CLSII

I've just changed jobs and parking can be a bit limited at times. Thing is they have a large grassed area at the rear of the main car park where parking is allowed but I'm worried that in the great British climate I may get stuck in my current saloon car (non scooby).

This set me thinking along the lines of something like the Rav 4. I only travel about 220 miles a month and my wife has a family saloon. The idea of free no hassle parking really appeals to me, I don't need massive off road capability just to be able to drive in a bit of mud and grass.

Would the Rav 4 fit the bill? or are there any better alternatives?

mad-dad

i dont drive a scooby, but really hate these pretend 4x4s(just my opinion), wouldn't something like a legacy make any sense?

Scooby-Doo

Owned a RAV4 brand new for less than a year. Would not even recommend one to my worst enemy. Don't buy anything from Toyota the dealers and HO are utter crap.

Terzo 333

The girlfriend has an 03 Rav4 (long wheel base) IMHO it is a brilliant car - can't fault it one bit

Terzo 333

And here's a pic :

MooseRacer

I agree with Terzo - mrs mooseracer has one too and it's a good car. Perfectly able to trawl across muddy fields and the like.

New one coming out next year I believe.

MooseRacer

and Terzo's is a D4D which is probably even better

Scooby-Doo

My one was an 03 D4d 5 door in black. Car was OK but the paint was beyond belief. 2 hours in Tescos and a bird poo ate through the paint on the bonnet. Few other bird poos and the car was bordering on a respray. Toyota off the record admitted they had a problem with paint especially black and they would not recall as they would have to respray every car and either I shut up or take them to court. The car also had numerous other paint issues that occured in the first year but the paint warrenty is worthless as they blame everything on tree sap and bird poo that is not covered. Part exd it in the end without a wash as I honestly believe I would have been unable to sell it if I had kept it another year. If you do get one check the paint in the sun and do not buy black.

Brendan Hughes

Bloody hell!

I have a silver one, just as above (D4D) and it's been boringly reliable for 2.5 years, I've never even checked the oil!! Only problem I've had is with parking sensors, long story which involves dealers but non-UK - they work OK, but are fiddly. No idea what it's like off-road, we bought it more as an MPV which happens to have 4wd. Now wondering about swapping it for summat as it's a bit gutless (can be improved with an £800 chip from TTE) and noisy on the motorway for anything over 2 hrs.

Diablo

Just to put some balance on this, unless they had changed the paint between 01 and 03, I guess you were very unlucky.

I ran a black 2.0L petrol NRG 3 door for over 2 years between 01 and 04, travelling over 37,000 miles in all conditions and the ONLY problem I had was some mild corrosion on the spokes of the alloys and some corrosion on the disks.

I had no paint problems at all, other than the usual stone chips (which were no worse than my old scoob had)

Disks (& pads) were replaced under warranty, and the wheels were on order when I changed jobs and gave it back (the wheels were also a warranty job)

Had fantastic service from my dealer.

The car was 100% reliable in the period, and the only problem was that fuel consumption was only average if you drove it like it was stolen, which is how I drove it mostly being a company car. It would do 120 mph where permissable, zero to sixty in under 9 seconds and could be held in a 4 wheel drift with ease.

Got back from Inverness to Glasgow via fort william in a horrendous snow storm with viscous centre and rear diffs when 4 wd "cars" were bottoming out on the snow and could take anything the worst of Scottish weather could throw at it.

An absolutely brilliant all rounder and great fun to drive.

Scooby-Doo

You lucky bugger Diablo, and from the "off the record conversation" I had with a Toyota HO employee they changed the paint mix in 03 to reduce costs and to be more enviromentaly friendly and it was black that suffered the greatest as there is no lacquer on the non metalic black.

Diablo

That would explain it - there was a clear coat over the black base on mine.

Black paint is generally accepted as being less robust by many in the trade, and with water based paints that can only be worse.

Not surprised about the change to be honest, Toyota have a very strong corporate environmental awareness thing going on, and if its cheaper as well,that can only be a bonus.

I'm assuming they changed it with the facelift?

Scooby-Doo

Mine was an 03 reg XVX not the latest shape but just before althought the facelift was only bumpers and mild interior changes. The paint was so soft you could scratch it with a finger nail with just a gentle rub. I cannot put into words just how crap it was !!!! Maybe I just unlucky but the service I received from the dealer and head office was plain diabolitical which actually p!ssed me off more than the problem itself.

Oh well you live and learn and I certainly would not buy another Toyota on principal. Agree though that apart from the paint it was a very good car although the D4D could have done with another 50 bhp.

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Just my pennies worth:

My wife has a 1994 2.0 GX three door, and it has been superb for the three year's of ownership.

Full main dealer service is £165 and insurance is under £250 for her.

Great to drive, handles well, cheap to run and reliable - does what a car should do.

Four wheel drive has been very useful in rural Shropshire

We upgraded the standard tyres to something a bit "meetier".

Some of the very early models are good value - especially as new model due on 2006.

Richard

Gav

My mum's got one and i think they're a great car. Good looks, decent enough performance and pretty good residuals. I'd recommend one

gav..

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

The rear seats in them are pretty uncomfortable though!