Has anyone had the chance to look at the stats for the new '06 Toyota Rav4?? If I compare my '06 HH-AWD with the comparably equipped '06 Rav4, the stats are almost identical in terms of power (~270 HP) and FE (Toyota's comparison tool off of their site posts 20/27.. so give or take sounds like roughly 24 mpg overall... That's roughly what I get for my HH!) Does anyone know what the real-world mpgs are for the 2006 Rav4?

 

According to Edmunds:
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpconta...3/pageNumber=4

They report a FE of 19 mpg for the 6 cyl Rav4.

I heard from a friend that the Rav4 is using the new '06 Lexus IS 350 engine, tuned down for better fuel economy. I hope they put this same engine into the '07 HH... should expect to get even more HP and better FE...

 

does anyone know the weight of a 4wd 3.5l rav4?

i'm guessing the 1/4 times will be slightly faster then the hihy, although we probably have a better tq curve.

 

Keep in mind that auto reviewers tend to not use hyper miler techniques found on this website, quite the opposite. They tend to drive them very hard. I would expect the actual FE to be closer to the EPA than the 19. Seems to me that the new Rav 4 grew too large and now has too much overlap with the Highlander.

 

we're talking about the rav4 right? i doubt any significant % of these owners would be using hypermileage techniques. even among hybrid owners i would suspect the heavy majority drive them the same as they normally would a gas only car.

in the real world i would expect FE to be closer to edmunds or CR than to EPA estimates. the rav4 still weights ~3700 lbs with an engine tuned for performance (15.2 @ 91 is impressive!) so 19 mpg is probably about right.

 

My friend and I took the new '06 Rav4 for a test drive. So here are some of my impressions, in no particular order:

• Acceleration was very good. Still not as smooth as the HiHy, but that's always the case of ICEs. There's that momentary dip in power or maybe a plateau when you're accelerating the vehicle from start and your still at the low to moderate speeds.
• The vehicle was actually more "nimble" than the HiHy. It's hard to articulate this, but the '06 Rav4 definitely felt lighter in handling and response, even more closer to a passenger car than a HiHy. Now, I believe a key reason for this better handling, and I don't have quantitative numbers, is that the Rav4 definitely felt lower than the HiHy, in fact so much lower that I didn't feel much of a height benefit in this vehicle than some of the newer passenger cars. (One of the key reasons that I bought an SUV was I got tired of driving my old Acura amidst the forest of lumbering SUVs; if you can't beat 'em, join them, at least on your own terms (i.e. hybrid)..)
• When idling at a stop light, you can hear engine noise, but it's surprisingly muffled, much more so than I would have expected. It's of course, nowhere near the glorious utter silence of the HiHy (which, btw I think is the killer feature of these hybrids), but it's quite respectable.
• There is an option for a third row seat, but I believe it's extra, and it comes at an expected price, less cargo space
• They've done a better job with folding down the 2nd row of seats. The HiHy has a traditional latch at the top and back of the seat you have to pull then pull the seat down. A bit clumsy. The '06 Rav4 has a nice latch near the back that you just pull, and the 2nd row seat flips down automatically. That's pretty neat.
• The 4WD is manual; you have to turn a switch to enable it, unlike the i-4WD which takes care of this automatically for you.
• The overall shape of the car is a bit too funky for my taste. I like the more traditional, albeit overly-neutral SUV-style of the HiHy.
• Now, the interior is really where you notice major differences from the HiHy. The interior of the '06 Rav4 is much more basic and unrefined, especially the dash area (at compared with the Limited HiHy). There is no nav system option. It does feel a bit cheap and "economical". Controls are pretty basic and manual. I don't even think it has an option for a 6-CD player. I wouldn't mind driving this if I was in my early to mid-20's, kind of out of school but still scraping by. But, let's just say the '06 Rav4 interior makes the HiHy interior feel pretty luxurious.

So, my "simplistic" impression of all this is that the '06 Rav4 is a economical/unrefined version of the HiHy, as the '06 HiHy is a economical/less refined version of the Lexus 400h. I would expect the '06 Rav4 to eat into the sales of the HiHy's for those with tighter budgets... but, then again, I expect those folks wouldn't buy a HiHy anyways.

 

Yes, but it isn't fair to compare the FE of the Rav 4 driven by "typical" drivers to the FE of the HH driven by hypermilers. Not apples to apples. In the hands of a hypermiler, the Rav-4, especially the 4 cylinder version, would do quite well.

I think it is fair to assume that if a hypermiler can match or beat EPA in a hybrid, they should be able to do so in a non-hybrid?

 

agreed. hypermileage drivers shouldn't be compared to 'normal' drivers regardless of powertrain.

i also agree to your seconds sentence to a point, but have any HiHY drivers been able to meet EPA stated 31/29 or whatever is is? now i don't 'hypermile' so to speak, but the best tank of gas i've seen was 25 mpg. during this tank i made a concerted effort to coast, use cc, and drive like a grandma in general. i think you'll agree that EPA numbers are overstated more for hybrids than they are for gas engines, particularly for city.