Toyota plays it safe with new RAV4
BY RON HAMMERTON | 6th Feb 2019
TOYOTA Australia will play the safety card on its new-generation RAV4 medium SUV, confirming that all 11 variants will come standard with high-end driver-assistance technology such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, road sign assist, lane departure alert and automatic high beam.
Based on the same new modular TNGA vehicle architecture as the new Corolla and Prius, the fifth-generation RAV4 thus should be a shoo-in for a five-star ANCAP safety rating when it arrives in showrooms in the second quarter of this year.
As expected, a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain will be offered for the first time in RAV4 in Australia. Also as expected, no diesel will be offered, at least in Australia.
Pricing has been held back until launch. The current range starts at $29,450 plus on-road-costs, and tops out at $50,500.
Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley said the new RAV4 would offer unprecedented levels of safety in the mid-sized SUV class to deliver outstanding driver assistance.
“Safety has always been a top priority for Toyota, and in the all-new RAV4 we are delivering highly advanced technologies to assist drivers and help protect occupants and other road users," he said.
“These features will ensure the RAV4 provides our customers with the very highest levels of active and passive safety in its class, and they are not just limited to the higher grade models.”
Apart from the safety features mentioned above, the RAV4 will come armed with lane-keeping assist as part of the adaptive cruise control function.
It will also get blind-spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert, reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors and seven airbags.
Three petrol four-cylinder powertrains will be on offer, starting with an entry level 2.0-litre unit producing 127kW of power and 207Nm of torque, a boost of 20kW and 20Nm.
Fitted only to urban-focused front-wheel drive variants, this engine nevertheless will be offered in three grades – GX, GXL and Cruiser.
The GXL and Cruiser will be sold exclusively with Toyota’s continuously variable transmission (CVT), while the GX will also come with an alternative six-speed manual gearbox.
Next up the powertrain range will be a new normally aspirated 152kW/243Nm 2.5-litre petrol engine for all-wheel-drive variants, driving through a conventional eight-speed automatic transmission and mechanical AWD system.
The range-topping 2.5-litre 155kW hybrid powertrain will be offered in both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive configurations, each in GX, GLX and Cruiser grades.
All these variants will get a CVT transmission, while the AWD variants get an electric-controlled all-paw system.
For the few RAV4 drivers who might be tempted to take their vehicle off-road, Toyota will add a single variant, the AWD Edge, that it says will look more rugged and have “an adventure focus”.
When the RAV4 was unveiled at last year’s New York motor show, the 2.5-litre Dynamic Force engine was claimed to be the most thermally efficient petrol powerplant in the world.
The new Corolla that was launched in Australia in hatch form last August uses a 2.0-litre version of it producing 125kW and 200Nm.
With 22,165 sales last year, the RAV4 is Toyota’s best-selling SUV in Australia, and second only to Mazda’s CX-5 (26,173) in overall SUV sales.
