We drove a $39,000 Toyota RAV4 that outsells rivals from Honda, Nissan, and Subaru. Here are its coolest features.
1. Fresh styling: The RAV4's new sheet metal is handsome and modern, delivering suburban civility with a subtle evocation of 4Runner/Land Cruiser ruggedness.
2. New platform: The new RAV4 is built on Toyota's new TNGA-K global midsize platform shared with the Camry sedan. According to Toyota, the new platform is lighter and is designed to deliver a more confident driving experience. Previous RAV4s were built on compact platforms shared with the Corolla and the Prius.
3. Interior quality: RAV4's interior is also new and consider us impressed. Material quality was outstanding, and everything felt well put together.
4. Cabin Ergonomics: Toyota worked hard to make the RAV4's cabin easy to live with — and it shows. Cabin ergonomics are top-notch. Everything the driver needs is clearly marked and easily within reach.
I'm a fan of the various storage nooks found throughout the RAV4, like this one right above the glove box.
5. Comfortable front seats: The leather-upholstered seats in our test car were soft and supportive, with ample adjustments available.
6. Infotainment is getting better: Atop the center stack is an 8-inch touchscreen running the latest version of Toyota's Entune infotainment system. Entune is not one of our favorite systems.
Even though Toyota has made improvements to the system, it's still clunky to use, and its presentation is decidedly outdated.
Entune is not without its merits: The system has plenty of features, such as app integration, WiFi connectivity, and built-in navigation.
And the physical shortcut buttons around the bezels dramatically improve Entune's usability.
7. Apple CarPlay capability: It's available for the first time on the RAV4 and allows you to bypass Entune.
8. One of the RAV4's highlights is its advanced camera system.
Not only does it have a rear view and an overhead view ...
... it also offers a 360-degree panoramic view that will swing around to show the car's surroundings.
The system also has a feature that shows you what the car looks like from the perspective of those around it.
Here's an overhead view from the front left.
9. Standard safety tech: All RAV4s come standard with Toyota's Safety Sense suite of semi-autonomous driver-assistance technologies, including pre-collision warning with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning with steering assist, automatic high beams, lane-tracing assist, and traffic-sign assist.
10. Panoramic sunroof: This massive panoramic glass roof is also a nice extra. It gives the cabin an open, airy feeling.
11. Wireless charging.
12. Cargo room: Open the power liftgate and you'll find 37 cubic feet of cargo room. Fold down the second row, and cargo capacity increases to 69.8 cubic feet.
13. Spare tire: Under the cargo floor is a spare tire, an increasingly rare feature in cars these days.
14. Rear view mirror camera: Our test car came with a screen embedded in the rearview mirror that can be turned on or off using a toggle switch at the bottom. The system took a while to get used to but worked like a charm. It'll be particularly useful when the RAV4 is packed with people or cargo and rear visibility is obstructed.
15. Advanced all-wheel-drive system: Our test car came with a fancy Dynamic Torque Vectoring all-wheel-drive system designed to send up to 50% of the engine's torque to the rear wheels. It can also distribute power between the left rear and right rear based on road conditions.
16. Digital instrument display: In front of the driver is a hybrid digital/analog instrument cluster. Our test car's 7-inch information display worked well and offered a bevy of driving data. Lower-trim cars come with a 4.2-inch display.
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