2022 Toyota RAV4 Prime Review: Almost Silently Perfect
The 2022 Toyota RAV4 lives up to its meat-and-potatoes buzz, but the Prime serves up green-automobile red meat. With the RAV4, Toyota hits a bulls-eye for compact crossover SUV styling and attributes, however interior place misses some critical marks by mere inches. Its Key plug-in is a gem, and that would make it a rival for the Ford Escape as properly as the Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester.
Toyota has tweaked the crossover’s exterior and inside. Most notably, it now sells an SE Hybrid with fabric upholstery and a 7.-inch touchscreen and 6-speaker audio it can be optioned with heated front seats, a sunroof, a power tailgate, and a 9.-inch touchscreen. Up-to-date headlights on all styles at or over the XLE quality could enable its protection score, far too.
The RAV4 faucets rugged specifics and angles for a completely ready-to-rumble search. It hits a lot of higher notes and can take tons of angular odds and it all will work. With hints of 4Runner and Tacoma in its profile, the elegant RAV4 has a squat stance and an abundance of angles that all hang together. The adventurous overall body has slim home windows and a very low-hunting roofline, with swole fenders that get positively chunky in Experience and TRD Off-Highway spec. It can be complicated and uncomfortable to spec out one particular silhouette with luxury details like a mesh grille and, in a further model, with black fender trim and a black-painted roof, but Toyota’s completed so with the RAV4. Even Primes get their very own grille and gloss-black bumper, for a touch of visual distinction.
Exceedingly scarce on seller plenty, the Prime gets a large 18.1-kwh battery pack with electric powered motors to generate 302 hp. Right until the Supra came along, that manufactured the Prime the quickest Toyota motor vehicle, interval. With a -60 mph time of 5.7 seconds, and a tauter sport suspension, the RAV4 Prime launches with authority, handles with aplomb, and can be toggled into an EV-only method for up to 42 miles of battery-electric driving. The battery provides about 500 lb to control body weight, and that displays up in far more understeer in tightly kinked roads, but it is a hushed drive however, a eco-friendly thrill to be sought out. We typically saw all electric powered array all around 50 miles.
Get the RAV4 Key for max effectiveness f you can come across a single. The RAV4 Prime receives scored at up to 42 miles of electric powered-only driving, and at 94 MPGe for total effectiveness, or 38 mpg blended with gasoline economy estimates of 41/38/40 mpg with normal all-wheel travel.
The IIHS gave the RAV4 a Best Security Decide on award in the previous model 12 months for the Hybrid Restricted with its extravagant adaptive headlights. Most other products have sported LED headlights rated “Marginal” Hybrids’ headlights have been rated “Poor.” Toyota has upgraded the headlights this year on the XLE and all types higher than it, so we’ll update the results in this article when new knowledge is revealed.
The NHTSA, in the meantime, gives the RAV4 5 stars overall, but that comes with a 4-star score for front-affect defense. Alongside with computerized unexpected emergency braking, all RAV4s arrive with adaptive cruise handle, active lane regulate, and automatic high beams. Blind-spot monitors can be equipped, and they’re advisable given that thick roof pillars blot out some of the watch to the rear.
The cabin could increase upon some of its more challenging plastics, but what is effective right here is the simplicity of its layout. A horizontal line across the sprint offers the RAV4 a calmness that is brightened up by metallic trim around the vents and the change lever. Spendy variations can dress in artificial leather and distinction-coloration stitching, even a massive 9.-inch touchscreen, but the glimpse stays the very same: thoughtful and restrained, without having currently being dull.
The RAV4’s adventurous form trims again some utility. Cargo fares nicely in the latest RAV4. It sports a good deal of small bins and cabinets for stuff like smartphones and h2o bottles. The again seat folds down, too, which boosts its 31 cubic feet of cargo place to about 63 cubic toes due to the fact the Primes eliminate about 6 cubic feet to more substantial battery packs. The cargo flooring sits at a great peak for loading, and a lot of models have or offer you a electric power tailgate.
The optional sunroof cuts into what’s currently trim head space for 6-footers, while at 6’1” yours definitely matches just barely. The driving place suits many physique styles, though, and Toyota adds heating and synthetic leather-based upholstery to some versions. In back, the RAV4’s 37 inches of leg place in shape tall travellers great, but head place continue to checks in on the slender aspect. Shoulder room will come at a top quality: A 3rd passenger can elbow their way into the center seat, but no a person will want to trip that way for extensive.
The RAV4 delivers decent value but the Primary can make us splurge. We very endorse the RAV4 Key with its plug-in 302-hp drivetrain, but it’s seriously hard to discover on seller loads and at existing, comes with considerable markup over its sticker price of just under $40,000. It receives a activity suspension, beauty add-ons, an offered 9.-inch touchscreen, an audio subwoofer, a sunroof, and synthetic leather upholstery with pink accents.
With the RAV4, Toyota has stuck the veritable sweet-spot of the modest SUV course. The 2022 Toyota RAV4 is a good competitor in the compact crossover course, just one that the Key just makes much better. It does every little thing you’d want with Toyota refinement and trustworthiness, and in Hybrid and Prime variations, good fuel economic system. The 2022 Toyota RAV4 Key is an extraordinary crossover, probably the best a single that Toyota builds.