I'm buying a new car.... finally decided I'm sick of the Rover 25 (got my use out the warranty tho.... not that I'm saying it was unreliable....)
Reading What Car etc, I notice Toyota come out top in a reliability study recently... cool... I was thinking about a Leguna(sp?) but thought I'd go and have a look in the Toyota showroom just up the road...
Now I'm looking for a *reliable* 5 door, with all the trimmings inc SatNav (hey I am a woman!) in about the £18,000 price bracket and I was rather taken by both the Avensis and the Rav4. Although I've never really fancied a SUV the Rav looked rather... ravishing!
SO.... I'm asking for some non-showroom-unbiased opinions on both these vehicles... for example is the RAV just a jumped up jeep? Or is it more than that, is it really a family car?
My main wants? Room for long legs (44inches from hip to toe) in both the front and back, comfortable drive (with power steering obviously) and something relatively stylish....
...all opinions welcome (including better cars in my price range!)
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My partner looked at the RAV when she wanted a small 4X4 and we didn't like it at all on close inspection and ended up with a Freelander. I know they have a bit of a reputation for unreliability but we've had no problems at all with it and I think perceived image is better than RAV- personally I think RAV is a bit of a hairdressers car. As a SAAB owner and long-time fan I'd suggest a nearly new SAAB 95 estate-much more classy than the Avensis or RAV.
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Both are fine cars. You won't go wrong reliability-wise, so just choose whichever you prefer (personally I would pick the Avensis).
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Both are very fine cars. You may also want to consider Honda Accord and CRV, similar to Toyota's Avensis and RAV-4, also 2-litre and just as reliable.
One issue you have to consider is the real world fuel consumption of the RAV-4 and CRV. Both would struggle to obtain 30 mpg in any condition. A friend have a new CRV auto and he gets 22mpg in a mixture of urban and motorway driving, which is worse than my 3-litre QX.
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Should the decision here not be one of whether to take an SUV or an estate and then look at the competion (RAV4 / CRV / XTrail or Avensis / Accord.
SUV's are very popular right now but they do bring their own disadvantages in relative performance and economy as well as the recent concerns about their stability in the event of high speed manouevres.
I am personally not a great fan of SUV's and unless four wheel drive is a must would go for the estate (the Accord may just edge the Avensis at the moment) but Toyota have such excellent reliability that the Avensis would be a great choice too.
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I bought a new 5 door petrol RAV4 GX in March and its been a good car. Best of all my wife enjoys driving it, which is a new thing as far as she's concerned
Mine mostly does short jouneys of about 8 miles to work and back and at the moment its averaging 25mpg, which is slightly worse than the 2.0 litre Focus I had before it. Long runs have seen 34mpg+ and I don't hang about!
It basically depends what your driving style is. The Avensis will be undoubtably better at cornering than the RAV4 in most conditions, but the RAV4 will be better in snow,ice etc. The RAV is great from a visibility point of view and is easy for getting into/out of. It will also cruise easily at motorway speeds
Worst aspect of the RAV4 is the design of the rear door and boot area. The door doesn't swing open to 90 degrees due to safety legislation regarding the rear lights in this country and the parcel shelf restricts access into the deep boot as it doesn't automatically lift out of the way like a hatchback would.
I've also heard the RAV4 is due a face lift this September, so you may find some good deals shortly on the existing model.
My advice - ask your local dealer to give you an extended test drive of both and see which suits you best!
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>>RAV is a bit of a hairdressers car...
Well that's definetly put me off! Don't want people to think I am either...
1. A Hairdresser (no offence hairdressers out there!)
2. A mum with hoards of screaming kids
Plus don't like the sound of the boot restrictions from Perturbed...
I think it will be the Avensis, but gonna look into the Accord as a few of you have mentioned its worth a look, plus I find Hondas lovely to drive (used to have a civic many moons ago and it was a lovely little car)
:o) Thanks one and all!
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Only downside to the Accord that I can see from your wish list is that it is only available with sat nav on the 2.4 Executive, which is £20k. (You could of course get an aftermarket version).
It will probably hold its value better than the Avensis - a base Avensis T2 can be had for £12,600 with a 1.8, compared to ~£16k for an Accord 2.0 SE - which is admittedly a higher spec, but there's no downward pressure on values from a junior rep-spec version.
As for the original question - it's a tough choice. Personally I'm not a fan of 4×4s, and an Avensis will presumably be faster, more economical, more comfortable, more spacious and safer in most situations. Against that, if you really want the high driving position and 4 wheel drive, the RAV4 is one of the most capable, and will almost certainly depreciate less than an Avensis, so any increase in fuel consumption will be offset for most people. (The difference in fuel consumption is much greater for diesels than petrols in this case).
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The Rav 4 upright style gives you good legroom in the rear. In Silver doesn't look hairdresserish at all. Also your resale value is always going to be much better with the RAV 4. You can buy portable satnav all in for about £400 now, so see if you can save enough for leather seats instead...
PB.
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Don't get me wrong about the boot, its a minor problem not a major one and the rest of the car makes up for it.
Its well built, well specced, comfortable and with 150 horses under the petrol bonnet, it's no slouch!
A hairdressers car? - well that's the view of some folk perhaps, but so what! Hey, what's so special about what they are driving! Me - I'm just off to finish that trim and blow dry..........
As I said earlier, get an extended test drive on both of them before discarding either out of hand. You'll be pleasantly urprised by the good drive the RAV4 offers
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