Toyota Doubles RAV4 Diesel Tow Rating

Toyota Australia has increased the maximum tow rating of its diesel RAV4 models to 1000kg, as sales of its new soft-roader take off.

Originally rated to tow only 550kg on a braked trailer (500kg for automatic variants), the diesel RAV4 was deemed by Toyota Motor Corporation to be too fragile to haul heavier loads in what it considered to be a harsh environment.

In cooler climes where the RAV4 diesel is also sold, such as the United Kingdom, diesel RAV4s are rated to tow up to 2000kg on a braked trailer.

While the doubled rating will be welcome news to owners, it's still well short of the tow rating of those European variants and is still 500kg shy of the 2.5 litre petrol RAV4's tow capacity.

(Rather perverse, given the 2.5 litre petrol engine has just 233Nm of torque, versus the 340Nm of the 2.2 litre diesel.)