On Wheels by Brooks Peterson

Saturday, February 10, 2001

New RAV4 is a comfy Cute Ute with attitude

George Tuley/Caller-Times

The redesigned Toyota RAV4, with its chunky contours, has a sportier exterior than its too-cute predecessor. Inside, it is much roomier and has the best cupholders in the business. Its two-liter, four-cylinder engine generates 148 horsepower, up from the 127 in the original RAV4.

As most readers will have figured out long since, people who write about cars are fallible mortals just like everyone else. We can on occasion get carried away when going negative (maybe I overdid it when in a long-ago road test I compared the ride of a certain sport-utility vehicle unfavorably with that of a Conestoga wagon), and just as certainly we may get carried away by our enthusiasms.
   With that mandatory consumer advisory out of the way, permit me to introduce Toyota's thoroughly-revamped-for '01 RAV4:
   Ladies and gentlemen, would you remind removing your headgear? We are in the presence of greatness here.
   I know, I know; ours is a naughty and cynical age. Even the most jaded among us, however, could not but be deeply moved by what Toyota has accomplished here: the most intelligently conceived, sublimely crafted and flawlessly executed cup-holders in automotive history.
   Now, I know there are some out there who may not realize what a genuinely epochal development this is. However, as one who has been fortunate enough to sample a different vehicle every week for over a decade, I've got to tell you that the cupholder dilemma is one that has fascinated and infuriated me for a long, long time. It isn't that these things are an absolute necessity - only one of our own fleet of four has any - but is it unreasonable to expect them to work? More often than not, they've fallen short: too gimmicky (crab-like claws that jump out of the dash) or too crude (one-size recesses that will accept only a 12-ounce can).
   But take heart: The millennium really has arrived. The two receptacles in the RAV4 - essentially, holes in the center console - have sliding, template-like covers that can accommodate anything from a standard Coke can to a Big Gulp. At least, the Great Thirst is over.
   Essentially a car

George Tuley/Caller-Times

The rear seats in the Toyota RAV4 fold down, increasing cargo capacity. When up, they provide decent legroom for passengers.

   There are a few other news about the vehicle I suppose you need to know as well: Somewhat startlingly, given that the RAV4 only entered the market in 1996, Toyota has for 2001 retooled the little guy from the ground up - and very much for the better.
   Understand, the concept remains essentially unchanged: One of the first of the Cute Utes, the RAV4 was and remains more a car (witness its unibody construction rather than the body-on-frame format some brush-busters favor) with some off-road capabilities and styling cues than a knobby, gnarly, go-anywhere SUV.
   If it's serious bashing and crashing you're after, you'd best direct your gaze elsewhere - perhaps to Toyota's own tough-as-an-anvil 4Runner. Certainly in front-wheel-drive configuration (our tester), the RAV4 is best suited to urban assault vehicle duties and the occasional foray down well-maintained dirt roads. The optional all-wheel-drive would be significantly more capable - but, lacking as it does a low range, even this version should be considered a tool for use in sloppy weather and the mud-and-frozen-slush conditions they encounter up in the Rust Belt.
   Are we clear on that? Good. Now, from here on out, the news is all good. Why? Because with the new RAV4 Toyota has given us what every good American yearns for: more stuff.
   More horsepower. More stretch-out room for driver and passengers. More bulk. More carrying capacity. And, by no means least, more visual aggression.
   On the last count, you really have to give Toyota stylists for effecting a dramatically successful transformation: It's as if Punky Brewster had stepped behind a curtain and, oh, say, Uma Thurman had emerged.
   Where the original RAV4 was so darn cute you just wanted to hug it (or whack it between the headlights, if you were having an off day), the 2001 version projects . . . well . . . attitude. Not hostility, you understand, and not menace. The chunky-but-not-dumpy contours project a taking-care-of-business approach to life that may help the RAV4 win a whole new constituency.
   More giddy-up

George Tuley/Caller-Times

The RAV4 is not as well-suited to rough off-road use as some other SUVs, but it has sufficient ground clearance.

   Certainly the fresh horses under the hood are welcome: A new 2-liter four that makes 148 fairly frisky ponies has supplanted the old 127-horsepower four. And while the five-speed manual box might be the ticket for purists, the four-speed automatic doesn't take too big a bite out of performance.
   Indeed, the only untoward behavior I encountered on the road was some surging while ascending an incline with the cruise control engaged. Hello?
   With an all-independent suspension, the handling is well sorted-out - always bearing in mind that even in a Cute Ute, you're dealing with a relatively tall, and therefore fairly tippy, vehicle. The swing-and-sway factor is, however, far less pronounced than it was in some earlier SUVs that sometimes had me yearning for an in-flight bag.
   Roomier

Toyota RAV4 Five-passenger front-wheel-drive sport utility Base price: $17,265 Price as tested: $21,966 Drivetrain: Dual-overhead-cam 16-valve fuel-injected four, 148 hp; four-speed automatic-overdrive transmission Brakes: Front discs, rear drums, power-assisted EPA mileage: 24 city/29 highway Web site: www.toyota.com

   Brakes - discs in front, drums in back - aren't exactly state-of-the-art, but during my time with it they proved commendably effective. They're a bit sensitive, though, so the heavy-footed driver may have to work his/her way through a learning curve.
   No question, real progress is evident in the interior. Where the original RAV4 was, to put it charitably, snug, this one is strikingly more user-friendly. The driver and front-seat passenger have room in just about every direction; and the tail-enders, while they must sit up fairly straight, have reasonable accommodations.
   Will the second-generation RAV4 grab U.S. motorists like the first one did? It could happen - particularly when the word spreads among cupholder aficionados, among whom this little charmer could well attain cult status.
  
  

On Wheels is published on Saturdays. Brooks Peterson also sits on the Caller-Times editorial board and can be contacted at petersonb@caller.com

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