Driving Miss Crazy

Jul 19, 2007 - 2007 Toyota RAV4 Review

Ms. Adventure and I made it safely from Northern CA to Santa Monica and the RAV4 did a fine job getting us there.

My initial impressions when picking up the RAV4 - nice looking, not too big, not too small.  I have a rental, so it's white (eh, ok) but in our travels we did see many RAV4's on the road in various colors which are very attractive.  The overall exterior styling is nice with clean lines, nothing fancy or too curvy.

For around-town driving the RAV4 is very comfortable, easy to park and provides all the needed hooks, nooks and crannies for picking up dry cleaning and groceries.  I easily fit two booster car seats in the second row and measured whether or not a third, standard 5-point car seat would also fit in the center (the boosters need to be on the sides for the over-the-shoulder seat belts).  Installing the carseat in the middle would have been really tight. 

I did note that while installing the boosters there was plenty of rear legroom and thought the front seats must have been pushed all the way forward - they were not.  If you have tall kids or need a bit more rear legroom than normally found in other vehicles, you might want to look at the RAV4.

Cargo space in the back is great as you can see from the photos.  We certainly didn't pack the car to the hilt but certainly could have.  We did see another RAV4 at one of our gas stops that was packed to the roof and in speaking with the owner he and his wife both said that it carried much more than they thought it would and loved their RAV4.  We both agreed that the rear door was too heavy (it is!)

As for the interior appointments on the RAV4 (I was driving the base model, cloth interiors), I found the seats to be comfortable.  They could use a bit more cushioning but more for the "lush" factor than anything else.   The dash is clean but the steering wheel feels a little small and toy-like.  The climate control buttons are a bit "chunky".  I don't like the charger directly in front of the cupholders though as if you have something plugged in you can't put a drink in the passenger side cup holder of the console.  I also don't like mirror controls in the center column...more buttons for kids and teens to play with.  These are best on the driver's side door.  Nothing about the interior had the "wow" factor going for me, but it wasn'tlow-quality, just sparse.

The stereo was average and the AUX jack and charger in the console storage area is very nice.  You can plug-in your iPod and charge all at the same time. 

My miscellaneous gripes include door not having that "thud" so you know the door closed.  I had to keep checking if the door was indeed shut.  Annoying but I'm sure I'd get used to it.  The doors are solid and quite heavy - particularly the rear hatch.  Other than that, the only other nit was the side mirror controls set in the center console rather than the driver's door.  Never give a passenger access to the controls only the driver should have.

We did have one minor issue that we discovered in Santa Monica.  Underneath the front of the vehicle a plastic shield of sorts appears to have lost some bolts holding part of it in place.  I'm hoping this isn't a big deal and will simply hold for the return trip up Highway 1 along the California coast to Santa Barbara.  I'll check it again and then hope for all hopes that it remains in place for the remaining drive to San Francisco.  (It does)

MPG - how are we doing?  Well, not that great.  According to the specs we should get 22mpg city/29mpg highway.  We certainly aren't loaded down and we've yet to crack 25mpg.  For the entire trip our tank fill-ups kept us at 23.47 - 24.6mpg.  On that front, I'm not impressed.

Performance - we have the base model so I'll have to assume that some of what our Editor's liked in their 2007 Toyota RAV4 review was on a more well-appointed model.  It did have a little bite off the line, but nothing that would make me feel sporty.  Overall they scored it an 8 out of 10.  Consumers ratings at the time of publishing this entry had scored it an 8.9.  Both are fair from my driving perspective.

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Jul 17, 2007 - Road Trips and Car Reviews - Rules of Engagement

Life often let's you take some road trips and when possible double-up and write a car review.  It just so happens that Ms. Adventure and Miss Crazy are heading to the mothership - aka Edmunds Inc. - for a few days of work at headquarters. 

We thought we'd take this opportunity to give a full test drive and provide our perspectives on a new  vehicle over the coming days.  We're just like any other drivers (ok, we're better than average drivers) out there who will use the car on a long highway road-trip and some around town commuting.  And just like all of you who can now blog here and submit vehicle reviews on Edmunds.com - we hope that more of you will take the opportunity to share your thoughts, opinions, overviews and reviews on cars.  Agree or disagree with the Editors of Edmunds.com and Inside Line or any other automotive publication out there - your perspective and experiences are important and should be shared.

Enough philosophical waxing... let's get down to the basic rules of road trips and car reviews...

Here at Miss Crazy, we'll cover the vehicle - in this case a 2007 Toyota RAV4 - what we like, dislike and handling.  Ms. Adventure will cover social commentary and observations of the road trip including traffic, driver's behaviors, food, bumper stickers and anything else of interest that happens along the way.

We're real drivers so we won't give you the fancy 0-60's or technical commentary.  We'll drive with the flow of traffic, give you the MPG report, obey traffic laws and refrain from using hand gestures.  (For daily drives by the pro's check-out the Inside Line Long-Term Road Tests blog).

That said - we are armed with the 2007 Toyota RAV4 Editors' Rating, 2007  Toyota RAV4 Editors' Review and we have read all  118 2007 Toyota RAV4 owner reviews to note where we agree and disagree and provide a review. 

Our travels will start just north of the Golden Gate Bridge heading to the interior of California and drive down I-5 to Santa Monica.  We'll spend a few days in Santa Monica where Ms. Adventure will stay before I head back north by way of Santa Barbara before returning to San Francisco. 

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