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Recommendation On Toyota Rav4 - 4Wd


tmnuwan12_1

Question

Hello.

I am planning to buy a SUV for around 4.2-4.3 Mil. My first preference is for an mid size SUV.

But I have following questions to get sorted. If anyone can help me that would be super useful.

Following are my questions:

  1. Are there any issues with Toyota RAV 4 models from 2001 to 2009
  2. What would be the normal fuel consumption level of RAV4
  3. What is the second hand value of RAV4 in the current market
  4. If this SUV is not good is there any alternative to above budget

If any one can please answer above questions that would be great.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Cheers

Nuwan

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1. For that age range you are looking at two different models.

2001-2005 what you get is the A20 series (ACA21/26)

2005 - (current in Japan & 2014 in export markets) you get the A30 series (ACA31/36). AWD variant would be ACA31.

For your budget you are probably considering the A30 series.

In general the engine is pretty decent. Comes with a CVT so the typical Toyota CVT care needs to be taken. The rear diff (and sometimes the transfer case) is known to develop a clunk/thud noise. Worst case scenario you need to replace the units but as far as I know that is somewhat rare with the JDM and Euro models.

Bottom line is....make sure you get one that has been properly taken care of...regular oil changes all around. I was looking for a car last November and what I noticed was that most mini SUVs of this type have not had any oil changes in the transfer case or the diff. Which is ironic as I know for a fact that when changing the CVT oil in a RAV4 and Xtrail the recommendation is also to change the transfer case oil.

Either way....see if you notice any thud noises from the rear of the car or like from right underneath the floor of the driver. Typically when you step on the throttle a little bit hard for a quick take off....

If you do get one and you are not certain about the diff and transfer case oil you might as well get it changed if it has around 60K+ kms. Be warned replacing the transfer case oil may require draining the CVT oil which then would also need a change. <Toyota considers the transfer case and diff to be a non serviceable unit that requires inspection at 100K kms but there are workshop recommendations that ask them to check at earlier stages.

2. In three countries and 4 A30 RAVs on average I got around 7 (except for the one in Japan which I was able to get more towards 8ish but then I had more highway and urban expressway runs too). Realistically...in mainly Colombo driving expect to get within the 6 to 7 range. I used to get 7/7.5ish but during that time I always went to work around 10am with low traffic.

3. When I was looking for a car the 2WD variants were going for 4mil on average. AWD variants were 4 mil onwards....but what I noticed was the good ones were more around the 4.5 mil mark.

4. For the budget you can get a XTrail (T31 series) and if you can stretch it a bit more you can get CR-V. The CR-V is the more comfy and luxurious one of the three. But also has less of a SUV-like feel to it if you are in to that kind of feeling. X-Trail has a much better AWD system than the other two, but I seriously doubt you would use this to go offroading beyond a gravel track or two ? I found the X-trail a bit more top heavy than the other two so cornering is a bit on the swirvy side. The RAV4's interior feels the cheapest...it feels lighter than the other two and I find it quite easy to chuck it around. Ride comfort wise the RAV4 and the X-Trail are somewhat similar, however, the X-Trail's rear seats are a bit huggier so it feels a bit more cushioned. Interior space wise...all three have somewhat similar figures. However, the X-Trail's boxy shape and large windows all around give it a larger feel. The CR-V feels the smallest inside because of the cabin and window shapes. RAV4 is somewhat in between. Reason I went with so many RAVs (of the same model for that matter) is that although it is not really excellent at anything it is good at doing everything (jack of all trades but a master of none).

EDIT: And reversing the RAV4 and CR-V sucks so make sure you get one with a rear view camera. The windows in the cargo area are just way too small you really cant see anything. In the CR-V the rear window is like a little glass hatch which is pointless. The RAV4's rear window is not bad but if you get a wheel mounted rear door the wheel covers 1/3 of the window. The X-Trail has nice windows :)

Anyway...do a search..plenty of threads on the 3 cars.

EDIT: If you want something cheaper or something newer for the same budget..look in to a Suzuki Vitara. It is very unrefined (compared to the others) but gets the job done and feels like an old school SUV.

Edited by iRage
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Hello tmnuwan

let me add something from my side, iRage covered the most of it and this is my idea about this.

We had RAV4's from XA10 to XA40 (current model 2016 face lift) and this are fantastic mid SUV's for its proven reliability.

If you looking 2001 you looking at XA20 which ended on 2005 and XA30 started from 2005

some of the XA20 is fitted with 1AZ engine which is a pain as this a petrol D4 engine need bit extra care and noisier than the normal so better stay away from this model.(AWD model is fitted with this and 1.8 engine is with 2 wheel drive model) Late model AWD is fitted with the 2.4 engine which is a nice engine and you get this same engine on XA30

XA30 is fitted with 4 speed auto box and Jap domestic XA31 is with the CVT (with tiptronic option) features in B/N New Zealand XA30's cruise control, curtain air bag and down hill assist as standard, some of the jap imports get this as dealer options/ Ex customer options

XA40 complete redesign- you don't fee like you driving a AWD as it's give the impression of a car 2.5 engine with AWD 6 speed auto OR 2 ltr CVT with 2WD

Fuel is based on NEW ZEALAND : all of the model are sitting at 10ltr for 100km mark except for the new 4WD (2013 onward) 6 speed auto box giving us 14km/L on open road and 12km/l on city (All depend if you right foot is too heavy or not :crazy_pilot: )

P.S This are fantastic vehicles to own and drive only issue i have seen people use C/Diff switch ON while driving on tarmac and Kill the diff

Good luck with your hunt

regards

JC

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You might want to also want to consider a known Auto trans fault of Rav4's of this vintage

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-c3602_ds323927

TT.

This is fault relevant for the A20 series....

JDM AWD was ACA31 and 2WD ACA36. The JDM RAV4 came ONLY as ACA3x....the GSA3x etc you get in other markets only came in the Vanguard which was more or less the export long wheel base.

The ACA3x come with the 2AZ-FE which has been shared for almost all 2.4L Toyota cars right across the board. The JDM RAV4 coes with the K112 CVT gearbox. Export models came with a U151 AT box I believe (which is what the Vanguard had..which came with a non CVT gearbox only for the 3.5L range.

By default the pre-facelift came in 3 grades X, G and Sport and there was a X Limited which was in between the X and the G (kind of like a slightly stripped down G). The G and sport had the ION filter thingy and cruise control as standard and was only an option in the X and X Limited. The X has a slightly wider track and has larger wheels and comes with fender guards (these things were able to be taken in other grades as dealer options). There were quite a few dealer options available that kind of cross pollinated a lot of the options but I beleive things like cruise control, ION filters, DAC were manufacturer options no matter what.

The facelift grade came as X, Style and Sport. Then since about mid of 2014ish ??? Toyota Japan was starting to phase out the A30 series RAV4 out of the JDM market (as the rest of the world had the A40 series, which Toyota didn't introduce in Japan at the same time because they were launching the Harrier in Japan which shared the platform of the RAV4 and was the same size as the A40 RAV4). During the phase out Toyota now only has the X grade and they package it as X and X Sport....

Edited by iRage
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Well my budget is Rs4.3Mil max. I am bit confused into what model to buy. Should I go with models after 2007? What type of engine I need to go for 2.4cc, 2.0cc or 1.8cc?

I did my research and it seems late 2007 and 2007 models itself cost Rs 4.5mill plus. Is that an over priced value?

I need your help here guys. Please help me out.

Thanks.

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The ACA3x series....which is 2005+ only came in 2.4L variants (well the JDM and most other markets...some markets like in Europe and Africa got the old 2.0L engine in them but doubt most of them made it to SL)

The 2.0L and 1.8L ones are the ACA2x series RAV4s. Even then the 1.8L only came in 2WD variants.

Yes after the budget things do seem to have gone up a bit....but you should negotiate. if a AWD (ACA31) is advertised at 4.5 try negotiating it a bit. But do you need AWD ? If not you should be able to get a 2WD (ACA36) for your budget. But I hope you have some spare money saved up somewhere to get some nigles fixed up here and there....

Or else you could go for the previous gen model....ACA21 (AWD)...but that had some transmission and ECU problems...so make sure you go for the facelift version of that.

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On 2/1/2016 at 7:09 AM, Twin Turbo said:

You might want to also want to consider a known Auto trans fault of Rav4's of this vintage

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-c3602_ds323927

TT.

Hi Guys,

I was considering a Rav4 from 2000s (A20 Series i believe?) But this post left me hanging. Looks like this issue is a common fault. What i need to know is,

Is this issue only seen in automatic version? what if i went with a manual one?

And the cost to repairs in worst case.

Also if there any alternative SUVs in this range.

 

Thanks

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10 hours ago, Fresher101 said:

Hi Guys,

I was considering a Rav4 from 2000s (A20 Series i believe?) But this post left me hanging. Looks like this issue is a common fault. What i need to know is,

Is this issue only seen in automatic version? what if i went with a manual one?

And the cost to repairs in worst case.

Also if there any alternative SUVs in this range.

 

Thanks

That hardly affected the Japanese models. The US continental model had issues with the ECU software which messed up the shift points which pretty much wore out the transmission. But Toyota never had a recall for it...the recall/TS only covered the ECU re-flash/swap. Toyota claims that cars that got their transmissions spoilt; got it spoilt because of poor maintenance.

You have the X-Trail, Vitara, CR-V and even the Pajero iO. There is plenty written about all these cars. Kindly do a search.

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