TOYOTA RAV4 REVIEWS | 2013 – 2019 MODELS
Read and compare reviews on the Toyota RAV4 2013 – 2019 Models from top New Zealand automotive journalists on trusted websites.
2019 MODEL
2019 Toyota RAV4 launch review – RAV for the people
SOURCE: AUTOCAR | YEAR: 2019 | WORDS: PETER LOUISSON | PHOTOS: BRUCE JENKINS/PL
Celebrating 30 years of RAV4, the fifth generation is more everything; dynamic, frugal, fancy, and with good safety creds across the board. With drive-away pricing it’s more competitive than ever
For the fifth iteration of Toyota’s compact RAV4 SUV, the catch phrase is ‘responsibility’, though not without a sense of fun. Based on the firm’s new TNGA vehicle platform, all eight RAV4 models will get the full Toyota Safety Sense package that includes items like all-speed active cruise control, AEB with pedestrian and cycle detection, lane departure alert and lane centring function, automatic switching between low and high beam, and road sign assist. Just like Corolla then.
Other bits and bobs to feature on all grades include seven airbags, parking sensors, blind spot monitoring, sat nav, alloys, RCTA and idle stop. Top models get glamour bits like a panoramic sunroof, Qi charger, 360-degree camera and heated and vented power-operated seats. While safety is a top priority, Toyota has long been at the forefront of lowering vehicle emissions and today is the leading seller of hybrids, accounting for 80 per cent such sales globally.
The diesel RAV4, which didn’t sell that well here, has gone and in its place a trio of self-charging hybrids (which are less expensive to boot).
New RAV4 not just a rental car: Toyota NZ
SOURCE: STUFF | YEAR: 2019 | WORDS: RICHARD BOSSELMAN | PHOTOS: TOYOTA
Toyota New Zealand expects the three hybrid models of its all-new RAV4 SUV to trigger accelerated interest in the model line and broaden its appeal.
Confidence in the fifth-generation line, releasing next month, is boosted by it being set to benefit from an unprecedented consumer swing toward sports utility-styled models, the local distributor says.
Based on the same new modular TNGA vehicle architecture as the new Corolla and Prius, the eight new editions will also impress with better dynamics and improved technologies, most directed toward safety.
The line also takes a new direction with an Adventure flagship lending impression of enhanced off-road ruggedness.
Even so, speaking from Japan in the wake of the local release of information about what variants are coming, Toyota New Zealand‘s general manager of product and new car sales, Neeraj Lala, reckons the 155kW 2.5-litre petrol-electric powertrain, mated to an electronically-controlled continuously variable transmission, will be a primary draw.
Interest in hybrids – which TNZ has taken to call ‘self-charging’ products in apparent attempt to jump onto the electric bandwagon (regardless that they fail to meet legislative definition) – is growing, he says, and this particular drivetrain, shared with the Camry, brings particular benefits.
2013 – 2018 MODEL
The latest RAV4 models are a class above their rough and ready forebears
SOURCE: DRIVEN | YEAR: 2016 | WORDS: TONY VERDON | PHOTOS: TED BAGHURST
Toyota helped pioneer the now booming medium-sized SUV sector with the RAV4, and more than 22 years later the model retains its popularity on New Zealand roads.
The latest RAVs dwarf the original crossover launched on the market in 1994, and in terms of equipment, handling and comfort, they bear little resemblance to their more rough and ready forebears.
The facelift models have been on sale for several months, and the exterior modifications from the previous model are few.
However they are a significant improvement on even the previous model, in terms of technical wizardry, handling and cabin comfort.
The exterior changes are mainly revisions at the front and rear of the vehicles, but the new models come with technology that not so long ago would only be found on much more expensive models.
Our test car was the mid-range petrol-driven GXL all-wheel-drive model, which comes fitted with dynamic radar cruise control, a lane departure alert function, a starter button and keyless entry, and headlights that not only light up automatically, but dim from high-beam when another vehicle approaches.
