1996 Toyota RAV4 User Reviews

Great Little Suv — This is an awesome vehicle that works really well for me to work out of as I do maintenance and repair work. I love that the back door opens out that way I have extra head room when working out of the back. It will go anywhere and it is super reliable.

The Kalahari Ferrari — The onroad performnce is nothing special. Goes between 160 - 170 km/h. Keeps up with most 1.4 hatchbacks in terms of accelaration. The brakes are not good and lock up easilly, although it may have something to do with the All Terrain tires that are fitted. The handling is satisfying, although it is worse than a normal sedan or hatchback's handling will be. The ride, espescially in the back, is quite hard. But I gave it a good rating due to it's off-road abillity and performance witch is amazing for a soft-roader. It's comfortable on even bad gravel roads, although it has a tendency to flick out its back when you decelerate aroud bends. The trick is to decelerate before the bend and then lightly accelarte through it. Very few 4WD pick-ups can keep up with it in sand (it is a pleasure to drive in the dunes) and still copes when the big 4X4 engage low-range, which it lacks and rarely need. I used it a few times to drive up the large mountains surrounding Windhoek ( on farm tracsk). I lock the 4WD (with a button) and stay in 1st gear and stay away from the cluth, and I can forget about it breaking traction. On road would have liked it to have more torque, but driving up mountains on rocky and uneven paths it copes with almost anything at just above idle speed in first gear. The engine gets a little ruff at higher revs. My Rav has 106 000km (About 65 000 miles). I had to replace the bracket for the rear differentail at about 90 000km, which is a common ailment for first generation Ravs. I had a custom, better quality bracket made, which will hopefully last the life of the car. That is the only real "repair" I had to make. The lids of the interior storage compartments next to the rear seats rattle at about 4000r/min And the plastic caps infront of the front seat rail.s tend to come off. Further on everything is stil fine and show littlie sign of wear. The engine used to consume a small amount of oil, but this was rectified by switching to Castrol Edge motoroil. People tend to think it's slightly cute with its mighty mouse appearance. But its not overtly so and suits drivers of all genders. The interior plastics are very hard but durable en easy to maintain. All switches are easy to reach due to their high positioning.It has one of the best air-conditioners I have ever experienced and Namibia (my country) is a hot desert. It can easilly accomadate four adults and a little luggage (like the average hatchback) or two adults and an amazing amount of luggage. The car is very cheap to maintain. Servicing is about as cheap as it gets and if something goes wrong (which it almost never does) spares are also on the cheap side. I get 10liters/100kilometers. On the tar roads it is fun, and almost nothing beats the pleasure of taking your nimblie everyday car off-road on almost any terrain without second thought.

Primary Use: Commuting to work

Not Bad For Cruising Around The City. — A little underpowered. The top gear needs to be longer to be comfortable at highway speeds. 4wd seems to work well. i haven't had many other issues with it. I drive the car like a mad man, and it keeps up with me. i wouldn't recommend it for highway driving

Primary Use: Commuting to work

Minxy's Motor — For his age the Rav is a solid and reliable, has never let me down (This better not jinx it) and gets me form A to B in one piece. really fun to drive you feel on top of the world until a (real) 4x4 pulls up next to you!!!

Looks Nice And Nice To Drive But Doesnt Handle Corners Very Well And Transmission Below Standard — i dont mind the rav4 its very chic to get around in and its the perfect size for beach driving and towing small boats, jetskis or box trailer and stereo surround is great but transmission slow and suspension lousy.

Owner for 0 years, 5 months

Miles Driven per Year:1,000