Our Car of The Year - Yours?

Introduction:

We have now owned and driven our 2006 Toyota Rav4 Limited for about one month. The odometer reads 1300 miles. We two retirees live in the Northwest and were looking for a multi-purpose vehicle that could function in a variety of weather conditions, tow a boat, carry young grandchildren occasionally in the back seat, and do it all with reasonable gas mileage for a one-car family.

Having driven a 1988 Nissan Pathfinder for many years, we didn't have to be sold on SUV versatility or Japanese reliability.

We researched and test drove a variety of SUVs, including the Honda Pilot and CRV, the Subaru Forester and Tribeca (very tempting), the Ford Explorer and Escape, and the RAV4 and Highlander.

What We Bought:

Anybody who has read through at least as far as this review has probably already completed some fairly thorough research, so suffice it to say we bought a Limited with all of the major options except for leather/heated seats, rear seat entertainment unit, and third seat.

Needless to say, we wanted the side airbags as well, and it seems almost chiselly that Toyota makes those an add-on option.

Making The Deal:

I read a book about buying new and used cars years ago in which it was stated a buyer should get more excited about buying a car that the salesman will NOT dicker on. That's a positive way of looking at our buying experience.

We bought ours through a warehouse-store buying service (starts with "C" but I won't mention names)and accepted a measly $200 off the MSRP (around $28000), but I've heard rumors they are selling elsewhere with those outrageous “extra-dealer-profit” add-ons of $1-2000. We were the very first purchasers of a V6 in our area and nobody in the dealership had driven one. It's definitely a seller's market.

We ordered our ideal car, and the dealer then found it might never arrive, supposedly due to shortages for dealer quotas coupled with the already-exploding popularity of the V6. They started looking around the area, found another V6 Limited, then couldn't trade with the other dealer, then brought in another.

Having already done our research and previously driven the not inadequate four-cylinder, we checked out the color, drove it for 15 minutes, and then grabbed it. Mrs. fredddy specifically did NOT want heated leather seats (I did), so she's happy and I'm probably better off for not having expended that particular $1500 or so. The standard seats are quite comfortable, by the way.

Anybody researching the details online will find a number of minor but annoying inaccuracies on the Toyota website. For one example,it indicates that the trailer-tow package (which we have) includes a hitch, which it does NOT. We knew in advance and will add the hitch for under $400 at an RV dealer rather than paying Toyota around $700, as even our friendly Toyota salesman suggested.

The "finance manager" created the only negative note by trying to sell us an extended Platinum warranty for $1800 His hook is that if you don't use a penny of it they will refund it at the end of six years.We did choose to buy an after-market warranty (for a lot less money as I believe an earlier reviewer here has also mentioned doing) because of all of the expensive bells and whistles on this vehicle, but that's a personal choice separate from the car itself.

On The Road:

Our car is a dream to drive and ride in. Having taken a lot of recent test drives, it's a downright thrill to have that V6 (it's actually one of Toyota's quickest cars) for freeway on-ramps, passing, or hill climbs, coupled with
a very smooth five-speed automatic transmission. The V6 will also enable us to tow a trailer up to 3500 pounds.

My first mileage check shows an honest 24.24 mpg on about a 50-50 mixture of city driving and 65-75 mph driving on I-5.

The braking is excellent, and the visibility is generally very good, although the view through the not-too-large rear window is further modestly obscured by that
rear-mounted spare. The spare apparently doesn’t add another safety cushion so why not throw it under the car and come up with some great Toyota-type mechanism to
make retrieval practical if needed?. We just saw another SUV driver crunch his cover while backing out of a parking space - hope it's not an omen.

Cornering seems fine, and I have no desire or intention to push this or any other SUV to its limits in this regard. Likewise, I don't know that any short-wheelbase car will give me the smooth ride of our old 1986 Ford Crown Victoria, but I'd welcome an excuse to set out on a cross-country road trip tomorrow in the RAV.

A Few Respectful Comparisons:

Since we did test-drive a number of cars, it seems fair to outline briefly why we chose the RAV4 over some other excellent candidates.

While I have great respect for Subaru, its excellent full-time all-wheel drive does cut gas mileage, and the recommendation to use a higher-grade gas in the Tribeca influenced our eventual decision to go with the RAV.

The Tribeca is one cool car, and roomier than the RAV in front, but it's also on the verge of being under-powered, which nobody would say about the RAV. I initially thought the car we wanted was a Forester but it just didn't have enough room for us.

In fact,the RAV to us has not only more room in front than the CRV or the Pilot, but allows us the fun of driving a brand-new "third generation" RAV, sort of like playing leapfrog. In fact, if it weren't a Toyota or a Honda, I wouldn't have wanted to buy the first year of such a drastic model change.

We also drove the Toyota Highlander. The RAV isn't that much smaller - in fact it feels roomier inside - and I think a lot of people who drive both may find the RAV meets their needs for a few thousand dollars less. Toyota may just have outwitted itself on that one.

As far as a non-expert like me understands, the RAV shares a similar "on demand" front wheel/four-wheel to that of the Honda Pilot and CRV. The RAV’s four-wheel-drive is electronically controlled and distributes torque between the front and rear wheels, so that it will go from front-wheel-drive to four-wheel-drive when there’s slippage. It has a 4WD manual locking switch that provides power to all four wheels at low speeds for severe conditions.

As with the standard stability control,its uphill and downhill assist are good features that I hope I never have to use except in the fun of getting to and from a remote ski hill. Likewise, I would not choose this type of car for off-roading.

Comfort & Convenience, Bells & Whistles:

Entering and exiting is easy. Our non-leather seats are comfortable, as is the leather-wrapped steering wheel. The power driver’s seat includes lumbar support. While we found more room for the front-seat passenger than in the competing Honda CRV, I suggest anybody much over six feet tall should check the driver’s seat positions carefully before buying; I am only 5'10" and there is no way I can back off the seat beyond my leg reach, as I can in most other cars.

All Limiteds come with 17-inch six-spoke alloy wheels and a full-size steel-wheel spare in that “hard” shell mounted on the side-opening back door, dual-zone climate-control air conditioning with air filtration and pollen
removal, an engine immobilizer, footwell and ignition switch lighting, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, a leather-wrapped shift knob, an eight-way power driver’s seat including variable lumbar, a tonneau cover with cargo net and support poles (except for third-row versions), and a chrome grille (whew - gotta take a breath here!).

The center console is useful (it’s an option on the CRV, but then so is the roof rack!) and I find everything within reach. The emergency flasher switch is closer to the passenger but I've memorized the position in case I ever need it in a hurry. It's the first outside mirror switch I've ever seen installed on the center console, but that's a fairly minor nuisance.

The center lighted dials are a little difficult to read but it certainly wouldn’t keep me from buying the car. I even have difficulty reading the time and the outside temperature.

We have the upgraded JBL six-disc sound system and it's so much better than our house stereo that we might just sit in the garage to listen to our favorite CDs from now on! The volume and mode controls on the steering wheel are a nice feature.

All RAVs, not just the Limited, come with remote
keyless entry (all controls on the key), ten cupholders (the ones in the front seats have courtesy lights of all things!), power windows with one-touch auto down, three auxiliary power outlets, an outside temperature gauge, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, and a tire pressure monitor.

They also have auto-off headlights and two glove compartments(you open and close the small one on top with a cute little spring-mounted push button that I hope doesn't break too easily).

Both driver and passenger visors have mirrors, lights, and little extensions that can be pulled out when the sun is coming in from the side. I saw that only once on a rental car years ago and still think it's a terrific little "nice touch" feature.

The back seats are adjustable and fairly roomy. I don't know that an adult would particularly enjoy the back seat on a three-thousand-mile cross-country trip, but that also applies to a lot of other cars these days.

Without a third seat we have significant concealed "water resistant" under-rear-deck storage. I only wish Toyota would have made it easily lockable, having once been the victims of an expensive break-in of our old Pathfinder.

The Limited's rear-deck tonneau cover helps somewhat (there's also a suspended cargo net for groceries, etc.) but it’s no substitute for a lock. We couldn't fit our rollaboard suitcases in under the deck but our laptop, for example, goes in with room to spare.

It’s hard to imagine anybody but really small children sitting in that optional third seat, and I would think
they would be susceptible in a rear-end collision as well, so I wouldn't want to recommend a third seat. It is still, after all, a small SUV despite its significant increase in size over previous models.

I've now gotten used to that gated shifter. Early on I didn't realize that I'd inadvertently put it into fourth instead of fifth ("D") and the car rides so smoothly and quietly that it was easy not to notice.

Our RAV came with an optional driver's mirror that dims automatically for night driving. I didn't really want it for $300 but now that I have it I find it works well, since it adjusts quickly the varying brightness of headlights, showing a dim green light. The mirror includes a cute digital compass readout in one corner that would have been really handy in our pre-gps days and prevented more than one argument between driver and passenger.

Comparing the RAV's side-opening rear door and door-mounted spare with our old Pathfinder (it had the spare mounted inside), I'll somewhat grudgingly state a preference for the RAV's setup, although there will inevitably be loading and unloading complications in certain kinds of parking situations, and as I mentioned earlier I'd prefer even one of those "temporary" spare tires mounted underneath and out of the way.

An update: Mrs. Fredddy, having read this review, pronounces that she really likes both the side opening rear door and the door-mounted spare. I'll remind her of that if we ever crunch that "hard" cover, a standard feature not on all RAVs but on the Limited. As far as the door itself, it opens from left to right in common with most if not all similar vehicles and seems plenty sturdy. It does provide easy access and I've bumped my head enough times on the overhead hatch in that old Pathfinder that I'm quite happy with this one.

Summary:

So far we are extremely pleased with our purchase, if I haven't gotten that across by now! My comments about Hondas and Subarus are not made to denigrate those fine cars but simply to point out what influenced our decision to buy the RAV.

The V6 RAVs are in short supply, but having driven the still adequate four-cylinder earlier, I'm really happy that we chose the V6, our personal pocket rocket!

I've already seen a couple of very positive comments about the "third generation" 2006 RAV4 in car magazines, and I must say that we two senior citizens feel pretty cool driving this beauty around. We're even ahead of Epinions, because a picture of the 2006 isn't up on the website yet, as at least one previous reviewer noted.