Have had the RAV for 17 months now

[c32kompressor]

Hey guys,

I bought my RAV new in Oct 2008 and since then it's all been good. Have owned Toyotas forever and this is my first SUV. I bought it in Perth but move to Canberra in Oct 2009 for work. Since I've been on the East Coast have had the pleasure of driving the RAV from Canberra to Brisbane (by myself non-stop other than refueling), drove it to Melbourne and my partner and I are always driving it to Sydney on weekends.

I just got the 30,000km service done to and they told me that my front brakes might need to be done on the 40,000km service. Its pretty good on the open road, but even I had known that I was gonna move to the East Coast and do so much highway driving I might have opted for the V6. But the 2.4 4 pot does a pretty good job other than when I set cruise control and the slightest up hill climb can send the auto box into a frenzy, down shifting and up ****fing the whole time. But have gotten used to it now and it doesn't really bother me.

While in Perth I did a lot of sand driving in the dunes and on the beaches. It was quite fun and the RAV is quite capable as well. Something I'm going to miss in Canberra. But can't wait for the winter to take it in the snow to see how it does there. We did a bit of driving in snow, right at the end of the ski season last year when we moved here (tried to upload a pic but I think its too big).

I've also seen a few RAVs with 18" and 19" rims. Thinking I might get some from Tempe Tyres as I'm just a couple of hours from them now. There's also a few RAVs with after market rims on Tempe Tyres' website. They look pretty cool. You guys might want to check it out.

I'll take pics time to time and post them up. I plan on keeping the RAV for a while as in the last few years I bought too many cars (all new) and then traded them in and lost a lot of $$$. LOL. Anyway a lesson learnt. But I've always loved the Kluger, the looks especially, and now that the new Prado is out, I love that too. I also heard that the FJ Cruiser (on sale in the US since 2006 or 2008 I think) might be finally coming down under. So, I better keep the options open to upgrade.

I hope everyone is enjoying their RAVs as much as I am and I hope all the negative media around Toyota has not affected our attitude towards Toyota negatively. They do build good solid products but they also messed up when they took over GM as the largest car manufacturer. I guess they grew too fast since then and maybe cut corners. But they have always innovated. They perfected the just-in-time production lines which people will still read about in economics books. I think they'll learn from their mistakes and make even better products.

Anyway, as I find myself babbling on, I will post more pictures as my journey continues.

[Hawk]

Hi,

I've got the RAV4 on my short list but I'm put off by some of the fuel economy reports.

What do you get?

Plus what am I looking at in the way of tyre prices?

[c32kompressor]

Hey,

The fuel economy can shock you when the car is new. I know that I got a shock lol. But over time it does get better. For example, the first week I had the Rav, I only got something like 320km from 50 something litres of petrol (I also only have used 98RON sicnce new) This was mostly city driving. But after it did about 12,000km the fuel economy improved. Now that it has done 30,000km, I get I average about 10.5 Litres/100km. The best I got on highway driving is about 11.6 Litres/100km. So its does improve over time.

Tyres are another story. At around 16,000km I got a screw in my front tyres sidewall. These cannot be fixed and as I had to replace only one tyre, I had to by the OEM Bridgestone that came with the car and these are expensive. I got 1 for $320!!! So, then I got the spare and put it on the front as well so that both the front tyres were brand new. But remember, when you need to change all 4's, you don't have to put these tyres. Yokohama, Toyo, Kuhmo all have tyres that are substatially cheaper. I got a quote for a Kuhmo and that was like $220 per tyre. So when I change all 4's I'll go for some other brand.

One of the best things about the Rav is the handling. There is body roll and understeer when you corner at speed, but the steering feel is direct and better than the other SUVs that I test drove. The steering feel is really like a car.

Another option with tyres is that, when its time to replace all 4, you can get a rim and tyre package from Tempe tyres and give the whole car a new look. At least that is something I'm thinking of doing when I have to change all 4 tyres.

Well, good luck with your hunt for a new car, and I can assure you that if you get the RAV, you won't regret it. Beside Toyota has some promotion at the moment, so you might get a good deal. Another thing is that when you buy a Toyota these days, they come with the Toyota Advantage Plan which has fixed price servicing for the first 60,000km or 3 years. When I bought the car it meant that for these services I only pay $150. I think they might have pushed it up to $170 now.

[c32kompressor]

I forgot to tell you that as for the fuel consumption, I keep my tyres at 38 psi instead of the 32 psi that is recommended. The result in ride quality is a bit stiffer but not unbearable at all. Also feels like there is less body roll.

[Hawk]

Thankyou for the response.

The fuel is rather off putting. I'm currently looking at a rav 4 edge 2009 with 7500kms. I guess the fuel economy wouldn't be so bad with those k's on the clock.

Tossing up between that and a corolla but don't know if the rolla will suit my needs in a year or 2. Economical and cheap to keep yes but may not have the room for lugging my business stuff around. Which the Rav will be overkill for right now but in the future....

Decisions decisions.

Going to test drive both new next week to see what feels right for me.

Thanks again.

[peralozac]

Thanks for sharing your fuel consumption experience, I feel better now, at least a little :)

I am driving a new RAV for a week now and I was shocked to get only 320km from 47l of fuel. Most of it was city driving and obviously at times I was hard on my new car trying to test it, but 14.7l/100km came as a big surprise.

When you say that it gets better over time, did it change itself or you also corrected your driving style? I see from other posts that a lot of guys had to switch to "ultra light on the pedal" mode to improve the figures.

Btw, other than fuel consumption I am very happy with everything else. Excellent car in every sense.

Thanks!

[c32kompressor]

Hi,

Initially I did try and change my driving style by being very light on the pedal...but that it very frustrating and I don't think that I achieved a lot of benefit from it. What I can see is that as the kilometres are racking up, the fuel economy does get better. I can almost average 10km/Litre now. It's a little bit more than that but close enough when you combine the ciy/highway cycle.

With the RAV I guess after the initial fuel consumption shock, things get better lol.

I wonder if the same is true for the CR-V and others like it. A frind of mine has an X-Trail and he too, went through the initial shock with the fuel consumption but with his car it has also gotten better with time.

I also found that the RAV performs and delivers the best fuel economy with Caltex's Vortex 98. Since the car was new I used BP Ultimate, but now I try and use the Vortex as I feel that overall the car performs and delivers better performance and fuel economy.

[achk]

Our ZR6 is now just over 2yrs old and has done about 30,000km. Fuel consumption is a lot better than when it was new. On freeway/Country runs, I routinely get about 8L/100km, sometimes even just under 8. In city/suburbs, it's about 10-12L/100km, depending on amount of stop-start traffic.

[stapo]

Hi Guys

I must concur with the fuel consumption figures you guys are quoting.We purchased our SX-6 in June last year with 18k on the clock. It has just had it's 40k service and we are regularly getting low 8's on the highway and 10-12 in the city. I'm "really anal" about fuel according to better half and run on Shell E 10 most of the time, and a lite right foot seems to make all the difference. The car is VERY responsive and when I was running on

on Premium Unleaded the thing would have done 0-100k in 6 seconds I reckon!!