Toyota RAV4

The interior cabin of the Toyota RAV4 somehow doesn’t match the butch and extrovert appeal of the exterior design. Instead, it gets a very subtle layout for the cabin, which however is high on features and fit and finish levels.

What can catch your attention in the driver’s cockpit is the full TFT 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which is placed behind a rather simple looking multi-functional steering wheel. The rectangular free-standing touchscreen infotainment system at the center is placed above the symmetrically designed sleek looking trapezoidal AC vents.

The lower portion of the center console here has been designed in a cascading pattern, at the top of which sits a panel of automatic climate control with big round knobs on its corners and a stubby housing for the transmission lever as well as charging ports. The silver finish around this entire cascading center console livens up the otherwise black layout for the entire cabin.

Toyota has executed the RAV4 with a subtle hint of butch appeal to the otherwise contemporary design. The Toyota RAV4 looks upright and bold from the front like the conventional SUVs but looks modern enough to not feel old school.

Starting from the front, the Toyota RAV4 has an aggressive-looking trapezoidal front grille, which has a sleek horizontal air vent placed above it. At the ends of this sleek air vent, there are two trapezoidal-shaped headlamps, which are full-LED units garnished with daytime running LEDs. The vertical housing for the fog lamps as well as silver skid plates placed within tough-looking body cladding on the front bumper makes it look further rugged.

The side profile of the Toyota RAV4 looks quite tough, thanks to thick body cladding running through the bottom of the door panels as well as trapezoidal-shaped wheel arches. The door-mounted rearview mirrors and chrome garnish on the upper window frame look nice, and the blackened strip on the C-pillar, as well as angular character lines, gives it a unique identity of its own as well as a floating roof effect.

At the back, the Toyota RAV4 has followed an angular approach for the LED tail lamps as well as the trapezoidal license plate housing in the middle of the boot lid, the latter of which gets a sleek chrome garnish which extends well below the tail lamps.

The Toyota RAV4, despite its orientation as an urban SUV, feels rugged and tough, thanks to its stiff suspension setup of Macpherson struts at the front and trailing wishbone at the rear, both of which are coupled with stabilizers. However, due to stiff setup, the ride quality does feel bouncy at times, which can make the overall ride quality slightly uncomfortable sometimes.

One can have the Toyota RAV4 in either of the two naturally aspirated petrol automatic powertrains made available here. The smaller 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which is coupled to a CVT gearbox, makes 173 PS of power and 207 Nm of torque, while the bigger 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine churns out 207 PS of power and 243 Nm of torque, and is married to an 8-speed automatic transmission.

Armed with a host of safety features like front, side, curtain and knee airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, pre-collision system, lane departure alert, dynamic radar cruise control, automatic high beam, blind-spot monitor, vehicle stability control, hill start assist, front and rear parking sensors, 360-degree parking camera and tire pressure monitoring system.

The Toyota RAV4 is a perfect example of how the rugged appeal of an old school SUV and contemporary design of a modern SUV can co-exist in perfect harmony. There is a perfection in the way its interior cabin is laid out and it glides over a bad road, which deservedly makes it the highest-selling SUV from the stable of the Japanese carmaker.