| What do people think about Toyota RAV4 ? |
| Uh.. The air conditioning works? Oh, yeah.. The dealer's was pretty good about getting the replacement drivers side visor in when it fell off. Actually, it is quite nice looking (I love the color)... |
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DARNESTOWN, Md. (MarketWatch) -- The folks at Toyota apparently
thought it was time for their little sport utility to grow up. So
when it came time to redesign the RAV, they looked to the
Highlander for inspiration.
While there's every expectation that the RAV will have the same
exceptional durability of the old one, we think the new model would
benefit from some interior changes.?‚ Let's start with the available third-row seat. Assuming you can
work your way back there, and that's not easy, you'll discover
there is zilch, nada, zip in the way of room for legs and feet.
Your pet chihuahua wouldn't fit back there. It's one of the
silliest third-row seats we've seen, and with the seat up, there's
virtually no cargo space out back to boot. Second-row passengers make out better, but not by all that much.
While there's enough head room, the seats are flat and not terribly
comfortable. Toyota says this is a seven-passenger vehicle, but
it's really only designed to sufficiently seat four given the way
that the second-row seats are configured. Interior materials are on the cheap, side starting with a headliner
that felt like cardboard. There's also a lot of hard plastic
inside, although not bad looking hard plastic. Both front armrests
are hard as a rock. The front seats are okay, but they'd benefit
from improved lower-back adjustments. Also up front, the accelerator pedal's too far to the rear to be
comfortable for long-legged types. Toyota did outfit the RAV with a
tilt and telescoping wheel, and that helps. We thought the instrument panel was mounted too low. Similarly, an
information panel below the radio was hard to read in both sunlight
and shade, as was the radio dial itself. Moreover, we thought that if you are starting with a fresh sheet of
paper, the hinges for the rear cargo door should have been moved to
the left side to ease curbside loading. The reason we point all this out is that we're accustomed to Toyota
hitting home runs. As far as interior design goes, Mr. Auto
Evaluator thought this one was a bloop double. Perhaps this vehicle was designed for shorter people? With the
exception of the third-row seat, Mrs. Evaluator (a few inches
shorter than yours truly) found the RAV comfortable. ?‚
MarketWatch