- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.2DT, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
110kW, 340Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 5.6L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2013)
2013 Toyota RAV4 GX Diesel Manual Review
2013 TOYOTA RAV4 REVIEW
Vehicle Style: Medium SUV
Price: $35,490 (plus on-roads)
Engine/trans: 110kW/340Nm 2.2 diesel / 6spd manual
Fuel Economy claimed: 6.2 l/100km | tested: 7.3 l/100km
OVERVIEW
The Toyota RAV4 is finally available in diesel flavour - it’s a couple of years late, but here it is.
Certainly, the RAV4 is well-recognised among SUV buyers; it and Honda’s CR-V defined the medium SUV segment and for years sat astride it.
But the landscape has changed and it’s now facing off against some very capable and sharply-priced competitors like Mazda’s dominant CX-5, a vastly improved Outlander, Subaru Forester, and others.
So what do we make of it?
In a nutshell, while it holds plenty of promise, the RAV4 diesel comes with some significant shortcomings - a very conservative (some would say “inadequate”) tow-rating among them - and has a battle on its hands for the hearts and wallets of buyers.
So, while it’s not a bad drive, and is neither expensive nor a runaway bargain, the addition of a diesel doesn’t quite give the RAV4 the leg-up we expected.
INTERIOR | RATING: 3/5
Quality: Dash plastics look good, and key touch points like the middle of the dash are trimmed in soft vinyl. Only the moulded-in ‘stitching’ on the horn pad counts as a stylistic negative.
The faux carbon-fibre finish on the centre console and door panels looks fine, if a bit out of place, and overall, while a busy interior, it all fits together nicely.
Comfort: The front seats offer plenty of space and comfort, and the tall-ish seating position affords a commanding view of the road.
The centre rear-seat is very firmly padded, but outboard seats are amply comfortable for adult-sized passengers. Headroom is also good, as is knee and elbow room.
Backseaters will appreciated the two cupholders housed in the fold-down centre armrest, but the absence of rear air-outlets is a disappointment.
On the plus side, ISOFIX anchorages are built into the outboard rear seats, which is bound to appeal to buyers with young families.
Equipment: Standard features are about average for the segment, with trip computer, power windows, cruise control, dual-zone climate control and USB audio input as standard.
Bluetooth phone and audio integration is also standard on the RAV4 GX, but we found it had trouble maintaining a rock-solid connection with our phones. The clunky interface on the touch-screen headunit didn’t help things either.
Storage: It’s a fairly sizable boot, but the presence of the optional full-size spare necessitates a high boot-floor and a reduction in capacity to 506 litres.
Loading things like heavy hardware or big prams is harder than it should be as a result, and there’s not a huge amount of space between the boot floor and the underside of the cargo blind either
The second row ‘kneels’ to create a flat load-floor though, which is a positive. A reconfigurable cargo net also improves storage options.
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