RAV4 or Sportage?

regulus

regulus

regulus

Soldato
Joined
18 Aug 2006
Posts
10,063
Location
ChCh, NZ
After a bigger car for the fam (1× baby and myself and wife) and all the crap we always seem to lug around for the baby. Currently have a 2018 Corolla and when the baby seat is in the back, I'm squashed in the passenger seat (being 6'2) if not driving.

Wife likes the RAV4 or Sportage so was just wondering what the prevailing wisdom is here with regards to either.

Cheers
 
Wife's had 2 x 3 year leases on Sportage's - Both time, totally reliable, comfy and decent cars. I'm 6ft 3" and room in both the original sportage and the facelifted one was fine. 7 year warranty etc.

Boot isn't the biggest for the size of car when putting prams in and out but it does the job.

One single issue with the car which was dealt with swiftly and very efficiently by Kia Customer services - suspension arm broke suddenly, they got my wife and son home in a taxi, and had a hire car provided to my house within 2 hours of the incident. Also provided flowers as an apology for the part failing so soon. Professionally dealt with without a single hassle. Car returned spotless to my house 3 days later, drove hire car away. Superb.
 
Isnt the Rav essentially a Corolla based car? My dads Rav mk3 never felt all that roomy in the back. I looked at the hybrid when i went for my XC60, the Rav felt smaller.
 
Sportage owner here, had a it a couple of years now. It’s been faultless, loads of kit and comfy. Interior plastics aren’t the most premium, otherwise a really good motor.

On occasion, MrsHB has to drive into London very late to pick me up from work, as coaches and trains have stopped. On a couple of occasions, she had driven up from Kent in her PJ’s...the reason I’m mentioning this as she has a saying “What’s the difference between and a reliable car and an unreliable car?” One you can drive in your PJ’s, the other you can’t.
 
I must admit I havent looked at the current gen in detail, the square arches annoy the hell out of me, not to mention the 2002 infotainment system :p
 
To be fair, I'm not enamored by the RAV4's looks either. I'm very much a smaller and compact car type of guy. Even the Sportage is a tad too big for my liking. I like the look of the HR-V if anything
 
Tinders said:
not to mention the 2002 infotainment system
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Mat Watson on his Carwow review mentions this. None of the Japanese makes seem to do infotainment in the same way that the Europeans seem to like. However, it does have carplay and Android Auto as standard now so that takes some of the hassle out f it.
 
I fancied a rav4 myself but in the end opted for another estate. Figured the 4*4 aspect wasn't really vital to me. Got a skoda superb and its great for family duties.
 
Bought the wife a 2020 model year RAV4 last year. Excel trim level 4WD, went for Excel over Dynamic trim in the end as you get a few features not present/optional on the Dynamic such as the Heated steering wheel & windscreen. Opted for the Pano roof too.

It's been a brillaint car, average 45MPG, easy to drive, sapcious & visibility are great. Looks pretty mean IMO too, power isn't too bad either and it's very quiet even with the whole "electric/hybrid car noise" emmiter thing.

A side note though we had a very long leadtime from Toyota, ordered Nov 2019 recieved June 2020. Also if you go for the Pano roof they straight up won't sell you a spare wheel as this gets replaced for weight due to emissions. Had a full blown argument about this with them to no avail. Luckily there is space for a full size 18" spare under the boot floor, so ordered another identical wheel, got the rubber fitted and a clamp, sorted!

Infotainment is weak though, sound system is fine but the nav unit/rear view camera are pants. Luckily 2020 model years got Apple Car Play as standard.

Car has done 3.5K since and been flawless. Any questions feel free to ask.
 
We had the car Ceramic coated at Bespoke detailing as soon as we picked it up! As it will be me washing the cars, a black SUV needs all the help it can get! Also in before "black wheels/hover car BS".

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The Sportage is just fine. There’s no particular joy in it, but it goes about its business in a totally utilitarian and boring way. Ours has heated seats, which is about the best thing about it. The boot is slightly too small and our stupidly large child car seat means that I can’t fit it behind me when I’m driving, although rear passenger space is actually very good (and rear heated seats).

Aside from regular servicing and consumables our 2012 model has required a new air conditioning radiator and a new clutch at 75000 miles (consumable, but was expensive). Pretty reliable really.
 
NathWraith said:
We had the car Ceramic coated at Bespoke detailing as soon as we picked it up! As it will be me washing the cars, a black SUV needs all the help it can get! Also in before "black wheels/hover car BS".

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Had one of these as a rental out here and was surprisingly capable over the sand dunes! If it had a higher clearance / ride height it could probably do some serious off roading.

Agreed the infotainment system was utter trash but the Android Auto integration made up for that.

Surprisingly nippy too! No idea what spec or engine ours was but it was quick enough on the motorway.
 
Out of the four RAV’s we have had in the family, we’ll have done circa 600,000 miles, if you ignore the time someone put petrol in a diesel, the only time anyone has ever been left stranded was a clutch/DMF failure that Toyota paid a decent chunk of despite being out of warranty. We currently run 3 generations of RAV and while other cars are a lot better suited to ticking the fun box, this has to be about the most reliable car that I have owned, way more reliable than anything VAG or Merc I have run.

The only thing I really don’t like is the parts desk is considered non customer facing, that means you invariably get someone with the a bit of paper and a pencil going backwards and forwards if you try to order parts, the only thing missing is the bell ringing and the cries of ‘Shame!’. Also things that you wouldn’t expect to cost the Earth do and things that should be expensive, aren’t. Timing belt? Pay the dealer as it’s barely more expensive than buying the kit and the cups of tea/biscuits required to do the job on the fixed price tariff. Rear dust guards for discs? That’ll be almost a grand, because it has pressings for the hand-brake mechanism to mount to, yes we know they’re 1/3 cheaper at retail in Japan even with shipping/import duty, but tough.
 
NathWraith said:
Bought the wife a 2020 model year RAV4 last year. Excel trim level 4WD, went for Excel over Dynamic trim in the end as you get a few features not present/optional on the Dynamic such as the Heated steering wheel & windscreen. Opted for the Pano roof too.

It's been a brillaint car, average 45MPG, easy to drive, sapcious & visibility are great. Looks pretty mean IMO too, power isn't too bad either and it's very quiet even with the whole "electric/hybrid car noise" emmiter thing.

A side note though we had a very long leadtime from Toyota, ordered Nov 2019 recieved June 2020. Also if you go for the Pano roof they straight up won't sell you a spare wheel as this gets replaced for weight due to emissions. Had a full blown argument about this with them to no avail. Luckily there is space for a full size 18" spare under the boot floor, so ordered another identical wheel, got the rubber fitted and a clamp, sorted!

Infotainment is weak though, sound system is fine but the nav unit/rear view camera are pants. Luckily 2020 model years got Apple Car Play as standard.

Car has done 3.5K since and been flawless. Any questions feel free to ask.
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@NathWraith I am interested to hear a bit more on the RAV4. Was anything else considered or tested at the time?

In particular the sizing is key, i.e. is it big enough for a 2 Adults, 2 Kids and a Dog to go camping? Another way to ask, it is much bigger than a 3 series touring? My wife wants a new car in the next 6 months, so thinking to swap out and get her the larger family car and I get something smaller and more exciting.
 
Tenzo said:
@NathWraith I am interested to hear a bit more on the RAV4. Was anything else considered or tested at the time?

In particular the sizing is key, i.e. is it big enough for a 2 Adults, 2 Kids and a Dog to go camping? Another way to ask, it is much bigger than a 3 series touring? My wife wants a new car in the next 6 months, so thinking to swap out and get her the larger family car and I get something smaller and more exciting.
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The RAV4 is easily spacious enough for 4 grown adults, 2 adults with kids will be easier still. My wife and I are tall (6' & 6'4") and the car has plenty of room. We looked at the Lexus NX & UX but discounted them due to not being big enough(inteirior & storage) and then the RX as being too big. Also they didn't seem value for money as I believe the NX/UX uses the same engine/platform as the RAV4.

The CRV hybrid was a consideration but looks far too "mini van" in aappearance and the Hybrid system on that is extremely complicated (makes the NSX looks simple). A word of warning though, the front passenger seat is not height adjustable which can be a issue depending on how forward you have your seat, however ours does have the pano roof so this robs a bit of headroom. Excel spec is the one to go for spec wise, you can get the heated wheel, wipers pano roof, 360 camera etc. The Black Edition has just come out which combines a lot of good points about hte Excel spec with the Dynamic models exterior parts, I beleive they have added HUD now too.

If you are going for a used one I would heavily suggest you go for a March 2020 onwards model to get the Apple Car Play feature.

Any other questions just let me know.
 
NathWraith said:
If you are going for a used one I would heavily suggest you go for a March 2020 onwards model to get the Apple Car Play feature.
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With any of the earlier production of the same generation they can be upgraded for a nominal charge from the dealer during a service, one trim level isn't supported iirc.
 
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