Mountain Wheels: Plug-in hybrid Toyota RAV4 Prime moves the needle on electrified performance

If your psychological graphic of the Toyota RAV4 dates back to that of the innovative SUV’s smallish earlier days, think once more. For 2022, Toyota’s finest-selling car or truck is not only much bigger, but it is also available not only as a gasoline or hybrid design but also the distinctive RAV4 Primary, a effectiveness-oriented plug-in-electrical design with 302 gasoline-electrical horsepower and an prolonged all-electrical vary, as well as regular all-wheel travel. 

When it initially debuted, I experienced the prospect to travel the RAV4 Primary on a mountain journey out to Vail and back and the combination of a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine and two electric powered motors implies the not-so-minimal Primary certainly flies — Toyota boasts that its -60 pace of 5.7 seconds would make it the fastest 4-door auto in their overall lineup.

Economical? Indeed, incredibly substantially so. I bought 425 miles on a one tank of gasoline by preserving the RAV4 Key charged at house or through stops, with a larger battery method in this article that lets up to 42 miles of entirely electric selection. Even improved, its digital on-need all-wheel drive program tends to make it very suited for wintertime use or uphill journeys.

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A 7 days ago, I had a 2022 RAV4 Prime once again for a shorter push, this time in significant-stop XSE configuration, foundation priced at $43,125 but stickered at $50,731. That bundled a high quality JBL 11-speaker audio system, a shade head-up display, navigation, entire-cabin moonroof and about just about every other choice you could toss at it, which include Toyota’s model of the trippy 3-D see-through parking exhibit.

I also obtained just 39 mpg through a day of superior-powered highway cruising, which is a single a lot more than the EPA merged mileage figure. Regretably, I did not have a chance to cost it this time, so I simply cannot speak to the 94 digital mpg determine — or get to use the enhanced EV modes. There’s also now a most likely hilarious “trail” mode on the vehicle’s drive-selector knob, which is it’s possible an endeavor to remind you of RAV’s far more lite-adventure roots and camping excursion capability.

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The horsepower is, the moment again, very amazing for an unassuming little SUV, a hybrid no less, and it gave me tons of options to blow off 4Runners and do all the varieties of silly driving you are actually not meant to be carrying out, though conserving the earth, in a hybrid. No make any difference how really hard I experimented with, I even now received 38 mpg twisting the knob into “sport” method offers you even much more go. Even its continuously-variable transmission is no slouch digging deep into the gasoline pedal even brings about the RAV to exhibit some motor noises, which I did not assume.

All of which is a way of expressing that the Prime is rather a shocking mixture of performance, fuel effectiveness and even some all-electric powered utility, as Toyota can make its way to much more reliable all-electric choices. The shows do end up currently being a minimal busy with all that different ability facts, with a significant battery cost/drain indicator and battery and fuel amounts.

In the prime model of Primary, the extras include things like crimson stitching through the cabin, that more-big moonroof and further-significant roof crossbars. Design tends to make RAV a person of the most evolved multi-generational SUVs, which implies it is comparatively massive and relaxed for 5, with plenty of rear cargo space. There is an upright and angular character that is extra Lexus than RAV at any time was in the past the inside contains attention-grabbing functions these types of as a flat, multi-level sprint, a tall, silver-edged console pod with an outsized shifter and manner/electrical power controls. You might also dig the impossibly outsized rubber temperature command knobs, which you could take care of with oven mitts, if you needed to. Seats are both of those heated and cooled, there’s an ample charging tray and, for some reason, the traction regulate button is hidden in the middle of the centre stack. Superior to know, if you conclusion up in deep snow.

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily Information. Stonehouse has labored as an editor and author in Colorado because 1998, concentrating on automotive coverage given that 2004. He lives in Golden. Make contact with him at [email protected].