The Toyota RAV4‘s elegant interior, exceptional fuel efficiency, and well-balanced performance place it in the top half of compact SUV rankings. Its exceptional combination of luggage and passenger space, safety and dependability ratings, excellent evaluations from automotive writers, and available family-friendly amenities distinguishes it from other SUVs.
The RAV4 ranges in price from $30,000 to just above $50,000, which is slightly above average for a compact SUV, but this Toyota comes standard with more equipment than many others in its class. Competitors such as the Honda CR-V and Kia Sportage are priced lower, but you’ll have to pay more for extras that come standard in this Toyota. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with its top-notch quality.
The Spacious Interior
The cabin of the RAV4 is modern, with soft-touch areas and aesthetically pleasant yet sturdy materials. You won’t mistake this Toyota for a luxury vehicle, but utility, comfort, and opulence improve dramatically as trim levels rise. Other available options include synthetic leather seats, as well as distinctive seat stitching and embellishments.
Cabin and Seating
The cargo area behind the second row of the RAV4 is 37.6 cubic feet. In the XLE, XLE Premium, and Limited trims, this figure reduces slightly to 37.5 cubic feet. In all trims, folding down the second row provides up to 69.8 cubic feet of cargo space. These cargo estimates are higher than many compact SUV competitors, while the Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester provide a few more cubic feet.
This Toyota SUV can seat up to five people. The front and rear legroom are generous, and even tall passengers should have no trouble finding a comfortable seat in the spacious cabin. Furthermore, the chairs are well-cushioned. The lack of a power-adjustable passenger seat is one of the RAV4’s major flaws. Optional features include an eight-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front and rear outboard seats, and ventilated front seats.
There are two complete sets of LATCH connectors for the back outboard seats and a tether anchor for the back centre seat. This LATCH system has the highest grade of Good+ from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, indicating it is among the most accessible and most versatile to use.
Infotainment System
The RAV4 has an easy-to-use infotainment system with a quick 7-inch touch screen. The interface is simple, and the digital buttons on the screen are perfectly placed. There are also actual knobs and buttons for controlling things like stereo volume and climate. These physical functions are generally easy to access, but you may need to stretch to reach some on the console’s far side.
Standard infotainment features include a 7-inch touch screen, a Wi-Fi hot spot, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Amazon Alexa, a USB connector, Bluetooth, satellite radio, and six-speaker audio.
Available infotainment amenities include an 8-inch touch screen, navigation, wireless device charging, an 11-speaker JBL sound system, and four more USB connections.
Other available features are dual-zone automatic temperature control, a 7-inch digital instrument display, proximity keyless entry, push-button start, a sunroof, and a panoramic moon roof.
Performance and Engine
The RAV4’s lone engine option is a 2.5-litre four-cylinder producing 203 horsepower. When paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission, this engine provides plenty of power for daily use and can easily propel this crossover to highway speeds. However, some critics point out that the engine can be deafening at high speeds and that the transmission, while largely seamless, can stutter when downshifting.
The RAV4 has among the top fuel economy estimations among compact SUVs. It gets 28 miles per gallon in the city and 35 miles per gallon on the interstate. When all-wheel drive is selected in the base grade, the values decrease to 27/34 mpg city/highway, while other trims with AWD earn between 25 and 27 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway. The TRD Off-Road trim receives the lowest ratings in the lineup: 25/32 city/highway mpg.
This Toyota offers a usually smooth ride. Its suspension performs an excellent job of absorbing potholes and road bumps. Its handling is superbly agile, allowing you to take corners confidently.
The RAV4 hasn’t traditionally been an off-roader, but Toyota changed that by introducing the TRD Off-Road grade for the 2020 model year. With 8.6 inches of ground clearance, all-terrain tyres, and performance enhancements, including a TRD-tuned suspension, this RAV4 is ready to take on rugged terrain.
Reliability and Warranty
The projected reliability score for the 2021 RAV4 is 74 out of 100. A J.D. Power predicted reliability score of 91-100 is considered the best, 81-90 is considered great, 70-80 is considered acceptable, and 0-69 is considered fair and below average.
Toyota provides a three-year/36,000-mile basic warranty as well as a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty on the RAV4.
Safety and Crash Tests
The Toyota RAV4 received a perfect total safety rating from the NHTSA, with a score of five in the side impact test and four in the rollover and frontal crash tests. It also received the highest rating of Good from the IIHS in all six crashworthiness tests.
For how efficiently the headlights illuminate the road ahead, the RAV4 scored the second-lowest Marginal grade. The IIHS grades collision avoidance features using a separate scale. For its basic vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention systems, the RAV4 received the highest grade of Superior.
Standard advanced safety features:
- Lane trace assist (keeps the vehicle centred in the lane, even on curved roads)
- Lane keep assist
- Lane departure warning
- Forward collision warning
- Automatic emergency braking
- Pedestrian detection
- Rearview camera
- Adaptive cruise control
- Road sign recognition
- Automatic high-beam headlights
Available advanced safety features:
- A surround-view parking camera system
- Front and rear parking sensors
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Rain-sensing windshield wipers
- Rear cross-traffic alert
The Toyota RAV4 is available in six trim levels: LE, XLE, XLE Premium, Adventure, TRD Off-Road, and Limited. All are powered by the same inline four-cylinder engine and include Toyota’s acclaimed Safety Sense 2.0 suite of active safety technologies.
The Toyota RAV4—with many great features like a luxurious cabin, a comprehensive list of standard safety features, and plenty of cargo and passenger capacity—is now the class sales leader in a neck-and-neck sales competition in the compact SUV segment.
