Toyota to launch 2016 Rav4 hybrid at New York Auto Show

the price I heard is 40k +? is that true? that would turn me off.

 

If it is lighter than the NX, it should get slightly better fuel economy with the 2.5 HSD.
It is probably too heavy for the 1.8 HSD to have satisfactory performance.

That's the Lexus NX hybrid's price.

 

so haven't heard any price yet? is this the electric or hybrid one?

 

THis is a modified version of the camry hybrid system, that is in the similar Lexus NXh, so why not. It will likely cannibalize the hihy and Lexus NXh though, so I doubt it will net much hybrid growth

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I would expect at most 35 mpg combined versus 29 mpg for the cr-v. That is only 900 gallons of gas over 150,000 miles. At low gas prices I don't know if people will be willing to pay much more than for the cr-v. If you want milage, and 2wd is ok, a carmry hybrid or prius v may be a better choice. A lot will depend on pricing between this, the cr-v, and the outlander phev.

Still this will be the lowest price electronic awd car, and that may drive good sales for that niche. It has very low development cost, so why not.

 

It's probably going to be more than $30,000. The Limited version of the RAV4 starts at $28,450. I'd guess $32,000 starting MSRP minimum.

 

Hybrid. The EV one actually used a Tesla drivetrain. When the partnership was ended by Toyota, the Rav4 EV was cancelled.

Price is an important question The price between the cheapest Camry ICE and hybrid is around $4000. Equivalently equipped, that can drop to around $2000. So a Rav4 hybrid could compete with the Camry hybrid and Prius v on price, but I worry Toyota could go the way of the HiHy are only offer it in higher trims.

 

So no plug. Not interested.

With similar MPG to the coming Outlander PHEV, I think which one I prefer if I have to choose. The Outlander PHEV should get about $7000 CA rebate/IRS tax credit. Even more for Colorado residents. Outlander is AWD, while Toyota has not commented if they will have the AWD from the NX.

 

My thought was - what an irony - Ford aborts their perfectly wonderful Escape hybrid - feeling there are better things for them to sell ... and yet now Toyota's announcement seems to fly in the face of Ford's thinking. Over the years, different manufacturers have simply slapped their brand on cars made by others. The Chevy love comes to mind - made by Mitsubishi iirc. But you get the point. Hey Toyota ... why not just have ford re-tool for their Escape - then slap your label on it. After all - you two companies were sharing / cross licensing your synergy drive patents anyway. Just a thought.
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if it's the same weight as hycam, could get low to mid 40's real world. no reason the price can't be similar, at least on the 2 wheel drive.

 

The weight and areo are different though. See the NX? Less than the Hycam

 

yeah, rides a little higher. i wonder how much more weight, hycam is pretty beefy.

 

NX FWD is 35/31, my guess the Rav FWD might be 36/32?

 

The ICE Rav4 weighs about the same as the HyCam in the 3400 to 3500 pound range. The HSD will add almost 200lbs to the Rav4. The FWD NX hybrid is 4055lbs.

 

200 pounds and the higher cd might lose 1-3 mpg. still should come in around 40.

 

Don't forget 215 vs 225 tire width. I still predict a close to NX mpg rating.

 

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You can see that the escape hybrid 4wd is only 1 mpg higher than the cr-v (best seller in the class), the fwd version did better besting the conventional powered cute ute by 3 mpg, but that is a tough sell. Ford's own conventional escapes are 3 mpg thirstier than the cr-v on the epa test.

Ford sold about 70K of its fusion and c-max (hybrid and energi) that used the same 2L psd based hybrid system. Front wheel drive wouldn't have been hard, but ford thought that might reduce c-max sales. The trick is the 4wd system, and the right way to do it is the way tesla does it on the D versions of their cars. Toyota has a different not quite as good system in the LRXh and HiHy that hopefully has been improved here. I know ford is working with these electronic awd systems, but it does not appear that they are ready.

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I think the Wth moment with ford, is not that they killed the escape hybrid but that they reported 47 mpg on the c-max when it came out, when it really gets 40 mpg on the test if you do it correctly. bad on ford.

I think this electronic 4wd will be superior to Ford's old escape in terms of lower costs, higher efficiency, and better reliability. A bigger battery and a plug may make e4wd even better. We should see pricing and epa ratings of the outlander phev next year.

I think the critical piece of tech that toyota may or may not have working well is e4wd running off a small hybrid battery and fwd. That requires mg1 to send power to mg3 in back in many situations. Its easy to get it to work well on dry concrete, but probably quite complicated on off road mud or snow. But on the fwd version, yes, ford had that a long time ago ;-)

 

Come on Toyota, you know that you can do better than this design. Better do a full redesign and bring this product out as a 2018. 2020 has a better ring to it, so lets go for that Team!

 

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hybrids aren't magic. At most it will add the 4mpg hwy that the camry hybrid does. That gives you 34 hwy at the max when using camry tech. Maybe you pull some magic on the heavier car with some time materials, and get 41 mpg city. That leaves you with 38 mpg, as your high bar. My guess is that it will come in at 34mpg or 35 mpg combined.That Nx has a lot more rolling resistance than the camry, and I expect the rav4 hybrid to have stickier tires too.

 

you're talking sticker, i'm talking real world. but i agree, it will probably add the same amount hycam does over camry.