2007 Toyota RAV4 Limited from North America - Comments

Nothing so far.

It's been a little over ten years since I bought my last new vehicle, a base-model Isuzu Trooper that had the advantage of being a roomy, moderately comfortable all-weather truck, and the disadvantage of being underpowered, thirsty, tippy, rough-riding, and poorly equipped in the safety department. When my significant other totaled the Trooper last month in treacherous weather, we thanked it for its decade of loyal service and ordered up a stack of automotive p0rn (a.k.a. new-car brochures).

We live in the North-East (emphasis on North) and need a car that cheerily deals with snow, ice, and sundry road hazards. The Subaru dealer on the edge of town does brisk business selling a range of Outbacks. They're good, never-flinching, dependable cars, and they're actually kind of attractive-looking these days — but the more I found out about them, the less I wanted one. I'd decided on getting electronic stability control; the only Outback model to currently offer it is a top-of-the-line car with a price tag of around $30,000. I preferred a manual gearshift; alas, that's just not available on the high-end Outback. I decided, fine, I could live with an automatic transmission; but then a test drive in the pricey station wagon soon revealed a worrisome little stutter, a recurring sluggishness as the car's engine hunted for the right gear. Oh yeah, the thing wanted premium gas, too. You know what? Fuhgeddaboutit.

In some ways, the RAV4 was an unlikely alternative. For starters, I hated the sissified, toy-like styling of the original 1996 models, and wasn't aware that Toyota had significantly updated the 'cute ute' a couple of times. Also, I wasn't looking for another SUV; the tippy Trooper, with its excessive body lean and dangerously high center of gravity, had cured me of my lust for 4x4 trucks. Or so I thought. But prompted by two relatives and by the stellar ratings the RAV4 has received from Consumer Reports, I went to look at (and drive) the car, and found myself quickly warming to it. Granted: esthetically, it isn't a sumptuous, Pininfarina-evoking, be-still-my-beating-heart kind of vehicle. But these third-generation RAV4s are respectably styled (now that I've drunk the Kool-Aid, I'd say the RAV tends to the handsome, although the rakish Nissan Murano wins handily when it comes to good looks). As for stability and 'tilt,' the RAV4, thank heavens, is no Trooper. Sure, it won't glue itself to the road like a low-slung sedan, but driving it — driving it HARD — feels safe and solid.

Speaking of safe: even the entry-level RAVs, starting at about $21K, are equipped with a dizzying array of safety features, including the crucial (to me) stability control, ABS, electronic brake-force distribution, traction control, six airbags, the works. The four-cylinder engine, which I tested in a RAV4 Sport, is relatively peppy, but the V6 boasts about a hundred extra horses, for an eat-my-dust total of 269. That six-cylinder is a sinful delight, as it turns the RAV4 into a veritable pocket rocket by pushing it from zero to 60 in under seven seconds. OK, so I'm not into street racing or robbing banks, but if I ever need to make a pedal-to-the-metal getaway, this engine's got me covered. Obviously, the car will also help me out of a pickle if I need to make an emergency avoidance or passing maneuver.

In the U.S., Toyota has stopped selling RAVs with a manual gearbox, which strikes me as asinine. What's wrong with giving consumers options? Still, I won't miss shifting by hand all that much, considering the auto tranny's sure performance — plus the fact that, at highway speeds, a leftward nudge of the gear shift knob drops the car into fourth, with third and even second gear just another quick slap away. That way, the driver hasn't completely ceded control of the gears, and can still show the car who's boss (we SUV owners have very fragile egos).

Getting the V6 and heated leather seats meant stepping up to the RAV4's top-of-the-heap Limited model, which also sports a chrome grille (who cares?) ; an electric moon roof (I'll get to that) ; a JBL audio system with a six-disc MP3-capable CD changer in the dash and a small subwoofer built into the rear door (nice, but not as good as I'd hoped) ; a Bluetooth handsfree phone system with steering-wheel controls (works like a charm) ; plus a tow package (upgraded radiator, alternator, fan coupling). For about 2,700 real-world dollars, including the leather, it's a worthwhile and well-priced upgrade.

With the car thus equipped, I ended up paying a hair under $28,000 for the Limited, or about a hundred dollars over dealer invoice and two and a half grand less than Toyota's MSRP. The purchase was made mostly over the Internet, directly from Fitzgerald Auto Malls in Pennsylvania. The salaried sales staff — nope, they don't get commissions! — were courteous and responsive and wonderfully low-pressure. Once I was in the financial manager's office, he did offer me a comprehensive 75,000-mile, seven-year extended warranty for about $670 (good price), but he was happy to just give me the brochures and let me call him back weeks or months later if I decided I was interested.

I signed the papers, took the keys, shook hands, and sped off into a new automotive era — for me, anyway.

Overall, driving the RAV4 is a pleasure. The cabin is surprisingly roomy and inviting, built with a common-sense appreciation for both the good-looking and the functional. The view is excellent. With the V6, the car's acceleration puts a grin on your face. Steering is precise and responsive, and the brake seems to read your mind — just THINKING about braking, with your foot barely touching the pedal, seems to slow you down. (That said, the brake is not actually so hair-trigger sensitive that you'll jerk to a halt unless you firmly apply pressure. It feels just about perfect to me.) Cabin noise, even at 75-plus mph, is well under control. All the gauges and knobs are pretty much where you'd expect to find them. I like that the audio unit has good old-fashioned volume and tuning knobs that you turn fast or gently for a proportionate response, instead of spring-loaded tilt switches you're supposed to keep pressing up or down to make adjustments.

Sonically, the JBL audio system with its nine speakers performs about as well as you can expect from a $600 upgrade. On the plus side, it plays loudly without obvious distortion, it has good stereo separation, and it reproduces most genres of music with better-than-average clarity. It also has decent resolution: playing my iPod through the (poorly placed) auxiliary jack inside the console box, I could actually tell tracks ripped at 128kps — such as the ones bought from the iTunes store — from the higher-fidelity 256kps CD rips I make at home. Not too shabby, what with the inevitable road noise in the cabin (the RAV is quiet, but not WHISPER-quiet). On the downside, the subwoofer too often turns the bottom octaves to mush, reproducing deep bass notes without even taking a credible stab at accuracy. It's not quite the dreaded car-sub 'one-note bass,' but it's not DRAMATICALLY better, either. Also, typical for most radio units I've heard, there is a bump in the mid-bass that makes men's voices sound chestier than they are. I'm sure Toyota believes that most people prefer it that way — it adds 'presence' — but I'd rather have a car stereo designed by tech-savvy, golden-eared music lovers than one that was put together by marketing guys with clipboards. Oh well. It does help (a bit) that tone controls include not just bass and treble, but midtones as well. Still, for true high-fidelity sound, you'll need quality aftermarket components and the services of a good installer.

As long as I'm griping: driver's leg room isn't quite ample enough. I'm not especially tall (5'11'') and yet, with the power seat all the way back, my legs are bent just a tad too much when I rest my feet on the pedals. Making matters worse is the inadequate length of the seat cushion, which provides no support for the four last inches of my thighs before they reach the back of my knee. Neither of these problems exists on the passenger side, where there's plenty of room for full leg stretches, and where the 'thigh overhang' isn't as bothersome (as a passenger, you can shift your weight more because you're not forced to remain in the same position to work the pedals). For the driver, then, cruise control (with deceleration) is a welcome feature, as it allows you to take your foot off the accelerator and let it wander a bit when your leg gets tired.

To be fair, none of this turned out to be a huge deal. A 700-mile, 11-hour drive I undertook the other day wasn't particularly harsh on the extremities; the RAV4, despite its few ergonomic shortcomings, still manages to offer a comfortable ride overall.

Inevitably, the new RAV4 has plenty of other things I like as well as points that need improvement. First the good:

- The car is easy to get into and out of. I guess that signifies a relatively low ground clearance, and that's dandy with me — this isn't a hardcore sports utility vehicle, but a feisty crossover ute that was never meant to win the hearts of the monster-truck crowd.

- Fit and finish are — well, it's a Toyota. There's just nothing to complain about here. Kudos.

- The front doors feel heavy and well-constructed, and they close with a satisfying deep 'click' (I'm not sure that as much attention went into the rear doors, which feel considerably lighter).

- Crash-test ratings are excellent all around. But you knew that.

- The cargo space is impressive — bigger than that of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Two pull handles in the back flip the rear seats fully forward so that an expanse of flat cargo floor opens up. There are two hidden compartments underneath that (water-repellent) floor, big enough for a few book bags or briefcases. The price you pay for those cubbies is that the spare wheel had to be mounted on the outside of the rear door. That doesn't bother me in the least, but some people think it's unsightly.

- The latch on the spare-wheel hard cover can only be opened when the rear door is open; that's a pretty clever anti-theft measure (then again, are there many spare-wheel thieves around? Didn't think so).

- The RAV4 Limited boasts another theft-deterrent feature: it comes with engine-immobilizer keys that won't start the car unless the chip inside the key matches what the on-board computer expects to 'see.' That means keys duplicated at the hardware store won't work. Actually, I'm not sure if that's such a positive. My insurance company seems to think it is; having the engine immobilizer promptly lowered my premium. But if I ever lose a 'chipped' key, you can bet that the Toyota dealer will charge me a king's ransom for a replacement.

- The rear 60/40 split seats can be easily moved forward and backward, and the angle of the seatbacks adjusted, depending on whether you need more room for your passengers' comfort or extra cargo space in the back. Even with two child seats installed, an average-sized adult can still sit in the middle of the backseat without getting badly squished. There's even a ceiling-mounted three-point shoulder belt for the middle rear position, instead of just a lap belt.

- The RAV4 constantly monitors the pressure of all five tires (including the spare) and flashes an alarm if the pressure in any of them becomes low. Nifty.

- There are ten — count 'em, TEN — cup and bottle holders. The front two, between the seats, are lit — a nice touch.

- To turn the overhead map light on (there's one on each side), you don't have to fumble for a button. Just push on the generously proportioned light itself; it is its own switch.

- The dash has two separate tripmeters, which is handy if you want to keep track of distance driven, but also would like to monitor how many miles you get on a tank of gas.

- There are three 12-volt sockets, including one in the rear cargo area.

- Both sun visors have ceiling lights for the built-in mirrors, plus slide-out extenders.

- The RAV4 has auto-off headlights and taillights. They stay on for about 20 seconds after you lock the car. Then they go out. I guess that's nothing fancy, but I like it.

- There's a split-level glove box on the passenger side. The lockable bottom part is your standard-issue cubby (in European models, this is actually a chilled compartment, to keep beverages cold), but the top part, though not especially roomy, opens and closes with the push of a flush-mounted mechanical button. Nicely done.

And now for the bad stuff.

- Honestly, what's with that rear door? It fails miserably in no fewer than three different ways. (1) The rear window won't roll down, which makes it tough to transport long objects such as lumber or big rolled-up carpets — especially because the front passenger seatback can't be folded away either. (2) The rear door swings open horizontally, not from bottom to top — a poor design decision, because to load or unload the RAV, it can't be parallel-parked unless there is a lot of space between your tailgate and the hood of the car behind you. (3) It swings from left to right. Picture yourself standing on the curb with two armfuls of groceries, a gallon jug of milk dangling from your pinkie. You want to unload this stuff badly. See my point? The open door forms an instant barrier between the curb and the cargo area. It's wrong. In fact, it comes close to being criminally insane. Clearly, the door should have been hinged on the other side. (As it is, the door is, let's say, badly unhinged.)

- Where's the coin holder? Do Toyota designers live in a land without parking meters and toll roads?

- Would it have killed Toyota to provide a mute button for the stereo?

- The dashboard display features an always-on outside-temperature meter, which would have been a thoughtful feature if some genius hadn't labeled it 'out side' (two words) instead of 'outside.' For my own sanity, I'm perfectly resigned to being adrift in an ocean of linguistic carelessness and misspellings; just not in my own bloody car, please, where I'll have to look at stupid typos for the next decade or longer.

- There are no automatic lights on the inside door panels, which is a bad oversight (or just a bad choice). The footwell lighting inside the cabin, though kind of cool, is a frivolous frill, whereas door lights could prevent nasty accidents on a dark night by alerting other drivers to an open door when the vehicle is stationary.

- There's a light in the inside rear door, but when you swing the tailgate open you're illuminating your thighs, not the cargo area. Hmm. The dome light is too far front to be of much help in the back.

- Toyota's commitment to safety is admirable. That the company, despite this, chose to save a couple of bucks by installing a regular rearview mirror, instead of a non-glare autodimming one, is not. I'd gladly give up the perfectly useless 'downhill assist control' (DAC) feature for a fancier, safer mirror, preferably one with a compass display built in.

- Toyota is right to point out in the manual that the cup holders in the doors are really BOTTLE holders, and that bottles placed there should have caps. Don't put anything lidless in the door spaces, unless you'd like coffee- and Slurpee stains all over your seats and carpets.

- Really — AMBER-colored dash displays? I thought those went out with the Carter administration. But to each his own.

- I still haven't figured out how to work the button for the electric moon roof. It's easy enough to open the roof, but closing it back up again correctly, making a windtight seal, seems to require much trial and error.

- The Optitron dash meters measure four things on three dials, a recipe for temporary confusion. There's a big round center dial for your speedometer, and a half-circle on each side. The left half circle is the tach; the one on the right indicates both coolant temperature and fuel level. Reading the right side of the display takes a half-second longer than it should. That's a niggle, but I really only want to take my eyes off the road for the shortest possible instance.

- My 10-year-old Saab has a distance-to-empty (DTE) meter, a very useful feature that estimates how many miles you can go on what's in the tank. The dinky Chevy Cobalt I rented the other week had the same thing. The RAV4 doesn't. Odd.

- I love the heated seats — in principle. But the RAV4's bunwarners overdo it a bit, virtually roasting your behind. User-adjustable heat levels (like on the Subaru Outback) would be nice. Or, for protection, you could just wear several pairs of underwear simultaneously.

- I was kind of jonesing for the keyless-entry system that upscale Toyotas have in Europe. There, when you grab your door handle, the car senses whether you're carrying a uniquely ID'd electronic key fob in your pocket or purse; if so, the RAV obediently unlocks the doors. Then, you can start the engine without actually producing the key, just by pressing the 'start' button on the dash. Very neat.

- European RAV4 models also have a driver's-side knee airbag. Which I want. By the 2012 model year, I expect to see a RAV that's received a full complement of shoulder airbags, elbow airbags, foot airbags, and knuckle airbags. You just can never have too many of them.

- Using the gear shift knob in the dark is not as easy as it should be. The gear positions are backlit, right next to the shifter, but there's no visual confirmation in the same spot of what gear you're shifting into. For that, you have to look at the central dash display — a bit counter-intuitive.

- The manual states that the hood-mounted radio antenna must be unscrewed and removed before you take the RAV through a car wash. To which I say, 'Gimme an effing break, Toyota.' Either design an antenna that can proudly withstand a simple car wash, or pick a telescoping one that retracts when the driver turns off the radio. Nothing less will do.

- The RAV's tailpipe is an ugly little thing. I spent fifty or sixty bucks on a nice chrome tip. Much better.

But in the end, I'm willing to forgive and forget. There probably is no perfect car, at any price. Truth is, I want to drive the RAV4 as much as I do my beloved Saab convertible (if not more). My biggest problem with the li'l truck may be that it's primarily my wife's daily driver; it's hard to not get a little envious.

The thing that I find with some Japasese auto makers (especially Toyota) is that they "intelligently" equip their vehicles. They don't seem to put all the little stupid options into it, which in result might confuse others (understandably) but here is my logic, it is one less stupid little thing to break! My friend has a 2003 GMC envoy, very nice, but with all of his silly little features and fancy doo-dads that the average person won't use or are clueless to what it is, there is more to break, which has happened. That is why I have bought Toyota vehicles so far and will continue to do so. My 1993 Corolla with 250,000 miles is still holding strong with its few options, far longer than your little rental cobalt with the distance to empty meter!

I too, wished the rear door was hinged on the left. It would eliminate the problems mentioned above for us. But remember this is a Japanese car, and they drive on the opposite side of the road from us and this is not a problem for them.

A huge thank you for the original commentary. You spent a lot of time writing down all your thoughts so to provide everything possible on the ups-and-downs of this vehicle. Much appreciated!

I just brought a 2007 Toyota Rav 4 Limited... I love it!!! For a 4 cylinder its pretty peppy, its roomy, good on gas and a lot of fun to drive. I feel I made the right choice when buying this car. I would recommend it to anyone.

I have owned a 2006 Rav4 Limited for 32000 miles and have finally given up. I work nights as a photographer. When the rear door is opened rain and snow come pouring in. And it is so dark back there with the limited lighting, I can't see a thing. The Toyota dealer said it was a bad design. I agree and will be looking for another vehicle soon. Honda could change there design in the CR-V to a hatch that lifts up. The older Rav4 had a dome light in the back. Why would Toyota change the light design for the worse and not change the door design for the better.