First I'd like to say I second just about all the comments "friendly_jacek" has mentioned about the RAV4. I too find it hard to believe there are so few reviews on this vehicle. Especially since it is so much different than the previous RAV4 design. I didn't even know they had been changed so much until I got my first glimpse of one.

This may be more a story of our quest for the perfect vehicle(for us) than a review. I hesitated even posting this after I wrote it, but hopefully there will be something useful for others considering buying a new RAV4.

When my wife and I decided to get a new vehicle we had a heck of a time trying to figure out what to buy. We've always driven modest cars(Accord, Jetta, etc) that got good gas mileage. My wife has wanted an SUV for several years but the thought of buying $3.00 a gallon gas for a big gas guzzler was just not very alluring...to say the least. It's just the two of us so we just do not need very large vehicles.

We are avid bicyclists. We’ve never felt comfortable going places and leaving our bikes hanging outside our car on a bike rack. They just beg to be stolen. We both agreed that if we were going to buy an SUV, it had to be big enough to carry two bikes inside and upright.

This was to be my wife's daily driver so it had to please her first and foremost. So our main criteria were....
- Wife likes the looks of it
- Can easily haul two bikes inside
- Gets decent gas mileage
- I like it
- Will last a long time(We normally keep a vehicle until it is used up)

We measured all our bike’s length and height and went SUV shopping.

First stop, Honda. We really liked the CR-Vs but the interior design was just not ideal for the bike hauling. I felt it would have been nearly impossible to fit two bikes in the back. After we drove a couple I was just not sold on them. They were just "OK". The Element would have been great for the bike deal, but my wife (and myself to some degree) just could not get past the goofy looking design. Don't get me wrong, I think the Element is kinda cool, and would be great for its intended purpose, but it just wasn't right for us.

We looked at just about every small SUV made and we were getting very frustrated trying to find the "perfect" vehicle for us. We really had not considered Toyota. I guess we just didn't think they had anything we could afford. We decided to drive through a Toyota lot just to "gawk". We got out and looked at a few stickers and were about to leave when a small SUV in the showroom caught my eye. We went in to look at it and I could not believe this was a RAV4. We both liked it immediately. I had no idea they had been so radically redesigned. After some measuring, it was one of the few SUVs we'd looked at that would absolutely hold two bikes in the back. It was in our price range. We drove it. We loved it.

I did some research all through the next week and tried to learn all I could about the new RAV4. I liked just about everything I read about it. We decided exactly what we wanted and started looking for it. We just could not find the color/model we had decided on(Flint Mica). We wanted to buy a new vehicle NOW so after a couple of weeks we decided to drive back to the dealership where we had driven the first one. The one we had driven was still there. We liked it a lot so we started talking to a salesman. After a little haggling I finally just told them EXACTLY what we would give for it and we made the deal.

We bought a white Sport model with the V6 and 4-wheel drive. I am used to going very fast(legally...on a track), but this car is a little hotrod. And it still manages to regularly get 25-26 MPG. It's EVERYTHING we wanted! I always thought of RAV4s as "chick cars". The new ones(2006+) are MUCH LESS a chick car, and just all around good vehicles. It's definitely NOT A TRUCK if that's what you want/need. The sport suspension is fairly firm, but being a sporty kinda guy I like it that way. I'd rather have good handling than a soft mushy suspension. If I want a silky smooth ride I'll buy a big ol' hooptie. We had over a foot of snow a month ago so it was a good time to test its 4X4 ability. We backed out of the garage and just drove away like it was nothing. We drove 5 miles to town and went down the narrow street my mom lives on. We had to drive a zigzag pattern to get around all the stuck vehicles. We never once felt we were even close to getting stuck. This thing will probably never see a dirt road, much less a trail, but I was very happy with the way it performed in the deep snow.

The only problem with it so far is.... I NEVER GET TO DRIVE IT! :)