today we're looking at a pair of hybrid SUVs that are aimed to meet the needs of
family buyers but also do their bit for the environment both of these models are
petrol electric hybrids and they both offer the opportunity to lessen your
carbon impact while also lessening the impact on your wallet as well
first up is the Toyota rav4 hybrid which has been
selling up a storm since its arrival in 2019 and understandably so the rav4 won
cars guides car of the year in 2019 and the hybrid model also won our mid-sized
SUV comparison against a couple of likely competitors in this test the rav4
hybrid is up against the all new Subaru Forester hybrid which might well offer
an unexpected alternative for buyers after this sort of family friendly fuel
sipping motoring in this video we'll go through all the important stuff that you
want to know like practicality value for money safety features and of course how
they drive but maybe more importantly how good they are when it comes to fuel
use they're hybrids afterall now if you're watching on YouTube don't forget
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if you want to read the full detailed comparison review the links in the
description first up we'll consider what each of
these particular SUVs costs the rav4 hybrid model we have here is the GXL
all-wheel-drive which lists at forty one thousand four
hundred and ninety dollars plus on-road costs if that's too high a price for you
the hybrid rav4 range starts from just thirty five four ninety we just got
this spec because it was the closest available against the Forester hybrid L
model which we have here which has a list price of just under forty grand
it's the most affordable hybrid Forester available but there's a higher spec
model with more equipment if that floats your boat check out the cars guide site
for a comprehensive equipment breakdown across both of these models
next up let's take a look at the practicality on offer in each of these
models they are among the most thoughtful in their class when it comes
to fitting stuff in we attempted to fit the same stuff in each of these SUVs
first up you can get a look at the boot when it's completely empty now here's
how much space the cars guide luggage takes up in the boot there's still space
in both of these models and here's how they both go with the cars guide pram in
there now can they fit all of it in and what about the spare wheel well
the Subaru doesn't actually have one instead there's a battery pack where it
would be which is disappointing for an adventure focused brand like this but
the rav4 has a space saver spare wheel which is definitely a plus for the
Toyota next up backseat space we'll start in
the Forester reseat room in the Subaru Forester is very good I've got the
driver's seat set for me I'm 182 centimeters tall and there's plenty of
room here I've got heaps of knee room heaps of toy room lots of headroom and
there's lots of glass which will be great for kids on road trips as well as
adults too the seat is a little bit flattened a little bit upright so it can
be may be a touch uncomfortable on longer trips but for child seats
it'll be perfect there are dual ISOFIX and three top tether points as well the
seat has a flip-down armrest if you're not using the middle seat and there's
also a pair of USB ports down here which is very handy for keeping things charged
you've got directional air vents and dual map pockets on both seats it's all
very smart back here up front in the Subaru Forester things are pretty good
it is a very busy cabin you've got a lot of buttons on the steering wheel and
you've got a fairly busy centre stack as well plus you've got three screens in
front of you one for the driver one for the driver and another well that's also
for the driver and passenger the one up the top shows you what's happening with
the engine and the powertrain and everything else and it also works for
the front and side view cameras which there's buttons down here
and the middle one well the center screen I guess it's the the most
important one because it controls all your media and stuff it's actually
really small in this spec it's six and a half inches which by class standards is
tiny and it doesn't have sat-nav does have apple carplay and android auto
which is good but it's very small for the class the materials are all nice
there's a good mix of different elements inside the cabin which keeps things
interesting and the seats are fairly comfortable they could be maybe a little
bit more comfortable the RAV's are more comfortable but these ones are heated
which you don't get in the rav4 in the GXL spec so it's got that going for it
[Music] the rear seat experience in the rav4 is
a bit different to the Forester you sit a bit further down in your seats a bit
more of a lounge chair experience because the seat is more comfortable by
quite a margin I've still got plenty of room lots of knee room lots of foot room
and lots of headroom as well but because you're sitting a little lower you don't
get quite as good a view out the window that might matter to you or not there's
a pair of rear seat vents down here directional air vents plus like the
Subaru you've got two USB ports in there which is handy for keeping kids things
charged while you're driving yep there's also a flip-down armrest with a
bit more padding than in the forester as well and generally it's pretty good
apart from the fact that you don't get a map pocket on this side you get one on
the passenger side but other than that it's pretty good back here up front in
the rav4 things are very well sorted for you and the design of the cabin is just
a little bit smarter and it's simpler which is good there's a nice storage
section in front of the passenger you've got good sized cupholders you've got a
section in front of the shifter which has a wireless charger in the GXL spec
which is very handy plus there's a USB port there plus two more USB ports here
so you've got 5 USB s as opposed to three in the forester and it doesn't
have a wireless charger either and it's also got a bigger screen in here an 8
inch media screen with sat-nav built-in which
is handy plus apple carplay and android auto and there's some other nice
elements to the cabin including the materials that have been used I really
like the feel of the steering wheel in this car I also really like the
rubberized knobs on the dashboard here they just add something a little bit
more rugged and interesting to the cabin these are family SUVs and safety as
always is of vital consideration now let's take a look at a breakdown of what
each of these models has when it comes to safety equipment both of these models
have a reversing camera and rear parking sensors but the Subaru has a curb camera
and a front camera while the Toyota ops for front parking sensors both have seven
airbags including driver's knee coverage plus both models have auto emergency
braking with pedestrian detection and cyclist detection the Subaru betters the
Toyota with rear AEB as well while the rav4 gets Auto
high beam lights which the Forester doesn't you can't split them from there
they both come with lane departure warning lane keeping assistance and both
have blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert as well the ANCAP
ratings are the same - and they were both tested against the 2019 criteria
both of these models are hybrids but not all hybrids are created equal especially
not these two models the Toyota has a bigger much more powerful petrol engine
plus a couple of electric motors as well and one at the rear axle the Subarus
engine is smaller and has lower outputs and rather than having electric motors
at the axles it integrates its motor into the CVT automatic transmission but
it still has its conventional symmetrical all-wheel drive setup we get
that it's complicated make sure you read the full review for all the detailed
specs the links in the description for this test we put both of these
models through their paces across a mix of different driving situations we're
talking urban driving with roundabouts and traffic lights but also some twisty
roads and a bit of highway driving thrown in as well and here's what we
found the drive experience in the Forester hybrid is not all that
different to a regular Forester the steering can be very light at lower
speeds and at higher speeds it can actually be a little bit twitchy on
Centre because you've also got the Lane Keeping Assist system intervening a
little bit at times and it can mean that it's a little bit hard to judge in that
sort of situation at higher speeds it can get noisy too above 80Ks an hour
there's lots of wind noise and mirror noise to contend with but otherwise it's
really quiet and in particular the engine is super quiet that's one of the
advantages of the boxer engine that Subaru has persisted with for so long is
that it is a very quiet and refined engine the CVT automatic which has
stepped ratios to make it feel more like you're driving a conventional auto is
also mostly very agreeable it's just that the hybrid-ness of this car isn't
maybe as overt as in the rav4 it does jump between the battery power and using
the electric motor or the petrol engine or using a combination of both depending
on the situation so for example if you're coasting down a hill you'll
notice that it'll kick over to evey mode or if you're taking away from a
standstill you'll notice that the battery will probably end up assisting
the engine while the whole powertrain works well in terms of engine
transmission and electric motor and everything that comes in between it does
leave you feeling a little bit let down because it doesn't rely on its electric
modes as much as the rav4 does so you will notice that maybe your fuel use
could be better you'll see that in a sec but also that it just doesn't rely on
that EV like you might expect a hybrid to and if
you're buying a hybrid if you're spending extra like you will be if you
choose the forester hybrid L then that could be a little bit disappointing
because it just isn't as hybrid as it could be but on the flip side if you're
just thinking about dipping your toe in the water when it comes to hybrid life
this could be perfectly fine for you and it's still a very impressive car to
drive the drive experience in the rav4
hybrid gxl is probably going to be more what people expect when they're buying a
hybrid SUV because it relies more readily on its electric motor and
battery pack to propel you forward and to me that's the reason you're buying a
hybrid SUV it's gonna use its battery pack more often it's gonna run in E V
mode more often and it's gonna reduce your fuel consumption as a result we'll
get to that in a sec one thing you might notice if it's your first time driving a
hybrid car is that the brake pedal feel isn't quite the same as what it is in a
conventional vehicle and in the rav4 it does have a little bit of a weird sort
of clicky squidgy feel to the top of the pedal but the progressive nature of the
brakes means that it does pull up pretty strongly in the forester I didn't really
address it in that car but the brake in it was a bit touchier
than this car so if you do a lot of stop start driving you might notice that and
you might have noticed that there was a bit of coarse chip road noise intrusion
in the rav4 it doesn't quite have the same level of sound insulation that the
Forester does it can be a little bit noisier in most situations but it's
never too noisy the ride comfort is maybe a little bit firmer than the
Forester around town especially you will notice that it picks up the little lumps
and bumps a touch more but it's never uncomfortable and never feels like
things are out of control either it's a comfortable and enjoyable car for the
driver and passengers it's so impressive this car
I'm really taken by it [Music]
over our testing we kept a tally of the fuel consumption for each of these
models and they are hybrids and so it's pretty important now here's the claimed
fuel consumption that each of the manufacturers says these models should
be able to achieve but in the real world things are a little bit different here
you'll see our actual fuel consumption on tests across a mix of different
driving and it's pretty clear which one was better when it came to using its
hybrid tech [Music]
both of these family-focused hybrid SUVs offers a lot to like and in this test it
was pretty close but the subaru forrester hybrid L came second because
it doesn't quite live up to the hybrid lifestyle that we would expect for an
SUV with that sort of badge on it it's still very practical still decent to
drive and still pretty good value as well but it wasn't good enough to match
up to the Toyota rav4 hybrid gxl which we think is just the better execution of
hybrid technology and an even more practical offering for family buyers
tell us what you think in the comment section below if you'd agree or disagree
with what I've said that's fine let us know in the comments section but also if
you're watching on youtube don't forget hit like hit subscribe share it with
your friends and also hit that Bell notification icon so you can stay up to
date with all our latest comparisons [Music]
[Music] [Music]