I had the RAV4 over the weekend and this is my kind of SUV. This is from someone who usually doesn't care for this genre of vehicle, as I find most of them gas guzzlers that are boring to drive and a pain in the butt to park on L.A.'s crowded streets and parking lots. With the newly-enlarged yet still reasonably-sized RAV4, there's performance a'plenty thanks to the ripping (269 hp) V6. Step into it to blast onto a fast-moving freeway and you're at 75 before you know it. It's so musclebound that if you lean into it too much from a stop the front tires light up and the steering wheel fidgets as those tires scrub for traction.
It's not just a one-trick pony either. It handles well, no slop around the corners, and with its smooth and quiet ride on the highway the RAV4 is great on a longer drive. The generous cargo capacity came in handy on a trip to Goodwill to drop off bags of donated goods. But the best part (and one of the big reasons I really like the RAV4)? The relatively impressive fuel economy -- I averaged an even 20 mpg (and I'm no light-foot)!
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