Selwyn Times: December 04, 2019

44 Wednesday December 4 2019
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
SELWYN TIMES
Get adventurous in Toyota’s RAV4
WHILE TOYOTA’S new RAV4
stands out for its family-friendly
profile, there’s no doubt Toyota
want the latest generation model
to appeal to a wider audience.
Included in the eight-model
line-up is a one-specification
four-wheel-drive version labelled
Adventure. It is the hero car in the
line-up and such is its popularity
there may be a wait while stocks
land in good supply.
There’s not a lot mechanically
different to the standard RAV4,
however, the Adventure gets a
body kit and interior treatment
that makes it stand out markedly
from the rest of the range. If you
like bold and brash it is the car
for you, large fenders, aggressive
bumper and grille, and big wheels
are there to tempt. Inside, there is
also bright orange detailing.
It is also a high-grade model,
most of what is found in Limited
specification is fitted to the
Adventure and, as you might
expect Adventure rounds out the
series at $48,990. Bear in mind
the RAV4 starts at $34,990, and
includes hybrid models which
land from $38,990.
The Adventure is in the lineup
as a point of difference, and
after a week in the car I can
Motoring
Ross Kiddie
certainly see its appeal. When I
tested the hybrid model in these
columns in July I suggested it was
the sport utility vehicle for me,
and that hasn’t changed. However,
I would be tempted with the Adventure,
it looks a little bit rugged
and it has appeal in that way.
As I’ve covered in the past, the
new RAV4 is all-new, the platform
is fresh and the body style
quite a departure from the previous
generation.
That being the case, it is stateof-the-art
mechanically and that
shows when you are driving it,
not so much in terms of mechanical
power but it handles a
lot differently, it is more stable
and for lack of better words,
more normal, more car-like from
behind the wheel.
Yet, the Adventure has off-road
ability. The downside of evaluating
a four-wheel-drive vehicle
off-the-seal in winter is that it gets
very dirty, so I didn’t tackle anything
too serious, but I did use an
old forestry track near Hororata
which is a good test of suspension
control. The ground was
very soft thanks to a drenching a
day or two before, however, the
RAV4 never felt as if I was going
to end up with a complete loss of
TOYOTA RAV4 ADVENTURE: Capable on the sand or on the seal.
• Price – Toyota RAV4
Adventure, $48,990
• Dimensions – Length,
4610mm; width, 1865mm;
height, 1685mm
• Configuration – Fourcylinder,
four-wheel-drive,
2487cc, 152kW, 243Nm,
six-speed automatic.
• Performance –
0-100km/h, 8.5sec
• Fuel usage – 6.8l/100km
traction.
That’s due a lot to the engine
and dynamic torque vectoring
drive management protocols
which can be dialled in by the
driver. There’s a console-mounted
button which selects the choice of
several modes – snow, mud, sand,
dirt, rock. There are also protocols
for highway driving, eco,
normal or sport.
Each has its own unique character
with the end result being
the best outcome depending on
the surface. Take into account
too, that the wheels and rubber
are up an inch from the standard
models, the big Yokohama tyres
(235/55 x 19in) are street-treaded
but they do dig out grip on soft
surfaces.
The non-hybrid RAV4 buyer
effectively has a choice of two engines,
2-litre or 2.5-litre. The Adventure
has the big displacement
unit and it is an easy-worker. The
benefit of cubic capacity is the
lack of obvious stress, the 2487cc
twin-camshaft engine just lopes
along and works freely through a
six-speed automatic transmission.
The big benefit of that is the lack
of fuel it uses, there is little loading
so Toyota’s claim of 6.8-litres per
100km (42mpg) usage on a combined
cycle is not unachievable.
My time with the test car
returned figures of 8.2l/100km
(35mpg) with a 6l/100km
(47mpg) instantaneous figure
available at 100km/h, the engine
ticking over slowly at just
1600rpm.
If lively acceleration is needed,
the engine will burst into life
with strong mid-range performance
– standstill to 100km/h in
8.5sec and 80km/h to 120km/h
in 5.4sec. The latter relates
directly to engine power, Toyota
claim outputs of 152kW and
243Nm, both outputs arriving
tall inthe rev band at 6600rpm
and 4500rpm respectively, that
matters little, the specific outputs
are strong enough to provide that
direct flow of power right across
the rev range.
On my highway evaluation
I was passed by a RAV4 of an
earlier generation. The vehicle
was four-up and on the roof rails
sat several sets of skis. I figured
Mt Hutt was the destination, and
I couldn’t help but think how
suited to that road the RAV4 was.
I strongly suspect the occupants
were a little envious they weren’t
driving the latest generation
model, especially the Adventure
model. Its name lends itself to a
role just that little left-of-centre,
yet it still is the quintessential
RAV4 that Kiwi buyers have
come to embrace.