2013 Toyota RAV4

A Nicer View Than Ever Of Middle Of The Road When we had our first shot behind the wheel of the 2013 Toyota RAV4, the overall judgment from Managing Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski could be summed up in a sentence along the lines of, "Eh, not bad." The truth is that the compact crossover segment, now filled with not-so-compact offerings, is as cutthroat as any in the industry these days. When a heavyweight player like the RAV4 comes to market with a new generation, it is not at liberty to start from a clean sheet, lest it throw cold water on a vehicle that sells tens of thousands of units globally every month. Like De La Soul says, "Stakes is high." If the choices in the marketplace were still largely limited to the Honda CR-V, as was the case when this market niche was green, the Toyota offering might actually seem like the exciting choice. But with new players offering better dynamic thrills (Mazda CX-5), cool turbo motors and fancy technology (Ford Escape), or even crunchy cred (Subaru Forester), the small crossover shopper is really spoiled for choice in 2013. With Mr. Korzeniewski's excellent First Drive review covering the granularity of the RAV4 specification so well, we chose to focus our notes this time around on living with the Toyota in its natural suburban habitat for a longer stretch. What's more, we'll try to mark out where the CUV wins, loses or draws with the rest of the strident segment. We were a little surprised to see not so much as an eyebrow raised at the 2013 RAV4. In terms of exterior styling, we'll reiterate our first assessment of the RAV4 by saying that the 2013 version is better looking than ever before. Nearly everyone agrees that the black cladding around the body sides and front and rear fascias does just enough to butch up the delicate-nosed CUV without going off the deep-end into gritty SUV territory. We like the way the body sits primed on the 17-inch alloy wheels, too, with just enough space between the tire and the wheel well to offer a vague notion of ground clearance, yet with ride height low enough to make the RAV4 seem planted. (Be honest, CUV Driver – you only go off-road by accident.) Still, park the RAV4 next to any Sportage, CX-5 or even the smaller Subaru XV Crosstrek, and it starts to look a little dull. We rarely get stopped by questioning members of the public when driving small crossovers of any kind (well, except for the Range Rover Evoque), but we were still a little surprised to see not so much as an eyebrow raised at the 2013 RAV4. Older versions of the Toyota are all over the place, and yet not a head was turned all week while we drove some 200+ miles. That's hardly scientific, but anecdotally, we must admit that this brand-new Toyota design blends right into the background. We do have some worries about the …
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