New RAV 4 My Impressions

[Flammable]

Originally Posted by bronsin

My daughter got stuck in the snow in her '12 Camry the other day so her husband went out and bought her a new RAV 4.

This thing is supposed to be (or was) a compact SUV. Its turned into a monster! Its like as big or bigger than the top of the line Toyota four wheel drive (cant remember the name) used to be! It has a 2.5 liter 176 hp engine which looks way different that the 2.4 liter in my wifes 05 Camry and my daughters '12. The tires are like 20 inches in diameter.

Land Cruiser! thats it!

And its made in Detroit and looks it. Opening the engine compartment to put wheel bearing grease on the batterey terminals and scoping out the engine revieled something that does not look like the Made in Japan product. Thats not to say it wont last but the quality definately isnt there. I wouldnt want to have to buy it if I was in the market.

The sticker says it gets 25 mpg overall and 29 hiway. I guess thats par for the course but just think how good it could be with a smaller lighter body and a 2 liter engine. They always make cars bigger and bigger and bigger. The Civic is as big as the Accord used to be now.

So the compact SUV is extinct! Phooey I dont like it!

My older brother is a body man of many years and he hates foreign cars, well pretty much all cars except GM products, anyway he told me a while back that he hates to admit it but the Japanese built cars are so much better than the American built cars of the same make. The fit and finish is night and day between them. I agree with you cars get bigger and bigger as time goes by for some crazy reason. I hope toyota keeps the Yaris small.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Flammable

My older brother is a body man of many years and he hates foreign cars, well pretty much all cars except GM products, anyway he told me a while back that he hates to admit it but the Japanese built cars are so much better than the American built cars of the same make. The fit and finish is night and day between them. I agree with you cars get bigger and bigger as time goes by for some crazy reason. I hope toyota keeps the Yaris small.

The gap in quality is closing, aided by the use of robots and better best practices re the human processes along the production line, etc. However, I won't buy a vehicle assembled in a UAW plant. Too many thugs in the UAW....think protests over the Right to Work Law in Michigan that ended up with the use of physical violence. That is just one example.

[nookandcrannycar]

^^^ Sorry about that Kimona, I should have edited out that one word from post #23 before quoting it.