rev up your engines now Toyota's been selling the rav4 since 1996 in the United
States and so far they've sold over 4 million of these things there's a lot of
reasons for that but the main reason it's here under the hood this particular
one has a venerable 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine and in this case
it's the redesign 2 AR engine it's not like the earlier one the burn oil from
worn piston rings and worn Pistons these I haven't seen any problems in as long
as you change the oil and this particular one is made in to a six-speed
automatic transmission perhaps the best transmission Toyota ever made sure the
early four-speed on max they were fine these six speeds get much better gas
mileage and have much better power characteristics and today the rav4s
come in various configurations two-wheel drive four-wheel drive even have a
hybrid version they're really one of the most popular semi compact us you really
might call them compact but got a lot of room inside just check it out nice
sporty interior in the front lots of room in the back all kinds of room in
this case they put the back seats forward so there's all kinds of room
they carry their dogs around to here lots of room for the dogs didn't have
that ugly spare hiding on the back like they used to they got the spare in a
normal place it's hiding under here where it belongs the stylistic looks a lot
better than those old ones at that ugly tire on the back the nice and turret you
told sorry but it's got everything you need air conditioning digital readout
steering wheel control for phone and for stereo and for what mode you can have
displayed on a dash and this is a normal stock rav4 they also make them with
third row seating yeah they can fit third row seating in somebody's thinks
it's amazing but the engineers figured out how to do it
these newer ones you handle a lot better than the old the ones that got disc
brake in the front also disc brake on the back they stop a lot better
no SUVs are generally pretty much gas hockey because they're up in here their
size their speed but for an SUV a customer gets 30 miles a gallon
on a highway in this thing it's about 24 in town pretty good for an SUV and of
course if you don't mind the complexity and expense of a hybrid the hybrid
drivers are even better you take a 2019 rav4 hybrid that thing gets 41 miles a
gallon in the city because it's got regenerative braking which is really
good gas mileage for an SUV and since it's a Toyota and other hybrid stuff is
pretty much all based on the Prius hybrids a pretty reliable and I don't
advise somebody to buy one that's got a hundred and fifty thousand miles or
something some 10 years old when it comes to hybrids but if you buy a new
one you're not generally gonna have problems
till you get higher mileage like that on any Toyota now as you can see with this
2.5 liter four-cylinder engine light of working room now it is a Toyota so
generally you don't have to do much work but whenever you do hey it's easy
changing the oil for instance it's high enough you don't have to jack it up you
can reach the oil pan drain it out it's got one of those dumb filters where you
got to take the plastic container off and change the inside filter but that
too can be done without jacking it up as long as you have the special wrench that
fits on it now I do have to say honestly the newer ones that have CVT
transmissions or the eight-speed automatics not a big fan of yet because
the eight-speed automatics have had problems and I don't really trust CVT's
of any sort yet now that said my son recently brought a new one last year so
we'll see how it goes over the years if his CVT holds up he loves it so far
he says it's got plenty of acceleration and gets better gas much then even the
rating is but I don't trust that stuff until it's been out for five six years or more
because when they put two eight speeds in these the eight-speed automatics were
okay for the first year or two but then they showed they had problems as they
aged so I'd wait on that this six-speed pretty much bulletproof they're great
automatic transmissions so somebody asked me what would you have a 2015
rav4 like this with a 6-speed automatic or 2019 with an 8-speed automatic I take
the older car an 8-speed automatic problematical this thing if you had no
problems whatsoever I rarely ever see a problem in the 6-speed automatic but I
see eight speeds all the time they'll slip they won't shift right they just
didn't and for what it's worth the CVT and the
rav4s that's only available in the hybrid version so that's CVT
transmission it's pretty close for the Toyota Prius because when you have the
hybrid you got to have a CVT transmission with the Toyota design
because the engine has an input to run it so does the electric motor and the
CVT transmissions can transfer easily that way so if you're buying a rare for
the CVT it's gonna be a hybrid now it's time is gone by the rav4s have
evolved they're much bigger vehicles than it used to be if you look at the
early ones from 1996 they were a lot smaller stubbier inside they did ride as
well there were a lot slower than these they've really evolved quite well with
the whole line of ramp force and aside from somewhat weak 8-speed automatic
transmissions that they use now they have a pretty reputable history of not
having problems going high mileage I've got customers these things
350 400 thousand miles regularly and compare this front end with a 96 don't
even look like the same vehicle they got a lot of style now I like it that they
have it in 2015 put that horrible scowling grille they kept a classic
grille on it and I agree with it now they have put a somewhat bigger grille
on a 2019 but nothing like that big scowling insane one they put on the
Lexus and on some of the Corollas they still kept it relatively conservatively
to make the look stay and not just copy what everybody else is doing
so really it's reliability that's kept these things being sold people want an
SUV they want one that doesn't break down that lasts a long time has a nice
ride is not rageous ly bumping all the old ones were getting a 96 you can find
one they a real bumpy rides but these if a decent smooth ride to them plenty
enough pickup pretty good gas mileage for an SUV so now you know why Toyota
sold millions of these things give people what you want as times change
it changed the rav4 to make it bigger more powerful but still getting decent
gas mileage and one like this 2015 rav4 of course nothing lasts
forever but this 2015 they can last about as close to ever as any car made
these days, so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos
remember to ring that Bell