Toyota under the TNGA architecture is like a sky, almost complete the basic coverage of products from top to bottom, and this year for its brand, the most heavyweight product is undoubtedly a new generation of Toyota RAV4, which is also the first time that the car is equipped with a hybrid system. Everything is based on the new one, and let’s look forward to it, after all, no car has such an innate advantage in the compact SUV market at this stage.
The old Toyota RAV4 and Corolla are on the same platform, and the new RAV4 Rongfang is a product of the GA-K platform under the TNGA architecture, which is the same platform as Toyota Asian Dragon and Lexus ES. Compared with the old model, the new car has a more prominent sense of power outline, hard lines and black plastic guards, making this SUV more often wandering in the city a little more conflictual.
The new RAV4 has a complex frontal contour and is enhanced by two raised lines on the hood. The headlights are slightly raised and vibrant, the LED headlights are designed in a combination of high and low beams, the internal C-shaped daytime running light strip is the finishing touch, and the fog lights and turn signals are halogen light sources.
The side styling of the body is also tough, which is illustrated by the two clear waistlines on the body, and the black plastic trim at the fender is also in line with the design positioning of the car.
THE MODEL WE TESTED THIS TIME WAS EQUIPPED WITH 18-INCH BLACK FIVE-PANEL WHEELS, WHILE THE TIRES WERE SELECTED WITH THE DUNLOP GRANDTREK PT30 TYRES WITH SPECIFICATIONS OF 225/60 R18.
The rear of the car is relatively regular, and the middle of the taillights is a silver matte strip, which cleverly connects the two taillights and enhances the sense of wholeness. The rear surround is designed in silver and black, and has a bilateral two-outlet exhaust, but the exhaust pipe diameter is small and the visual impact is average.
In addition to the style of the appearance design, the size and uniformity of the sheet metal gap of the vehicle is also one of the important references for evaluating the workmanship of a car, the smaller and more uniform the sheet metal gap, the better the performance of the manufacturing process. When measuring the sheet metal gap, we selected three positions evenly distributed on the left and right sides of the vehicle’s engine compartment cover and tail compartment cover as measurement points.
After actual measurement, the average clearance of the body of RAV4 Rongfang is 4.63mm, which is not excellent, and the difference in body clearance of 2.5mm also indicates that the assembly process is relatively general. For Japanese models, such performance is also relatively normal.
The thickness of the paint is also a problem that everyone is more concerned about, if the car paint is too thin, the primer may be exposed by a slight scratch, and the corrosion resistance of the car will deteriorate. Generally speaking, the thicker the paint surface, the richer the paint film layer, and its anti-corrosion and scratch-proof ability will be better. Below we will measure the thickness of the paint surface of RAV4 Rongfang through the paint film meter.
The RAV4 has a paint film thickness of no more than 100 μm in many places, and the final calculation is an average thickness of 92.5 μm, which is not dominant in its class. However, the difference in film thickness of 19.6μm indicates that the paint film spraying is relatively uniform, indicating that the painting process is fine.
Echoing the exterior is the interior design of the Toyota RAV4, you can see the same rough lines, layered processing, although it seems to lack a certain sense of design, but from a practical point of view, it is still very good, functionality and convenience have always done excellent.
The dashboard does not use the popular full LCD dashboard, and the visual effect is not excellent, the advantage is that the car dashboard can display relatively rich content, especially hybrid related information and L2 driving assistance systems can be displayed intuitively.
The 8-inch center console screen supports Baidu CarLife and Quchai WeLink, but does not support CarPlay. At the same time, I found that the thickness control of this screen is not good, and the position is designed too high, which somewhat obstructs the front view.
The air conditioning adjustment panel under the central control screen is Toyota’s consistent simple style, compared to the past, the buttons are made of the overall small side, but it is very convenient to use, and there is nothing to complain about.
The interior of the RAV4 Rongfang is very thick, with a large area of slush molding and leather soft materials on the center console, and half of the door panels are all wrapped in leather, which not only has a skin-friendly feel, but also has a high-end visual effect.
As a Toyota RAV4 positioned as an urban SUV, I believe that consumers’ demand for its driving and loading space is still relatively large. Therefore, we measured it spatially. The measurement is still the old rule, the longitudinal space is measured, the distance from the front seat position to the seat back to the brake pedal is 90 cm, and the distance between the two seat backs in the front and rear of the rear row is measured. Headroom measurement, the front seat is measured to the minimum, and the distance from the lowest part of the seat cushion to the roof is measured. Measure the distance between the upper part of the door armrests on both sides to derive lateral space. In addition, we measured the height and width of the rear floor and the final data was shown in the figure below.
In terms of the comfort of the seating space, the headroom, lateral space and rear legroom of the Toyota RAV4 Rongfang do not have obvious advantages over models in the same class, and at the same time will not be very different in terms of data. Passengers with a height of 174cm have plenty of head and legroom in the car.
For the test of storage space in the car, we use large (1500ml), medium (550ml), small (350ml) mineral water bottles to test. The front door panel of RAV4 can hold up to 2 medium mineral water bottles, the rear door panel can hold up to 1 medium mineral water bottle, and the front and rear center water cup holders can hold 2 medium mineral water bottles.
For the test of the practicality of the trunk space, in addition to the actual measurement, we also use a standard size (30*30*30 cm) carton to fill, see how many standard cartons can be placed in the case of the rear seat without collapsing, and finally put all the rear seats down, measuring the maximum depth of the trunk and the height of the trunk off the ground.
The RAV4 Rongfang Dual Engine Edition adopts a combination of 2.5L self-priming engine and three motors, of which the maximum power of the engine is 131kW (178 hp) / 5700rpm, and the maximum torque is 221Nm/3600-5200rpm; The total power of the electric motor is 128kW and the total torque is 323Nm. For such a city SUV, it is quite abundant, and it is mated to an E-CVT gearbox.
Before the test, we first switched the driving mode to sport mode, and then manually turned off the traction control system, using the left foot brake and right foot throttle to eject the start, RAV4 Rong in sport mode is still the way the motor works first, and the engine then intervenes.
When the brakes are released, the tires do not slip, and there is a noticeable push back feeling at the beginning of acceleration, and the gear change process is very smooth. From the data in the P-box, it can be seen that the maximum G value at the starting moment reaches 0.7G, and before the speed of 60km/h, the maximum G is maintained at about 0.5G, and the acceleration force in the second half will decrease, but it is absolutely rare in terms of acceleration smoothness, and finally obtained a score of 8.12 seconds.
When the speed exceeds 100km/h, the braking force is relatively stable, the pedal foot feel is better, the ABS intervention is fast, the control of the pedal is also relatively delicate, and there is no serious foot bounce. But the body attitude control is not very good, the front suspension compression is obvious, which is also caused by the soft suspension, and during the test, this Toyota RAV4 Rong put in the sudden brake, the steering wheel will appear left and right shaking, the driver must hold the steering wheel to ensure that the brake trajectory is straight.
From the data in the P-box, it can be seen that the deceleration G value is maintained at about 0.9G throughout the whole process, and finally it achieved a 41.3-meter brake stop result, which is average. In the event of an emergency, shorter braking distance can greatly avoid accidents, for this level of models, 40 meters of 100km/h-0 braking performance can be said to be a ruler, if more than 40 meters, in the daily driving more to deal with the road conditions in advance judgment, in the face of emergencies to take measures in advance.
In terms of actual road driving, the new RAV4 hybrid version has a good power response, of course, this is more for a family SUV, the motor has a good response when intervening, amplifying the vehicle’s sense of acceleration. Like Toyota’s other hybrid models, the RAV4 hybrid model is very natural in the process of switching between fuel and electricity, giving a smooth feeling.
Driving modes are available in Normal, Sport, Eco, and EV, and there are significant differences between the modes. In sport mode, the vehicle will spend more time working together with the engine and electric motor to ensure power output; In energy-saving mode, the engine will rarely produce power, as long as the battery is charged, the motor will be in working condition for a long time. EV mode requires a certain battery level to be turned on, and pure electric driving is very suitable for congested roads.
This hybrid system I think is as perfect as ever in terms of use, which not only improves power, but also improves fuel economy. The only thing I am not very satisfied with is the sound insulation of the vehicle, the intervention of the motor and the loud noise when the engine is cold-started, giving it a sense of cheapness.
At the same time, as I said during the static interior introduction, the center screen of the vehicle is positioned too high, which leads to increased blind spots in the vehicle. Motorists are often drawn to the high erection of screens while driving, a mistake Toyota rarely makes before, but this place is not handled well enough on the RAV4.
Let’s return to the bright side, Toyota’s new RAV4 is equipped with a Chi Heng safety system as standard, achieving L2 autonomous driving. The system is not functionally forward-looking. Because many models are equipped with similar systems, such as Subaru’s EyeSight, Honda’s safety super sense Honda Sensing, etc., but the power of Toyota’s intelligent safety system is “standard in the whole series”, rather than only providing high-end models like other brands.
From the perspective of use experience, the perfection of this system is very high, and it is definitely not a semi-finished product. Full-speed adaptive cruise and lane departure keeping system allow drivers to reduce driving fatigue when facing traffic jams or long-distance driving. And whether it is following the car or lane keeping, the system’s control of the vehicle is very natural and is a function that can be used every day. This feeling I have experienced in depth with the Toyota all-new Corolla before, and I felt the same sense of superiority on the RAV4.
Toyota’s new RAV4 Rongfang, as a compact SUV under the TNGA architecture, has a good balance, power, ride, space and other aspects can not be said to be the best in its class, but all combined can score a high score. So, to put it bluntly, Toyota’s new RAV4 Rongfang is not a person who is easy to attract people at first, but its comprehensive performance is very impressive, which takes time to understand.
In addition, there are some parts of the new car that I think are not very perfect, and the sound insulation performance needs to be improved; The large central screen is particularly obstructive to the line of sight, which needs to be improved.