Toyota RAV4 5-door
Four-wheel drive comes no more fashionably than
Toyota's RAV4 and in five-door form, it has family appeal too. June Neary checks it out
It's intriguing to consider that Toyota's upwardly mobile statement of urban chic might well be the finest mud-plugging tool yet invented and we wouldn't know it. The trendy townies who snap up the companys RAV4 are no more likely to take them to the sludge than the GTi `hot hatches` and small sportscars they probably traded in as part exchange. I would be guilty as charged of keeping out of the rough. I adored the pearly blue three-door version I was able to test drive when the revised version first appeared, but had to concede that to buy one would be sheer self-indulgence - and my husband agreed. He has tended to discount four wheel drives for urban use as a bit 'poserish', but to my surprise he was quite taken with the practicality afforded by the RAV4 in five-door form. Toyota have devised the five-door with a view to tempting family buyers who might have been considering something larger and
Land Rover Discovery-sized into paying rather less. Just £18,750 to be exact if you go for the base XT3 5-door version. That undercuts this cars major rival, Land Rovers five-door Freelander.
So far, so good.
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We both enjoyed the high up driving position which gives a super view of the road (as well as enabling you to look down on other road users...).
Our nephew has been a four wheel drive fan since the first time he came out with me on a test drive and was impressed with the
Toyota's huge boot space which had room to spare for his bicycle, small friend's pushchair - and me - as we went to the park with some friends. It also fits the bill nicely if, like we do, you keep bottles, newspapers and aluminium cans for recycling. There's loads of room to load up the monthly collection (light on the bottles, I hasten to add) with sacks of fallen leaves, to take to the dump. Thats because this latest five-door RAV4 is a very different beast to the original Nineties version. In reality, the five-door version of the original RAV4 was little more than a stretched version of the three-door: it felt it too, if you were cramped with two other passengers in the back, short of head, leg and shoulder space. In comparison, rivals like the Freelander and Hondas CRV, though hardly huge inside, could at least offer rear occupants enough room to make long journeys tolerable. Hardly surprising then, that the latest five-door RAV4 model has been created very much as a car in its own right. Theres significantly more space than before, with a capacious boot the contents of which are hidden by a horizontal spring-loaded roller-blind that clips up to the back of the MPV-like slideable, foldable and removable rear seats.
Total passenger space has been increased by lengthening the wheelbase and improving interior height, meaning greater head and legroom. Its apparently wider inside too but didnt feel it to me. Three adults across the back
seat will still be pretty friendly after all but the shortest journeys. Despite this, the RAV4 is now the most spacious car in its class, with versatility that no other rival can match.
On the move, the RAV4 is surprisingly comfortable. Perhaps Toyota have decided to acknowledge that most owners don't buy an off-roader to drive off the road and have adjusted the suspension accordingly. It's also faster than other four wheel drives in the sector, so I'm told. Certainly, the latest 147bhp16 valve 2.0-litre engine should suit those who favour frantic lifestyles. Rest to sixty is reached in just 10.
6 seconds - an impressive figure for a 4-wheel drive vehicle - on the way to a maximum of 115mph. In other words, you can cruise at or above the legal limit without revving the engine to its ragged edge. As with the original RAV4, the handling is impressive. No, it isn't as sharp as the GTi my other half used to drive in his carefree younger days (he said), but the RAV4 came surprisingly close. Cornering roll in other 4x4s is such that they require an entirely different driving technique. That isn't the case here. "It's just like driving a car," was his verdict. It's less manoeuvrable in the supermarket car park, even with power steering, than a car would be, but given the size and weight of the vehicle, this is a very minor point.
Three specification levels XT3, XT4 and XT5 - are being offered in the UK, and all are pretty all-inclusive. Apart from twin airbags, curtain airbags and three triple-point seatbelts for rear seat passengers, all front occupants sit on Toyotas new whiplash injury lessening (WIL) seats. There are thoughtful design features, too. These include handy drinks holders, net-type seat-back pockets behind the front seats, coin holders and a deckside storage compartment in the rear for extra storage space.
You can also adjust the headlamps from the inside and shut off the rear electric windows to stop the kids playing with them in the back. All this for just over £18,700 is pretty impressive. Equally so is the range of accessories on offer at local dealers. Depending on your chosen lifestyle, you can bolt on holders for, amongst other things, bicycles, skis and surfboards.
There are also roof rails for your windsurfer and of course, a towing hitch for the pony club caravan. As usual with Toyota, the standard aftersales package is thorough. You get a three year or 60,000 mile warranty, plus a year's free membership of `Club Toyota`, which includes a roadside assistance service in UK and Europe.
The fact that the man in my life could quite happily live with a RAV4 five-door certainly makes it a viable option for me. Where the three-door was very much a second - or third - car, in my view, this larger model could feasibly be the family car.
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