Toyota RAV4 review: Disappointing economy, stodgy handling, and forgettable looks

Life was simpler when vehicles designed to go off-road all had four-wheel drive. These days, that’s not the case. Take the new Toyota RAV4 lineup. It’s available as a 2.0L turbo-diesel with front-wheel drive, a 2.0L petrol with four-wheel drive, and now as a hybrid with either front or four-wheel drive.

To be truthful this new RAV4 isn’t actually all that new. It’s a mid-life facelift with a new nose, sharper—but still rather anonymous—styling, extra kit, new or improved engines, and a revised suspension. If it wasn’t for the arrival of a hybrid powertrain in the RAV4 for the first time, we wouldn’t be poking it with the Ars Technica stick.

One reason the all-wheel drive hybrid RAV4 exists at all is that the drivetrain is shared with the Lexus NX300h. In a curiously circular arrangement, the NX300h exists because it’s based on the fourth-generation RAV4 floor-plan which still underpins this newly nipped ‘n’ tucked model.

That drivetrain consists of a 16-valve DOHC 2.5L 4-cylinder Atkinson cycle petrol engine (that’s one with a variable length piston stroke, and delayed intake valve closing to increase efficiency); a 205-cell, 1.6kWh nickel-metal hydride battery; and two electric motors.

One of those electric motors is rated at 50kW, and turns the back wheels, while the other is rated at 105kW and is plumbed into what Toyota calls an Electric CVT gearbox at the front. Toyota gives this all-wheel drive system the moniker “E-Four.” Not to be confused with the British television channel of the same name.

That motor combination delivers a nominal output of 145kW (195bhp) at the front wheels, average fuel economy of 55.4mpg, and CO₂ emissions of 118g/km. I’d take that economy figure with a pinch of salt. After a week of mixed driving, my average consumption (admittedly in a vehicle that had hardly turned a wheel since it left the factory) was a rather less impressive 36.7mpg. It took some very attentive motoring to get more than 45 miles to the gallon.

Having a low-capacity Ni-MH battery means you can’t resort to prolonged electric driving to improve that economy. Yes, this RAV4 has got an EV button, but the maximum electric-only range is about one and a half miles, and the maximum speed around 30mph. Go beyond or above that and the petrol engine swings into action.

Planetary gears blend petrol and electric power

What about performance? Well, flat out you will be doing 112mph and you can get to 62 miles per hour in 8.4 seconds. In-gear acceleration feels faster than that second number suggests, thanks to all the on-demand electric motor torque: a maximum of 270Nm from the front motor, and 139Nm from the rear.

You might imagine that the two buttons marked Eco and Sport would have some significant impact on economy and performance, but they don’t. Yes the throttle response is either dialled up or down depending on which button you push, and under Eco the aircon uses less power, but the only obvious difference they make is that parts of the instrument display glow either green or red.

While the RAV4 Hybrid is a genuine four-wheel drive machine, don’t expect it to be able to follow its big brother the Land Cruiser over hill, down dale, or across stream. The RAV4’s system is there more to keep everything ship-shape on icy tarmac, or in a wet and leaf-strewn Waitrose carpark rather than to let you go green-laning in the Welsh Marches. That’s why there is no button marked “4WD.” You get all-wheel drive when—and only when—the on-board electronics think you need it.

The real benefit of the RAV4 Hybrid’s E-Four four-wheel drive system is that it provides all-wheel drive without the weight or mechanical complexity of a physical link between the engine and the rear axle.

As is typical of Toyota’s hybrid systems, the gearbox in the RAV4 uses a system of planetary gears to blend power from the petrol engine and electric traction motor. The planetary gears simultaneously fulfil three roles: as a power splitter between the generator and the front wheels; as a reduction gear for the electric motor; and, when both motors work together, as an electronically controlled constant velocity transmission.

What’s quite obviously going on here has little to do with traditional belt-driven CVT transmissions. The CVT moniker is used because the effect rather than the design is the same. That effect becomes clear when you put your foot hard down—the engine revs, and then the vehicle accelerates. This means that hard acceleration is accompanied by some pretty audible action from the under the bonnet, despite the electric motors offering instant and silent thrust.

Ride quality is good, but not excellent

If you’re forever stamping down on the accelerator like there’s no tomorrow then you clearly don’t know how to drive a hybrid, and you’ve bought the wrong car. Hybrids reward gentle and consistent drivers, not lead-footed speed merchants. If you do feel like getting more involved you can use the 6-speed sequential “shiftmatic” mode to simulate the behaviour of a more conventional gearbox.

All that increased engine activity doesn’t make an unpleasant noise and the presence of a balance shaft keeps things on the smooth side for a four-pot, but the RAV4 Hybrid’s engine still won’t win any Most Tuneful Engine of the Year competitions.

Thanks to retuned suspension the new RAV4 handles better than the old one, though it’s not as agile as the new Renault Kadjar which is a lot more fun to drive. Still, for what is quite a tall vehicle you can hustle it along twisty roads, and not find yourself in a field by accident rather than design.

Ride quality can best be described as good rather than excellent. Surface undulations, and the kind of rough-as-a-bear’s-behind tarmac all too common on Britain’s oft-neglected roads, can sometimes unsettle the RAV4—again, the Kadjar does better. Overall standards of refinement are more than acceptable, and road noise is well suppressed.

I’ve no argument about the Toyota’s practicality though. The RAV4 Hybrid is impressively spacious. You will have no problems fitting five big blokes and their luggage into it. And it has a 1,650kg towing capacity, which will be handy for anyone who wants use their RAV4 to drag stuff about.

The new RAV4 also features something called Trailer Sway Control. If your trailer or caravan begins to wander out of line the system will automatically initiate braking and engine torque control to bring it back onto the straight and narrow. The brake lights also click on to warn following drivers that things have gone a bit sideways.

Slightly letting the side down are the brakes. Not their efficacy; they bring the 2,205kg (that’s 195kg heavier than the petrol version) RAV4 Hybrid to a standstill in short order. But—as in many hybrids—there is a rather dead feel to the brakes, a side effect of recuperative retardation via a generator rather than just using traditional discs.

The two compromises that the RAV4 forces on users are a reduction in boot space and fuel tank capacity. The hybrid gubbins robs the rear load area of 46L, dropping the available capacity with the rear seats up from 547 to 501 litres. You lose 4 litres from the petrol and diesel models’ maximum fuel capacity of 60L, too. That all means that while the hybrid RAV4 should go further on a full tank than the petrol model, the diesel RAV remains the one to have if touring range is your main concern.