2009 Toyota RAV4 4 cylinder

Summary:

Sloppy

Faults:

Windshield washer pump.

Brakes squeak.

Hubcaps falling off; I replaced them with hubcaps from Walmart.

Air bag light stares me in the face.

Transmission has a hard downshift that is only getting worse.

Bad rattle from the rear or the truck; the dealership says that it's the spare tire cover, which they say is a common problem. I took it upon myself, and removed the entire set up, including the tire, and the rattle is still there.

Replaced the starter at only 38,000 miles.

General Comments:

This truck was left to me by a family member who sadly passed away, and is the first Toyota in my lineup of vehicles I've owned. My wife and I thought it would be a good idea to keep it as a third car for traveling purposes, but with all these repairs in less than two years, I don't trust it enough to keep it, even though it is very versatile, gets great gas mileage, and drives more like a car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 11th November, 2011

12th Nov 2011, 09:08

Hubcaps on a RAV 4? I have never seen any model with hubcaps in it, so maybe they were put on as aftermarket and they don't fit properly. Even the base truck has a styled steel wheel, so there is no need for a hubcap over it.

12th Nov 2011, 11:52

I have seen a lot of Rav's with missing hubcaps with solid black factory wheels behind them.

2009 Toyota RAV4 Sport V6

Summary:

This vehicle was put together with glue, 100% junk, that's right... JUNK!

Faults:

Purchased brand new in Oct 08, here is the grocery list of problems in the order they happened.

A/C was never ice cold. The dealership replaced the entire unit because they could not figure out why (compressor, dryer, evaporator, etc.) it was still not cold enough, and replacement compressor locked up a year later; broke the belt off, causing a stranded breakdown.

Constant brake light bulb replacements.

Driver's window regulator failed.

Spare tire cover always rattles, even after the dealer replaced the whole thing with mismatched paint (I guess RAV stands for rattle and vibrate?).

Valve cover gasket towards the firewall was leaking oil on the exhaust (good thing it was under warranty, this would have cost lots of cash to fix, lots of labor involved).

Stalls at a stop. Left it at the dealer for 5 days; of course it would not stall for them.

Gas mileage is a joke.

Now it is time to trade it in after only 3 years.

Good-bye and good riddance.

General Comments:

Crossover vehicles serve a good purpose for my personal business, that involves a lot of out of state driving and hauling many items. I fell for this vehicle because of a low interest rate and good resale value, seeing that I trade my cars in every 5 years with high miles. What a big mistake I made!

My first 2 crossovers were a Ford Escape, no trouble.

After that a Chevy Equinox; also no trouble, except for some brake rotor issues.

I always took good care of them as I did with this Toyota. The dealer service was awful; they always played guessing games on all the problems; even the coffee sucked!

In the end, when they don't want to deal with you, they give you an 800 number to call, which is no help at all when the person on the other end can't speak a syllable of English.

A bad experience altogether, that forces me to never buy Toyota again. I came across this website a few days ago, and I can see that I'm not alone. All the Toyota fans who are in denial can post all the comments you want, I have no time to argue back and forth, and make this a 200 comment thread.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 7th May, 2011

7th May 2011, 09:50

Sorry to hear you are having so many problems with your RAV. Ours has been great so far. We have no outside spare tire, so we don't get any rattles there. It is also so much smoother and more refined than any domestic we tested. We liked the Escape the best next to the Toyota, but found the Toyota to drive more like a car, being smoother overall. We also average around 25 mpg on trips with the V6, which is pretty good considering the weight of the vehicle.

No arguments here. I know every line has their lemons. I have had my share in a few different lines myself. So far, Toyota hasn't ever let me down though, and the dealer service department is great... and it isn't even where I bought the RAV. I only go for oil changes though, and no repairs, so I can't be sure they are the best when it comes to warranty work. I have had good and bad experience with dealers in many lines there too... both domestic and foreign.

Hope you have better luck with your next purchase. The 2012 Escape looks to be a really nice crossover. They are totally redesigning it, and it is based on the European Kuga. Looks a lot like a RAV, only more updated. Should be interesting.