If the Venn Diagram of your friends has an overlap of people who like all-terrain tires and hybrid powertrains (you may need a magnifying glass to find that sliver), then Toyota has a solution. Enter the RAV4 Hybrid Woodland, an all-wheel-drive machine featuring TRD-tuned suspenders and an efficient four-banger hybrid engine.
To be sure, Toyota will sell every one of these things they can produce, microchip shortage or not. One needn’t be a member of the B&B to know RAVs have been incredibly popular since their introduction all those years ago and will likely continue their fame until the sun consumes us all. This fifth-gen model is built on the TNGA-K platform, bones referenced in this morning’s Lexus RX post but the luxury arm of the company refuses to use the ‘TN’ prefix for obvious marketing reasons.
The hybrid system under the hood of this RAV4 tag teams a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and CVT to shuffle power to all four wheels. The all-wheel-drive system uses an independent electric motor at the rear wheels, rather than a torque-distribution system in the transmission and an additional driveshaft to the rear. The system makes 219 horsepower in total and earned a 40 mpg combined rating from the EPA in standard trims. We assume this will drop slightly in the Woodland thanks to knobbier tires and protruding accessories which are unfriendly to aero.
Special to this trim are those Falken Wildpeak tires, snazzy bronze-hued wheels, mudflaps, and the de rigueur black badges. The roof rack is also said to be beefier for carrying supplies but no word if it’ll hold up to the rigors of a rooftop tent. LED lamps and fog lights are present and accounted for, as they are in almost all trims of this ilk. We will note the RAV is also presently available in Adventure and TRD Off-Road trims. Talk about thin slices of that Venn Diagram, though Toyota says the Woodland is the first hybrid off-road special edition SUV for the brand.
Elsewhere, all RAV4s will receive a few updates for the 2023 model year, including the new (and sorely needed) Toyota Audio Multimedia System. An 8-inch screen comes standard on lower-rung trims with snazzier models getting a 10.5-inch display. A new 12.3-inch gauge cluster can now be found on upper trims as well.
Pricing for the Woodland was not announced but it’s a safe bet to assume it’ll be more than the $38,000 being asked for the gasoline-powered TRD Off-Road trim. The most expensive hybrid right now is the Limited model at $38,075 plus freight.
[Images: Toyota]
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Every Toyota dealer in the Pacific Northwest will sell every one of these they can get for well over sticker. People are eating this sort of thing up like catnip right now.
Also, nit in the review: while Toyota markets the transmission as “eCVT,” it isn’t a variable transmission at all, but a fixed planetary gearset, and the car varies the ratio between engine and wheel speed by spinning one of the electric motors.
@dal20402–Would that transmission be similar to the one in the Prius? I believe I have a fixed planetary gearshift in my hybrid Maverick.
Yep. The system in the Prius, the front-wheel part of the system in the RAV4, and the system in your Maverick are all almost identical in concept.
Thanks that’s what I thought. It is an excellent system and I am getting between 40 to 50 mpg. Very smooth and effortless.
It is behind a paywall, but the header says a lot.
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/10/business/ford-to-use-toyota-s-hybrid-technology.html
Slightly off topic but you might find interesting:
With the subject of climate change arguably more urgent than ever before, a new report has revealed that UK private jet travel contributes 1 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere per year – the same amount that 450,000 cars create in the same timeframe.
Guess how all our friends arrive at Davos. 450,000 cars versus private jet travel in the U.K. a small country.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/04/call-for-ban-on-uk-private-jets-by-2025-as-flight-traffic-soars.
I don’t think our friends at Davos will give up their planes, but you will give up your cars.
The handful of planes that fly to Davos is a ludicrously tiny sample size, though.
I get the ire for the elites and the populist comfort in blaming others, but frankly – it is you, me and everyone else that are contributing to the problem in a massive way too. We all take vacations, we all drive, we all consume absurd amounts of disposable goods.
Swester,
It’s true the people at Davos are quite harmless:
https://wrenchinthegears.com/2020/10/27/who-voted-in-davos-how-data-driven-government-and-the-internet-of-bodies-are-poised-to-transform-smart-sustainable-cities-into-social-impact-prisons/
Not what I said at all, but sure – keep on peddling your conspiracy theory disinformation nonsense in a thread about a RAV4 special edition.
Life is so much more…flavorful…with “tHe ElItZ nO pLAy bY oUR RuLz” conspiracies.
One wonders if he’d be as judgmental about other guys who don’t play by the rules, like Matt “I Likes ‘Em Young” Gaetz or Robert “Happy Ending” Kraft.
The thing is that there’s actually a kernel of truth behind the idea that the system is rigged—but the rigging is so much more boring than elaborate conspiracies to control people. All it is, is tax and labor policy that redistributes upward mercilessly.
Swester,
Where were you during lockdown? In your private plane on holiday?
https://nltimes.nl/2020/10/16/netherlands-lockdown-king-may-greek-holiday
It’s so…woody…
On the plus side, it’ll make the other RAV4 trims look better.
If I had an off-road tow truck, I’d follow these around in the bush. Probably earn a week’s pay in one day.
While they were at it, I wish they had bolted the far more attactive TRD front end styling fascia on it.
I my 2020 trd RAV4 would’ve come with those wheels. My came with black wheels. Anybody wants to trade hmu.
I wish my 2020 trd RAV4 would’ve come with those wheels. My came with black wheels. Anybody wants to trade hmu.
Oh Look!
Another all-Black Special Edition CUV – except this one has Not-Black wheels!
That will Definitely make us stand out at the Costco!
(Or Not)
This or the Lexus as the next ever-present ad on these pages?! Place yer bets…!
ToolGuy approves of the range-per-fillup of the non-Woodland RAV4 Hybrid.
Toyota just makes good vehicles. Solid, no frills, reliable. I respect them for their ethics and products.