Toyota RAV4
One of the early examples of an off-roader's stance built on a passenger-car platform, paired with on-road comfort.
Overview
The RAV4 is one of the models that helped normalise combining an off-roader's appearance with passenger-car driving manners. Unlike traditional off-roaders built on a heavy ladder frame, it uses a monocoque body, which brings weight and road behaviour closer to urban expectations.
The SUV body type today covers a broad family with blurred boundaries, and the RAV4 sits squarely in that blur: the raised seating position and large wheel arches evoke an off-roader, while the mechanical layout is closer to a passenger car.
Recent generations are strongly associated with hybrid drivetrains. That is one of the common answers to the weight and fuel-consumption criticism aimed at the class: bringing in an electric motor at low speeds shortens the range in which the combustion engine runs least efficiently.
Details
- Brand
- Toyota
- Category
- SUV
- Body
- SUV
- Propulsion
- hibrit
- Produced
- 1994–