2019 Rav4 Hybrid review with periodic updates

Noise while accelerating? Yes. At cruise? No.

Test drive. I did and am pleased I bought the hybrid. It is exceeding my expectations. Not the cheapest but then I wanted all the goodies and bought at the absolute top end of packages and levels.

 

my son is still loving his

 

A very fair summary. I have the same experience at 5k miles or so. Yes the gas fill has to be a little slow but if that is the biggest flaw, I'm way ahead of the average as delivered car experience. I have reported the erratic fill problem twice to the dealer, have no interest in a dealer level mechanic trying to fix it. I can wait a year. There are drama queens on the forums who endlessly post and insist that we all out to be doing buy-backs. But they can't for the life of themselves come up with suggestions for a better car with the same build quality and utility and fun factor.

Not a rattle. Things seem to work as designed. And it is a delight to drive. Same MPG as my Prius v with lots more room.

 

PRIUS can be a bit like that with some pumps - just have to go slow, which isn't easy (or quick). It'll actually just put in 50 cents and stop and have to dribble it in from there Grrrr!! Maybe RAV4 shutting off 2 gallons short is a better option.

 

And then there was today where I filled up at my normal station and the pump shut off with the needle showing slightly above the full mark. Different temperature, different starting point in the tank full, slowly filled and, as with 80% of the fills, no noticeable problem.

 

In my "estimation/opinion", it's the actual pump cut-off faulty. I frequent about 6-8 different outlets - and have about 4 pumps which I've mentally flagged as "use another".

 

Yes, and with PRIUS, the USA has a very different fill mechanism, door interlock etc from that on our cars here. I wonder if our RAV4 is the same is yours - at this stage, I don't know anyone with one. None of the many journals which tested the Hybrid mentioned any issues.

 

Journalists generally don't fill the cars and don't care about range or MPG as they are after feel and performance. Go to a forum dedicated to the specific model and you'll find the truth being told, or closer to it. I followed the forum for months before I bought.

I filled up today. 40F. The temperature where there are reports the fill shut off gets more noticeable. Not this fill. I was doing the filling. Absolutely slowest fill. No idea if I have just developed the knack or what. I seem to be able to fill pretty close to the F mark. This was slightly beyond the F mark. 512 miles DTE. And that should have been computed using the poor MPG I have been achieving lately. Heavier foot than when I first got it. Not unsafe or even max, just so used to the Prius I had that I was babying it because with the Prius you didn't have all that HP and its ability so I allowed longer intervals when I was merging etc.Less BTU in winter gas. Tire PSI lower in winter. Air denser. More heating. Winter snow tires? Rav4 seems to feel the cold more than the Prius did. Some are reporting huge drops in MPG.

 

I have seen others discuss this issue but thought it was interesting article and comments from owners below the article: Drinking Problem: Owners Cry Foul Over Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Gas Tank - The Truth About Cars
Does anyone have this issue with gen 4 Prius btw? Thanks

 

There were mentions of it in the past with Gen 4. But only USA (?Canada?) as the cars have a more complex filling mechanism. From memory, it was related to the timing of pressing the button and starting filling - but I didn't take much notice because it generally works fine here (unless the pump is too fast).

Do a GOOGLE search for "PriusChat gen4 PRIUS filling".

 

Interesting. I had no idea.

 

Sounds more like older Gen2 with the bladder tank as it gets older we cannot get much gas in there. We cannot see the tank, so I do not think anyone has an answer for if it is bladder issue or "electronics". If I find a pump that pumps real slow I can keep filling but too chicken to see how far I can go. I just stop pumping by best judgement.

Gen4 has some kind of shuttter valve that closes off and some have had issue with that.

 

Much speculation on cause.

No one has seen the inside of the gas tank. I did slide under the car and see that the routing of the filler hose has a dip in it at the bottom and I speculate this dip and the point of the hose's entry into the tank not being at the top of the cause back flow at some point when the gas is high enough in the tank. Thus causing the gas pump to react to pressure prematurely and shut off.

I deal with back-flow all the time in storm sewer lines emptying into a lake when it has been raining hard for a long time and the lake level gets high enough the storm water coming out of the pipe stops flowing fast enough and where the storm water tries to enter the pipe stops working and we get water on the streets and overflowing catch basins at the start of the pipe.

Essentially a temporary stoppage that creates the back pressure that triggers the pump to shut off as if the tank is full. Yet you can add more slowly.

Add in a sometimes suspect fuel level sensor readout and people are going crazy with experiments.

Now is Toyota doing any thing about it? Lots of stories on that, none credible.

I fill slowly and never let my tank go below a quarter full. So it has little practical impact on my lifestyle. And since this is the only issue in 5800+ miles, I'm way ahead of the quality the average car is delivered with.

 

Of course thinking about Rav4 myself re: 2006 gettin old and about 200k miles now

 

plug in coming mid year.

 

Do we have a flavor yet for hybrid/plug-in differences re: cargo space, spare tire etc?

 

PHEV version could be a winner if there is no space negative and the price is competitive after tax incentives. I would not avoid a plug-in if it had everything and the price was about equal.

6 months though not sure , that morphed into years for the Camry Hi back in 2003. Good excuse to procrastinate but I need to see if my wife accepts RAV4 vs. Camry Hi in the first place.