Great post. One of the more…
Great post. One of the more engaging auto blog articles that I have read. Very practical. I purchased a 23 RAV4 hybrid last year and am as pleased with it as you have been with your Venza. I considered Venza... Love the nifty moon roof but decided sacrificing some mpgs, interior space, and $$$ was not worth it. There's good reason RAV4 is America's most sold passenger vehicle. It's not the best vehicle at any one thing, but it does *everything* well. Venza does the same. A 4Runner or Taco far outclass RAV4 for off-road & hauling. Prius, Bz4x or other evs outclass RAV4 for efficiency & acceleration. But these cars all fall short of RAV4 in other areas. No one is going to look at your RAV4 & say "wow!" You see them everywhere. I'm ok with that. That's not what I bought the car for. There's no other vehicle that can beat RAV4 overall when you consider the whole package: cost, practicality, mpgs, space, convenience, even looks, power & ofc reliability. Last week I was off road in my RAV4 in Moab Utah. Not rock crawling, but on a pretty rough dirt road. This week I have been lumber & insulation from home Depot as I frame in a couple of bedrooms in the basement. My 4 young adult kids frequently ride on outings with me, and they're not embarrassed about it (they always want me to drive my car 😅 ). The display reads 44mpgs over the last 400 miles, significantly better than the EPAs 40mpg overall rating. What other vehicle does all that, let alone 1 of the most reliable vehicles on the road?