The 2026 Toyota RAV4 Limited AWD Is A Feature Packed Hybrid Family SUV For Core Shoppers
As the bestselling model in the Toyota North American portfolio, an allnew version of the RAV 4 is a pretty big deal. In fact, if you look at the sales numbers, Toyota managed to sell a little over 475,000 units in the states in all of 2024, making this vehicle the bestselling car in North America, even out selling the Ford F-150. Well, for 2026, Toyota is pulling out all the stops because they’re giving us a fully redesigned RAV 4. And this is a comprehensive model. This is now moving to its sixth generation. We’re talking about a fully updated chassis underneath, standard hybrid power underneath the hood, which includes more horsepower and better fuel efficiency. And on the inside, we have a brand new infotainment system with larger touchscreens to make this car feel even more modern. So, today we’re actually out here in Mesa, Arizona, because we’re finally able to get behind the wheel of two of the core trims, this Luxo Limited and the more affordable XLA Premium. And the big question I want answered, has Toyota made enough changes to the new RAV 4 to keep this model as an easy choice? If you need a family SUV, stay tuned to find out. [Music] Now, before we start talking about all the new styling updates that Toyota made for this sixth generation RAV 4, I thought I’d pop the hood and show you guys what’s powering this allnew model. Now, one of the big stories with the new version of the Rav is Toyota is going all in on hybrids just like they did for the Camry uh last year. So, what that means is the base engine is the company’s fifth generation of their hybrid synergy drive system combining a 2.5 L double overhead cam four-cylinder that’s part of the dynamic force engine family with either two or three electric motors. So, that model over there is technically the front-wheel drive model. So, you have two electric motors delivering up to 226 horsepower. The limited version that I’m showing you here, however, comes standard with their electronic all-wheel drive system and adds a separate electric motor on the rear end giving you a little bit more power up to 236 horsepower. That’s a nice increase versus the 219 that we had in the previous generation. Also, keep in mind the previous front-wheel drive um gas only version of the Rav had only 203 horsepower. This car actually has just three less horsepower versus the current Lexus NX 350H, which again, the Lexus is designed to be the more luxury oriented version. Now, it all goes out through an ECVT, an electronic CVT. Uh and like I said earlier, electronic all-wheel drive on this model, frontwheel drive on the XLE over on my right. Now, fuel economy for this version is rated at 44 in the city, 39 on the highway. About 42 combined. This XLE with front-wheel drive can be rated as high as 48 in the city, and 40 on the highway up to 44 combined. When you also add in that 14.5gallon fuel tank on regular, this model can easily do over 600 mi of range on a full tank. Now, 0 to 60 times Toyota doesn’t or wasn’t ready to talk about that. We’ll try it out when we get this vehicle out on the road. Top speed should be around 130 mph. And if you guys want to tow, this all-wheel drive model will tow up to 3500 lb, while the front-wheel drive version will max out at 1,750 lb. This version here weighs in at around 3,800 lb. You’ll save around 100 lb if you go for the front-wheel drive model, which Toyota has mostly kept the weight in check with this allnew version, which is kind of a impressive feat given all the new technology and luxury touches they’ve added. Now, closing the hood, let’s talk about the styling differences between these two core models. Now, I say core because Toyota also has two other or at least they have a total of seven different trims. We’ve shown you guys full reviews on the sport oriented models, the XSSE and the GR Sport and the off-road oriented woodland. The Core is designed to be the core, the brunt of the sale. So, this Limited is painted in storm cloud gray, while this XLE premium trim is one notch above the LE trim. It’s painted in ruby flare metallic. And as you can see, it has Toyota’s latest design language here with their hammerhead headlights. It has a unique grill uh insert for these particular trims. The Limited, however, has some unique styling elements here. Here. Now, first of all, you can see the Toyota logo sits at the upper portion of the actual grill at the end of the hood uh cut line. There’s kind of like a black accent over here with an integrated camera system. The XLE does not include a front camera system. And the Limited also gets you this kind of satin metallic accent here inside the actual hexagonal grill insert, which looks really premium. Down here at the lower splitter, you can see this is a glossy gray versus an unpainted plastic on the XLE. And then the headlights are also uniquely different. So, this has the premium LEDs, which have LED turn signals, LED daytime running lights with this nice light signature, LED low and high beams, and this trim and the Woodland are the only trims on the RAV to get LED fog lights, which is definitely a premium touch. You can see in contrast, these are the standard LED headlights on the lower trims. They still have the LED projector, but this area here is now just an incandescent for the turn signal signals, which looks significantly cheaper. And if you have the headlights on or if you don’t have the headlights on, the daytime running light is basically that at a lower intensity. So, it just definitely looks not as upscale. You can see down here there’s no fog lights and you can also see no silver metallic accents here and you have an unpainted plastic area over here. But overall, let me know in the comments section below if you guys like the look of this core trim or if you prefer the look of the sport oriented models. Uh, but regardless, all of them are built on the updated TGAK architecture which Toyota has upgraded with more structural adhesive. They strengthened the structure a little bit, made it tighter, made it safer, stronger, and dimensionally it’s unchanged from the previous model. Both of these vehicles are around 181 in overall length, 10 5.9, 73 in wide. And in terms of the wheel arch trim, you can see the core trims have an unpainted wheel arch trim, while this Limited has an upgraded 20-in alloy wheel. So, this is a inch or it’s actually 2 in larger versus the previous generation. You can get an 18-in wheel, which on the Limited trim, which the XLE Premium over there has the base 18-in wheel, which doesn’t look too horrible. It’s actually kind of like a graphite gray finish to them. The Limited’s 18-inch wheel has a slightly different look to them. Toyota actually had it here for us to see. I much prefer the way the 20s look, but let me know in the comments section below what you guys uh prefer. I don’t have pricing on how much extra the 20s are. I imagine it’s an allocart option. Brake rotors are 12 in in the front, 11 in at the back. all independent suspension. And these trims have around 8.1 inches of ground clearance. It’s around 0 five inches lower versus last year’s model. The Woodland gives you up to 8.5 inches of ground clearance. So overall, it’s a very, you know, inoffensive design, but it’s also instantly recognizable as a RAV. You can see with the Limited trim, you also get these black painted side mirrors, integrated turn signals. The same thing, however, on the XLE. Uh, no power folding mirrors. They do fold in manually, and you also have a 360 camera, which is a nice touch. So, I’m surprised to see that there’s not more chrome along the belt line here. Uh, but you do still have this kind of gloss black lowprofile roof rails. And then the Limited comes standard with the panoramic sunroof. You can get a pano roof as an upcharge on the XLE Premium, which is a nice touch. I wasn’t expecting to Toyota or Toyota to offer a pano roof on the lower trims like that. Now, looking over at the rear, the design, people have constantly talked about how it looks like the current generation Rogue. I see some hints of the fourth generation RAV 4. Overall, I do think the previous generation RAV 4 looked better at the back. But that’s just my personal opinion. You can see all LED tail lights are standard across the board, even on the base trim. So, that’s a nice technology upgrade with these vertical LED slats, LED turn signals, of course. You have this kind of black bar going across the back. The limited badge there lets everybody know you have the more luxurious uh luxuriously oriented model. And then you can see it’s got their new hybrid badging there. All-wheel drive. That’s how you know this is an all-wheel drive because the XLE over there doesn’t have the all-wheel drive badge. And you can see the rear bumper has that glossy gray finish back here, which looks a lot better versus the cheap unpainted plastic look that you have on that XLE, which I imagine the LE is also going to look the same. On all trims, Toyota has gotten rid of the exposed exhaust tips, which I think is kind of going backwards. It really gave the old model a much sportier look, and it’s one of the reasons why I liked the look of the the old version more. Now, opening up the cargo area, you can see power liftgates included on this trim, but it’s also included on that XLE, which is a really nice touch. This model, however, has the hands-free functionality for the power liftgate and cargo capacity remains competitive, but it’s not the biggest. You have 37.8 cubic feet of storage space back here, which is a pretty decent amount. You can see underneath this carpeted floor mat, you do have a temporary spare additional underfloor storage, uh, which is nice. And then if you want to fold the seats down, there’s there’s one power outlet back here, I forgot to mention, but no actual 12vt or household outlet. You can see once you fold the seats down back here, that expands the cargo to around 70.4 4 cubic feet of space. So, that’s pretty much the same. I think it’s maybe one cubic feet more versus last year’s model. But also keep in mind if you’re looking for the plug-in hybrid model, which is not available on any of the core trims, I actually think Toyota should offer it on the Limited grade, it will reduce your maximum cargo by around 6 cubic feet. Now, moving on to the interior of these two core grades. So, I’m actually going to start off here in the lower trim XLE Premium because I want to show you guys what Toyota gives you as basically standard if you don’t want to have to spend the kind of money that the company charges for a limited. Now, as you can hear, closing the door, it had kind of a tiny sound to it when I shut it. So, I wasn’t really liking the door uh slam thunk. Uh but as you can see, looking at the rest of this cabin, it is very similar to even the higher trims. In fact, Toyota really has upgraded the tech because the previous generation had a standard 8 in display. Now, the standard display is 10 and 1/2 in display. So this is the smaller 10 and 12 in display which used to be the bigger upgraded screen in the previous model. You can see there’s a lot of unused real estate here along this the outer border of the screen itself. You can see my phone is connected via wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. You can also do a full screen if you want to get rid of the native uh or native I guess line here where it has all the usual uh widgets. Um this screen as you can see the quality and the resolution has been greatly improved. This is running their new Toyota audio multimedia interface 2.0 part of their Aren software. And when you go back to the Toyota system, you can see there’s the home display. It looks much better. You can actually customize it. The graphics are much better. The GPS quality has been improved. And then in terms of the rest of the interior, you can see you have a 12-in digital gauge cluster that’s standard on even the base LE grade. The XLE includes a leather wrapped wheel, which is nice. Um, you don’t have a heated steering wheel, however, but you do have a three-le heated seats. The wheel offers a manual tilt telescoping ability. And there are also a couple of trim pieces like this super smooth plastic here uh that’ll eventually be replaced because this is an early pre-production model. No paddles on the wheel obviously. And then in terms of the door panel materials, you can see this upper portion is a hard touch injection molded plastic. So this feels a little bit cheap. At least you have more of this leatherrett, this soft text here along the door panel along where you’d rest your elbow. The window controls are onetouch up down for all four. And these seats, as you can see, this is the harvest beige softex. So this seat, as you can see, has a slightly different design versus the limited. Toyota offers a choice between either black, this harvest beige, or a gray interior, but there is no brown interior. It certainly looks good with the uh ruby flare exterior and this kind of beige interior. Toyota actually doesn’t have a beige limited to show us uh at least not here at this event. You have a wireless phone charging pad here. You have your drive mode selector here. And then because this is a frontwheel drive model, you can see there’s just a single button here to turn off the stability control and engage the automatic limited slip differential. You have a traditional shifter over here to control the ECVT. Put the vehicle into reverse. You can see there’s the backup camera which offers trajectory distance markers uh but no parking sensors. You can see the quality of the resolution is pretty much average for the class. You do still have rear seat or you you do still have a volume knob with dual zone climate control, two USBC charging ports that are the faster 45 watts. Uh there’s a little storage area here. And then you can see there’s a lot of empty buttons to show off that you have uh a lower trim model. This padded center console is still pretty much very vinyl-like. And you can also open up to either either side or take it off if you would prefer to flip it around, which is done by doing that. So that’s a really cool nifty feature. So, it’s nice that Toyota is kind of including that even on uh the base trim. But overall, it still gives you plenty of tech, especially if you’re coming from the previous generation. Um, but let’s go ahead and hop into the Limited trim because I want to show you guys the upgrades that Toyota gives you when you step it up to this top-of-the-line model. Now, first of all, this Limited grade has a completely different seat. When you look at the seat material, you can see the shape of the seat seat is different. This is still their soft text, but it feels a lot more like leather versus a vinyl material. The seats also have perforation because they are heated and ventilated. It’s got ventilated seats as standard. The passenger seat is also an 8-way power adjustable versus a sixway manual on the XLE. This is also a 10-way power adjustment with twoerson uh lumbar support or two-way lumbar and twoerson memory. These seats again are just much more upscale and they feel also a little bit more padded compared to the base seats in the uh XLE trim. Now, as I get in and shut the door, it still kind of has a slightly um tiny sound to the thunk. And then when I put my foot on the brake and start the vehicle up, you can see there is the bigger 12.9 in display. That display is definitely a huge upgrade versus the previous generation. Uh and it’s also the biggest screen that Toyota has ever put in a RAV 4. So that’s a really nice touch. Uh the wireless Apple CarPlay is also, you know, pretty seamless. It has their latest Aren 2.0 software. And aside from basically the screen just being taller and wider, it’s pretty similar uh in terms of the look uh to the base 10.5 display. You can see there’s the home screen, which again the icons are just larger. Uh you can customize the screen as well. And then you can see in the lower portion here, you just have more options. When I click that, for example, it’ll bring up the cooled seat controls. There’s also an automatic setting. You cannot get cooled seats on the uh XLE trim, so keep that in mind. The steering wheel looks pretty much the same with the same leather material here. No paddles, of course, for this model, but you also still have a manual tilt telescoping wheel, so it’s easy to get a comfortable driving position. Uh, this trim, however, includes a soft touch injection molded plastic on this upper portion. So, that’s an upgrade versus uh what Toyota puts basically on the uh baser XLE or the LE trim. More of that soft text here with silver painted plastic for the door handles. Still have one touch for updown for all for the windows. And then you can see looking at the rest of the limited grade, you have an upgraded nine-speaker JBL sound versus the six speakeraker in the XLE. You have dual wireless phone charging pads. And then you still have your drive mode and EV selector here, but Toyota adds a trail snow and normal mode there because this is again an all-wheel drive version. Uh you also have more buttons here, for example, for the auto parlor park function. You can push that. It’ll give you a full 360 surround view camera system which has much improved graph graphics and resolution. You have a downhill assist control along with your stability control off switch. So again, there’s a lot of features that the Limited gives you that kind of reminds you in the lower trims that you kind of skimped out. This electronic shifter though is a toggle. It controls the transmission, but you have a shift by wire versus the actual um shift lever. Which one do you guys prefer? Let me know in the comments section below. I actually think I prefer the look of a lever. This to me doesn’t really save any space, but I guess it just looks a lot more modern. Same kind of gray plastic material here and also a padded center console, which also allows you to kind of open up from both sides. And you can also flip it around if you’d prefer. So, keep that in mind. There is a digital camera rearview mirror and an auto dimming rearview mirror. So, when I flip that, you can see the camera shows a really crystal clear image that’s standard on the Limited grade along with the panoramic sunroof. And you can also get a heads-up display on this trim. Although my test car doesn’t have that option for heads-up display, it could just be chocked down to the fact that this is an early uh pre-production model. And I also find again, like I said, these seats are a little bit more comfortable, better shaped, more supportive, and the cooled function works pretty pretty well. So, there’s a lot that Toyota throws in when you guys go for the Limited grade. None of the trims, however, feel like you bought a Lexus. There’s still a lot of more utilitarian, cheaper plastic panels, but at least most of the touch points I think Toyota uh got right. But let me show you guys the back seat really quick because the backseat of the RAV basically stays the same as the previous generation. You can see this is the Limited trim in this black interior color. It’s pretty dark back here. You have the seats that fold down and give you almost a flat load for which is nice. Um they also have the ability to recline the seats and give you a slightly recline function if you want to, you know, have your friends back here be a little bit more comfortable. As I get back here, Toyota says there’s 37.8 in of legroom back here, which is a fairly decent amount. There’s no flat floor, but this is my driving position. Good foot space. I can pretty much get comfortable and cross my legs back here. But some competitors offer about two more inches of rear seat leg room. The door panel material back here is the same soft touch as the front seats, but on the XLE, it’s a hard plastic material. You have more of that leatherrett over here with the window controls that are onetouch and illuminated. Toyota also throws in um you have two uh air vents here with one level heated seats and two USBC charging ports. So the XLE does not have the heated seats. This is the only trim I believe to give you the heated seats. You also have two storage cubbies. And you can see there’s also an armrest that folds down, gives you two cup holders. And in terms of the headroom, this sunroof does take up some of the headroom space, but I still have a good solid four or five inches. Actually, if I flip this up, you can see this is nice because it goes all the way back into the second row. It only opens up over the front seat area, but clearly the back seat of the Limited model feels a little bit nicer, but at the same time, it’s not as nice as some arrivals that offer more features and offer more space. So, it’s always nice to be able to drive a base frontwheel drive version of a new vehicle. So, here we are in the XLE model, which has the less powerful 225 horsepower version or 226 horsepower version of this 2 and 1/2 L gasoline 4-cylinder with the two electric motor combo. Now, Toyota does not offer the front-wheel drive powertrain on the Limited trim. So, kind of keep that in mind. But with 10 less horsepower, we got 7.5 seconds in the Limited or in the XSE grade with all-wheel drive. Let’s go ahead and see what this front-wheel drive version can actually do. So, to get the best time, you basically want to have the vehicle in its sport mode here and the transmission in its sport mode. We’ll go ahead, we’ll brake torque it and see what we can get here. [Music] All right, there on the first run we got 7.35 seconds. Now, I want to point out that I don’t have Rob in the car with me this time. He really doesn’t weigh that much, but we are also still at around 1500 ft above sea level. The front-wheel drive version, remember, is also a little bit lighter versus the all-wheel drive model, which doesn’t surprise me that this car is going to be a little bit faster. I bet when I get this car back home at sea level. We could probably do a 0 to 60 in the just under 7second mark, which is pretty similar to what we got in the previous generation RAV 4, this model that we’re driving also has the smaller 18-in wheels. So, these wheels are also available on the Limited trim if you guys don’t want the big 20s. It results in a little bit of a quieter or a little bit of a softer ride quality, but what I don’t like, these tires, I’m noticing, are still a little bit noisy. They also have significantly less grip versus the one with the 20-in wheels. But remember, this is kind of the wheel and tire combo package that most Toyota RAV 4 shoppers are going to go with. The car itself is very responsive. The change point or the um trade-off between gas and electric is very seamless in this car, just like in the regular or in the all-wheel drive XSSE that we tested. And overall, uh this car’s steering is very light, kind of numb and devoid of feel, but the body is very, very soft. It feels a little squishy. Uh, but just at the same time, it’s kind of what people are looking for in this class. I want to try another 0 to 60. We’re going to turn off the traction control here. No wheel slip whatsoever. That’s pretty good. 7.6 seconds there. That’s with it more going slightly, very, very slightly uphill. So, that’s pretty impressive performance right off right out of the box. Remember, this car is also a very early pre-production model with only 554 miles of on the odometer, so it’s not really fully broken in. But just like the other RAV models that I’ve been driving today, visibility is quite good aside from the thicker A-pillar. View out of the back is easy. The steering on this trim also includes a leather wrapped wheel. Remember, the base LE will have a urethane unleather wheel. Um, the seats themselves, they definitely don’t feel as comfortable as what you get in the Limited. the le the synthetic leather material here just feels a lot more like vinyl. Um it has less padding as well. So my recommendation, make sure you try out the seats. I think the Limited trim is probably worth it to go with the nicer seats. Same thing with the XSE trim. Sadly, they don’t have an SE trim for us to sample to see how the seats are for that model. Uh but overall, you have the same 12 point or 12in gauge cluster. You have the smaller 10 and 12 in display. So there isn’t really too much of a penalty box feel in this car. I didn’t also hear any kind of squeaks and rattles within the interior. And you know, while this car’s interior feels far from luxurious, this harvest beige color definitely helps. Sadly, Toyota didn’t have a limited grade here with the lighter harvest harvest beige gray or beige or the light gray interior. Toyota also sadly doesn’t offer any kind of like uh brown interior. That’s something that I was hoping they would offer at some point as well, but perhaps they’ll make that change at a later date. But overall, the XLE premium trim is definitely a nice mid option and I highly recommend it for the extra, you know, few thousand probably over the LE, although they didn’t have an LE for us to test. But, uh, if you’re looking for, you know, just a RAV 4 that’s fuel efficient, that’s more affordable, that’s still comfortable, and has most of the features that you’d want, you’d be hardressed to find anything wrong, honestly, with this XLE model. So, one of the key ingredients to the RAV 4 sales success in America is the fact that Toyota offers so many different trim levels to choose from. From the core models that I’m showing you here in the XLE and the Limited grade to the sport oriented models like the SE, XSSE, GR Sport, and of course the off-road oriented version like the Woodland, there’s essentially a RAV 4 for almost every individual buyer depending on your needs, depending on your budget. So, after spending the day driving the two core models in the XLE and Limited, it’s pretty easy to see why the RAV 4 has been such a top seller. In fact, if you’re looking at sales of the 2025 model year, Toyota is already on on track to outsell the 2024 model years and it’s in its last model year. So, it really just shows that people who buy RAV 4s don’t even really pay attention too much to the fact that a new version is coming out. But at the same time, now that there is a sixth generation that’s going to be hitting dealerships in December of this year, you’ll have to wait until early 2026 for the plug-in hybrid model. It’ll only accelerate the sales and make this car again hold its position as the sales leader in the segment. Basically, Toyota, what they’ve done here is they’ve taken the fifth generation model, which was already near the top of the class, and made everything better. It rides uh and handles better. It’s quieter on the inside. It’s more refined. It has way better technology. It has more power under the hood. And it also has better fuel efficiency. In fact, in terms of the performance, we got 0 to 60 in 7.3 seconds for that model. We did 7.5 in the all-wheel drive version. Although, I’ll have to wait until I get one back home to retest because I suspect at sea level with just me in the car, I could probably get this 0 to 60 down to just under 7 seconds, which is pretty much on par with most of its rivals, especially if you’re getting well over 40 miles to the gallon. So, there’s a lot to like with this vehicle. Now, this is the part where I usually tell you how much these two models are going to cost you. Unfortunately, Toyota doesn’t have final pricing ready yet or ready just yet because they said a base LE with the new front-wheel drive platform or the new front-wheel drive drivetrain will start in the low $30,000 range. That represents around a $2,000 price reduction versus last year’s all-wheel drive uh hybrid RAV, which only came with all-wheel drive. So, in reality, they’re probably going to charge around $1,500 bucks to add all-wheel drive back in. So, it should stay the same price. If I had to guess, however, because we don’t have any finalized pricing, this is an XLE Premium, which is one notch above the LE. There’s technically not an XLE, just LE than an XLE Premium. So, if I had to guess, I’d say that model probably starts at around 36, $37,000. It’s probably a relatively big jump to go from an LE to this trim. But it also includes a lot of extra features like the leatherrett, the heated seats, the power driver seat, the power liftgate. It’s probably worthy to at least go to that trim. The Limited, however, is going to be the most luxurious version of the RAV. And it’s interesting because Toyota doesn’t offer the Limited as a plug-in hybrid, but the current Limited starts at around $41,000. Remember, all-wheel drive is standard. I’d probably say this model is going to start at around 42 with the options where you can add in the heads-up display, for example. Add in the destination. I’d say this model could probably uh get closer to around the mid $40,000 range, which is right around the price of the current model. I suspect Toyota should keep the pricing in line, but hopefully when this video uh posts, we’ll actually have more finalized pricing, but remember, you’re going to have to wait until December. or so, a couple more months to get your hands on the allnew 2026 Rav 4. But while that said, hope you guys have enjoyed my full detailed overview over overview between both of the core trims, the XLE and the Limited. If you also if you’re also looking to see the latest cars I’m testing, be sure to follow me on Instagram at redline_reviews. Like us on Facebook, and as always guys, please keep subscribing to the Redline Reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews. Thank you so much for watching. I’ll catch you all in the next video. [Music]
With the introduction of a redesigned #ToyotaRAV4, the compact family SUV segment has been redefined once again as #Toyota sets a new benchmark with the #Hybrid only 2026 #RAV4. For buyers looking for more luxury, the #RAV4Limited brings all the tech and upscale features a modern shopper could want, wrapped in sheetmetal that will appeal to the majority of consumers.
We’re also on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redline_reviews
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liketheredline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tweettheredline
