The Toyota RAV4 is a vehicle that helped start the crossover craze and was one of the first compact crossovers on the market.
New For 2020: The RAV4 gains a new TRD Off-Road trim at the top of the pile for this year. Only available with the gas engine, it’s as the name suggests: more suited to dirt and light rock-crawling. Summer 2020 also sees the addition of the RAV4 Prime, a 302 hp plug-in hybrid.
A hugely significant model for the Japanese automaker, the RAV4 has been in production since 1994 and is currently in its fifth generation. Although it looks quite different today from the humble first-generation model, its ethos is the same: to provide people with a reliable and easy-to-drive crossover with plenty of room for cargo and passengers.
The first RAV4 was a little three-door crossover with a rear-mounted spare tire, and it was even available with a removable soft top roof at the time. Today, the crossover is much larger, sporting a boxy and quite aggressive look along with optional all-wheel drive and a long list of standard safety features.
The RAV4s sold in North America are built in Canada, in a Cambridge, Ontario, manufacturing plant along with the popular Toyota Corolla.