Toyota is trying to change the
impression that plug-in hybrids are
slow and boring we'll see if they did
that in the 2021 Toyota
Rav4 Prime this is a plug-in hybrid
and we'll see if it ranks
Welcome back to the channel I'm Lauren
Fix plug-in hybrids are getting popular
and they certainly are an option because
of that 7 500
tax credit remember not every brand has
that so make sure to do your homework
because your state might be offering an
additional two thousand dollars
but this is the 2021 Toyota Rav
4 Prime now what that means it is a
plug-in so you have a gasoline outlet on
one side
and an electrical charging port on the
other this is the first
rav4 that is a plug-in hybrid or a phev
this is the rav4's first plug-in model
remember the prius prime which is also a
toyota product
is also a plug-in so with that
technology they've made
some changes with the rav4 there are
three electric motors
and an in-line four-cylinder engine that
total combined is
302 horsepower now why are there three
motors
one is in the back good for the
all-wheel drive and the front
motors actually help push the vehicle
off the line but also has a regenerative
in other words when you hit the brakes
it will recharge the battery not a lot a
little bit
but remember all that little bit adds up
in the end especially when you're
talking about a plug-in hybrid
the vehicle itself looks very similar to
other rav4s
one way to denote it is the plug-in
hybrid logo on the front
and of course on the back the only other
thing to notice is
this little vent up front other than
that this vehicle looks the same as any
other rav4
but there are a lot of other variables
to this vehicle so we're going to go
through a full car coach reports ratings
and in the end when you go to take it
for a test drive you'll know what to
look for
and what to expect and then of course
check out the competition
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and hidden secrets there's a lot more to
the rav4
prime let's take it for a drive and go
through all the car coach ratings
the united states was originally set to
only get 5000 of the all new
2021 rav4 prime plug-in hybrids
but that number may actually be lower
because there's a shortage of batteries
but this suv is going to be popular
let's check the 0-60 performance toyota
says it's
5.7 seconds now remember you can put it
in normal mode or in sport mode so we're
gonna put it in sport mode to give it
its best
opportunity there's also an eco mode
which obviously is not meant for
performance
but if you're getting on an on-ramp or
you have to get around something or away
from something
that's where performance really kicks in
the 2.5 liter naturally aspirated engine
has three electric motors the gasoline
motor has 177 horsepower when you add
those three electric motors that's where
you're getting your get up and go
so here we go in sport mode zero to 60.
a little bit of chirp on the tires too
nice
that's pretty impressive 5.7 seconds now
it's also important to know that the
battery is underneath the car it has
18.1 kilowatts of power your charging
times about four and a half hours
on your regular charger or about two
hours or so on the superchargers if you
have those available to you
if you're running an ev mode you get
about 42 miles before the gas engine
kicks in which is pretty good because
some people don't even drive that much
in a whole day
of course it depends if you're in stop
and go traffic or you're up on the
highway or wherever you live
the mpge is 94 miles
if you're running a combination of both
the gasoline and the battery power like
most people will do
you're going to earn about 40 miles to
the gallon that's pretty good remember
there are other vehicles in the toyota
lineup that also gets that fuel economy
but you're not getting that electric
only mode when it comes to performance
the combination of the gas and the
electric the usability of both
is really impressive and it earned a
nine one of the goals that toyota had
was to make these cars more fun to drive
make them handle
more sporty all right the car looks
sportier and the interior details are
sportier
but the vehicle itself doesn't handle
sporty as a matter of fact
it's kind of gushy suspension which
makes for a really nice
soft ride especially if you're you know
driving kids around
and trying to get to a destination and
we have some rough roads here in new
york state so
that's not a big deal great breaks soft
ride handling it's kind of disconnected
a little bit but
you wouldn't be disappointed if you were
looking for a vehicle to get you from
point a to point b
and to save money on fuel and to be
a plug-in hybrid because the handling is
a little bit sloppy
for handling it earned a six safety is
an important factor when you buy any
vehicle
especially a family vehicle like an suv
and the rav4 has always been a safe
vehicle now there are only two trim
levels on this vehicle
and when you buy the higher trim level
you get the cross traffic alert
and some of the other things a blind
spot detection that you want i kind of
wish toyota
made it all standard across the line
because safety is so important and
toyota is about safety
and another safety feature that is
probably overlooked and typically put
into handling or performance
is braking but it seems like there's
longer distances maybe because of the
regen
on the plug-in hybrid when it comes to
safety i wish it was all included
so i had to give it a nine when it comes
to visibility the front windshield is
long and it's tons of glass which is
great low seal level which i do
appreciate
because you can actually see out of the
windows on some of these vehicles the
sill is high
it makes the vehicle look cool on the
outside but it's not so great on the
inside
one of the things about visibility
that's important is the ability to see
behind you but if you've got
a bunch of stuff in back and people in
back especially three people you're not
gonna be able to see
but toyota has a solution for that just
flip this little switch forward
and the backup camera becomes an actual
camera
about 180 degrees really nice visibility
nice and clear i know other cars have it
but typically that's a cadillac type of
product you're seeing this also on the
new venza
everything they thought about for
visibility it earned a nine
many of you know that seating comfort is
a critical factor for me and the reason
it should be a critical factor for you
as well
is because this is where you sit in the
vehicle although the
vehicle may look amazing and all these
great features
if it's uncomfortable in seating you got
to live with it at least three years
and most people get frustrated so make
sure the seating is comfortable for you
we're all built differently
when it comes to the driver's seat there
is four-way lumbar and for additional
adjustment points
and the seats are comfortable and they
look good too by the way i love the red
stitching in this
xse of course this bright red exterior
is also very nice but it has nothing to
do with seating go to the passenger side
you're not going to be as comfortable
there is only two adjustments for
the back and the rake of the seat no
lumbar and if you're going to sit there
for a long trip
or maybe switch drivers and passengers
you may not be as happy with the vehicle
let's take a look at the second row and
we'll give it a rating back here in the
second row there is plenty of knee room
between the seat and my knees on 5
8 mostly legs so that's good but there's
also spot
for your feet to go underneath the seat
which some cars don't have
because the battery on this vehicle for
the plug-in hybrid is underneath the car
so you have plenty of room
that's a good thing two people across
the back not a problem a third person
might be a little tight in the center
there is two cupholders
behind the center council is two vents
and two
two point amp usb charging ports great
to the door on this xse which is the top
trim level with
all the options there is a heated seat
option which is really nice because
typically plug-in hybrids don't have
that for the second row
you've also got your window lift and a
nice spot for a large water bottle
there are also two pockets behind each
seat which is appreciated it's always
good to put things someplace there's
tons of storage in this car but when it
comes to seating comfort
the driver's seat is great the passenger
seat not so great
remember you've got to sit in both of
those potentially at one point
so it's important to note that the
passenger is not going to be as
comfortable on a long road trip
but for seating comfort it earned just
six when it comes to technology they've
really done a good job
i mean much more than you would think
not just the information in front of you
that gives you the ev
range and your gasoline range but you
have the ability to adjust based on this
little button to the left
of the steering wheel to decide not just
your audio source
turn on or off some of the safety
features but you're getting all this
great information
of which you get on most vehicles but
it's just a little bit more because it's
a hybrid so they've done a really
excellent job on that
the steering wheel also has your cruise
control and some other safety features
pretty standard
stocks are pretty standard nothing
confusing whatsoever
to the left of the steering wheel you
have your automatic headlights
your wiper blades some of the buttons to
the left include
a camera that allows you to see around
you just press the button it's a little
bit antiquated as far as some of the
current technology that makes it look
real but they've done a good job it
reminds me a little bit of a gaming
system
there's heated steering wheel there's an
ac 120 volt the ability to open the
trunk
but going over to the center stack so
you press the view button to the left
and you get this that's pretty cool
you can see what's going on completely
around you again that's part of
visibility
as well some really cool technology
going over to the center stack on the
trim level we're driving is the xse
it is a nine inch screen you can get a
seven-inch screen on the essie
but this has everything you need you got
your sources for your audio you can
press the buttons which i appreciate
versus just smooth piano black because
sometimes
you can hit the wrong thing when you
look at the navigation map it's kind of
dated i mean i'm surprised with some of
the technology i understand this vehicle
comes in around twenty eight thousand
dollars
for the se model i have to say that i
would think they would upgrade the map
just a touch now maybe that's the
company that they're using but overall
the knobs are there they've got little
rubber grips on them which i really
appreciate
audio system menu you can hit your map
if you want you can
split it up however you'd like i think
they've done a really good job
and of course you can put apps in
because they used to use entune but now
standard is apple carplay
android auto google assist they've
really thought about all the things that
you would want and i think that's really
important in today's world
some of the other features that they
have as far as technology everything's
pretty easy to use it's got a wireless
charger tons of charge ports
tons of charge ports but overall for
technology
it earned an eight now features is a
slightly different thing
when it comes to features it's all the
goodies that we want
we typically buy vehicles based on
features and seating comfort
and this has got a lot of features not
just all the great audio systems this is
a jbl audio system it's
really great but it also has hd radio
and all your satellite radio connection
and your apple carplay and such like
i've said
but you're looking at some of the
features i really like some of the
storage compartments in front of the
passenger side is this huge tray
you can put sunglasses there you can put
your phone there you can put your lunch
there whatever you want
on the left side there's a little
storage bin too good for change maybe
your wallet
depends on what you have with you in a
vehicle at this price point in the trim
level that we're in which is the xse
has heated and air cooled seats as well
as second row heated seats
not typical for a vehicle in that 38
thousand to forty thousand dollar range
of course when you load this thing up
you're gonna be in the high forties
almost into fifty thousand
the ability to change the buttons you
want i want just ev mode i wanna sport
mode and eco mode
there's a bunch of different modes eco
mode and of course
you can go to sport but there's also a
trail mode i don't know if i'd take this
off-road
maybe if i'm going to a campsite but
then you've got no place to plug in so
these are just things you need to think
of
standard prindle that's great two nice
cupholders the ability to put a large
bottle of water either in the door or in
the center cup holder is much
appreciated
memory seat on the driver's side has two
buttons two settings that's great if
you've got different drivers
the center console is nice soft
everything is soft everywhere you are
the dash is nice soft touch i think
that's really important because
nobody wants to deal with hard plastic
you just feel like you're not driving a
car and they've really thought about all
those details even in the overhead
console
there's a place for your sunglasses
there's the ability to open this
big gigantic sunroof huge
panoramic roof and it closes pretty
quick
there's a lot of features in this
vehicle and they've really thought about
how people are using it with all these
great features
you would think there'd be lumbar on the
passenger side i think that's kind of
important
i don't know what do you think you can
put that down in the comments down below
i've got a lot of comments from past
reviews of other vehicles and everyone
kind of thinks it would be nice to have
lumbar on the passenger side why not but
overall for features it earned a nine
when it comes to design of the new rav4
hybrid
it looks like a regular rav4 and that's
not a bad thing and if you look at some
of the other reviews we've done of the
rav4
and the rav4 hybrid you'll see that we
really like this vehicle but the design
on the inside is excellent they've done
a really nice job the exterior is great
especially the supersonic red
great color choices very exciting
looking
it doesn't have everything that people
would want when it comes to a hybrid but
they've really done a great job i mean
i have to say this was more than we
expected so for design
we gave it a nine when it comes to
quality this vehicle is well built
it's a toyota it's to be expected and
there's a high bar and they've met that
bar
so for quality you have to say look at
things that you're getting
a head up display well designed well
built in soft materials
everything every detail real stitching
on the seats
and along the door panels they've really
thought about all these little details
that i think get overlooked in many
other vehicles especially some of the
competition
so when you're comparing make sure to
check is it soft
or is it plastic are the panels even
well the vehicles you're looking at
probably the kia or the honda is going
to be well built
when you're looking at quality of a
vehicle like this you're not going to be
disappointed
and it earned a 10.
there's a lot of competition in this
space there are other plug-in hybrids
that are coming in at different price
points and they offer different features
now on the rav4 prime you can hold the
button here on your remote or you can do
the kick
underneath and in the back you'll see
the storage it's a little bit less
than that of the regular rav4 the
regular rav4 has about four cubic feet
less
but when you put the seats down you have
a ton of room you can lift up the levers
move the seats back and forth really
easy to use
storage wise in the back there is a ton
of storage although you're losing a
little bit of storage there is a mini
spare underneath this cover
also there's a spot for like your
emergency kit and components
you've got your charge port outlet here
which you can keep in the back because
you'll probably want to charge it every
night
in addition to that you have a 120 volt
outlet and you've got a plug-in for
maybe a cooler or something if you're
going traveling
but when you're looking at the value
overall vehicle starting in that 38
100 price range it came in about an
eight when you're looking at what you're
getting from this vehicle compared to
the competitors
as we get to the total of the car coach
reports ratings for the rav4 prime
did toyota make its goal of not boring
and not fast well it does have really
good pickup and the second fastest
vehicle that toyota makes
with all that in mind considering we're
not using these as race cars we're using
these as daily drivers and family
vehicles
if you can get all the incentives
combined and maybe some extras from your
company
you might get even better value but it
gave it a total score
of 83 and i don't think it's slow and
it's not really boring either so toyota
did
accomplish their goal one of the most
important things you can do is test
drive every vehicle in a category
that makes a lot of sense and if you
like this video make sure to give it a
like and a share subscribe
and if you got comments i bought the
rav4 prime i bought the hybrid
maybe you bought one of the competitors
we really want to hear that we want to
start the community start talking about
this
this is a very popular car i was stopped
by a lot of people including tesla
owners
who wanted to know about this vehicle so
that tells you
they're going to have great sales which
means there's not going to be a lot of
incentives
but you should also know this would be
worth the money
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