2017 Toyota RAV4

By: Alex Forrest

With 2011 sales in Western Australia during 2016, Toyota’s RAV4 only just behind the Mazda CX-5, which sold 2068 units. 

Nationally, in 2016 the Mazda CX-5 finished comfortably at the top of the mid-sized SUV sales tree with 24,564 sales, followed by the Hyundai Tucson (20,132) and then the RAV4 (19,526).

Still, there’s no doubt the Toyota RAV4 is one of the heavy-hitters of the medium sized SUV segment and has been for a long time. However, recently the RAV4 has met with worthy competition from all sides, which is great for consumers.

The RAV4’s latest change was a mid-life facelift in December 2015, which helps keep its appearance from slipping too far behind the still snappier-looking Hyundai Tucson and CX-5.

It was surprisingly quiet and efficient – we recorded 9.4 litres per 100km around town. Performance is on par with its petrol competitors.

This alone makes the petrol RAV4 worthy of serious consideration over the diesel, which although slightly more efficient, is also about $5000 more expensive.

With that in mind, the new RAV4 GXL petrol will still cost $41,800 drive away, which is about $2000 more than the equivalent models from Mazda and Hyundai.

What that gets you is, among other things, some cheap capped price servicing ($180 per year), excellent off-road ability and some strong resale value.