This week Toyota Ireland launched the new RAV4 priced from €27,995. This fourth--generation SUV features new distinctive, sophisticated styling, premium-quality interior design, a new integrated dynamic drive system, and an engaging drive with fuel efficient powertrains and reduced emissions, resulting in road tax from €270 per annum. In addition, with Toyota Flex, customers can own a new RAV4 from €299 a month.
First launched in 1994 and with more than 4.5 million units sold across 150 countries, Toyota’s incredibly successful RAV4 embodied the creation on an entire new motoring category – the compact SUV. However much has changed over the past 19 years and the new RAV4 has been developed to respond to the evolving customer requirements of the core C-SUV market - active lifestyle families with a growing demand for space and versatility.
The new model is longer 205mm, and also wider (+30mm ), but it sits lower (-25mm ) than its predecessor. In the words of Toyota,, the new RAV4 showcases a new silhouette that emphasizes its versatility, roominess, and improved dynamic capabilities.
The new exterior combines the stylish signature elements of the new Toyota frontal design with clean aesthetics and the muscular image of durability expected from a vehicle with its class-leading four-wheel drive credentials. It is available in a choice of nine body colours.
Combining a spacious, comfortable cabin with a cockpit-like driver’s environment, the new interior design provides greater roominess, higher quality finishes, and a more focused, engaging SUV driving experience. Extended use of leather on the instrument panel emphasises the high quality feeling of the cabin, and all instrument and switchgear back-lighting is now a clear blue colour, which brings a powerful visual consistency to the new interior.
Though retaining the compact exterior dimensions essential to manoeuvrability, the new RAV4’s overall length of 4.57m and its wheel base length of 2660mm equip it with significant additional interior space, bringing passenger roominess and loadspace up to a par with larger, D-segment vehicles.
The new RAV4’s powertrain line up now comprises a 151bhp 2.0 litre petrol engine, a new 124bhp 2.0 litre diesel, and a powerful 150bhp 2.2 litre D-4D diesel engine. Every engine in this new line-up benefits from reductions in CO2 emissions. Of particular note, the 2.0 litre diesel, front-wheel drive derivative new to the RAV4 range is equipped with Toyota’s stop and start technology, reducing CO2 emission to 127g/km.
The RAV4 features a new integrated dynamic drive system with new sport mode function which coordinates control of the RAV4’s new dynamic torque control 4WD, vehicle stability contro, and electric power steering systems to enhance the compact SUV’s performance, handling and safety.
The RAV4 marries the best of in-car technology such as reverse parking camera and the Toyota Touch multimedia system, with a host of safety features such as VSC, hill start assist control and seven airbags and a new anti-whiplash seat design. The SUV has been engineered to achieve a five-star rating in the 2013 Euro NCAP crash test programme.
At the Irish launch last week, David Shannon, managing director of Toyota Ireland, told the Advertiser: ”We’re delighted to be able to introduce the spectacular RAV4 at a brilliantly competitive price, especially considering the high specification and features packed into the vehicle. At only €27,995 we expect the new RAV4 to be in high demand from the start and have high hopes for the model to firmly re-establish Toyota back within the C-SUV segment which we created back in 1995 when we launched the first generation RAV4 in Ireland.”
