Driving the NEW 2026 Toyota RAV4 XSE Prime (PHEV)!
It’s not often that I myself am able to do things like go to Arizona and look at unbelievable places like this. Really makes me thankful for my job and you. If you didn’t know, Toyota has made a brand new Rav 4 for 2026. And I have been flown out to Phoenix, Arizona to take a look and sample all of Toyota’s latest Rav 4s. In particular, this morning I spent my time off-road with the woodland, and that’s the one that I was most excited about. And after a strenuous workday, I just wanted to hang out with you guys and drive on some pretty roads. So, right now I have the Rav 4 XSSE, the most fancy and sporty RAV 4 that you can get besides the GR. So, let’s look at some pretty roads and experience Toyota’s all-new RAV 4. Let’s do it. Hello my good people and welcome. So yes, welcome to the 2026 RAV 4. This is the sixth generation. I feel like sharing that I have some RAV 4 experience under my belt. We have a 2009 V6 at home and I also used to have a first gen. This is very different compared to both of those. And this car is so new, it’s not even on dealership floors yet. We should expect to see this at the end of this year or the beginning of 2026. The big thing for this new RAV 4 is that it’s completely hybrid. So, you can’t get the base 2.5 non-hybrid RAV 4 anymore. So, you can either get it as a normal hybrid or a plug-in hybrid. Now, this RAV 4 in particular is the 2026 RAV 4 plugin in the XSSE trim level. Two years ago, Toyota got rid of the Prime name. I still in my head call this a RAV 4 Prime. That’s cooler. And this is painted in Toyota’s new Stormcloud Blue. I actually quite like it. The XSSE trim is one of the top trims for the RAV 4 besides the Limited. This one has all the bells and whistles with just a sportier package. I actually found it interesting that the GR Sport is actually based on a RAV 4SE. So, they kind of did the same thing as the TRD Camry. I wanted to look at the GRAV 4 today, but I didn’t want to hog it taking it out here and just hanging out. So, the Woodland video, if you haven’t watched that, make sure you do. As of right now, Toyota has yet to announce pricing for this new RAV 4, but they thankfully still offer a plethora of trim levels. So, if you don’t want a fancy one, you can get that. Remember, all of them are hybrids now, starting at the LE, SE, Woodland, XSSE, Limited, and then the GR Sport. Just before we get going, I wanted to briefly touch on the new RAV 4 plug-in hybrid powertrain. Thankfully, it has been improved compared to the last gen, and Toyota really has been knocking it out of the park with their plugins. We now get a 2 L naturally aspirated 4-cylinder known as the A25A FXS. This powertrain is also found in the Prius Prime, well, plug-in Prius, which is a fabulous little car, but now this one is all-wheel drive. So, it has two electric motors. There’s one in the front and there’s one in the rear. now giving this a total system output of 324 horsepower, up from 302, making this the most powerful RAV 4 in existence. But I still like the V6. We still don’t know exact MPGs, but I expect this to do the mid-40s as well. Another improvement compared to the last plug-in hybrid RAV 4 is range. Used to be 42 mi, now it’s 55. And then, as you can see, the port is on this side, and it supports DC charging. Again, this one is all-wheel drive, but it’s an electric all-wheel drive with the electric motor in the back. Let’s get going because I have to get back. Sorry, I just wanted to hang out with you. So, thankfully, we’re not too far away from bringing the car back, but you know, it’s uh I have to be back in like 15 minutes. But, welcome to the interior of the new Rav 4. We can just get going. Uh because I have actually not really driven the car too hard yet cuz I’ve wanted to reserve my judgment. This RAV 4 XSSE is very close to something like the GR RAV 4 just because it uses the same plug-in hybrid powertrain. This one just lacks the 15 mm lower ride height, slightly different suspension, 20-in. This is on 20-in wheels. Whoa. I could have been here this whole time. Little did I know. That’s crazy. This is such a better lot. Anyways, we’re going to use the infotainment system. That’s actually very good because Toyota has updated it. This uses Toyota’s connected services system. Starting route guidance. You can see in one mile, turn right at the end of the road onto North Bush Highway. Turn right at the end of the road onto North Bush Highway. I don’t want her to be talking. She’ll interrupt me. We can see how the power is. Turn right at the end of the road onto North Bush Highway. I first experienced this new plug-in hybrid powertrain in the new Prius plug-in hybrid. I just want to call it the prime, but I was very impressed with the MPGs that I was getting and the performance that it gave me. Look at this road in front of me. I’m going to uh do a 0 to 60. I’ll put myself into sport mode here and let’s see. Yeah, 60. That’s good. This has really good power and it’s not too loud. I mean, it is like a kind of grainy sound, but it’s actually quite good. Now, you know, I’d be content. This kind of is like, you know, scratching the itch of me driving the GR1 because unfortunately, it’s the end of the day. So, I I’m not complaining, but, you know, if I had more time, I would definitely drive that GR RAV 4. As you can see, I’ll put myself back in normal mode. On the highway, this thing is really smooth. I have no complaints on my behalf. I don’t get too much wind noise. I don’t get too much road noise either. I actually feel like I mean, I drove the Woodland one earlier today and that one felt like a cheaper car. You know what I mean? Just less substantial. This is good. Now I feel better about my RAV 4 experience. This has heated and ventilated seats in the front. The seats in the XSSE are pretty comfortable as well. supportive. Nothing crazy. I believe the GR RAV 4 seats are slightly different, but I’m enjoying the cooled seats right now. On the left, Toured Arizona 877. Yeah, you see, she likes to cut me off. This lady, the built-in GPS works pretty well. The infotainment. I just need to figure out how to make her stop interrupting me. But let’s see how this thing does on the highway. Shut up. Oh my goodness. It’s quick. It’s quick. You really feel the power from the electric motors. It offers V6- like power. It makes me smile kind of like I understand why the GR RAV 4 exists now with this powertrain. This thing really feels good at high speeds. I have no complaints on my behalf. Very solid, refined. It feels better than the old one, I would have to say. I like the large 12.9 in display. It supports wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Really smooth. It’s like a tablet. I’ll go back to why I was praising the infotainment. Toyota let you customize everything in here where the widgets go and it just it’s much more satisfying. And there’s actually a home screen. So, I guess they are listening to me. Thank you. I also have a heads up display that’s very clear. The old RAV 4 wasn’t bad. That’s the thing. It was a really good car by the end of its life cycle. I do have to say this one feels a little bit better to drive. The other one felt kind of clownish. If you’re driving it quickly, like why are you doing this? When you accelerate, it’s fine, but when it comes to steering, it didn’t really give me the confidence that I wanted. It had a little bit more body roll. This actually feels pretty solid at high speeds and also on the twisties as well. As you can see, this RAV 4 has a digital cluster. All Rav 4s now have a digital gauge cluster. Think Toyota listened to me again because there’s actually way more to customize in the gauges as well. I do hope that sometime soon I am able to drive the GR Sport because I expect it to drive slightly different than this car. I think on a for a daily basis I would probably just get this and then have a GR Corolla on the side. But I do understand Toyota says that they want to introduce the GR lineup with the GR Sport Rav 4. It makes sense, I guess. But the GR Corolla is that entry GR to me. Turn left. Stop. She keeps talking over me. But I really have thought that I’ve thought that this powertrain is very refined and the RAV 4 feels quite good on the road. It’s a very competent SUV and I look forward to driving more new RAV 4s. I know that this video is a little bit short. Uh we are getting to the end of our time hanging out together because I’m getting back to the Toyota area. Make sure you watch the woodland video because I put more effort into this well into that video. Not like this video is bad. I hope you enjoy this video. There’s a Trailblazer SS in front of me, so I find that cool. But I do appreciate you all watching. Just make sure you watch the videos. I might be at 40,000 subscribers by the time that you’re watching this video. So, thank you very much. But I’ll see you in the next video. Bye, peeps.
I appreciate you all watching and hanging out! Today, we spend time with Toyota’s new 2026 RAV4 XSE for a brief sight seeing sesh. Hope you enjoy, and hope to drive more 6G RAV4’s!
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0:00 – Intro
1:02 – Brief Background of the New 6TH GEN!
1:38 – About this RAV4
2:19 – 2026 RAV4 Trim Levels
2:27 – Under The Hood of the PHEV RAV4!
3:41 – Front Seat & 324HP Plug-in Drive!
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Shoot me an email at: bern@bernoncarscom!
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#rav4 #rav42026 #toyota
