Our newer Forester got hit in the rear about a month ago and is now undergoing repair.
Didn't look that bad and wife drove it home as well as for another couple of weeks.
I eyeballed it and told her four or five grand, which isn't much as collision repairs go and I was right since it came to a little over 5K.
Anyway, we of course made the offending driver's insurer pay for a comparable rental and wife has been driving a '19 Rav4 XLE for the past week.
We were doing a 200 mile highway trip today, so we took it.
Overall, a solid little piece that lacks the room, the ground clearance and the compliant ride of the Forester. The Rav found every little pavement imperfection and fed it to the passengers with full fidelity. Also a little noisier than the Forester but not really bad. Oh, and the Rav has only a tiny moonroof as compared to the Forester.
The seats are comfortable and acceleration is good, although not as good as Toyota's BHP allegation might lead one to believe. Fuel economy appears to equal that of the Forester, so pretty good.
The Forester interior is nothing really special, but that of the Rav looks as though it was stolen from an old GM design. The Rav also had orange peel as bad as any early eighties Chevy, so bad that I would personally have refused deliver of the car as a retail buyer. We also found the exterior design to be quite overwrought, but that's a matter of personal taste.
If you're shopping small CUVs, I'd encourage you to drive a Forester. You might just find it a better machine than a Rav or the very similar CRV.
Overall, I was not too impressed with the Rav, although it wasn't really bad. It just wasn't as good as I thought it might be.
Didn't look that bad and wife drove it home as well as for another couple of weeks.
I eyeballed it and told her four or five grand, which isn't much as collision repairs go and I was right since it came to a little over 5K.
Anyway, we of course made the offending driver's insurer pay for a comparable rental and wife has been driving a '19 Rav4 XLE for the past week.
We were doing a 200 mile highway trip today, so we took it.
Overall, a solid little piece that lacks the room, the ground clearance and the compliant ride of the Forester. The Rav found every little pavement imperfection and fed it to the passengers with full fidelity. Also a little noisier than the Forester but not really bad. Oh, and the Rav has only a tiny moonroof as compared to the Forester.
The seats are comfortable and acceleration is good, although not as good as Toyota's BHP allegation might lead one to believe. Fuel economy appears to equal that of the Forester, so pretty good.
The Forester interior is nothing really special, but that of the Rav looks as though it was stolen from an old GM design. The Rav also had orange peel as bad as any early eighties Chevy, so bad that I would personally have refused deliver of the car as a retail buyer. We also found the exterior design to be quite overwrought, but that's a matter of personal taste.
If you're shopping small CUVs, I'd encourage you to drive a Forester. You might just find it a better machine than a Rav or the very similar CRV.
Overall, I was not too impressed with the Rav, although it wasn't really bad. It just wasn't as good as I thought it might be.
