Is This The One To Beat? | 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime

302 horsepower, 39 miles per gallon, enough EV range to make you feel green and Toyota reliability all in one package. What's not to love with the new RAV4 Prime? Getting your hands on one at the moment. This is probably the best new car in the USA that you can't buy today because supplies will be limited likely through the end of 2021...

[tonypi]

94 eMPG. 5.7 seconds 0-60. AWD. 600 mile range. 8.3inch ground clearance. And it cooks bacon! No compromises. This is a game changer. Great review!

[daveincanada]

As an owner of a Prius Prime, PHEV's make so much more sense than full EV's. I drive over 90% in EV as I use it mainly as a commuter. The other 10% is for longer trips where charging isn't an option. Seriously considering a RAV4 Prime when the lease on my Prius is up.

[petegalindez]

Picked up my RAV4 Prime last week and already have 1, 500 miles on it. LOVE IT! Coming from a Tesla Model 3 and Y, driving this long distance is a lot less stressful. There is plenty of HP and the room and ride is great! My only gripes so far…lane keep assist does tend to hug the right line, which I don’t prefer. Also, the app absolutely blows, hands down. No way to track your charging at all. Doesn’t even tell you if it’s fully charged which is very disappointing. I got the SE and I love the cloth seats. Driving 500 miles starting with a full charge, I wound up with a total MPG of 44, which was awesome. I drove it in EV mode on local roads, then auto while on the highway and the drive mode set to Eco the whole time. I found there was plenty of power at all times. The biggest difference I found with the driving modes was in traffic use ACC. Eco is much slower to accelerate and keep up compared to Normal and Sport Mode.

[sapkotask]

The way Alex explain things is superb 👍🏻! I wish you’re my calculus teacher!

[FanRailer]

This is the video that introduced me to and convinced me to buy a Rav 4 Prime SE, which I’ve had since Spring 2021. That said, the gas engine WILL turn on in a multitude of situations, even when the vehicle is “locked” in EV mode. Probably the instance that makes the least sense to me is when driving with the adaptive radar cruise control activated; when the vehicle senses the need to apply a medium or greater brake application to slow down, the engine will kick on and burn fuel, despite the car being completely able to regenerate into a partially depleted battery pack vs having to dump excess power into rotating the engine.

Another minor gripe I have with the way regen is handled in this vehicle is that the traction computer is MUCH more willing to derate the amount of regen brake when making higher G turns while braking than the 2012 Prius I was previously driving. The transition is pretty abrupt, and you can notice the immediate decrease in deceleration as the regen cuts out and is replaced by the friction brakes. Not sure what the logic behind this behavior is.

That being said, I’ve been pretty satisfied with the range I’ve been getting out of the vehicle based on my driving style. In city driving, ambient climate, I can get between 48-50 miles of electric range, and in moderate highway driving, 40 miles of electric range. I tend to drive a little more aggressively when the gas engine is on anyway, so my gas mileage per tank is not quite as high as the EPA estimate, but I drive relatively infrequently on gas that it’s not a big issue for me. If I really wanted to hypermile the car in hybrid mode, I’d have no problem doing that.

[chgofirefighter]

I literally just purchased this car today, the XSE version, fully loaded... Super freaking amazing!~ and I don't miss my Tesla one bit!

[acuintegra]

Thanks Alex for the great RAV4 P reviews. waited 7 months and picked myself up a XSE Premium. getting 48 miles on electric, 46 w/ AC, higher than the 42 amazingly! No complaints whatsoever so far. It's not a sports car but definitely feels premium. Passengers love the power, heating/cooling seats in front, heating in rear and the 360 camera helpful when parking! Did three things to the car so far, 1)blackened overlays and swapped out the rear exhaust w/ smoked TRD exhausts, 2) swapped interior door switches to lighted ones, and 3) LED lights all around including the mirror puddles! As for charging, got sick of slow charging and went for a ChargePoint home flex to utilize the full 6.6! Thank you again Alex!

[reggieburris]

Years late in '24, we purchased an XSE Premium RAV4 Prime to go with our Venza. Love the hybrids for the gas mileage and the Prime for the performance and gas mileage.

[GaryKetchum]

It’s a shame that this is so limited. It’d be the best selling car by far. It’s fast, probably reliable, practical, and decently priced.

[jackamick]

I’ve got 7500 miles on my RAV4 Prime. The MPG displayed does exactly what you describe in the Volt. My prime often shows the max “99.9mpg” when the HV engine kicks on.

[mrcet]

At least based upon experience with our Prius Prime, I don’t often use Charge Mode. It’s almost always more efficient to just run it as a hybrid, than to burn gas to charge the battery and then later drive it out in EV mode.

However, there are two scenarios when I do use charge mode:
1. When it first fires up the engine, it runs a warm-up cycle, and in the warm-up cycle it sometimes just wastes that gas solely to warm up the engine, whereas it should at least use it to charge up the battery. So, I do use it for that purpose, but only for ~3 minutes, then switch to normal hybrid mode.
2. Occasionally after road trip, necessarily in hybrid mode, I end up with too much gas in the tank! If so, I’ll often turn on just burn it down to 2-3 gallons or so. Since in day-to-day driving around town, I only use about a gallon per month, I never fill up with more than 2-3 gallons, lest it sit around forever fermenting in the gas tank!

[hadesomegamoto]

I was actually able to see one at a dealership in San Jose and it had been sold that day. It sold for $60, 000! It had $10k in options and $10k dealer markup. I'll wait a while...

[ttiwehde]

Alex is so good at reviews, don’t care if Dodge is on his mind.

[manfredwarner]

By far the BEST SUV I ever owned...and no range anxiety! Uses 5.5l/100km here in Canada

[internetabyss]

I own a 2021 Rav4 Prime XSE Premium with 6000 miles on it.... Love It!!!

[badimpulses]

I use Chargepoint I'm getting 5.9 kw at 13 miles per hour charge. It takes more than 2.5 hours from a low to full charge. Still glad I traded my Model Y for the Prime. The Prime beats the Y in every catogry except for faster speed.

[garymccullouch]

I just upgraded my 2018 Prius Prime to a RAV4 Prime. Love, love, love. I knew after a few hundred miles in the Prius that the RAV is what I wanted, even though it wasn't available yet. In an area with a couple hundred inches of snow, the RAV only makes sense. The Prius was 100% geared toward fuel efficiency, and it delivered. What's next for the Toyota Prime lineup? I say follow the lead of the RAV by sacrificing a little efficiency and make a Prime equivalent of a Mazda Miata. A nice little convertible with some extra oomph and performance when you want it, and a great little EV hybrid the rest of the time.

[BLRGBattlemaster]

Just as an FYI, we've had ours now for about 2 - 3 months, and it's amazing. We're averaging 47 mpg average on a fuel tank, and 45 mpg on the HWY going around 65 to 70 mph. Not just us, but our friends did a drive from Reno to Vegas and did an actual MPG calculation. They got 45 mpg on the HWY too. Just amazing.

[IFTnyc]

The Rav4 Prime is simply the best compact suv

[shawn]

I really hope this catches on. A super high performance SUV, great gas mileage, and it's actually somewhat affordable.