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| 2006 Toyota Rav4 Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Inside & Out | |||
You know that other result of steroids: a sudden and pronounced increase in pure body mass, hence why the RAV4 woke up for 2006 fatter by 3.2 inches and longer by 14 INCHES! This would normally be my cue to chastise yet another automaker for subjecting a right-sized automobile to unnatural bloating, but really, the RAV4 was always pretty diminutive by class standards, and Toyota barely raised the price anyway. So think of the new 181-inch RAV4 as big step in the right direction. For free.You'll notice I referred to the RAV4 as "himself." That's the gender that springs to mind after seeing all those harder, creased edges and the Sport model's chunky 18-inch wheels, all of which should ensure the RAV4 not making a repeat appearance as chart-topper on the "Cars Bought Exclusively By Women" list. The interior should appeal to all demographics, with the same basic look as last year presented a bit bolder and brasher. All pieces are laid out properly, the Optitron gauges look cool (with the speedometer finally placed in the center), and Toyota even did the fake metal thing better than most. This time, though, seeing is not always feeling - the motions of the steering column, window switches, climate controls, and center console echo the Echo more than the Camry, and the "urethane" steering wheel left slight calluses on my hand at the end of the week. But everything else feels solid. The low dash and windows play a big part in the impression of sitting lower than you do and the rear-mounted spare tire hardly intrudes on visibility. Toyota has given no less than three 12-volt power outlets, ten cupholders (the main ones in front fail to secure skinny drinks), and on top of the various storage pockets and three cargo nets, there's a secondary glovebox that opens and closes by holding down a non-electrical button. Neat. Toyota deemed the RAV4 unworthy of a navigation system (yet rear-seat DVD is up for grabs), leaving the climate controls and stereo as the only mentionables. The former are pretty status quo - plenty friendly, and more so than the automatic A/C on Limited models - but the stereo's reason enough to jump up and down, for the RAV4 returns as the first Toyota to offer MP3/WMA playback or an Aux input jack (much less both) standard. Better yet, the 9-speaker JBL upgrade (two extra speakers plus a back door subwoofer) impassions all music with great clarity and depth - more so than past JBL-equipped Toyotas - and the steering wheel controls are perfect. Just one fly in the ointment: what's with the random static that appears in even the most reception-friendly areas? (‘Twas one of two glitches on this tester, the other being a traction control light that flashed and beeped randomly at stoplights.) You might expect the biggest headline accompanying a 14-inch-elongated SUV to be boundless legroom, and Toyota has not let you down. The RAV4's back row is Avalon awesome in terms of space - sit down and cross your legs if you don't believe me - and they sure be shaped real nice. They also have three belts and adjustable head restraints, a reclining backrest, and a firm bottom cushion that slides fore and aft. Could it get any better than this? Maybe in one way. Toyota made the same decision here as on the Highlander: mounting the bench a little low for adult comfort, resulting in sky-high headroom but floor-low thighs. That also goes for the front seats, whose tracks also don't slide as far back as in some cars, but are otherwise just as comfortable and come with a driver's height adjuster. The other piece of news is big in importance but small in the literal: the third-row seat. My 5-seat tester denied me the experience, but with just 43.3 inches of hiproom and 30 inches of legroom, sitting there to test space would be like setting your pants ablaze to test temperature. RAV4s without these superfluous sadist seats get blessed with two more bonus bins under the floor. And of course, the last piece of news is the cargo area. As before, accessing it entails opening a right-side-hinged door, which if you're a parallel parker means you can get drenched in a rainstorm, take out a headlight of the car parked behind, and get run over by traffic all in one shot. There's now 36.4 or 37.2 cubic feet behind the second row (depending on model), and with all seats folded, it jumps from last year's 68.3 to a vast 73 - a marked increase considering the back seats are no longer removable. Hey hey, that's not far off the Highlander's 80.6! |
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