Length, width, height, and interior volume all rise accordingly, placing the RAV just north of the Honda CR-V and just south of the Chevy Equinox. Europe and Japan, by the way, will get a shorter version. There certainly are more inches at the wheelbase now, 104.7 compared with 98.0 for the old RAV. We're predicting the base RAV4 to run about $20,000 and our as-tested Limited 4WD V-6 to come in at $28,000.Ī setup with front drive and the engine mounted transversely-four-wheel drive is optional-implies carry-over car guts, but Toyota insists the new RAV4 has an essentially unique platform not shared with any other vehicle (and not designed to accept a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain, says Toyota, so don't wait around for one). From an underpowered punk runabout to a sports sedan on stilts, the evolution of the RAV4-now in its third generation-to something more serious, more likable, more everyday livable is an event worth celebrating.ĭestined for arrival in dealerships this month, the 2006 RAV4 comes in base, Sport, and Limited trim, the latter pictured on the pages here but without the optional fold-flat third-seat row that is available on all trim levels. Meanwhile, let us bend your corneas for a moment about what may be the quickest-accelerating, best-handling, and most efficiently packaged, uhhhh, sub-Suburban on the market today. Future epigraphists, at least, will be watching to see how it all shakes out. Is it a crossover, a sport wagon, a cute ute, or a soft-roader? Write your congressional representative-not us-if you have strong feelings either way. Pardon us if we can't get misty over that ostentatious acronym, and while you're at it, pardon us for failing to coin a universally accepted description of the RAV4's genus.
Toyota says it's short for "Recreational Active Vehicle with 4-wheel drive." Oh. As in: See our ravenous contestants suck down entire bowls of mayonnaise-at RAV4! RAV4 sounds like Army code, or the season finale of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. What is a RAV4 anyway? The name has been stumbling off tongues since Toyota's wee sport-ute first hit in 1996.
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