2006 Rav4 Impressions

After talking my wife into buying a CR-V years ago an SUV is now a must for her. We traded in our 2002 Highlander on an '06 Rav4, you're probably asking yourself why in the world would a person "step down" and yes it is a step down, but the wife was never comfortable with the size of the Highlander and the Rav, while not that much smaller inside, is very noticeably smaller outside, but is larger than previous years.

We've had it now for three weeks and our overall impression is quite favorable. The handling seems more tight and precise than the Highlander, I guess you could say that it handles even more car-like. It does however pale in comparison to the Highlander as far as road noise, maybe it's the Yokohama tires, but when you drive over an uneven surface you hear every rumble, and the outside noise is way more noticeable than the Highlander.

Right now the mileage is down right poor 20mpg for mostly highway driving but it will come up, we;re stuck with ethanol blended gas which really puts a hit on mpg, of course we have the 2.4 liter 4 cylinder, the V-6 wont be out until next month, we'd have purchased the 4 cylinder either way.

My opinion would be if it's your first time venturing into the SUV market I don't think you'd be disappointed but if you've had something better, like us with the Highlander, be careful and make sure it's what you want to do as we did, don't buy it just to be trendy you may regret the decision.

Scott

Reply to
Scott
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I had my Highlander in for service a few weeks ago. Service manager said they'd had an "in-service" on the RAV4 - was told it was one of the fastest production vehicles around in the V-6 trim - I assume they were talking the AWD model.

My Highlander(02) was also noisy - had Duelers on it. I stood the noise for 18000 miles and changed to X-terrain Michelins. Much better IMO.

Reply to
ron

C&D had a review. The 06 RAV v-6 has something like 5.9 second 0-60 - it's crazy fast

Reply to
Dan J.S.

we have an 05 Avalon limited with the same V-6 the RAV4 is getting - I think it is 6.5 some secs to 60 - but it is just like a rocket getting on the freeway.

It is scoring a good solid 20+ mpg around town, several mpg better that the 02 Avalon it replaced. Highlander is about 17-18 winter time similar driving -and Avalon only has about 5000 miles.

Reply to
ron

The RAV4 is still an SUV. Going 0-60 in 5.9 seconds is good only if you don't have curves in the road. I can see the V6 RAV4 quickly earning a reputation for flipping over when people stomp on the gas and try to take a turn. Either that or it will acquire a list of complaints of short brake life and the engine "dying" in the turns when the vehicle stability control system cuts the engine and applies the brakes to keep the SUV from flipping.

Reply to
ma_twain

We have the 2005 RAV4 and we get 24 MPG in mostly city driving with 28 MPG highway. I guess you are using more gas because the 2006 is a larger vehicle and you are using an ethanol blended gas.

Reply to
ma_twain

When the Goodyears wore out on our Highlander we put on Uniroyal Laredo's (sp) these too were more quiet than the Goodyears which IMO were horrible tires.

Scott

Reply to
Scott

I'm not worried about the mpg yet, it's only got about 800 miles on it. It is fun to drive though, much more nimble than the Highlander, I don't know if that's a good thing or not since my wife will be driving it 95% of the time. I guess I'll have to check the tires for excessive wear on a regular basis. 8^)

Scott

Reply to
Scott

Your fuel consumption is extremely poor compared to their ratings. It is supposed to get 24mpg in the city and 30mpg highway (EPA rating so it's likely less in the real world)

20mpg for mostly highway is way off. Are you sure about these numbers ? ?

I really like the looks of the new RAV4. Out for a test drive as soon as the v6 comes out.

Reply to
RT

The car is obviously not broken in yet.

Reply to
High Tech Misfit

It's new, it's winter, it's ethanol blended gas, I'm not worried, yet....

Scott

Reply to
Scott

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