If it is was you that crashed your Honda Civic in the fast lane of the M11 on New year’s eve, then you are best placed to describe just how well the Toyota Rav-4 cruises at motorways speeds and then… stops. Suddenly. However, in your absence, I will do my best to explain.
The Rav-4 seems small, bouncy and a little un-refined on initial driving. The diesel engine of the test car sounds like a diesel and performs like a diesel with very short gear ratios that require an almost constant gear change. Fortunately the clutch is very light and the gear change clicks lightly from gate to gate. So sitting in queues or slow traffic is easy.
It has a generous steering lock, wonderful all-round visibility and an imperious driving position. It doesn’t take to long to see why school-runners fall in love with little 4x4s. If you have not recently had to try and park in a busy street full of Mums, kids and their sports kit, you just don’t appreciate the importance of these virtues.
The boot space is not really better than a conventional hatch back. But the rear seats can do somersaults, card tricks and can also be completely removed so this is as practical as any family car needs to be. I put our Christmas tree in ours and I buy big Christmas trees.
Inside, the seats both front and rear are very comfortable. There is something about the leather trim of the test car that prompted everyone to comment quickly, ‘ooh this is nice.’
It may have been the contrast from expectation to reality. From the outside the car looks like a little ‘value-for-money’ 4x4. It creates the same emotion as a VW Golf. I look at it and assume it will be well made, but not much for the money.
But climb aboard, and centre console aside, it feels more like the big luxury Land Cruiser. Once you have been for a long A-road run this luxury cruiser feeling blocks out any memory of a lack in low-speed refinement.
The Rav-4 is a car that grows on you and if you are considering one, then I would recommend trying to get a full day or weekend test drive. If you like it before you drive it, then after a long journey you will love it.
I had particular reason to fall in love when I came around a blind bend on the M11 to find that someone (was it you?) had managed the incredible feat of spinning a Honda Civic and abandoning it, facing the wrong direction, in the fast lane. I noted that you were standing on the hard shoulder so that you could fully appreciate the almighty accident that was likely to follow.
One moment the Rav was cruising briskly with the 6 cd-changer playing out one of my recent Christmas presents. The next I was asking it to do an emergency stop without losing balance or locking up. We all know how hard it can be to lose speed when heavy motorway traffic suddenly slows heavily. But this was harder as the car in front of me was not slowing rapidly. It had long since stopped. I may as well have been driving towards a wall.
In these moments you want everyone behind to get the message that we are definitely stopping. So I glanced around for the hazards. But they are on the far side of the bulbous centre console. You almost need to walk over there to knock them on.
While I was reaching for the hazards and calling through the passenger window glass to the 306 driver alongside, ‘your lane is clear, get on with it so I can move over and avoid an accident’ the RAV’s ABS braked evenly and hard. Whilst we would never of stopped it did wipe speed off magnificently, allowing me to eventually out brake the 306 driver and swerve round the Civic with just a metre or two to go.
Which illustrates more great RAV qualities. It is very safe with 9 airbags, and alarms that tell you if its icy (although on a very cold and foggy day, I guessed it would be icy and didn’t appreciate the alarm; an alarm for hidden Hondas would be much better). The little sporty steering wheel also gives great feedback and make the luxury cruiser feel like a nimble hatchback through b-road bends and motorway dramas.
I was driving this car between it being returned from a charity Toyota support and it being sold to the public as a ‘used approved’ car. The test car had a slight gearbox problem (brought about by the heavy driving style of the previous ‘owner’), which meant the gear change felt simultaneously floppy and notchy. The synchromesh sometimes sounded like it was having a bit of an argument with the gearlever.
Toyota, before selling the car, put it through a rigorous inspection and repair programme. This remedied the problem before selling it on. So I began to wonder, would I buy one from a Toyota used approved scheme? Find out on in the used approved section (see the homepage).
Summary
A chameleon of a car. Spacious and practical inside. Sporty on b-roads and refined like amore expensive car on A-roads.
Road Test Car Details:
Toyota Rav 4, 5 Door, 2.2 D-4D Diesel
OTR: from £21,245.00
0-60: 10.5 secs
MPG: 42 mpg
Words: Matthew Tumbridge