2006 Rav4 Impressions

After talking my wife into buying a CR-V years ago an SUV is now a must for
her. We traded in our 2002 Highlander on an '06 Rav4, you're probably asking
yourself why in the world would a person "step down" and yes it is a step
down, but the wife was never comfortable with the size of the Highlander and
the Rav, while not that much smaller inside, is very noticeably smaller
outside, but is larger than previous years.

We've had it now for three weeks and our overall impression is quite
favorable. The handling seems more tight and precise than the Highlander, I
guess you could say that it handles even more car-like. It does however pale
in comparison to the Highlander as far as road noise, maybe it's the
Yokohama tires, but when you drive over an uneven surface you hear every
rumble, and the outside noise is way more noticeable than the Highlander.

Right now the mileage is down right poor 20mpg for mostly highway driving
but it will come up, we;re stuck with ethanol blended gas which really puts
a hit on mpg, of course we have the 2.4 liter 4 cylinder, the V-6 wont be
out until next month, we'd have purchased the 4 cylinder either way.

My opinion would be if it's your first time venturing into the SUV market I
don't think you'd be disappointed but if you've had something better, like
us with the Highlander, be careful and make sure it's what you want to do as
we did, don't buy it just to be trendy you may regret the decision.

Scott


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