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Inside,
the story is quite similar.
The Toyota comes into the picture with an excellent combination
of silver-trimmed accents as well as white-faced gauges and sporty blue
fabric seats.
In fact, it can easily fool people to believe that the interior
is from a sports car than a SUV.
Though most of the controls have been placed with ergonomic
excellence, there are still some degrees of cheese inside, mainly the
intensive use of dimpled plastics (a design trait they probably got from
the CRV). On
the other hand, the Honda CRV proves to be user-friendly but bare inside
the cabin.
Though the radio provides some degree of distraction (it has a
dolphin swimming in the display when it’s not in use), the rest of the
cabin suffers from a huge spell of boredom.
Uninspired, there are no rounded air vents or silver trims inside
this car.
In fact, stepping inside makes you feel like you’re watching
the CRV inside a black & white television set.
There are no splashes of color—just gray plastics—acres of
it! Fortunately
for Honda, they hold an advantage over Toyota since the RAV4 suffers the
same cheap, plasticky feel as the Toyota Echo.
On the other hand, the CRV seems to have better quality materials
taken from the previous generation Accord. The new VVTi-engine inside the Toyota is a welcome boost for the performance junkie. The 148-bhp engine gives a smooth and quiet operation. The all-new powerplant is barely audible even at engine speeds above 4,000-rpm. Never again will this unit suffer from the all-too familiar Toyota boominess that seem to plague their inline-4 engines when revved above 4,000-rpm. In fact, the RAV4’s engine is still relaxed and noticeably quiet. Though still no match for the Nissan Cefiro’s VQ engine in terms of smoothness, in quietness, it comes close. The
bad news is that to get the most out of the engine’s new found bhp, it
has to be revved harder than usual.
It seems that the famed silky smooth Toyota 4-speed automatic
gearbox doesn’t hold true with the RAV4.
Sometimes, a complete flooring of the gas pedal is needed to
produce a decent burst of speed, especially in highway sections.
The problem becomes pronounced during hill climbs.
It is surprisingly difficult for the 2.0-liter engine as some
degrees of fighting with the RAV4’s transmission system is required to
give a downshift.
This petite-SUV feels like a ton heavier going uphill. |
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