2026 Toyota RAV4 Woodland | Is This The Ultimate Hybrid… Subaru?
If you consider yourself an adventurous person, finding the right vehicle can be tough. You’re navigating daily usability with weekend capability, and it sometimes feels like there are just too many sacrifices. But what if it didn’t have to feel that way? You could get great fuel economy with great traction, good ground clearance without a horrible ride. Toyota thinks they might have found the answer here. This is the 2026 RAV 4 Woodland, and this is now its own separate trim, separate from the package that it used to be. And it goes further to differentiate itself from the rest of the RAV 4s. More ground clearance, more power. available than some of those other models and all the efficiency you could hope for. Plus, a look that’s more closely related to what I think are some of the more capable models within the Toyota lineup. [Music] As much as I like the front end design of most of the other RAV 4s out there, I think this is the one that seems to draw me in the most. It looks more like a 4Runner. And actually, I think I’d rather call it the Ravrunner than the RAV 4 Woodland. Let me know in the comments if I am way off there, but I think this is a beautiful front-end design and I love the way they’ve integrated some of the things that more adventurous people would be looking for. Obviously, fog lights are a thing you want to have, but in this case, they’ve gone with rigid fog lights. We have more amber up front than you do on most of those other models. And obviously, amber is an off-road color. Everybody knows that. But it doesn’t mean we sacrifice any of the technology that can be built into some of these Toyota models. We still have things like parking sensors and forward collision avoidance and your radar up front. Everything you need is here, but just with a different look. If I’m shopping for a vehicle to take me places, there are a few things that I’m looking for. I want to make sure it can fit me, my friends, and our stuff, and that means regular stuff, and some weird stuff. I also want to make sure that it can get me to and from where I’m trying to go. And admittedly, I want it to look good doing it. And I think visually this has nailed the part because the Woodland gets a few exclusive colors like we see here, that not only look good on the vehicle as is, but also look really good when it’s dirty. It also matches really nicely with a lot of the satin accents we see here. Not necessarily unpainted, but obviously not shiny black. So, if they get scuffed, it’s just part of the look. But to get me places, I need ground clearance. As you can see, we’ve already used it. 8 1/2 in is what you get here. About point4 more than you get on the standard RAV 4 model. And it’s not just height you get in lift, but also height you get on the roof rails. Now, a roof rack is something you can get on most RAV 4s, but in this case, it’s its own separate design. It sits a little bit higher off the roof, which means that when you’re using it, it’s a little bit easier to get stuff on and off of. It also has its own woodland design baked into it here at the very back. I love the way they’ve done this in a very subtle fashion instead of something big, bright, and I don’t want to see any more red on any vehicle as an accent color the rest of my life, but I’ll see seven on the way home today. Out back, one of the first things that pops out to me is what’s actually popping out of the rear bumper here. That’s going to be the tow hitch, which you’ll find standard on every single Woodland model. 3500 lb, whether you’re doing the hybrid or the plug-in hybrid, means that I think most of your toys can come along with you. You need a bigger trailer, well, you’ll need a bigger truck. But it’s not just the capacity behind you. There’s a lot of storage that happens just behind this cargo hatch. It’s about 38 ft of cubic space, but that’s only if you went with the hybrid. Obviously, if you have a bigger battery, you need to find a place for it. And most of that battery componentry ends up towards the rear. We lose about 4 cubic feet of space. But what we don’t lose is a spare tire. That’s right. This is a plug-in hybrid with a spare, and it’s not the tiniest doughut spare. Obviously, it’s not a full size, but trust me, I’d be more comfortable having this than, well, certainly nothing at all. If this isn’t enough space for you, go ahead and fold down those seats in the hybrid model about 70 cubic feet. Obviously, we’ll still lose a few with the plug-in hybrid, but when you have extra power on board, you can access it. No vehicle to load, so you can’t power the whole campsite, but you can certainly have someone plug in the coffee maker to the 120 volt outlet we have over here. Nice and easy. or if it’s extra hot like it is today, maybe something like a blender. The Woodland seems to me the most capable, not just because of where you can take it, but because of the powertrains Toyota’s put under the hood. You can get it either in all-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, hybrid or plug-in hybrid. If you look at the hybrid model, 236 horsepower, and that should get you about 39 mp gallon. Not bad, especially for a vehicle with all-terrain tires. But if you want more, go ahead and jump into that plug-in hybrid. Not only is it about 100 horsepower more at 324, you also get the best charging capability within the RAV 4 lineup. That’s level two charging at 11 kW and DC charging at 50 kW, which means 10 to 80% is about 35 minutes. You probably won’t DC charge through that CCS connector you’ll find over here to my side. But if you do, that means that you’re going to recharge enough, I think, for it to be worth it. 49 mi is what Toyota says this will get on a full charge as far as your overall range in pure EV mode. And when you’re out of battery, you’ll still be a little bit more powerful and you’ll only be down about 1 mile per gallon over the hybrid at 38 overall combined. Up front, even in this off-road oriented trim, we do still have pretty comfortable seating and some of the luxuries like power adjustments. 8-way power seats here, two-way adjustable lumbar support, but if you want to adjust the steering wheel, that one is done manually. I do have to say there is a lot of room up here, though. It feels like the space around my legs might be a little bit tight, but up top there’s a lot of shoulder room. I feel comfortable in this seat. And even though I don’t have a moonroof, I don’t feel like this is way too close to my head. Actually, at six feet tall, I’ve got probably about two and a half or so inches. But that’s here in the driver’s seat. Let’s go ahead and jump in back and see what it’s like. And out back, it feels like there’s just as much room as I had up front. With this seat set for me as the driver, I still have a few inches of leg room. I have plenty of headroom available. Actually, more than I did up front, almost it feels like, but likely that’s because of the rake of this seat, which is not just one position. I can go ahead and kick that back a little bit. And at this point, I could probably lay back and take a snooze. And I should be pretty comfortable down here. Let me slide over because not only do we have the same kind of look back here, which makes it feel a little bit nicer. We also have our vents, which not every vehicle does, and we have 15 watts of USBC charging for, well, at least two of the three passengers you may have back here. We’ve got a fold down center armrest with cup holders. And beyond that, if these aren’t going to massage me, then I can’t think of much that’s missing. Now, hopping inside the RAV 4 Woodland. And even though this is the same layout you get in other models, this happens to be my favorite just because it feels like the interior matches the exterior as far as design language. And I also really like the colors going on here. The camera may seem like everything here is pretty black, but there are gray inserts on the outside of the seat on the top half there. And of course, we have orange accents, but below that is going to be mostly black, although with a nice pattern built in. No perforation, so no ventilation here at this particular trim level. That would be nice, but heated seats are coming standard. Here in the door panel, you’ll find more of that gray insert. I appreciate this isn’t just a sea of black. And the black you see, at least on that side, is mostly going to be soft touch up above your arms. Down below on our right hand side, we have just enough room for something like a water bottle and some goodies. But if you’re looking for more room, the passenger has a whole tray in front of them, perfect for something like a cell phone. But if you need more, then of course that’s where your glove box comes in. In this case, a pretty full one. You can’t see quite how big it is, but I’d say it’s about average for this segment and obviously being put to use at this point. This is where you’ll find storage obviously for the driver’s phone, but there’s room for the passengers, although no chi wireless charging on this side. The driver does get some. You can get that on a higherend trim, but you get more storage here under the second level. Just make sure you don’t lose what goes back there. It’s pretty deep. And then, of course, cup holders, nice and large for our everyday beverages. Moving a little farther back, we have our center console. But there’s a cool trick here. This opens two ways, both on the driver and passenger side, but you can also take it out, flip it, and reverse it and get a more robust texture, which is, I don’t know, at least an option. Down here, more storage space. Plug in for wireless CarPlay and Android Auto and 12volt charging. And then onto our display screen. The Wen doesn’t get the larger 12.9 in screen. This one 10 and a half, but it does get the upgraded software that you’ll find in all RAV 4 models. This is the multi audio multimedia 2.0 from Toyota. It looks a little bit more like well what we would look for in phones, some more widgets, but it’s moved our buttons around. Some are on the touch screen now. Some are still physical, like temperature up and down. But if you want to change where the air is flowing, you’re going to have to do that one from the touch screen. You can still use your front and rear defrost. Those are still physical buttons. Obviously, our volume knob is there in the center, but if you’re looking for the track forward backward, that is gone as well. You have to do that from the screen. And of course, we still have an emergency flasher button. Sliding just below that, on the lefth hand side, drive modes and your EV mode. Drive mode, sport, econ, standard, that sort of thing. EV mode, great for the plug-in hybrid, not so much for the hybrid. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. On the right hand side, your different traction settings, trail, snow, and normal. Hopefully, you spend most your time in normal. And then sliding further back is a pretty conventional layout as terms of the shift lever, park, reverse, neutral, and drive. You can put this in a sport mode where you can quote unquote manually shift, but this is a CVTish and so there’s no actual gears. You have charging just to the upper left of that as well as a camera button, more charging, hill descent, and your traction control off if you wanted less traction. That’s mostly what you have for the drive, but let’s go talk about the other screen in here. That’s going to be your driver screen. 12.3 in in every single model. And this one’s going to show a few warning signs. Don’t worry about that. This is a prototype vehicle, so not fully functional at this point, but the vehicle itself functioned as I needed to. Now, the screen is fairly configurable. You can go ahead and have a couple different layouts and different information on the screen. And then your steering wheel also pretty typical Toyota. That means button banks to the left and the right hand side. On the left, mostly controls for things like that display screen. And then track forward, backward, voice commands, that sort of thing. Volume up and down there on the switch. And mostly on the right, you’ll find controls for your driver assist. Now, where you take your Rav 4 might be different from the next person, but if you find yourself in some rutdded out roads, you need to make sure that you can get where you need to go and from where you need to go. This isn’t going to be the most extreme obstacle you’ll find out there. But there are a lot of folks surprisingly who would look at this and go, “Oh, I’m not sure if my car can do it.” One of the biggest things I need is ground clearance because obviously that one isn’t going to be really taxing on things like traction. I think for most people, this might be the kind of environment they run into, which is basically unpaved road, which depending on the time of year and how up to-date you are on your own maintenance, can be pretty rough at times. And having more sidewall is certainly going to help make this a much more enjoyable ride. And of course, the suspension is tuned to be on the more comfortable side. And so far so good. Although admittedly, this seems like one of those bettermaintained roads. I have seen some nasty ones out there. As this path gets a little bit rockier, you’re going to be looking for more traction than you are in just the dirt. But this does have a couple things going for it. Not only is it all-wheel drive, but it does have a couple terrain modes. In this case, we’re in the trail mode. And that means that it’s going to be looking for slip a little bit more quickly, a little more readily. And so, if we do end up in a slippery situation, it’s going to cue that rear motor in a little bit quicker. And the way this operates in all-wheel drive is different than you find in a mechanical connection because this is electric both ends, but not actually connected by anything other than the computer. It just means you might end up with a little bit more slip before you get the extra grip, but the grip should be on its way. And on the same trail down, not only do I have cameras, but I can go ahead and turn on the DAC downhill ascent control. For folks who know how to navigate their surroundings, it’s probably not one that you’ll need. But for first- timers, people getting used to it, if this is the car you learn to get a little bit more adventurous in, that’s going to be a great feature for you to have because it does some of the thinking for you. Now, that system is going to be one where you have to adjust to it. Not everyone likes cruise control. This is basically a downhill off-road cruise control, but trust me, if you’re a little bit unsure, you can trust in some of that software. So, what’s the best part of an adventure vehicle? Well, I think the fact that it can do just about everything and with this power plant, there’s not much I can’t do within reason of what you would expect. 324 horsepower, got this 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds. And if you go with the hybrid model, you’re still looking at under 8 seconds, probably about 7.8 7.7 or so. And that’s not bad. Not for this, but for anything in this category. None of these are particularly quick. So, right now, I’d have to check my notes, but this is going to be up there. And we do sit a little bit higher off the ground. Again, about 4 in than your standard model. And we do have more sidewall, which honestly just means it’s been a little bit more comfortable of a ride. I think the only question in the trade-off is going to be in the tire selection. This is a more aggressive tire. And in theory, it’s going to be a little bit louder. And perhaps it is. I just haven’t had the chance to really go side by side and say for sure on the same roads at the same time. But if you need that traction, then you shouldn’t really be worried about the noise. There’s always going to be a trade-off. and off-road traction tends to be a little bit loud. But the other thing for me is that looking around, I have just about everything I need. This is a pretty well equipped model. I wouldn’t call it a top-end trim. This isn’t going to be the same sort of equipment as you find in the Limited. But of course, the things that would matter most for me, like a heated seat and heated steering wheel, well, we’ve got those in place. No moon roof in this particular model. I wouldn’t mind having that available to me. But I actually really like this interior, and I think it might be my favorite because it’s got the most life to it. I love that we have basically three tones going on in here and none of them are red. Nothing in particular against red, but this off-road red or performance red, it just is it’s a little played out at this point. So, we have this coppery orange look which is different than what Subaru does for their wilderness model. I’ll give everyone credit. There’s enough separation. Just makes it feel like, yeah, I’m in a special version of a RAV 4. And if you’re paying extra money for extra features, you want to feel like you get it. And this is one where I feel like you do get that bang for the buck. One of the reasons you’re likely looking for a RAV 4 with more capability is that it’s your only vehicle. And that means you can’t go too far one direction. If you wanted to go on a path, you need ground clearance and you need tires that do it. So if you wanted a Toyota hybrid that could do it, well, a Prius is probably going to come up short, even if it has all-wheel drive. But if you have to spend hours a week on the freeway, there’s no way you want to do that in a Wrangler unless that really is the lifestyle that you’ve chosen for yourself. So, it’s all about finding a happy medium, and this has done a good job of both on-road and off-road capability. So, if I had to buy a Rav 4 today, this is going to be in contention. I love the way it looks. I love the extra capability. I love that we’re not limited on powertrains because it feels like you could go either way. Either just have hybrid or just have plug-in hybrid, but you don’t have to choose. You can have either one of them. And with all that Toyota has done with the RAV 4, I appreciate that they’ve gone farther one direction. and in this case a little bit more capable because trust me adventure type vehicles are all the rage and Toyota knows that because they sell a whole lot of 4Runners and no if you’re shopping a 4Runner this isn’t quite going to be in that same category. So what would this be missing for you to consider it or if you’re shopping other competitors I’d love to hear what they do a little bit better down in the comment section because I look at this and I go this seems like just about the complete package but is it the best one? That remains to be seen. Thank you so much for watching. If you want to see the exact opposite, we’ll have a link down to our GR Sport review or you can look at some of the other RAV 4s available if you haven’t found us on our podcast, Auto Buyers Guide Podcast, wherever you like to listen. Until next time, I’ll see you down the road. [Music]
Bearing in mind that Toyota is the largest shareholder in Subaru… This new RAV4 Woodland is certainly bringing Subaru Wilderness energy to the hybrid game with a hint of extra capability, some knobblier tires, a beefy roof rack and something Subaru can’t give you: a PHEV with solid range and 40 MPG if you treat it nicely.
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