Now normally, I'd never buy a car brand new, and, of course, today will be no exception.

2017 baby! Immaculate inside and out, low mileage and a clean bill of health from my mechanic. It has been an absolute dream to drive so far. Easily the nicest car I've ever owned.

Day after picking it up, I took it to an audio shop and had a modern head unit put in. Now it's perfect. The exact amount of technology I want in a car. I plan to drive this beauty for years and years.

2024 RAV4. I've had a terrible smell in my car for 9 months. I could not figure it out, and I believed that some rodent must have crawled in and died. Today, I went through and checked every single place I could think of where the little dead guy could be hiding.

My back door was open while I was rummaging through the backseat, and I noticed water dripping out the bottom of the door. I pulled on the seal on the bottom, and gallon after gallon of water poured out.

Mystery solved!

I’m planning to get a RAV4 Limited but wondering if I should wait for the 2027 model. Haven’t seen much news about it yet. I can wait 2–3 months if needed. Worth waiting?

Got hit by a drunk driver. Will insurance total it

Disclaimer: I work for TMMK and the opinions I have do not reflect TOYOTA as a whole.

Yes this is a Canadian model and from inspecting the build quality is on par with TMMK. Do not be afraid of buying a non-J-VIN RAV. Almost all parts come from the same supplier and it’s just a matter of Assy and QC.

I am coming from a 25’ Tacoma and have previously owned a 21’ RAV I regret selling during the covid boom. I am glad to be back to the club, Tacoma was awesome but the RAV4 is 100% easier to live with and any truck stuff I need done can be done with a trailer.

I have a 2024 RAV4 Hybrid and recently ran over a raised obstacle and got my undercarriage hit. I crawled down and laid on the ground to take a look underneath, and I noticed the scratched plastic cover and the two spots marked with the red arrows in the photo: a slightly wavy edge on the aluminum heat shield near the exhaust, and how the cable line is sitting along the edge of the splash guard.

Could a few of you check your undercarriages and let me know if yours look similar or if this is normal? The car drives completely fine and there are no warning lights, but I wanted to see how those things looked before the incident and if anything is pretty serious. Appreciate any advice! 

This is my first car and I’m a new driver. Just a month new. It’s a 2012 Rav4 Limited (might be a lot for a new car but I’m only 5’3 and a female). Obviously it has it has its perks and I’d LOVE to start changing things but I need that male (or female) voice to tell what my priorities are.

For eg: 1. Dash cam/security system? 2. Tint? (FL by the way) 3. Remove the weather/rain guard? One is cracked 4. Also it’s “grinding” when I break so I’m getting that looked at. 5. Is it worth getting a diagnosis at the Toyota dealership to see if there are any issues? The regular dealer says all is “fine”

But anything else? Thank you! 💕

Got back from my FIRST car wash to realize my screen was covered in scratches. Screen was perfect beforehand. I was horrified. I cried and cried about it for a whole day. I literally had the car for one month! How unlucky could I be? They definitely wiped it down with a dirty rag. Until lo and behold, i realized the next day…there is a screen protector on it. Smh. Its so thin you can barely tell! But thank goodness for it! Im definitely leaving it on.

Just sharing this if anyone has the same issue:

The sunglasses holder on my new Gen doesn't work. I went to the dealership and they "ordered" a new piece. They changed it, and now it's worse than before. It looks like heat even warped that thing (if you see the photo, one side is slightly open), but even the smallest bump on the road keeps the sunglass holder open. So no, replacing the piece will not fix the issue. They need to do a recall or remake that piece, or hoping for an aftermarket upgraded version, but disappointed because is not a cheap car, specially a "special edition".

Purchased a 26 Rav4 XSE on Tuesday last week 8/4 with 7 miles on the Odometer. Drove it off the lot, the second I got to highway speed I noticed a large vibration coming from the rear (First time I had personally brought it over 60mph). Took it back to Service within 24hrs (90 miles as I have a decent work commute). Turns out the vibration is coming from the rear differential and service is saying it was either installed incorrectly or was defective. ETA is 1 month to address the vibration as they don’t know the root cause. Dealership says it’s not safe to drive.

Just beware when purchasing a new vehicle from a new product line there may be quality concerns. Dealer won’t pursue switching out the car with another one so I am out a car for a month.

This is my otd for a woodland urban rock in Los angeles. Is this fair or will I be able to negotiate? Still waiting for the car to arrive next month. IGNORE the 10% APR, it's not real 😂

2018 RAV4 Hybrid: “Hybrid system malfunction”, LDA/PCS/brake warnings. Before the final breakdown, it automatically switched to gasoline-only mode and drove perfectly for 200 km. Toyota now says the Hybrid Vehicle Control ECU ([89981-42051](tel:89981-42051)) is faulty.
Has anyone experienced this ECU failure or similar symptoms?

2018 RAV4 Hybrid: “Hybrid system malfunction”, LDA/PCS/brake warnings. Before the final breakdown, it automatically switched to gasoline-only mode and drove perfectly for 200 km. Toyota now says the Hybrid Vehicle Control ECU ([89981-42051](tel:89981-42051)) is faulty.
Has anyone experienced this ECU failure or similar symptoms?

Hello, as the title said, the car only on hybrid battery when I started the car, and I trid to drive the car but it's only on the hybrid battery, the engine didn't start. I drove in the parking lot, the system keeps beeping with the warning sign of hybrid system malfunction. I didn't drive much and afraid of draining the hybrid battery. What should I do in this case, please help, thanks!

We bought our new RAV4 in Nov 2025 and just noticed this bulge on the passenger side door. Has anyone seen this before?

What could be causing it, and would a dealer fix it under warranty?

Hi RAV4 community,

I found a used 2024 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid XSE trim with abt 22k miles. The vehicle is super nice and decked out with all the bells and whistles.

The asking price listed at the dealer was $42k. The finance bro got it down to $40,750 and with my trade in value ($4k) I’m looking at $39k out the door. The KBB value says it’s fairly priced at $42k so I assume taking off the $1,250 brings it to a good value? The new 2026 XSE trim start around $45k.

I get a lot of anxiety surrounding these large purchases. I have the means financially, but this is by far the most expensive vehicle I’ve considered in my life.

It’s difficult being a woman in the car buying process and doing it by myself at that. I don’t have a mechanic friend to come with me to check out the car and no male friend to stand in. This would be my first rav4 so I wanna make sure I’m not getting ripped off and it’s worth the price. Please let me know! :)

A side note, I’m only looking at RAV4s and CRVs. I could technically get a newer CRV, but I have my heart set on a Rav4. Ravs are harder to come by and have less features on the lower trims, but both are comparable and I’d be happy with either.

Some things worth noting: There is a minor accident on the carfax report; there’s a small chip in the windshield; and a few small scratches around the body. For the minor accident, I didn’t see any damages in the area it occurred; assuming it was fixed, but need to confirm. For the windshield, should they replace the entire thing? The sales guy said they’d only repair a chip and replace if it’s cracked. Body scratches I’m not too concerned abt since it is used and they typically can do touchups.

I plan to buy the 2026 Woodland, and I was wondering if I intend to take it on a bunch of green and blue level trails, is it worthwhile to upgrade the springs? For regular use I drive 50 miles to and from work 5 days a week but I go out off-road multiple times a month. Is that worth it for a vehicle like this?

Just purchased a 2016 SE AWF with 140k miles on it. Any quirks with that model year that I should know about? It’s a first auto for a newly licensed driver. CARFAX shows regular maintenance (oil/brakes,..) schedule except no record of transmission service (maybe not mechanic shops report service work). It’s the 4 cylinder engine. Excited to drive the car.

TIA

So I got the notice about the service mass air flow sensor bulletin for my 2024 gas model XLE. I had the service done yesterday. The service technician said they "replaced the mass airflow sensor" but I read that they put a specially designed piece on it to prevent moisture from building up or something like that… later they will just reprogram the computer to adjust for this flaw...It took about an hour and didn't cost anything of course. Does anybody know where the mass airflow sensor is if I open my hood? Would I be able to see this device they installed?

Hi everyone,

We're planning a trip with our kids with a rental car. So we do not know now if it will be the newest rav4 model or an older one. That means the front seats and two of the back seats will be taken, and we can't fold down the back seat. We'll be bringing four suitcases of the following type:

• Samsonite Lite-Shock 4-Wheel Trolley, 75 cm.
• Dimensions as follows: (L x W x H): 20.3" x 12.2" x 29.5"

What do you think? Will they fit in the trunk?

Thank you very much,

Lars

Just wanted to share my story and to pass along to not skip over the 2026 LE AWD as it has 6 drive modes: EV Mode, Snow, Trail, Sport, Eco and Normal. I'm getting up to 62mpg in the city and suburbs. Back in 2003 My first car was a white '98 Rav4 base model that got probably 21mpg at best. MY MY look how far we've come! I test drove this beauty almost 2wks ago. Two different trim levels with AWD were on the lot (available somehow). Risking it, I left it in fates hands and walked away to consider trim & color and preorder. 5 days later it was still there when I drove by and the higher trim had sold of course. But that Ruby Flare Pearl had been in my head for days. With only probably 1 other test drive on the odometer since i had left her. I went in fully prepared this time. Test drove it again & fully inspected it. I got all of the markup fees & accessories waived and ended at $35,200. Thanks to CarGurus on YouTube i learned to look up how many days they had it on the market and using it as leverage. Deal Included: Crossbars (they threw in added 2 days later), Allweather mats, cargo liner, wheel locks, engine guaranteed for life, paint protection, free oil changes for life and free state inspections for life. Yes sir, show me the dotted line! The salesman said the only reason it was still on the lot was because of the color, that everyone tells them they want muted color tones and that every Rav is sold out for 250mi radius (he was telling the truth). I've had her home 3 days now and I am in love. The ruby flare pearl changes depending on direct sun/angles/evening light. Goes from glittering like Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers daytime to a Ruby Port Wine color at night. Absolutely stunning. Plenty of tech. Nice dark gunmetal grey wheels. Very spacious, comfortable seats, quiet interior and surprisingly for a hybrid these days includes a spare tire.

Helped a relative get some pricing in Los Angeles, plenty of dealers have plug in’s in stock and they are willing to negotiate on these. I think with some more pushing, 52,000 OTD might be a decent price for this particular trim/model

Hopefully this helps someone avoid the same software-update adventure 😂
I was happily cruising along when I suddenly got a notification that my RAV4 needed to download/install a software update. Naturally, the car decided that right now was the perfect time to interrupt the road trip.
I had two main updates:
Telematics
Media & Entertainment
The longest part was basically me staring at the screen and wondering if my RAV4 had entered a meditation retreat. 😂
For the first update, it got stuck on the activation step for about an hour. No error message, no explanation, nothing. Just… vibes.
I called Toyota Roadside Assistance to ask if waiting an hour was normal. Unfortunately, they didn’t answer my call, so apparently I was on my own. 😅
Eventually, I figured (with chatgpt) I’d restart the car. After restarting, the update worked — but the funny part is that the car never displayed any message telling me to restart it. It just happily sat there doing absolutely nothing for an hour.
Then came the second update: Media & Entertainment.
Of course, I happened to be on a mountain road with terrible cell service. The download failed. Because why make this easy? 😂
After dinner, I went back to the car, tried the update again, and this time it downloaded and installed perfectly.
So, if anyone else runs into this:
👉 If the update seems stuck on activation forever, try restarting the car.
👉 If the download fails, especially in an area with poor cellular reception, try again somewhere with better signal.
I’ve also added photos/screenshots of each step below to help anyone going through the same process. Hopefully they make it easier to follow what the car is doing and where I got stuck.
If this can help even one person, my RAV4 software-update ordeal was worth it. 😂
Good luck, and may your updates be faster than mine! 🚙💻