27th Oct 2025, 17:51
ORIGINAL REVIEWER HERE.
I still have the 2014 RAV4, and it has now gone 160,294 miles. It has gone 2497 miles in the last quarter, 15,950 in the last year, and 114,175 since I have owned it.
A few months ago (I don't remember the date or mileage), I soaked the hinge of the gas door with WD-40 and it seems to be working better (both opening and closing). I am curious how it will hold up as the weather continues to drop.
At about 159,200 miles, I had the battery tray recall done at the Toyota dealer. I asked them to do a multi-point inspection with the premise of, "if I were to make this car PERFECT again, what all does it need?" They came back saying it needed spark plugs, a brake flush, and a differential service, so I went to work. They said the shocks, struts, and other suspension components still look good.
At 159,660, I replaced all 4 tires with a set of Yokohama 80K mile tires. I don't expect to get nearly 80K miles out of them. I went with them for a harder ride. The dealer I work at was running a "buy 3, get 1" special. My old set, Continentals, were uneven due to various flats, so it was just time. They were not able to align it at the shop I work at because the rear toe bar was stuck in place. I'm not sure if that's a function of age or due to being rear-ended back in 2021. The frame still doesn't have any rust on it, so that wasn't the issue.
I ran a bottle of Lucas injector cleaner through at 159,800. I've done that about every 2,500 miles since I've owned the car.
At 160,1xx, I went to Jiffy Lube and had the brake fluid and differentials flushed. The techs there said that the brake fluid was extraordinarily dark and the differentials had metal shavings in them, so it was definitely time to have them serviced.
At 160,132, I replaced all three wiper blades.
I did the spark plugs in a friend's driveway at 160,165 with another set of NGK. The spark plugs that I pulled out (a set of NGK which I installed at 86K) still looked like they had some life in them, but I wanted to stay ahead of the game.
The driver's map light is going to burn out any day now and that's on my short list. The trunk light burnt out some time ago (I wrote about that in a previous comment) but I never got around to it.
One other bugaboo is that the fan speed button "up" button takes a moment to work when you first turn on the car. Sometimes I have to hit the "down" first or wait a moment for the car to run before "up" will work. I suspect there is a speck of dust behind that rocker that is making it finicky.
While I was at Jiffy Lube getting the differentials done (and I took this with a grain of salt), I asked one of the techs how many miles he thought I had left in the RAV4. He estimated I had about 80K-100K left. This is in line with the some other consensuses I've received gotten from other friends who have worked on the car. I will probably start getting more selective with what services I throw at the RAV4 and which ones I forgo knowing that I am nearing the end of the vehicle's life.
The red paint still shines and it looks sharp even 11 years later. I get compliments on it frequently. I've noticed that there aren't many bright red cars produced today outside of supercars or big trucks. Most automakers stick to muted colors or grayscale. The red with the tinted windows all around (I had the front two windows on my example tinted back in 2023) really pops. No one believes that this car has 160K!
28th Jul 2025, 00:16
ORIGINAL REVIEWER.
Red Rover lives on with 157,797 miles. This marks an increase of 2,760 miles this quarter, 20,447 miles this year, and 111,678 since I've owned the car.
I work as a lot attendant at a dealership and any time I get into my RAV4 at the end of a shift, I still smile even after driving cars that show single digits on the odometer.
The RAV4 failed the PA state inspection for the first time this year. Even after replacing the flange previously mentioned, other linkages were failing. Disparate pieces of the exhaust were wet and rusting, so I had the entire manifold replaced for $1100 at 156,050 miles.
The gas tank door has gotten worse. It needs to be slammed a certain way to be shut. I can hear the release working when I pull it, but I need to "pop" the door open with a nail clipper now. I really don't want to replace the door since "technically" it still works.
Also, when I start the RAV4, the oil light flashes one additional time (but only sporadically, usually when cold). The guy at O'Reilly's said that since the RAV4 doesn't seem to be missing, and there's no drop in performance or in fuel economy, it probably just wasn't filled the whole way at the last oil change. I measured it and it does not seem to be using any oil.
The RAV4 also seems to be riding more "softly" so I'm likely going to be getting some quotes on shocks, struts, etc. in the coming months.
I will definitely be due for tires soon as well. Thanks for reading.