2019 Toyota RAV4 XSE Hybrid

The Toyota RAV4. What started life as a funky little two-door cute-ute in 1996 has evolved into one of Toyota’s best sellers in 2019. 

Freshly redesigned for 2019, the RAV4 shows no signs of slowing down its sales. According to Toyota, RAV4 sales are up 1.7 percent year-to-date, which are surprisingly led by the RAV4 Hybrid. In 1996, Toyota sold 56,709 RAV4s. In 2018, Toyota sold 427,168. That's a lot of RAV4s.

So then, what makes the RAV4 special? Or rather, why do people buy them? Well, according to Toyota:

The 2019 RAV4 is, in essence, disrupting the segment it created. It is bringing more sport and more utility back while enhancing the agile handling, everyday comfort and exemplary fuel efficiency that made RAV4 the segment leader it is now. All told, the 2019 RAV4 is designed to tackle urban, suburban and great outdoor adventures with equal aplomb. The look is tougher, and there’s greater capability with a new type of all-wheel drive, yet the ride is smoother and quieter, with new comfort touches inside.

As for the design, Toyota says they took inspiration from the trucks while following the themes of “Adventure” and “Refined”. In other words, they made a bunch of curvy shapes into angry shapes. 

Our tester was a Hybrid model which gets a trick rear-mounted electric motor to power the rear wheels when needed. The system is said to help in both limited traction and understeer situations, but we didn’t test that feature. 

The Hybrid XSE starts at $34,050, with our tester coming in at $37,570.

My friend was seriously considering one of these, until she watched the "Moose test" video.

That interior looks nice, but the front end on the current model has never grown on me. 

We bought one for my wife, I think the first one off the lot and it's been averaging (according to the computer) 5.6 L/100 km. That's a HUGE step up from the 10.2 L/100km that her 2012 RAV4 V6 did. She's quite happy with it overall.

Apparently, Toyota is having an internal competition for the worst looking front end of a vehicle since the Edsel, even my wife said this is one of the ugliest cars ever, surpassing the Lexus RX, and that's really hard to do.

therieldeal said:

My friend was seriously considering one of these, until she watched the "Moose test" video.

Ok..........you made me jump over to YouTube and watch the RAV4 moose test video. Interesting.

300zxfreak said:

Apparently, Toyota is having an internal competition for the worst looking front end of a vehicle since the Edsel, even my wife said this is one of the ugliest cars ever, surpassing the Lexus RX, and that's really hard to do.

You are sooooo right. Who is approving this stuff? I guess the new Chevy Silverado designers are happy so someone else can have an uglier front end than theirs. 

What's the final count of shaving ready edges on that car? Double digits?

I think TruckNutz would be an improvement on that car. As in, just duck taped to the hood would be a significant improvement.

The rear end looks stunningly like they walked onto the Ford production line and walked off with a stack of Edge rear ends.

For what it's worth, they look better in darker colors. Ours was pretty close to black. 

And the previous RAV4 front end was even worse.

We just sold our leased 17 4Runner to vroom and leased a 19 Rav4 XLE with the cold weather package and the Entune 3.0 stereo. It isn't as cool as the body in frame 4Runner, but my wife loves it so much more, and the ruby red paint is way nicer than the silver on the runner. We scored a smoking deal on the lease via lease hackr, and my wife is very happy with the car. Happy wife,happy life. I wish we had seen the moose test video however. Not that we encounter moose that often,or rather ever. We do see deer though.

I don't get the styling hate. I mean we both liked the look and handling of the CX-5 a lot better, but the CD issues they are having scared me away. I fell the styling on the Rav4 at least in the shade of red we got is quite handsome. I mean the front grille area resembles the 4Runner in many ways, and it's better looking than the last model I feel. the interior is really where it shines though. Ours has the tan clothe, and it looks great contrast with the ruby red exterior.

I liked my older Rav-4 so much that both my sisters ended up buying them as well. Haven't liked the looks in a while, and....huge. Probably a great vehicle, but I'll still take a CX-5.

I actually really like the current "bull dog" front end. 

ThomASS and Jennifer, do you work for Toyota? You don’t need to push these RAV4s on us, plenty are being sold already. You might want to focus on selling the Mirai.

Go elsewhere.