Toyota Rav4 (Gen. 3) Owners & Discussions [Merged]

[Isuzoom]

[/IMG]Spotted White RAV4 O6.. crossing in front of me (im driving Xtrail) I stop and took pics with my cellphone camera.

Bacolod City
5:30pm

[ryan]

Congrats on your RAV4 Sinster. Please post some pics when you get it.

By the way, you mentioned that Toyota dealers "recommend" RAV4 buyers to get car financing from them. May I know what's their inhouse rate?

[letranboy]

toyota bicutan already selling a RAV4

[konde]

saw one on the road. parang pinaghalo ang 1st at 2nd gen rav4.

6-month wait for the rav4? IMO, w/ its steep price----i don't think so.

[boybi]

mukha ngang aabot ng 6 months. 8 na yung nakapila dito sa dealer malapit sa amin.

[cardo]

1.8M yun 4x4? Malapit na sa explorer xlt at 1.9

[Sinster]

Regarding the In-house Financing rate - I will not be getting that so I did not bother to check; but you can be guaranteed that it will be higher than bank, and will have some pretty high pre-payment penalty clauses.

Regarding the wait - I agree; it is ridiculous. However, have confirmed with Toyota Japan as well that there is simply limited production globally as it comes off only one line there and will continue to do so for the next 12mths. I was also led to believe that Toyoto Phils was given the choice to wait 12mths to launch it, with much better inventory levels, but I guess based on the learnings from the Fortuner, shortage in supply does more for advertising than any commercial on TV. So no prizes for guessing which way they went!

Regarding the comment on buying the Explorer XLT for 1.9; one factoid correction, and couple of thoughts. THe price for the Explorer is actually 1.8MM all in on special promotion. Ofcourse this was also in end jan before the VAT hike. So not sure if it has gone up since then. Secondly, they are two very different cars. If your decision is driven by how much metal do I get for my money - Pls get the Explorer. If your decision is not affected by fuel economy, interior finishing, quality of materials - then pls pls pls do not look at the Rav4. It will be wasted in anyones hands, especially with the extremely short supply.

Personally I ofcourse also prefer the size of the Rav4 vs. the Explorer. The explorer is one big hunk of metal; which is not to my taste. But that is indeed very subjective...

Thanks.

ps- Sorry, I am not a Pinoy so I don't understand Tagalog. I catch a little bit of what folks say - so incase you do have a question for me, English pls! Salamat Po!

[jang]

I think it's way overpriced. The new rav4 4x2 only costs around 22k usd in the states and around 25k usd for the 4x4. This would be okay if the same could be said of the price difference of other cars but it seems this isn't the case. For the explorer it costs around 28k to 35k usd in the states yet it costs only 1.8m php over here. For some reason toyota thinks that it can charge a higher profit margin here than it does in other countries.

[ryan]

I think it's way overpriced. The new rav4 4x2 only costs around 22k usd in the states and around 25k usd for the 4x4. This would be okay if the same could be said of the price difference of other cars but it seems this isn't the case. For the explorer it costs around 28k to 35k usd in the states yet it costs only 1.8m php over here. For some reason toyota thinks that it can charge a higher profit margin here than it does in other countries.

While I think the RAV4 is expensive, sorry but I have to disagree that its way overpriced compared to what youre getting in exchange. Siguro many of us are just programmed that a Toyota should only be worth only xxx much. Personally, I'm happy to see better features in our local cars here.

Also, I don't think that we should rely on US prices too much since there are too many factors to consider (like size of car market, taxes, no. of units sold to profit, etc).

A better comparo for me is how other local models price their cars vs the features included. Or to a much smaller extent, how much our neighboring Asian countries price their cars.

I mean c'mon, when the new Pajero first came out, did everyone say that its TOO expensive? But now that the new Fortuner is here, siguro everybody thinks thats way na.

[BlueBimmer]

maybe after a year or 2, an SV rav4 would be released at a lower price, wishful thinking hehe

[cardo]

Imho, actually I would get more(not just more metal but more room, power, features etc) compared to other similarly priced cars at 1.8M(or even at 1.4m) like the Fortuner, Alterra, or explorer especially if you consider size. But if some people can buy a prado where a fortuner makes more sense, why not a spanking new rav4 right? Thats cool....

As always with newly released models/cars - no test unit available. No freebies and cash discount. Long lines. Hopefully no unforseen new problems or bugs come out

Bluebimmer,

Onga noh? 1.8 SV? hehe. Pero baka bumaba pa yun price, 52 na lang ang isang dolyar. Wait ako til 30petot hehehe.

[Sinster]

Hey Cardo - agree with you on the room and power. Sorry - Did not mean to imply that the only difference was the physical size. However, completely disagree on the features. As i said in my initial post, the Rav4 is loaded with features (and design elements) that are standard on entry level cars for premium marques; ie BMW, Merc etc. The Ford Explorer pales in comparison.

And then ofcourse, there is the design. Like I said, this is very subjective, very very subjective - but one look at the Rav4 interior vs. the Explorer Interior will conclude a fact for sure. The explorer interior is designed in the US about 5-7yrs ago. The rav4 interior is designed in Japan in the past 12mths.

In other words, the Rav4 is simply reflects some of the newer design elements in a car which have become pretty much a norm; whereas the explorer relies on its price and physical size to offset the clear shortfall that it is just OLD OLD OLD OLD OLD!

[herbularyo]

I'm not a big fan of the Ford's interior design specifically the dashboard layout. Just take a look at the dashboard of the Everest/Ranger. That's my own subjective opinion. OT nga pala.

[cardo]

I'm not a big fan of the Ford's interior design specifically the dashboard layout. Just take a look at the dashboard of the Everest/Ranger. That's my own subjective opinion. OT nga pala.

matanda na yun everest at ranger kase... late 90's pa ata yun ranger. just like the old old old old explorer! kidding aside ford seem to design their vehicles on the truck-ish side.

Hey Cardo - agree with you on the room and power. Sorry - Did not mean to imply that the only difference was the physical size. However, completely disagree on the features. As i said in my initial post, the Rav4 is loaded with features (and design elements) that are standard on entry level cars for premium marques; ie BMW, Merc etc. The Ford Explorer pales in comparison.

And then ofcourse, there is the design. Like I said, this is very subjective, very very subjective - but one look at the Rav4 interior vs. the Explorer Interior will conclude a fact for sure. The explorer interior is designed in the US about 5-7yrs ago. The rav4 interior is designed in Japan in the past 12mths.

In other words, the Rav4 is simply reflects some of the newer design elements in a car which have become pretty much a norm; whereas the explorer relies on its price and physical size to offset the clear shortfall that it is just OLD OLD OLD OLD OLD!

Wala yan kotse ng lolo ko joke

Sinster, Whoa, hold your horses dude... I just said it’s near the price of an XLT Explorer. And that some other models may have better features(depending on your preference) like the Alterra which has a 5.1 audio video entertainment system or the Fortuner with D4D and off road capability…. But these are examples.

I'm sure the rav4, the fortuner or the explorer is great and all for each individuals needs. personal reviews of the rav4(esp. your views) seem to be good. but they are more opinionated than methodical evaluations. No one’s wrong. unless we are engineers who come up with graphs and numbers because they literally strap on video, computers with propriety software and telemetry and track test the car… atleast these engineers can safely conclude for a fact that car x corners better than car y. or if we have ergonomic data, graphs and evaluations that interior x is in fact better than another... than I guess we are all right in our humble opinions.

1.8M yun 4x4? Malapit na sa explorer xlt at 1.9

Imho, actually I would get more(not just more metal but more room, power, features etc) compared to other similarly priced cars at 1.8M(or even at 1.4m) like the Fortuner, Alterra, or explorer especially if you consider size. But if some people can buy a prado where a fortuner makes more sense, why not a spanking new rav4 right? Thats cool....

[OTEP]

Old is not necessarily bad.

Even old school motoring tech and design can teach new school a thing or two.

[Isuzoom]

Toyota Bacolod already sold 3 units today.

[miLes]

for the looks i like the 2nd gen rav 4 better, there's something wrong kasi with this one...hm...

this one's priced just too high... id go for the vitara instead

[Sinster]

Cardo - ive held my horses (all 170 of them that come with the new rav4) and calmed down! haha, sorry if my post came across as being too aggressive - I was not feeling it at all, just my words might have been stronger than I actually felt.

Anyways, agree with lots of what you said - its a very personal review that i did, and it was defintely not even a performance review.

But pare, let me tell you from the heart, its a looker. Its a stunner. Its jsut mindblowing. I have been in manila for about one month now looking for a compact/mid-size SUV (just moved from Japan), and it has been really tough. Only things that looked good on paper AND in person were not within my price range (1.3MM ~ 1.6MM Pesos). Everything else was good on paper, but not upto scratch in person. I looked at the Ford Escape, Explorer, Mazda Tribute, Honda CRV, Nissan X-Trail, Kia Sorento, Hyundai Tucson, Ssangyong Rexton, Toyota Fortuner etc etc etc. Really did it all, and found the winner in the new Rav4. I guess thats why you see me so excited and over-zealous in my words!

Also - these forums were a GREAT help! wouldnt hv known abt all the ins and outs of the car market if i hadnt been reading all the posts. Was actually very very very dissappointed with the level of knowledge of the salepeople at almost every dealership. These forum pages (and its users like yourself) very INVALUABLE to help me make my decision. I feel the responsibility to now give back .hahaha

[michael_pmc]

based on my experience with Ravs and crvs....they're fun to drive and engine is responsive..but after 2-3 yrs of use...i started to hear rattling sound on our rav4...so much noise inside..compare it to my dad's CRV..

[pixelparadigm]

The LWB version doesn't draw a sporty look on the RAV4. Comparing its proportions to its class, the Subaru Forester seems to be a better looking car.

I just like what RAV4 is in the first place, a compact SUV. Now it has some identity crisis of some sort.