regfootball

it was a tan cloth interior. in the past i have not been critical of the RAV4's cabin. I have sat in it and it has appeared pleasant if a bit odd with the way the center stack juts out and with its bizarre shaping. A design element I think is nice is the exaggerated door pulls on each door, very stylized and substantial feeling. The door panels had a nice design. The center stack and console I determined I just did not like or agree with. The location of the radio and climate controls are fine. However, the radio has that same ugly generic asian look you see in many cars, with cheap looking face panel and buttons. But that was not as offensive as the climate controls. Arranged in three round pods or stations, one would think they may put twist controls there. Um, no, that would be logical. Instead, they broke the parts up into loose fitting and cheap feeling buttons, all of which needed you to take your eyes off the road to even have a chance of picking up on the mode of operation. Accompanying this dizzy cluster---k of nonsensical, non tactile buttons was a cheesy cheap display that was tough to read, especially in bright daylight. Moving down, the cupholders occupy the spot in front of the shifter. In this vehicle it seems to be ok although I did not have a big gulp with to verify if you bang your knees on it. The cupholders were nothing special and maybe did not seem very secure, but certainly they seemed to invite big drinks into the cabin. I really have grown to like the cupholders to the side of the shifter like in my 500, but I would guess many buyers would be ok with this arrangement. The shifter itself was thin and cheap with an oddly shaped knob. The action of the shifter was an odd gated pattern which I thought was overkill for this vehicle. And it must be a 4 speed auto. Next to the D was the number 3. Altogether i felt the shift pattern was bizarre. The armrest was a bit smaller than I would like. I did not open the storage area under the armrest but I will assume it was ok. There is cool sliding door on the second storage bin on the passenger side. Kind of an extra storage spot, that doesn't hold much, but the sliding action was somewhat slicker than I expected and for those looking for more cubbies it is useful. I don't recall significant storage in the doors. So, I am seated now and looking at things directly in front of me. The 3 spoke typical Toyota steering wheel. I'll be honest with you, it looked kind of cheap. It had leather on it, which felt ok, and it was a nice size....but the controls built into it were cheesy and the plastic was cheap and glossy. There was very little range of height adjustment so I did the best I could to get it high enough to be usable but not block the gauges.....but the gauges are still way too low and have a cheap cartoonish korean feel to them. Plus, they are small. Give Honda credit, they do know how to make gauges that work. The gauges in this thing are last gen Hyundai. I felt the stalks off the side of the SW were in odd spots as well. What really pissed me off was hunting for the power mirror controls. took forever to find! The had thembetween the shifter and the armrest in the CENTER CONSOLE! Not on the door AS GOD INTENDED. The seats themselves, nicely firm, ok, maybe overly so. But what bothered me was the overshaping of them. They were not shaped for me, they try to contour them for each leg seemingly and all that jazz. Just a simple bottom cushion with some side bolstering is all that's needed. They try to creat a race seat or something and get it wrong. The backrest was supportive but again shaped wrong. I was at least able to adjust the depth and height and backrest to make it usable. Also, it had a power adjuster that worked well. The cabin also had easy ingress and egress for such a small vehicle and shoulder and hip room were good for this class of vehicle. Headroom too. The rear seats appeared to have decent legroom and a supportive cushion, but the seat bottom seemed low. I did not try but if i recall the backrests recline in the rear of this RAV4 as well. The trunk is what I really found disappointing. Very small. This unit in particular was very dirty and beat up in the back and maybe suggested to me cheap materials showing premature wear. And this leads to one of the biggest problems on this vehicle....the ridiculous rear door with the tire thing. It's awkward to open, has no key or unlock on the door itself, and is not sturdy. It shakes badly when closed and makes an awful slamming noise that i used to think only car doors from cheap 70's cars did. The glass panel above the door i think was frameless which is ridiculous if that's the case, it shook and flopped around making you think you'd easily shatter it at some point if you owned the rig. The cheapness, sloppiness, and terrible function of that rear door alone is enough for me to not recommend this vehicle to anyone. Another note.....the interior assembly quality of pieces is ok, and the plastics are low gloss, but they are hard to the touch and cheap looking once you fix on them. Certainly not any better than the Kia Sportage I had once for a rental. We are not talking bottom of the barrel Chrysler plastics here, but simply not that great. Nothing worth the mags praising at all. Al the interior trim seemed hard, cheap and insubstantial. Overall, a very Korean aura to the interior. Lots of cost cutting must have went on. And its all weird shapes and forms. The new Vue's interior is much more agreeable. I'll just capsule the ride and drive part tonight and expand on that tomorrow. Driving it was ok, decent four cylinder power, certainly most folks would be happy with it. A few times, it would not kick down and it would bog down when i gave it hard gas. Lots of hesitation. Steering has a nice light touch and feel, but not much feedback. You don't really get any sense of what is going on on the road below. The ride was stiffer than I expected, I felt too noisy and stiff for a chick car. But I could see where it has a plain sedan feel to it. Shifting was quiet but the 4 cylinder had a buzz and drone to it that even though was slightly muffled, was rather annoying. The most troubling and annoying thing was all the engine vibration through the floor and the seat and such, especially idling in gear at a light. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. DRONEEEEEEEEEEE. Refined? NO. then with the air on, the damn thing had trouble idling at times at the stoplight. Sad. And the whole vehicle felt insubstantial and light. Too light. Not secure and planted like the Edge. Well, that's about it. I used to think this thing was a class leader, and maybe its better with the 6, but no way in hell do I spend money on this overgrown comact car that lacks finesse and finishing and any sense of class or luxury. This must be why the crawling recreational vehicle outsells it or something. I am going to have to drive the new Vue and Equinox now. To me, packaging and solidity wise, both those GM entrants would be more desirable. Anyone looking at the RAV4 at least needs to look at the Vue. I might be keen on a Torrent GXP if i was shopping this class. All that is happening here is this. In the 90's the camry and accord dumbed down the larger more solid sedans into something tinnier and cheesier and cheaper in a form that women liked because it was smaller and lighter and more their scale. The cute utes is doing that now with SUV's. Turn them into small light tin cans that women feel comfortable drivng because they are nimbler and more manageable but at the same time they lose their stoutness and a bunch or real utility. JMO.

Ok, first off, I am not against the notion of cute utes. But the style and aura of many of the entrants into this class, quite honestly, are either feminine or sexless vehicles. After driving this thing, I am guessing many of the buyers are, too. I actually have driven quite a few crossovers, but not all of them in this smaller class. I have driven enough to know that the cute utes, feeling more smallish and carlike, are desirable by women because they are more managable and intimate than bigger SUV's. But this smallness makes things like this RAV4 feel more like a bloated hatchback than any kind of truck. This is where I will note that in the past, I never felt the old Saturn Vue (which I test drove like 4 different times) had that sort of androgynous personality. The Old Vue felt like a truck to me, but I can plainly see the new Vue was morphed to be more like vehicles like the Rav4 and Honda's popular Crawling Recreational Vehicle. In essence, these vehicles have an oddball feel to them that I am not sure I like. You sit more upright, but at the same time, the vehicle does not really have a wide truckish stable feel. You really get no glimpse of the hood out the drivers window. So, if you think you like cute utes, go drive one and see if it's your cup of tea. Ok, so, current gen RAV4, 22k miles on the odo, 4 cylinder AWD. Cloth. Aplliance white. So specifically I will start out with the interior.

SO, I got blessed with a RAV4 for a couple days on a work trip. I was in no mood to try and negotiate what I really wanted this trip with all sorts of folks queued up at the rental joint, so I just let fate cast its ugly hand. OMG, the irony. Me forced into a hoyotha. And a p*$$y ute nonetheless. Well, let's just say I ain't buyin one by any stretch. And believe or not, this was one of the only Toyota's I've been ok with saying 'class leader' and 'I am fine with it'. Just remember folks, try before you buy........ (more to come)

i'm the one driving, i could give a crap if the people in the back get an armrest. the only thing i have heard consistently about bmw's, never buy one, lease one new only, because the repair bills will kill you, and are inevitable. nice cars, but certainly will put you in the poor house with all sorts of repairs.

mi2

i like that he appreciated the CTS was unique in its own way and didn't mention the 3 series about 30 times.

well, they do put disclaimers in the brochures saying they can change specs and equipment anytime, however, this is a really dumb move by hoyotha.

wow 600,000 miles in a civic would be torture.

get a rollup, for whenever the mood strikes...... at the restaurant? TIME TO PLAY SOME TUNES!

wow. this is just extreme ugly. some of the interior is ok, but mano, that outside is criminally bad.

wow, i was gone on a work trip tues and weds and just got back. coincidence?.......... 'it's like i was never gone'

and yet, the level of nitpicking in the press for this class is amazing, and even among internet posters. go to some other sites where a bunch of punks who have likely never even held a car loan, used or new, or maybe who have been driving a car for like a year or two, absolutely crucify little things about these cars, yet in their own garage is probably a moped or some complete beater. the amount of scrutiny in this class is bordering on unreasonable. these cheap v6 sedans are so good, yet the level of minutia they get to in these tests borders on psychotic. basically we come back around to this. America, go drive the effing cars yourselves and make your own selection.

another bland korean product. what exactly is the point? i suppose rental fleets and maybe?... this has all the excitement of an isuzu assender that's three years old but still new sitting on some obscure lot somewhere

or roll around in the slop with the other pigs......

yoiks, it just oinked at me!!!!!!!!

amazing. i SO want that truck now! I love the grille! It looks like it has such a beefy chassis.

progress, the chevy is included with the previously untouchables....... this alone is progress........

well, it's still recognizable as a ram, i guess. it's kind of a mid nineties look?

this is exactly why motor trend does a disservice to its readers only testing 4 cars. any of the cars that BV mentioned above or that any of us have mentioned are all decent cars. maybe not all 'gotta haves' but certainly all are good vehicles.

well, if the HHR moves 400,000-500,000 units over its lifespan i don't think its a waste. it amortizes the delta some more and it gained chevy some market share it would not have. the next cobalt should also have a wagon/2 box type companion vehicle as well.

IMO, the saab 9-3 price should be around where a vdub passat is. for an end of season deal, it is probably lower than what saab wants, but at the same time you can get a cool car for not a lot of money and it has leather and power seat. there is nothing wrong with that for the consumer. Just looking at the 08 pricing on carsdirect this morning. the base 9-3 they list for around 25k. That is still a good deal when you consider that this would be where a higher end Malibu would be. And its about where the Passat starts out at. We really need to cleanse our heads of some ridiculous notion that the 9-3 should be toe to toe with the c class and 3 series. 10 years ago, new saab 9-3 hatches never had that pretension and often you would see ads for them selling new around 16-18 grand. In the US market, Saab would best exist somewhere equal to or slightly about VW with this model, and equal or around where some of the Acura models exist. With most of their volume. Some of the XWD product is pushing 40g and I think it might be worthy of close to that, but I would rather see those models around 36 or so. I really think Saab and GM is missing the boat by not selling the lesser priced 9-3's against VW's lineup and Acura. The 9-3 alone could compete well against some of those near lux cars, but they do not position them or advertise them that way.

I'd like to see the 4 cylinder comparison delayed until chevy gets that 6 speed hooked up to it. How bitchin would a turbo four be in this malibu?

i could really love a car like this. yummy. i hope the upcoming new 9-5 has a performance option and cross wheel drive like this.

time for updates? TIER 1 Accord Milan / Fusion Altima Malibu Aura Passat 2.0 Mazda6 TIER 2 Grand Prix Galant / Ralliart Impala Camry LaCrosse TIER 3 Avenger Sebring Legacy Sonata Optima

i would challenge anyone posting on this website to attempt to gracefully enter and exit and sit in the third row of a mazda5 in comfort. again, mazda5, maybe the furriners love em, but in the US, multiperson vehicles don't sell without lots of room. look at the original odyssey vs the one now.