin beepers. On my old Corolla if I sounded my single beeper people used to fall about laughing instead of being intimidated :P

I think you would get more attention by playing the song of a meadow pippit through a megaphone. You could always record the horn on that Aston and play it back on the CD player with the windows wound down ;)

Regards

[Sussex_Paul]

I have to agree, the horn is a tad pathetic - not exactly inkeeping with the overall look of the car!!

[stv1x]

I have to agree, the horn is a tad pathetic - not exactly inkeeping with the overall look of the car!!

Go to the Nautilus under their 'products' list. You can play an example of the sound....just ordered via eBay

Nautilus Car Horn

[chatman]

I have to agree, the horn is a tad pathetic - not exactly inkeeping with the overall look of the car!!

Go to the Nautilus under their 'products' list. You can play an example of the sound....just ordered via eBay

Nautilus Car Horn

Awesome just made the dog and cat go mad

Must get ba load of these on the RAV.................

[OldSkoO1]

My Mrs drives one if that helps

Seriously... If you bought an older 3 door model, especially in the gold colour i would expect them to take the....

The new RAV is a beaut, especially the T180 which you are driving. I drive the RAV on weekends and love it. I've driven it off road and its very capable. 4wd came in handy on more than a handful of occassions. The new RAV with any diesel engine is a really superb car, the T180 even more so. It will be faster than most of their cars.

Enjoy :)

[gwilphil]

I have to agree, the horn is a tad pathetic - not exactly inkeeping with the overall look of the car!!

Go to the Nautilus under their 'products' list. You can play an example of the sound....just ordered via eBay

Nautilus Car Horn

Hi love the stebel horn how diffficult is it to fit on the Rav My Rav xd4d is 12 months old now loving it, Gwil

[stv1x]

Hi love the stebel horn how diffficult is it to fit on the Rav My Rav xd4d is 12 months old now loving it, Gwil

I'll let you know once it arrives and I've had a go at fitting. I'm a fairly practical kind of guy but car electrics are definitely not my forte so if I'm able to do it anyone can

Steve

[anchorman]

Hi love the stebel horn how diffficult is it to fit on the Rav My Rav xd4d is 12 months old now loving it, Gwil

I'll let you know once it arrives and I've had a go at fitting. I'm a fairly practical kind of guy but car electrics are definitely not my forte so if I'm able to do it anyone can

Steve

Steve

12v horns are available with either single or twin poles (connectors). I have tried to look through the grille on mine and can see the horns but can't tell if single or twin wires go to them.

In a single pole, a live feed goes to the horn and it earths through the body. In a twin pole a live feed goes to the horn and it earths through the second wire back at the horn push in the steering wheel.

It will be easy if the poles match the wires - just cut off (and save for future use) the connector and crimp on spade terminals. You may need to extend the wires to reach. If not, to convert twin pole horns for single wiring is easy because you put the feed onto one side and earth the other to the body. To convert twin pole wiring to single pole is a bit more tricky and the only way I can think of is to wire in a relay that will deliver 12v to the single pole via a signal from the existing wires.

Cheers

[gwilphil]

Hi love the stebel horn how diffficult is it to fit on the Rav My Rav xd4d is 12 months old now loving it, Gwil

I'll let you know once it arrives and I've had a go at fitting. I'm a fairly practical kind of guy but car electrics are definitely not my forte so if I'm able to do it anyone can

Steve

Hi did you fit the stebel horn, if so how difficult was it as I want to have one on my Rav.

Had my firts service on the rav at my local toyota yesterday, all ok and only £91.67 not bad

Gwil

[stv1x]

Hi did you fit the stebel horn, if so how difficult was it as I want to have one on my Rav.

Had my firts service on the rav at my local toyota yesterday, all ok and only £91.67 not bad

Gwil

Hi Gwil, no, I haven't fitted it yet. Like the issue concerning hard-wiring the Road Angel, it looks as though you've got to pretty much dismantle the car to gain access to anything so I'm going to get Toyota to fit them both at the next pit-stop.

Steve