Rear brakes squealed upon first use in the morning, or other times where they'd had opportunity to sufficiently cool. Dealer never fixed this in a way that lasted more than a few days.
Check engine light came on, but we were told nothing was wrong with the car, and it was 'reset'. Of course, it came back on in short order. Same thing again. Finally, we got tired of messing with it and just lived with it until we could get rid of the car.
Tires wore very quickly. This time we were smart enough to avoid the dealer (the car could be belching oil and metal shavings from its tailpipe and they'd say it was normal) and went to a local tire shop. They prescribed new tires and a very frequent regimen of tire rotation (as in every 3K miles or sooner) due to extreme negative rear camber. I tend to believe this diagnosis, since the rear tires were in worse condition than the front by a good bit.
This car is poorly designed. A simple rear end collision could cause the rear-door-mounted spare tire to cave the rear door in. Since the door is attached at the hinges and latch, the caving door will put the squeeze on the rest of the car's rear end. Wouldn't that be a mess!
Safety ratings are not that impressive, in fact, they're a little scary (ignore the dealer, look to more neutral websites and see what they say).
It was terribly underpowered! Step on the gas hard and the transmission would downshift, the engine would spool up and make convincing noises.. And you'd slowly accelerate forward.
Handled poorly.
We replaced this car with a Subaru Forester which we've grown very fond of. The one place the Toyota shined: Trade in. We didn't lose a whole lot for having driven is for a year and put 20K miles on it.
Sounds like a pretty poor dealer experience- had you tried another one in the area before giving up completely? Also, tire rotations should never be done that quickly on any Toyota model, regardless of camber. Under or over inflation is the most common cause of tire wear on the first set of tires, and even though tire pressure specifications are indicated on the inner door jamb, most people do not pay any attention to these figures and create a magic figure to adhere to. Also, my mother has a RAV-4, which was involved in a rear collision, and the circumstance which you speculated was nothing like what actually happened.
RAV4 drivers should be wary of getting rear ended by any vehicle that is tall enough to make contact with the spare tire (like other SUVs and jeeps!). With just a minor collision, the rear window is shattered, the hinges and jam are tweaked and expensive major repair is needed. Maybe someone should market a chrome metal bar, that is easy to install, to protect the spare and rear door. Some SUVs have this massive aftermarket chrome grille in front that looks like it would remain unscathed after it slices up your car like a loaf of bread. We need something like that for our RAV4 rear ends.
I unfortunately reversed into a Ford Escort (small hatchback) in a car park, result no damage to the Ford, but my Rav4 needs a new tailgate, thinking of tailgates apparantly hinge kits are available to allow the rear door to actually open! (on UK models door only opens part way, is it the same in USA? (Rich, Devon, England)
Beware of the 2001 RAB4.It starts with the check engine light and it's all dawn hill from there: Oxygen sensors back brakes etc.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site