Featured New '26 Rav4 vs CRV Motor Trend article/test

never been a honda fan. seems they are always on about performance instead of reliability and mpg's.
i do thing it is much better looking than the rav4 though.
interestingly, the crv is 4" longer than the rav, but looks smaller to me

 

I was a Honda fanboy back in the day; until I bought the gen2 CIVIC hybrid. I did more highway than city driving back then and the specs. was slightly better for a Honda vs Toyota. After several years and recalls, I would've been better off with a CIVIC HX, cheaper, closer to the actual miles I was getting on that civic hybrid, and more power with the 5-speed.

 

Did the hybrid battery go off on yours? Ours certainly did, and didn't waste any time about it. Recalibration became a dirty word...

 

Yep; I believe it died around 60K miles. I knew it was dying when it began to rapidly charge and discharge - so I took it in for warranty repair. Dealership just cleared the codes and tried to send me on my way. They called it a recalibration. I said, 'hell no'; I'll kill every sale your currently working on, on your sales floor - Everyone seen the press releases on this car ! The dealership owner came out to talk to me and said Honda American will only replace the pack if it throws the same pack codes twice. I told him fine, you got all my details - order the new pack, I'll be back in a day or two with those same error codes. If you refuse again; I'll make good on my promise on a weekend at the end of the month. Drove the car like I stole it and popped those codes the next day - up till then I've been driving pretty conservatively.
They replaced the traction pack and I sold the car the next month - with the documented new OEM pack.

 

Ours was replaced by a Canadian Honda dealership, with one code display. The replacement was up to the same shenanigans in less than a year.

The CRV hybrid is interesting, but no spare, no sale.

 

Yep; probably a rebuilt pack; I wasn't going to get fooled twice and the resale value couldn't get any higher with the documented new pack installed. It helped that I had all documented repairs except oil changes the I did myself. I use the notebook in the glove box trick - makes it easy to sell a car to a serious buyer.

 

I am glad TSS 4.0 is much better than TSS 3.0, coming closer to full self-driving. Also keep in mind that TSS 4.0 will receive OTA updates to its features.

Even though they rated the CRV slightly better than the RAV4 due to slightly better handling of the former, the crappy ADAS and crappy multimedia on the CRV, as noted by the authors, are absolute deal breakers for me, as those are the things I first consider when I buy a new car, along with reliability, the latter of which Toyota has little competition against if at all as well.

 

Reading the reviews, with the Gen 6 RAV4, it appears that Toyota has set the new standard for technology with an amazing cluster gauge, built-in dashcam, great multimedia, and OTA-updated ADAS. They are even ahead of the luxury makes now. This is a giant leap for Toyota from its current models. It is surprising, too.

 

I doubt it was rebuilt, from dealership, but they were junk, undersized and overtaxed. And maybe sitting on a shelf for years.

good lord, I better cash out the savings and snap one up!

 

Hopefully they straighten out the buggy infotainment system. I just need it to Bluetooth reliability across to the cell phone for hands-free use; don't care about the rest of it. Didn't need it for the first half century of driving - don't see why it's all of a sudden essential NOW.

Just my two cents.

I do like the dashcam, so I don't need to install my own.

 

i would be very surprised. i'm certainly not taking anyone's word for it. i've been around the block a few times

 

Yes, according to the reviews, the multimedia system is completely redesigned and all the complaints have been addressed and more.

The only drawback is that you need to subscribe to Toyota Connect for navigation and voice assist.

 

It sound like I'll need to bring my old flip phone again; if I buy one. Did that when I purchased my Prime. The Toyota Connect person tried to sell me the package, so I whipped out that old flip phone and said; 'can you help me connect it and show me how it works?' she couldn't get away from me fast enough.
I've got a Garmin, since I'm usually in places that doesn't have coverage a lot; unless you want to climb a ridge to get a bar or two.

 

You can mirror your smartphone on it without Toyota Connect.

 

old flip phone, no internet, no Bluetooth functionality but it does have a 1.5mm phono jack; NOT a smartphone.
I'm not a caveman and know how to use a smartphone, but the monthly Toyota connect just isn't worth it to me for it's limited functionality and buggy operations.

 

Retired? These days you can’t even work without a smartphone, as you need the apps on it for logins etc. LOL

 

Retired about a year ago. I refused to give work my cell phone number about 5 years back. It went to arbitration and we threaten to sue. They already had my home phone number and refuse to pay me a stipen to access my cell phone - so I told them to stick it where the sun don't shine. Asked them why does management and supervisor get facility paid cell phones. Why don't they just call them on their personnel cell phones. The arbitrator came down on my side, which was unexpected and cost the facility dearly. Everyone refused to let the facility have free access to their cell phones (secondary line) without compensation. My department had to buy and budget two additional cell phones for on-call and backup on-call. The year I retired, they actually gave everyone in my department a company cell phone.
They basically tried to blur the line between work hour and my free time. If they want me on-call, fine - PAY ME; I didn't want them calling me on my off-hours trying to guilt me into going in to work. It didn't help that management was hiring idiots that couldn't find their way out of a paper bag. Each meeting they were talking about team-work - Code for baling the idiots out, because they couldn't do their job. Most of the reasons given to the arbitrator was my unavailability when those people got stuck. Of course I asked them; 'was i on-call or backup-call'? Management's answer to that was, 'We would've paid you for your time.' My reply was, 'In my past 25 years working here, this is the FIRST I've ever heard of this'. 'Tell me, where is this in our policy and procedures?' I'm pretty sure, that's when the arbitrator realized what management was actually trying to do; make us work for free and free on-call. Some department heads still has my personnal cell phone number and we've been out for drinks, after I've retired. That's now the fee they pay me to navigate a course through the work bureaucracy.

I guess I'm just a trouble maker