Toyota RAV4 PHEV Review | The Sensible SUV That’s Secretly Very Fast
Hello and welcome back to Buckle Up. I’m Harry King and this is the Toyota RAV 4 plug-in hybrid. It’s getting on a bit now. It’s imminently being replaced, but I wanted to see how it was holding up. So, let’s find out. Let’s talk styling. I feel Toyota has split their crossover offering into kind of two halves. There is the SUV half of which this is the lowest rung and then there’s the crossover half where you’ll find things like the Garis cross, the CR, bit curvy, bit swoopy, a bit more carlike. This has all of the proper styling elements of uh an SUV. So big flat square bonnet bluff front end, brush guard down there. Obviously on this it’s pretty much just for show. This is still a crossover, but you’re getting that kind of roughy tufty chunky look that everyone wants. This continues down the side where I would describe the whole stance of the car as eager. The whole thing looks like it’s kind of leaping forwards from the back up. It’s a good trick. I think it looks really rather good actually. And with the squared off arches as well, it continues that kind of punched out off-road thing. Here we find our electric charging flap. This has an 18 kWh battery and will recharge at the maximum charging speed in about 2 and 1/2 hours. So, it is a home charging job really. Also, wheels, these are the 18 in. I believe 19s are available, but this is the size I would recommend because, as we’ll get on to, this is really rather comfortable. Now, round at the back, this is, if anything, the bluffest angle of them all. Properly flat up and down here on the metal. Yes, this kinks in, but it means there’s lots of space in there. We will touch on that in just a sec. I like these punched out light clusters. Obviously, all your badging. And the thing, the other thing I like, dual exhausts, which may feel like overkill, but I’ll get on to why they’re probably not in a little while. Open up the electronic tailgate. It’s not the fastest one in the world, but it does the job. And inside we find 500 L of space. Plenty for a family. There is under the boot floor a space saver spare wheel, which is really handy. You’ve got a couple of tie down points as well and a couple of power outlets, including a 230 volt one, although it’s a European style socket, not a British one. Seats fold 60/40 and it’s a continuous load space, 1,600 L with all the seats folded down. Let’s see though what they like to sit in. Well, there’s easily enough room back here for adults. And it’s very comfortable. I’ve got loads of headroom. I’m 180 cm tall. And I’ve got everything you’d expect from a family car. So, power ports, air vents, seat back pockets, door pockets big enough for a bottle and a fold down armrest. And even on this midspec model, I have heated outer seats as well. All good stuff. To the front. First things first, let’s talk interior materials because perceived quality is not quite at the same level as some of the key rivals. However, I want to say a couple of things. You do still get all of the soft touch bits that you want. It’s just maybe you can tell it’s it’s perhaps a slightly cheaper grade of vinyl or something. It is although very very functional and because it’s a Toyota I suspect it will last much longer than the cars that are supposedly better quality. So that’s why I use the phrase perceived quality. I think this potentially will actually still feel like this in 10 years time and it won’t have gone all shiny and rubbery. Seats themselves cloth very very soft. It’s a nice finish. I am somewhat concerned it might be susceptible to tearing or staining but again this is a Toyota so I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Now, practicality. You get all the storage spaces you’d expect. So, glove box, kind of a center one here, two cup holders, underarm storage. You also get a couple of added on bits. There’s a tray above the glove box, rubberized, and there’s a little tray here by the driver. It’s also rubberized. Handy place for your wallet or for parking tickets, something like that. Obviously, you get door pockets with a kind of separate cutout for a bottle as well. And then all the controls, super chunky and rubbery, very SUVsesque. So, great big ones for your temperature. Uh, the fan speed is a button. The heated seats are both on a kind of rocker switch that’s again just super simple to use. I’ve got power ports, USBA for the Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. And as far as I can see, there’s no wireless. So, that is worth bearing in mind. And you also get 12vt, but if you want USBC power, you have to go into the center console. It’s only USBA or 12vt in the actual center bit there. Slightly weirdly. Otherwise, the rest of the cabin, it is quite an SUV feeling. Compared to the previous generation, they’ve lowered the seating position by 15%, but they’ve also lowered the window line by 15%. So, I still feel elevated within the cockpit. And also, when you sit in this and look at other cars around you, you do feel elevated compared to them on the road, more so than you do in other crossovers. It’s again a bit more of a proper SUV in that sense. Let’s find out though if it feels like an SUV to drive. So, let’s start with some facts and figures. This is the plug-in hybrid, the top rung model. There is a strong or self-charging hybrid as Toyota terms it with front or four-wheel drive, but this is the FEV with all-wheel drive, which means it has 300 horsepower, which is slightly silly. Toyota don’t give a combined torque figure, but I’m guessing somewhere in the region of 500 Newton meters or more. There’s loads of grunt. naugh to 62 is dispatched in 6 seconds which is hot hatch first in a family crossover. Now interestingly this might not be as heavy as you’d expect. So even in FEV form with an 18 kWh battery this is still just a smidge under two tons which isn’t bad going I don’t think cuz it’s actually quite big as well. So, it definitely feels lively with that level of power. Let’s dig in a bit more to the FEV thing. 18 kWh battery, all electric range of 46 miles, WLCP, and that’s not unachievable in the real world. I’ve been seeing uh between 35 and 40 miles. It is December, so it’s pretty cold and miserable here. If it’s still doing that, that’s very impressive. As I’ve mentioned, the fastest it could charge is in about 2 and 1 half hours. on a three pin socket, it’ll do it in about six. So, also very easy to manage charging this even if you only have a driveway and no specific wallbox or anything. You will be able to charge this overnight and achieve very impressive fuel economy. Now, I haven’t had this fully charged because I lived in a flat. I’ve been holding the charge, which you can do with the drive beds down here, but even then, it’s still been getting well into the 50 MPG mark. So, how is it doing that? Well, obviously Toyota bringing at hybrids, but there’s also very intelligent things going on here. So, electric motor at the front and an electric motor at the back, which means even in EV mode, this can be an all-wheel drive vehicle. And then Toyota’s 2 and a half liter 4-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine which is very very very efficient and that can directly drive the wheels or it can act as a generator and actually it spends more of its time acting as a generator especially around town where it’s more efficient very very similar to the way Honda set up their hybrids and it just it leads to incredible fuel economy and it still feels pretty normal to drive cuz it’s still going to rev up as you’re accelerating in order to generate more power. There’s a bit of CVT feel and noise under hard acceleration, but actually overall this is a very refined driving experience. You don’t hear the engine that much. It’s quite quiet and smooth, and you don’t feel vibrations in the cabin. So, let’s sum that all back up again. 300 horsepower, over 50 MPG, hot hatch acceleration, and yet refined driving feels like a complete winner. and you can charge it off three pin socket without much stress. So you don’t even need to worry about a home box. The rest of the driving experience, the handling, it’s definitely a taller vehicle. It’s crossover SUV territory. It’s roly poly and a little bit soft, but very, very comfortable and actually a surprising amount of communication through the steering wheel. It’s a decent weight which lets you know when you can and can’t push it a bit further in the corners. It’s not exactly an engaging driving experience, but it means that it feels secure and attached to the road and easy. On my drive mode, as well as being able to lock it into EV or lock it into holding charge, you also have a sport and an eco mode and a normal drive mode and also a trail button. If you do happen to be going off the beaten path, this will go a little way at least, but obviously it’s very much designed for on-road use. I also really like the drive selector. It’s a proper old-fashioned one in the middle. I do have a sports mode um which will imitate gears. Slightly unnecessary in my opinion. Obviously, this doesn’t have any gears, so to speak. It’s CVT when it is directly driving the wheels if it’s even doing that. The only other thing of note in here is the fact that while I am happy with the amount of room inside this car, I think it’s perfectly spacious. I do think it’s not quite as optimized as it could be. Now, I’m being quite picky now, but I’m going to pick my two favorite cars from the segment. Uh, FEV wise, it’s the Tucson. strong hybrid wise, it is the Honda CRV. The CRV is a larger car than this, but both of those cars have much larger feeling interiors. They offer more lit rear leg room. The cabins just feel a bit more airy. I don’t know. It’s a very minor thing. Very minor thing. Compared to the German rivals or a Scoda or a Ford, this is actually very well packaged. The fact they’ve been able to get in all of these electric motors and a big battery and a petrol engine and still give you 500 lers of boot space and not had any weird humps in the floor and put a space saver spare wheel in there. That is very impressive stuff and I really probably shouldn’t pick it up on it. But there are just a couple of cars in segment that do even more impressive things and I think that is important because a lot of cars in this segment quite lazy in my opinion. It’s easy to make a crossover spacious because it’s a big car. So, there’s not that much impetus to go and do every single thing you can. This has still put in effort and I do appreciate it. I suppose the last little thing, as I’ve mentioned, it’s very comfortable. It’s also, it does have that driving vibe a little bit more of an SUV. Just slightly. You can feel that it’s raised up. As I mentioned, you feel like you’re looking down on other drivers at physically looking down, not like I’m better than you, but you’re sitting higher up than they are. And I think people do want that out of a crossover. That is part of the attraction is is oh, it’s it’s like the the big SUV brothers in the range. So, for a lot of people, this going to tick a lot of boxes. And I am so impressed, really genuinely impressed by a vehicle that is this fast, this refined, and this economical. That’s a brilliant trick. And even though it’s not overtly sporty, and it’s still good to drive. They’ve not lost sight of what a crossover should be. It’s comfortable, competent, secure rather than trying to be sporty. It’s a really excellent mix. 7 years down the line, I can see why this is so popular. I’ve got really high hopes for the next Rav 4, which should be with us very soon. Some outlets have started posting reveal videos. Um hopefully we’ll be able to get ourselves in or near one in the very near future. But until then, let’s go back and do a proper conclusion. So that’s the RAV 4 tested. And what am I thinking? Well, 7 years on from when this was launched, it is still completely competitive with the key rivals. It’s one of the bestselling cars in the world and there is a reason for that. Yes, some of the interior could be a little bit nicer and maybe in my opinion the space could be slightly more optimized, but it still provides loads of practicality, loads of durability and value for you and your family. So, it’s definitely worth checking this out if you’re looking for a brand new crossover. But also, you can get these from as little as £20,000 on the used market. That would be a strong hybrid front-wheel drive model, but that would be a great value. And thanks to Toyota’s 10-year warranty scheme. If you go and service it at a main dealer, you’re still going to have 3 years of warranty left on the very oldest car you could buy. That feels pretty uh open and shut in my book. So, there you go. Thank you so much for watching. Please remember to like, comment, and most importantly, subscribe. If you go down into the description, you find all the links to all our social medias. You’ll also find two ways you can directly support the channel. So, we have merchandise that you can buy and clothe your body in or your table. We do mugs and coasters as well. And also, we have memberships right here on YouTube. So, please go and do one or all of those things. And I will see you next time. Bye-bye. [Music]
Today on Buckle Up, we’re reviewing the Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid — the family SUV that looks sensible, drives quietly, and then casually reveals it can out-accelerate cars that very much did not expect that to happen.
With plug-in hybrid efficiency, serious power and Toyota’s bulletproof reliability reputation, the RAV4 PHEV promises to be the perfect all-rounder: electric running for the school run, petrol power for long trips, and enough pace to keep things interesting when the road opens up.
In this review, we test the RAV4 PHEV in the real world — looking at electric range, fuel economy, performance, ride comfort, interior quality and everyday usability. Is it actually fun to drive? Does it make sense as an alternative to a full EV? And is it still one of the smartest family SUV choices you can make?
We also put it up against key rivals like the Kia Sportage PHEV, Ford Kuga PHEV, Hyundai Tucson PHEV and Volvo XC60 Recharge, to see whether Toyota’s plug-in hybrid still sets the benchmark.
If you want an SUV that’s quiet, quick, efficient and relentlessly sensible — but not boring — the Toyota RAV4 PHEV might just be the definition of doing everything properly.
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