Test Car Specifications
Model tested: Toyota RAV4 2.5 Hybrid AWD-i Dynamic
Pricing: RAV4 starts at £29,635; car as tested £36,640
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol plus two electric motors
Transmission: CVT automatic, all-wheel drive
Body style: five-door, five-seat SUV
CO2 emissions: 103g/km (VED Band 101-110: £140 in year one, £135 annually thereafter)
Combined economy: 50.6mpg
Top speed: 112mph
0-62mph: 8.4 seconds
Power: 222hp at 5,700rpm (total system output)
Torque: 221Nm (engine); 202Nm (front electric motor); 121Nm (rear electric motor)
Boot space: 580-1,690 litres
What's this?
I would say 'obviously it's a RAV4', but actually, it's not that obvious at all. In fact, for this fifth-generation of RAV4 (a car that has found more than nine million customers, worldwide, in 25 years), Toyota has really gone for it in styling terms. Toyota has even gone so far to admit that the previous generation RAV4 had become, stylistically, a little too soft, a touch too blobby and far too close in design to that of an MPV. With buyers' tastes clearly and rapidly moving towards 'proper' 4x4s and SUVs, the time was ripe for a major restyle, and now at last we have a RAV4 that's as distinctive and arguably as exciting to look at as the 1994 original.
Pretty, though? Er... probably not, although adjust that judgment according to the eye of the beholder and all that. From the side and back, there are very strong overtones of some Jeep (with a capital J) products, and Toyota's stylists have deliberately made the bonnet longer and flatter to make it look more like that proper 4x4 of people's dreams. The front, though... it shares a lot of its styling and details with the bigger (US-market-only) 4Runner, but the RAV4's face is one possibly only a mother could love. It's super-aggressive, and changes a lot according to colour and spec. If you love it; great. If not, well, we understand why.
There are fewer quibbles by far on the inside. Toyota has switched the new RAV4 to the same TNGA platform that you'll find under cars as disparate as the new Corolla and the big Camry, and the inherent flexibility of that platform means big changes. The RAV4 is, on the outside, 10mm lower, yet has an extra 11mm of ground clearance. Inside, there's a 30mm longer wheelbase for extra kneeroom, more width in the cabin too and a very healthy 580-litre boot. Space, and practicality, are simply not issues about which to worry. There's plenty of cubby storage and Toyota has even made the tray in front of the gear shifter wider, to accommodate people's tastes for larger 'phablet' style phones. Oh, and you can have a wireless charging plate there, too.
In style terms, the cabin is much quieter and more conservative than the outside, and also compared to the more overtly stylish cabin of the smaller Toyota C-HR crossover. Still, we like the RAV4's interior - it's beautifully made, has great seats, excellent visibility (Toyota's engineers actually lowered and straightened the rear window line to give better over-the-shoulder views) and it all seems to work very nicely. Standard equipment is good, too, and includes a big eight-inch infotainment touchscreen (no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto yet, but they are coming), part-digital instruments, climate control and the Toyota Safety Sense system that now includes an active steering assistant and an emergency braking setup that can detect pedestrians and cyclists at night, as well as by day.
Our Euro-spec test cars also came with a neat little trick - the rear-view mirror can switch from being a conventional mirror to a digital display screen that shows the view from a rear-facing camera mounted at the top of the tailgate. It's designed so that you can see behind you if you're carrying bulky loads or tall rear passengers, but sadly it's a pricey option and so Toyota UK isn't going to offer it. Not right now, at any rate.
How does it drive?
This time around, there's no diesel RAV4 option (sales of the old diesel model had all but dried up anyway) so instead you get a choice of two hybrid powertrains. Both use the same 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, running on the fuel-sipping Atkinson Cycle. The basic front-wheel-drive model gets a single electric motor, which helps to drive the front wheels (natch); the AWD-i model gets an extra electric motor, mounted directly to the rear axle, which only drives the rear wheels and which gives you four-wheel drive without the need for a heavy, space-consuming driveshaft and transfer box.
Choose your RAV4 carefully, though, because there are big differences in how they drive. The front-wheel-drive version is fine if all you do is pootle around town, or cruise gently along a motorway or main road. It's largely refined (aside from the usual CVT high-rev groaning as you gather speed), very comfortable (aside from a tendency for the ride to fidget on the 18-inch alloy wheels) and frugal (Toyota says that it has worked hard to improve its hybrid system's motorway economy figures).
What it's bad at - really quite bad - is tight and twisty roads. Quite aside from being a rather broad-hipped car, the front-drive RAV4 just isn't happy when the road gets corner-y. It lapses far too quickly into messy, tyre-squealing understeer, has quite a bit of body roll and generally feels totally ill-at-ease.
The all-wheel drive model is quite different. The body roll is still there, and the steering feel never rises above the barely adequate, but thanks to being able to deploy torque to the rear wheels and to use the brakes to act in the manner of a limited slip differential, the AWD-i just feels more natural, more accurate and much more enjoyable on a good road. It's not fun, like the smaller C-HR, and you do have to adopt a classical slow-in, fast-out approach to get the best from it, but it's much better than the two-wheel-drive model.
It's also surprisingly good should you ever venture off-road. True, few (if any) owners ever will, and equally true, we wouldn't challenge any local Land Rover Defender or Jeep Wrangler owners to a mud-plugging duel. That said, on a fairly slippery, quite rocky and moderately challenging course of farm tracks and roads through a vast national park near Barcelona, the RAV4 breezed through every squelchy, muddy, rocky, dusty challenge we threw at it. The rear motor deploys more torque than that of the old all-wheel-drive RAV and it shows, as the current model scampered up a mud-strewn hill that would have foxed many a supposedly rugged SUV or crossover rival.
In more sensible terms, the AWD model is also more refined - thanks to the extra power of the rear motor, you spend less time revving the nuts off the engine to gain speed and day-to-day economy should be fine. In a day's driving of mixed conditions - motorway, city, mountain road and off-roading - we managed close to 40mpg, so you should be able to get 50mpg with a little care and attention.
Verdict
The new Toyota RAV4 is a more polarising car than it has been before - the dramatic styling and the hybrid drive see to that - but it's also a better one. Better to drive (if you go for the AWD version), with a better, bigger cabin and exceptionally high quality levels. It will be a significant thorn in the side of the likes of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Ford Kuga, and Honda CR-V.
Exterior Design
Interior Ambience
Passenger Space
Luggage Space
Safety
Comfort
Driving Dynamics
Powertrain
