Yes that one was tolerable, but the current Land Cruiser and 1990's LS vids were painful to watch. I couldnt finish the LC vid.

Anyways back to the RAV4. I'm excited for the next Highlander now seeing how good the new RAV is. Hopefully it will grow so the 3rd row is usable other than for kids with no legs or adults wanting to cut their legs off.

 

 

 

Nobody's ever going to like everything about every car. IMHO thats evidence of lack of bias, not bias.

 

I read a few reviews today and have found them to be fairly consistent. Most seem to mention an improved ride, roomy and higher quality interior, good power, and great gas mileage. The consistent negative I keep reading is that the engine gets quite buzzy at higher RPMs and isn't as smooth as the competition. I also read that Toyota expects the hybrid model to account for about 25% of sales, rather than the 10% it does now.

 

 

that is because pricing is now more competitive for hybrid and it is better than ever.

As to the engine, it is same as in Camry, which got pretty high ratings for everything... it is a question of not testing vs competition imho.

 

December will be mostly from blowing old leftovers, they have massive sales then... I think it is Lexus's best month of the year.

 

I'm not saying it won't (or can't) happen, but it seems like they would need some pretty strong incentives to buy in December....more than just some bright-colored wrapping-bows LOL. Also, probably not a lot of people would want to by a brand-new vehicle and drive it right out into a snowstorm, with road salt and abrasives.

 

December is indeed Lexus' best month of the year, and the December to Remember promotions are truly the best of the year.

And lots of people don't live where there is any winter weather.

 

I wonder if this high-rpm buzz will be gone by the time the RAV4 shows up in showrooms in the next few weeks. We have to remember that these pre-introduction road tests are conducted quite a few weeks before showroom introduction, using pre-production vehicles. The automakers do this to try to catch little problems like this, so that they have the time to correct them on the final production line, before the buyers actually get to drive them.

 

New Camry also had this issue; But owners claim the engine is quieter after the first oil change. Hopefully Toyota looks into the complain.

 

Maybe the factory used the wrong oil for the engine on the assembly line....and corrected it with a service bulletin (TSB)? It's been known to happen.

 

The reason for the late introduction into the showroom of this new RAV4 may be due to major production changes at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC).

The old RAV4 (for Canada and the USA) was produced at the TMMC Woodstock, Ontario plant, which is about 50 km (30 miles) down the highway from the original TMMC plant in Cambridge, Ontario, which produced the Corolla sedan (for Canada) and the Lexus RX. Starting for the 2019 model year, however, the Corolla production was moved out of Cambridge (consolidated in the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi (TMMMS) plant, I assume) and the RAV4 expanded to 2 plants -- Woodstock and the old Corolla line in Cambridge.

Introducing a completely new product on a brand-new platform to an existing, in-operation production line is difficult enough; expanding that new product to 2 production lines that are so far apart would be even more difficult. I am thinking that just planning for the supply lines from the same suppliers but going to 2 different plants (that are so close yet so far away from the other), is a major job in itself.

 

Well Toyota is using 0W-16 oil on these new engine, might be the reason for the noise. But Being driven couple of new Camry's the new engine is smoother but does get bit noisy at redline compare to my 2011 Camry, which is not as smooth but quieter at redline.