Exterior Design and Dimensions
this is the Toyota RAV4 hybrid and I’m going to review it starting with the looks this is the front this is the side it’s a 168 centimeters tall that’s about five foot six but it just feels taller I can’t even see the top of the roof unless I jump so I’m going to check and ah no that is about right it can also Wade through up to half a meter of water so that’s half a meter that is above the center of the wheel and it’s above the plastic moldings at the bottom of the doors and this is the rear you press here to open the boot all bar the base spec icon model get the electric Boot and then we have 580 liters of space which is big for this size of car under here is a spare wheel that’s good to see and I’m going to try and remove this parcel shelf one-handed ah that was actually quite easy to put the rear seats down there’s no handy thing here that you can pull although there is a 12 volt socket that’s good to see you have to use these levers see if I can do it one-handed yep oh whilst carrying a camera then we have a flat load area 1690 liters…
Engine and Performance
it comes with a 2.5 liter four-cylinder petrol engine mated to Toyota’s clever two motor hybrid transmission you can have it as either front wheel drive or four-wheel drive if you get the four-wheel drive variant you get a motor at the back so then it has a total of three motors the front wheel drive has 218 brake horsepower but the four-wheel drive has 222 so they are close both have 221 newton meters of torque zero to 60 front wheel drive is 8.4 seconds and the four-wheel drive is 8.1…
Comfort and Seating
getting in and out is easy the doors open wide nice big opening easy to hop in and out although I can’t put my foot on the floor whilst I’m sitting on the seat so I do have to sort of hop out a little bit but that’s the same with all these SUVs and the rear door again big opening as well yeah no trouble now that I’m in the rear I’m pleased to say there is ample room my feet go under the seat in front easily…
Interior Build Quality and Features
now for a detailed view of the interior and I’m going to start with this door plenty of padding here for the armrest this is all padded feels of very sturdy quality this is hard but Rock Solid and the door makes a good Sound electric windows and mirrors this is a half liter bottle you could probably get a one and a half liter bottle down there with some extra storage on the side…
Infotainment and Controls
this is cool if I press that button that happens you can see around the car I’ve seen that before and I’ll turn that off now automatic high beams some storage there that’s a little bit grippy that surface padded nice and soft you can adjust the intensity of the vents there and obviously the direction digital instrument cluster in the Middle with analog at the sides steering wheel it’s round good thickness not too chunky these Plastics they don’t feel luxury but they feel sturdy…
Trim Levels and Pricing
here’s a quick idea of what you get with each trim level there are four available the base one is called the icon and I think that gets pretty much everything you probably want you get cruise control radar cruise control the auto steering when there’s lines and it can follow the car in front Dual Zone climate control Auto lights Auto high beams Auto wipers rear parking sensors rear camera road sign assist privacy glass…
Driving Experience and Handling
I’m going to start the driving with maneuvering firstly does it creep so if I come off the brake does it move forwards yes it does can I stay super slow without stopping and starting in a jerky way yes I can I can’t keep a completely consistent speed I am speeding up and slowing down a little bit but it is very usable…
Performance on Country Roads
I’m now trying it on some out of town Country Roads and this Bend corn is relatively flat there is a little bit of lean I’ll reset the trip computer now and see how it does got some national speed limit coming up soon 60 miles per hour and I’ll also launch it another Bend it does it does handle surprisingly well considering the height of the car…
Urban Efficiency and Hybrid System
let’s see how it does on the Urban Roads I’ve just reset the trip computer starting the Urban Roads and this is where I enjoy hybrids at the moment I’m in EV mode you can often get like 50 plus percent in Easy Mode when you’re driving around town I’ve seen as high as 70 not in this car I’ve not tried this car on Urban Roads properly yet but in a Toyota Yaris and as a result you end up getting incredible MPG…
Motorway Performance and Comfort
now I’m going to show you my review on the motorway which I’ve already filmed on this occasion I’m going to be able to thoroughly test how it’s like at high speed because I have a 90 mile journey to do which is going to take me the best part of two hours most of it is Motorway so is a slip road to the M23 let’s put my foot down and see what it’s like not bad pickup’s good and the sound from the engine isn’t too bad either…
Radar Cruise Control and Lane Assist
the radar cruise control is quite brisk so the truck in front has moved over now and it does accelerate fairly quickly more quickly than I would like it to although this would be to some people’s taste when the car is accelerating itself I prefer it to accelerate gently there’s no way to adjust how quickly it accelerates and breaks with the adaptive cruise control some cars give you the choice…
Overall Impression and Verdict
it’s now the next day after filming the video I’ve just driven the car back 90 miles again but the other way this time I could stay at 70 most of the time apart from a short section of 50 at the beginning and I got 48.8 miles per gallon so that can give you an idea of what you can get when you’re able to stay at 70 for a long time so it’s comfortable it’s economical especially around town but also on the motorway it’s reasonably priced compared to its Rivals there’s loads of space in here and everything is Rock Solid and I haven’t even mentioned the warranty yet it has a 10 year or 100 000 mile warranty whichever comes soon as all you have to do is service it at Toyota and if it has less than a hundred thousand miles on it and you service it a day before it’s 10 years old they still give you the year how good is that I think this SUV in this class is the best all-rounder I mean it does depend on what your priorities are but as an overall carve for just somebody wants a car that just works and is nice to use I think this one wins in this class if you found the video interesting please give it a thumbs up subscribe to get my future videos and until the next one cheerio
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