The Toyota RAV4 hybrid 4x4 comes from the creators of the mighty Prius, arguably the most famous hybrid car in the world. It should have all the advantages of being a big SUV; lots of interior space, high-up driving position and in-vogue, muscular SUV looks. But being a hybrid, it shouldn't be an environment punishing gas guzzler - and it's fair to say this car's real life fuel economy surprised even us. Read our RAV4 hybrid review to find out more.
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Around town it's easy to drive, quiet and fuel efficient. It's also comfortable and there's loads of interior space.
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Outside of town it can get noisy, fuel economy is awful and it produces bucket loads of carbon monoxide.
It was so close to being a Best Buy. It's spacious, comfortable and wonderfully frugal on fuel when driving around town. But let it escape urban confines and fuel consumption goes through the roof, it gets noisy and worse - it produces so many harmful emissions that we've had to withhold Best Buy status. Incredibly, the diesel Toyota RAV4 is cleaner and more efficient than this petrol-hybrid.
What is it?
This is the first hybrid version of the longstanding RAV4 SUV.
The RAV4 started life as a three door compact 4x4 over 20 years ago. Now it's a fully grown, five door SUV which entered its fourth generation in 2013. A recent facelift has not just updated its looks and revised trim levels, but has brought about this new hybrid version. We review hybrid cars separately, if you'd rather read our review of the non-hybrid RAV4, click here.
Under the bonnet of the hybrid you'll find a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine, plus an electric motor. On the all-wheel-drive (AWD) versions of this car, a second electric motor will drive the rear axle when it's needed - such as under heavy acceleration or when driving up hills. And all that power is connected to a continuous-variable transmission (CVT) automatic gearbox.
What's it great at?
Family of giants? Not a problem. Anybody up to 6ft 6in (two metres) tall will be comfortable sat in either the front or back seats - a rare accomplishment. Admittedly, we're talking about the two outer-rear seats, as the one in the middle is a tad too narrow to accommodate anyone for more than a short journey, but almost all cars suffer from that.
What's it like to drive?
The car is effortless to control when pootling around town thanks to light steering, a reasonable amount of power and - at low revs - a quiet engine. It's so light and easy to drive that you're likely to forget you're driving a big SUV.
However, all that comes to an end as soon as you leave the city limits or encounter a hill. As the engine revs up to deal with the increased strain of motorway speeds or inclines, you'll get a loud annoying whine from the gearbox. When coming downhill, the CVT whine is replaced by the loud drone of regenerative braking (essentially the car turns into an electric generator when braking or coming downhill, using the power to charge up its batteries). Hearing the car whine and drone makes it feel strained, and that's when the weight of this 1,800kg SUV becomes a bit more apparent.
Despite that, this car performed reasonably well in our avoidance test where we simulate swerving round a stationery a car and attempt to get back into lane. When initially swerving to avoid the imaginary vehicle, the car reacted well by steering quickly and gripping hard to the road. But immediately swerving back was a bit trickier, as the car understeered heavily (when you turn the steering wheel but the car doesn't follow as quickly because the front wheels can't quite grip the road).
The suspension does a good job of dampening single bumps - like a pot hole or speed bump. But the tumult of a true UK B-road, with its unending rough and uneven terrain, will slip past the suspension and make itself known to you and your passengers.
Visibility isn't too bad considering it's a big SUV, but it's still hard to judge where both the front and rear ends of the car are when manoeuvring. If it weren't for the rear parking camera that comes as standard across the range, parking would be difficult indeed. Parking sensors, however, only come as standard to those who buy the top-trim version of this car, named Excel.
The driver is well accommodated. The steering wheel is height and reach adjustable and most cabin controls are placed high up and within easy reach. There's a reasonable amount of storage space in the form of a good size glove box, a big storage bin between the front seats (though admittedly is a bit annoying when buckling your seatbelt) and the ever-essential cup holders. A few grumbles we have with the way this car is designed is that the anti-pinch function only applies to the driver's window (so the other electric windows would close on your fingers if you let them) and the tilt adjustment of the driver's seat could be better.
How reliable is it?
The hybrid version of the RAV4 is too new for us to have gathered any reliability information on it. However, Toyota has an impressive reliability record and owners of the non-hybrid version have told us very little goes wrong with their cars. That doesn't mean the hybrid will be as reliable of course, but it's a good sign.
How comfortable and spacious is it?
As previously mentioned, even if you're very tall, you'll be able to slot yourself in comfortably to either the front or back seats.
However, you'll also want to be tall to get in thanks to the reasonably big step you need to take to enter or exit. Those designated to the rear seats suffer less manoeuvring space when getting in or out thanks to the wheel arch protruding somewhat into the door opening. There are grab handles throughout though, which helps.
Naturally the extra electronic motor in the back eats up some of the boot, so you don't get as much luggage loading space as in the normal RAV4. However, it's still not bad at 415-litres up to the window line. Dropping the seats opens this up somewhat, but you'll have to remove the ceiling mounted middle seat belt to use all the space available, which can get tedious if done a lot.
How economical is it to run?
Around town, it's pretty fantastic, with mpg in the 80s (assuming the battery is not depleted). But this is a car that's too big to be contained by urban congestion. On slightly faster roads, fuel economy starts to suffer but it's at its worst when you hit the motorway. We recorded 30mpg at motorway speeds, which is pretty poor, even for a large SUV. In fact, the diesel version of the RAV4 we tested managed 40mpg both on the motorway and overall. So if you do a lot of miles, you'd actually be better off with the diesel version rather than the hybrid.
Then there's the emissions and the gargantuan amount of carbon monoxide (CO) this car produces.
While it might meet the official limits set in 2014 (Euro 6) in official tests, our more realistic tests shows that in real life, this car produces so much CO, it exceeds any emissions limit set this century. We have therefore taken the decision to strip it of its Best Buy status.
How safe is it?
The car is well equipped as standard, but the optional Toyota's 'Safety Sense' adds about £700 to the basic price and adds a raft of worthwhile features to the cars, such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert, and a pre-collision system that can detect pedestrians and slow/stop the car if it detects a crash. It also has trailer sway control for those who want to tow.
We tested this car with the optional safety sense package and it aced our tests. The RAV4 has also received the full five out of five stars from the Euro NCAP safety assessment.
Is there anything I should look out for?
This car performs best when in town. If that suits you then great - but this is a big SUV, not a city car. It should be more suited to country roads and long journeys rather than just the sprawl of congested streets. It doesn't feel like a convincing purchase for what it is.
Should I buy it?
It's not a straightforward answer. Yes, it's a great car in many ways. But there's the poor out-of-town fuel economy and massive amount of emissions which makes it impractical. If you plan to do long journeys, you would actually be better off buying the regular Toyota RAV4, which is not only highly recommended, but the diesel version has proven itself cleaner than this hybrid.
- arnaque ou pas ? 
