9th May 2011, 09:42

There is no perfect car line that is for sure. You can expect decent mileage from some crossovers. The 4 cylinder versions of the RAV 4 and Escape get close to 30 MPG. That is not bad for a vehicle with extra space. Expect at least that for any new versions coming out, and maybe even more. MPG is the biggest selling feature once again, so the companies will be striving to increase it.

9th May 2011, 17:08

I took a business trips in a client's RAV 4 that had less than 20,000 miles on it. It was extremely noisy, full of rattles, and even with the 4-cylinder, returned a very poor 19 miles per gallon in nearly 100% highway driving. Our large and comfortable GM SUV gets better than that on the highway, and after 100,000 has not a single rattle. I'm not impressed with the RAV 4.

28th May 2011, 13:57

To the original poster; Wow I thought I had it bad with my 08 RAV4 such as steering rack and road noise problems. I hope I don't encounter any of your problems, but I probably won't because I'm getting rid of it real soon!

30th May 2011, 09:57

I think only a die-hard import fan could find anything good to say about the RAV 4. They are noisy, rough riding, poor handling and very poorly made. The gas mileage is about the same as a large GM SUV. Not worth the price at all.

30th May 2011, 17:54

Again, someone that doesn't own one commenting on what they perceive to be true. I own one. It is very high quality, very quiet and smooth, outperforms any GM SUV (I have owned more than one so I know!) and gets around 25 mpg with 269 hp. PLEASE stop commenting on vehicles you don't own, just because you don't like Toyota.

30th May 2011, 17:55

Are you the guy going on about power steering fluid leaks on an electric steering system?

31st May 2011, 13:34

Nope, not me. My steering rack doesn't have a leaking problem, it's just very noisy along with many other road noises even on smooth roads. The only leak I ever had was coolant from a bad water pump at very early mileage.

31st May 2011, 15:16

Sorry you don't like your RAV. Mine is amazing so far. So much fun to drive, and I am experiencing none of the noise issues you seem to have. Just yesterday I ran for about 5 hours at around 75 to 80, and it was smooth as silk the entire way... not a rattle, squeak... nothing. I can even hear the kids headphones when they have a DVD on, it is so quiet. In fact I told my wife about the various complaints about noisy RAV 4's on this site, and she thought that was crazy too.

Too bad you got a lemon. Every line has them... it is part of the game when you mass produce anything. Better luck next time... just don't go the GM route. You will surely miss your RAV then!

1st Jun 2011, 14:02

I don't know why I see so many comments on this site from people who obviously have never owned a GM product bashing GM.

At present GM ranks higher in build quality than Toyota. We had not owned a GM product in many years until we bought our 2003 GMC Envoy in June of 2003. At 100,000 miles, this car has not had a single problem of any kind. Our total upkeep over the 8 years consists of a set of tires and two batteries. The car runs, drives and rides like brand new. Before buying it, we test drove 2 imports and 6 domestic SUV's, and nothing came close to the Envoy in terms of comfort, power and quality. On our vacations, we are getting 24mpg on the interstate. That is 5 mpg better than my friend's 4-cylinder RAV-4. Since our car is, after 8 years, indistinguishable from a new car, we plan to drive it at least another 8 years.

1st Jun 2011, 16:28

I have owned GM's! The Trailblazer is the twin to your Envoy. I had 2 of them, and my uncle had an Envoy, and they were ALL junk. Front ends falling apart. Rear ends falling apart. All kinds of different crazy repairs. None of us ever had one last to 100K miles without major problems. We traded them in to get rid of the huge headaches, not to mention the dangerous failures we experienced! The front end on my first TB was so bad the dealer wouldn't let me leave with the car for fear of it coming apart and me rolling it over.... AT 30K MILES. And since I could feel the steering wheel shake violently on every bump in the road, I was inclined to think they weren't trying to pull one over on me. I was foolish to think the first one was a lemon or a fluke. WRONG! I have also had other GM products, unfortunately, and had the same outcome. Only one GM car was ever a good one for me, but I only had it from 29K miles to 61K miles. I guess I was lucky nothing went wrong.

Also, you obviously have never owned a RAV 4. I have the V6 and it averages 25 MPG MIXED driving. Highway trips are closer to 30. The 4 cylinder is about the same, so I got the V6 for the extra towing power, and the performance is not even in the same league as my old Trailblazers. It drives so much better, and it is much more entertaining. Acceleration is amazing too. The Trailblazer was okay in performance, and if the vehicles were built well, they would have been decent overall. They are trash though. I can't believe anyone has good luck with one of them. Believe me, I am glad to be driving the Toyota. I could care less what any ratings companies say about GM. Just the fact that they rate GM high at all totally discredits them. I guess you really can buy anything you want in this country... even a reputation! This is what happens anytime the government is involved with anything... lies and deception.

So please don't accuse me of being a non GM owner. Believe me, I wish I was! I wish I hadn't spent the $8K + I have on GM repair bills, over and above the payments I was still making on them. I wish I was making it all up... really. Truthfully, I wouldn't waste my time on that though. This site is to inform, not to fantasize. I had very bad luck with virtually every GM product I have owned, and I will tell my actual experiences about it. If I have a bad experience with my Toyota, I will add it to my thread about my Toyota. Same is true about my Ford, and I have added in my bad experiences with that car. If you want to quote ratings lists as your "experience", then you aren't really adding much to the site as it has all been said before.

Last time I checked, J.D. Powers wasn't offering up any cash to pay for the repairs on the vehicles I have had that they seem to rank so highly. Guess they won't put their money where their mouth is.