Used Toyota RAV4 Hybrid for Sale in Oakland, CA

Update after 8 months of ownership (Nearly 9,000 miles): I've driven several long trips (8+ hours) on highways in mountainous conditions as well as in flat extreme heat conditions with a full cargo load, short local road conditions, and quasi off-road environments, and all things in between. The car handled the highway and local travel conditions very well. The handling was particularly reassuring in some of the most torrential rains and winds I've ever encountered anywhere on the road (Hurricane Hermine in Florida). I noticed the gas mileage decreases by about 3 mpg in extremely hot weather, but functionality is fine. The semi off-road drive would have been better handled by a hardier and true 4WD vehicle like a truck or 4 Runner, but I wanted to go fishing and had to test the vehicle's limits a bit :o) It made it across the field and back, but it was a very bumpy ride and some of the deeper dips in the field let themselves be known!! Now that I've better learned how to use the navigation system, it certainly gets me where I want to go. I've upgraded that review. Over all, I have to say I have no regrets in purchasing this vehicle. The cargo load is great, the safety features flawless and useful, the road performance is very good....A fine automobile that I intend to keep for many years to come. Over all, I'm quite pleased I've only had the vehicle for about a month, so resale value, maintenance costs, and inclement weather handling are still untested elements. Since inclement weather performance is also heavily dependent on tire selection, that will be a test requiring a considerable amount of time. I don't have a pressing need for snow capability since I live in Georgia and will travel mostly within Georgia, South and North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida with this vehicle. Wet weather and light off-pavement driving performance is more crucial, however. Once the factory tires wear out, I'm inclined to switch to Michelin Premier A/S. I put the Premier tire line on my Highlander with spectacular results. I wanted a smaller crossover SUV than my Highlander. The RAV4 Hybrid fit the bill. The road performance is very pleasing. The rear suspension is a bit rough in bumpy conditions, but acceleration, cornering, braking (particularly excellent), and transmission shifting are all superior. On the highway and normal city pavement conditions, the ride is very smooth with a comforting degree of driver control. Plenty of oomph to make it up the mountains and small enough to make tight quarters parking a breeze. The active safety features are truly next generational, effective, and easy to use. The camera features are amazing. LED headlights, fog lamps (although strangely not LED), great visibility, blind spot monitoring, pedestrian and rear cross traffic sensors, radar cruise control, lane shift sensors, and more make it all a very nice package, indeed. The front seats aren't the most comfortable I've ever encountered, but a seat cushion cured that. The seat back and bucket seat configuration are quite nice compared to the seat itself. Plenty of head and leg room for a 6' 3", 200 lb driver. The hybrid's battery cuts back on the rear cargo space a bit, and the resulting slope created by the battery compartment is slightly limiting, but nothing I can't live with. Especially considering the fantastic gas mileage I'm getting. Combined city/highway is producing a 37.8 mpg result. Definitely what I was seeking. Very adequate sound insulation engineering in this vehicle keeps external road noise to a minimum. One strange omission is that there is no glove compartment lamp. I'm not sure why so many entertainment features are needed in an automobile, but there are a plethora of options from which to choose in the RAV4. The premier JBL speakers are a tad tinny sounding, but after market upgrades would cure that for those in need of concert hall sound. The display is easy to use with plenty of configuration options. The navigation system is somewhat confusing and difficult to follow while driving, especially compared with a Garmin unit. My "sporty" days are behind me, so while there might be faster, more muscular crossover SUVs out there, the overall package of the RAV4 hybrid, along with the Toyota reliability factor is difficult to beat. This is a solidly built vehicle with an established reputation, employing proven hybrid technologies; all of which should inspire the even the most wary potential automobile purchaser to venture into the land of hybrid and contemporary safety features.

Having bought the original RAV 4 in 1196 & still driving it we were very excited when the RAV 4 Hybrid became available. I have a 150 mile round trip commute and was looking for a comfortable, reliable and economic vehicle to replace my 2005 Volvo V70. The RAV 4 Hybrid is the perfect solution with its AWD when needed it sticks to the road in heavy rain downpours along with deep snow & otherwise slick road conditions. Comfort is great with the smoothness of a large sedan & the visibility of an SUV. Headlights on high are amazing casting beacon like illumination similar to a lighthouse, best headlights ever. Mileage is great averaging 33.7 MPG even with a majority of my commute on the interstate. The XLE has all the bells and whistles, even navigation for free if you download Scout GPS link to your cellphone and Bluetooth to your entertainment center. Just cannot say enough about this great vehicle. In case you are wondering we still have the 1996 RAV 4 and will plan on keeping both it and the 2016 RAV 4 Hybrid for many years to come. One year later and 36,500 miles, best SUV ever. Using the RAV for a 150 mile per day commute with only issue is the small size of the fuel tank. I've traveled from Georgia to South Dakota with the RAV & it is an amazing road trip vehicle. Its been back in the Black Hills on abandoned logging roads and performed flawlessly.

I have owned 3 Toyota Hybrids prior to purchasing this '16 RAV4 Limited Hybrid for my daughter this past weekend; an '07 Prius I drove for 240k miles. An '08 Camry which my wife drove primarily and now my '14 Avalon. I buy Toyota's and Hybrids for 3 reasons: Reliability, resale value and fuel economy. Looks and features are secondary to this. That said, my daughter has been the exception to what we buy in the family. She didn't want a Toyota in her early years because of "looks". She ended up with new '11 Nissan Juke SL and a '13 Nissan Juke SV. I can officially declare they should be called Nissan Junk and thankfully now that she works along with having a commute she values my 3 "Reasons". Yes, she even spoke to her brother about the benefits of having a hybrid over a gas only vehicle (implied "inferior" engine due to the lower fuel economy :) ). The safety features in the RAV4 are amazing. Greater than my Avalon Limited, even greater than my wife's Highlander Limited Platinum. She uses the birds eye view for not only physical presence around her car but also to ensure she is centered in a parking spot. She likes the lane departure, rear cross traffic and the alert it gives on all 4 corners if something is close or you may hit it (say backing out of the garage) but I don't remember what feature this is part of. She used the navigation all of the time in her Juke and I've heard of no complaints so far with the RAV4 - and trust me, I would hear about it! She likes the performance...actually now with the hybrid she drives more conservatively. This is something I first noticed in my Prius. The Hybrid display that feeds back into to the driver becomes like a game system challenging the driver to get better fuel economy. Your behavior changes because of the instant feedback. Instead of racing to the red light you coast ... of course the engine turns off, captures energy to charge the batteries and you improve your fuel economy. Besides the 3 hour drive home from the dealership ( I go to the best Toyota dealer and not the closest which happens to be Uebelhor in Jasper Indiana) when we bought it, she has driven her 80 mile round trip to work 3 times averaging over 35 mpg. It is a 30/70 mix of hwy to local roads. My last comment on performance is that when I read reviews or comments from people on other vehicles over the years who complain about performance I get the impression they are either driving the hybrid like it is a gas-only vehicle or expect that it should drive like that. Most non-luxury/non-performance hybrids (like Tesla) focus on fuel economy & range. This doesn't mean acceleration, passing, etc are not important but I contend you buy a Hybrid first for fuel economy / range before performance. Thankfully the RAV4 and Highlander are examples of a Hybrid that has more HP/Torque than there gas counterparts which helps when comparing to its gas sibling as well as the competition. Also, if person doing the review isn't sensitive to know how to get quickness and using the electric torque to aid in passing they may always end up relying on the gas engine essentially bypassing the "hybrid" benefit. The RAV4 and my Avalon in Sport mode are very quick and fun - but the mpg will suffer a bit. We both drive in ECO mode and I'm trying to get her to think about switching to EV mode when leaving her neighborhood, driving around malls, etc. Yes, the SUV will do it on its own but its kinda cool to make it act like a large golf cart knowing you are driving for "free". With the car being less than 1 week old I can't comment on Toyota support for this specific vehicle nor its long term reliability, etc. This is why I selected Ok/NA for each question asked except dealership support. This is why I buy Toyota's to begin with and since Toyota has been producing Hybrids for the US market since roughly 1999 and in Japan before that, I have 100% confidence in the Hybrid Synergy Drive used in this new RAV4 Hybrid as it should be essentially like the one used in my '14 Avalon Hybrid. Many of the SUV's in this segment look alike and just like puppies they all look cute in the showroom. However, what matters (to most, imho) is how the vehicle looks and runs at 50K, 100K, 250K miles. There are many examples of non-Toyota's running just great up to these miles and I'm happy for those people. However, I also believe i can say with confidence that virtually all Toyota's if properly maintained will be running great many years after driven off the dealers lot providing years of low cost service and when ready for sale or trade-in they will get the most in return. FJ Cruisers, Tacoma's, 4Runners and RAV4's are examples of vehicles with the highest resale/residual value....up their with Subaru's. These are my experiences and hope it helps someone who is reviewing the current pack of small SUV's.

UPDATE: Over a year of ownership, 16,000 miles, and no regrets. Average 30 mpg around suburbs, 37 mpg on a steady 65mph highway trip. I can drive this car for hours with no discomfort. And no service problems, just a new windshield from a crack - added bug/stone deflector afterwards, no more issues. No paint chips. No windshield cracks. It does hold alot of stuff, and is great in the snow too! This is my favorite vehicle ever. So, would I buy again? In a heartbeat. I just upgraded from a 2015 Limited Rav4 AWD, to this hybrid AWD in the XLE package. I've only logged a few hundred miles, but so far, I could not be happier. The trade off from the Limited with the tech package, to this, is minimal as the one I got has the tech package in it. So, I'm missing heated seats, an auto dimming rear view mirror, faux leather seats, and I think that is about it. But what I gain is what I feel is a better ride, the 17" wheels on the XLE ride much better than the 18" wheels on the Limited. So, I'd say the reviews that mention that, are correct. I also gain a better tech package than I had, which is auto braking, auto correction on steering, and adaptive radar controlled cruise control with automatic braking. I also have front parking sensors and pedestrian accident avoidance too. These are great features I now would never want to live without. Oh yes, this one has blind spot monitoring too, which I cannot say enough positive things about. And cross traffic detection when in reverse and something is crossing behind me. The car is 500 pounds heavier (give or take) but I don't notice much of a difference in the driving. I know the steering wheel isn't as stiff, making turning easier. But I also know that they say the mechanical AWD is replaced with an electric rear wheel using intelligence vs. a physical driveshaft and such. I won't know how much better one is than the other, but I do know during our last blizzard, the AWD on the 2015 was amazingly great. I hope for that with this one, but if not, it will be okay because we don't get too many blizzards. There is a bit of torque steer on heavy acceleration, which I don't like, but is a tradeoff going to a non-mechanical awd vs. this which is more electronic and electric motors on the rear wheels. I sometimes feel it pulling upon braking but have figured out this is the road not the car. This may have to be with the slightly more narrow tires of this vs. the wider Limited tires that didn't get stuck in the road rutts as much. With the hybrid, you will lose a small amount of cargo space, but it is more frustrating than losing the actual space. The 2015 has rear fold flat seats, and I suppose the 2016 gas model does too, but the hybrid uses space under the rear seat for battery/batteries. Plus in the cargo area is a small area that sits higher than the rest of the cargo area, which is where your tire changing tool, and battery related stuff, exists. The rear seats don't fold completely flat, like many SUV's they sit up a bit, and then there is that small raised area in the cargo hold. All that said you lose a small amount of space, no biggie. It is the sloping that is frustrating. This proved more frustrating with some longer boxes I recently had to take to storage. Everything goes up uphill and slides out the rear hatch if not careful. If you are curious about this vs. the non-hybrid, consider the $700 more for the hybrid is really worth it, also because you get more equipment in the hybrid vs. the non-hybrid (best kept secret) plus you can save some money at the gas pumps and help the environment by using less gas. I loved my 2015 non-hybrid RAV4 Limited......alot. Never liked any car as much as that one. And after 18000 miles, it was still like new. And I never had anything go wrong with it. So I trust Toyota quality, and I know they will make things right if something of concern is uncovered in the future. Lastly, I will tell you that my new hybrid version is made in Japan. What I am hoping is that the quality of the car stays with the previous quality build of other Toyotas I've owned that were made in Japan. The only thing I didn't like on my 2015 was the paint nicked easily from highway drives. And I know my 2013 prius had a much better coat of paint on it; I can only hope the same paint quality carries over to the RAV4 hybrid. Also, the seats are comfortable for bigger people. I'm 5' 11" and weigh about 270lbs. I have no issues getting comfortable.