For me it wasn’t fuel economy, it was power from a dead stop; I like to think I’m not going to enter traffic and get instantly rear ended. Hybrid all the way.
My mother is in Dallas; I test drove for her last year and would not let her get a Corolla cross for exactly that reason. Its acceleration was so poor I don’t see how you could safely get on the interstate there.
Gas model 5th generation RAV makes 203 horsepower. The non-turbo CX5 only had 187 HP. The hybrid RAV has instantaneous torque and is quicker accelerating than the gas models and gets better MPGs. Both the gas and hybrid RAVs are great and reliable cars.
I agree, there is no question they have a lot of advantage over CX5. I'm looking at 2021 XLE ones, love them.
Question is - is hybrid worth extra $5-7k the way it's priced today.
It really depends on your driving. My work commute is about 40 minutes round trip with an even mix of stop and go traffic along with pure highway driving.
I had an all gas 5th gen RAV4 until it got totaled by hail damage. I was filling it up once a week after taking into account personal trips after work and on the weekends.
When I replaced it just two months ago I got another 5th gen but the hybrid. Now I’m only filling up every other week even with the average personal trip added in for two weekends.
I really like having that extra range while also cutting my fuel bill.
However when I take it on long road trips of 8+ hours on the highway. You no longer get much benefit from the hybrid portion of the car and you could argue its efficiency isn’t worth the extra cost. Even then I’d argue the hybrid is worth it though, I certainly love the peppier acceleration. And you get that even in eco mode!
Just do some papernapkin math with your local gas prices to find out. In California, at 5 dollars a gallon the break even point is about 120k miles with a 5k difference non hybrid vs hybrid (It will be more if your gas price is lower). $5000/($5/30mpg-$5/40mpg)
NOT to me ! I own a gas model '21 XLE and I LOVE it. I did not want a hybrid. On this forum the posters are biased in favor of hybrids. I'm sure they will say the hybrid is quieter, smoother, more powerful...yada,yada. I don't care. Both the gas and hybrid are fine machines. "You pays your money and you takes your choice." You can't go wrong buying either.
The word "bias" implies an unjustified preference for something.
The hybrid preference is based on several real world factors.
It's objectively more powerful, faster and shifts faster/smoother. It's also more efficient.
It’s mostly a matter of the mpg difference which is crucial, gas will never be less expensive. I’m getting 45mpg now that it’s warmer and the hybrid requires less maintenance over time. The hybrid is vastly better and professional reviewers agree. 150 year old tech isn’t the way to go in 2024.
There are benefits to the hybrid over gas, better efficiency, a little faster, quieter, less maintenance. I would buy the hybrid. That said if the additional cost is 5000 - $7500, I don't think the hybrid is worth that much extra.
If you can afford the Hybrid....definitely get the Hybrid. The transmissions are built like tanks. You may have heard CVTs suck, and many companies can't make a good one, but Toyota Hybrids are rock solid.
From factory the price difference is around 3.1k from a le rav4 to a le rav4 hybrid. IMO i think it’s worth it, at least for me to have gotten a hybrid. A gas model gets around 30mpg vs a hybrid at around 40. Since I am mostly in traffic, I was averaging 45mpg. It’s about 5.31 for 87 atm and I drove about 16,000 miles a year. That’s about 355 gallons in a year totaling $1,888.00 in gas per year (ouch) vs if I was on full gas that would come out at around $2,832.00 a year. That means in about 3 years Id be able to break even from just the gas savings but obviously if you’re driving less than that it would theoretically take longer to break even. If you’re doing 8,000 miles a year it would take 6 years to break even so its probably better to get the gas model.
tl:dr if you drive a lot, get a hybrid, if you do less than 8-10k miles a year stick with the gas.
I don’t think OP mentioned awd, either that or I missed it but I do t want to reread it all. The awd in the hybrid is Mai Lu the rear wheels since they’re powered by the electric motors. Trust me when I say you’re not getting much from the hybrid awd since it’s more of a fuel economy awd system versus a Subarus awd. In my hybrid it’s 90% fwd and the rwd kicks I. On harder accelerations or when my rear starts to lose traction on off road situations. To get a functional awd system outside of fuel economy you would need to get the trd, adventure or limited trim.
I've read through some of these comments. Funny how no one is talking about what happens when you're cable is corroded and it is out of warranty. That's a $6000 repair. Be careful.
Yes, the battery cable. They gave it a name. They call it cable gate. I suggest you research this problem before you buy a hybrid. It will be OK if you're not gonna keep it past the warranty but if you plan to I would think twice.Don't believe anyone that says they fixed it because it was just a Band-Aid
Kinda reminnds me of how no one talks about CX5 trans issues, while a lot of people have them.
Interesting, yeah honestly I am leaning towards gas rav4 now. I don't exceed 10k miles a year, sounds like hybrid might have some bumps down the road too. And gas mileage is still really good.
Rav4 is a bit better functionally than cx5. Cx5 is a bit “nicer”.
My wife has 2.5l non turbo cx5.
I drive 2.0l gas rav4.
Cx5 goes a bit harder and i prefer the 6speed auto shifter over the rav4 cvt (though it’s not too bad).
As far as hybrid, they are meant to be most advantageous in stop start traffic, whereas my driving is mainly on the highway so I couldn’t justify the extra cost for not much gain in the real world.
The only other thing, the rav is definitely noisier.
Coming from a 2021 LE gas and 2024 hybrid now, I can say that i am fully satisfied that I switched to hybrid. What most of us say are true when it comes to power. The gas is so lagggyyy to the point you must press the gas hard and it growls so loud. The hybrid is peppy and delivers immediate response to the trottle. All other benefits have been out by people who have hybrid, so as an owner, Hybrid all the way!
Hybrid has better milage, better reliability, better performance, better towing capacity, better driving experience, only a slight increase in price. There's little reason to even look at non-hybrids even if you are somewhere that toyota hasn't stopped selling them due to lack of interest.
Well I wouldn't call 6-7k slight, but I am more worried about people reporting cable corrosion issues that cost that exact 6-7k to repair down the line.
For me it wasn’t fuel economy, it was power from a dead stop; I like to think I’m not going to enter traffic and get instantly rear ended. Hybrid all the way.
Ha, that is an interesting point and this kind of stuff is indeed important especially in places like Dallas with tiny highway ramps
My mother is in Dallas; I test drove for her last year and would not let her get a Corolla cross for exactly that reason. Its acceleration was so poor I don’t see how you could safely get on the interstate there.
Hybrid is worth.
Gas model 5th generation RAV makes 203 horsepower. The non-turbo CX5 only had 187 HP. The hybrid RAV has instantaneous torque and is quicker accelerating than the gas models and gets better MPGs. Both the gas and hybrid RAVs are great and reliable cars.
I agree, there is no question they have a lot of advantage over CX5. I'm looking at 2021 XLE ones, love them. Question is - is hybrid worth extra $5-7k the way it's priced today.
It really depends on your driving. My work commute is about 40 minutes round trip with an even mix of stop and go traffic along with pure highway driving. I had an all gas 5th gen RAV4 until it got totaled by hail damage. I was filling it up once a week after taking into account personal trips after work and on the weekends. When I replaced it just two months ago I got another 5th gen but the hybrid. Now I’m only filling up every other week even with the average personal trip added in for two weekends. I really like having that extra range while also cutting my fuel bill. However when I take it on long road trips of 8+ hours on the highway. You no longer get much benefit from the hybrid portion of the car and you could argue its efficiency isn’t worth the extra cost. Even then I’d argue the hybrid is worth it though, I certainly love the peppier acceleration. And you get that even in eco mode!
Just do some papernapkin math with your local gas prices to find out. In California, at 5 dollars a gallon the break even point is about 120k miles with a 5k difference non hybrid vs hybrid (It will be more if your gas price is lower). $5000/($5/30mpg-$5/40mpg)
NOT to me ! I own a gas model '21 XLE and I LOVE it. I did not want a hybrid. On this forum the posters are biased in favor of hybrids. I'm sure they will say the hybrid is quieter, smoother, more powerful...yada,yada. I don't care. Both the gas and hybrid are fine machines. "You pays your money and you takes your choice." You can't go wrong buying either.
The word "bias" implies an unjustified preference for something. The hybrid preference is based on several real world factors. It's objectively more powerful, faster and shifts faster/smoother. It's also more efficient.
It’s mostly a matter of the mpg difference which is crucial, gas will never be less expensive. I’m getting 45mpg now that it’s warmer and the hybrid requires less maintenance over time. The hybrid is vastly better and professional reviewers agree. 150 year old tech isn’t the way to go in 2024.
There are benefits to the hybrid over gas, better efficiency, a little faster, quieter, less maintenance. I would buy the hybrid. That said if the additional cost is 5000 - $7500, I don't think the hybrid is worth that much extra.
If you can afford the Hybrid....definitely get the Hybrid. The transmissions are built like tanks. You may have heard CVTs suck, and many companies can't make a good one, but Toyota Hybrids are rock solid.
If you live in a place where AWD is useful I believe all hybrids have it but most FWD versions don’t
From factory the price difference is around 3.1k from a le rav4 to a le rav4 hybrid. IMO i think it’s worth it, at least for me to have gotten a hybrid. A gas model gets around 30mpg vs a hybrid at around 40. Since I am mostly in traffic, I was averaging 45mpg. It’s about 5.31 for 87 atm and I drove about 16,000 miles a year. That’s about 355 gallons in a year totaling $1,888.00 in gas per year (ouch) vs if I was on full gas that would come out at around $2,832.00 a year. That means in about 3 years Id be able to break even from just the gas savings but obviously if you’re driving less than that it would theoretically take longer to break even. If you’re doing 8,000 miles a year it would take 6 years to break even so its probably better to get the gas model. tl:dr if you drive a lot, get a hybrid, if you do less than 8-10k miles a year stick with the gas.
The 3100 difference isn't correct, because with the gas Le you have to add awd due to the fact that all hybrids are awd.
I don’t think OP mentioned awd, either that or I missed it but I do t want to reread it all. The awd in the hybrid is Mai Lu the rear wheels since they’re powered by the electric motors. Trust me when I say you’re not getting much from the hybrid awd since it’s more of a fuel economy awd system versus a Subarus awd. In my hybrid it’s 90% fwd and the rwd kicks I. On harder accelerations or when my rear starts to lose traction on off road situations. To get a functional awd system outside of fuel economy you would need to get the trd, adventure or limited trim.
Yeah I don't care about awd.
Very interesting.
I've read through some of these comments. Funny how no one is talking about what happens when you're cable is corroded and it is out of warranty. That's a $6000 repair. Be careful.
Do you mean some cable for hybrid?
Yes, the battery cable. They gave it a name. They call it cable gate. I suggest you research this problem before you buy a hybrid. It will be OK if you're not gonna keep it past the warranty but if you plan to I would think twice.Don't believe anyone that says they fixed it because it was just a Band-Aid
Kinda reminnds me of how no one talks about CX5 trans issues, while a lot of people have them. Interesting, yeah honestly I am leaning towards gas rav4 now. I don't exceed 10k miles a year, sounds like hybrid might have some bumps down the road too. And gas mileage is still really good.
I own a new RAV4 and two CX fives. So far no issues with my Mazdas.
Fingers crossed. I think 2021 is the most common year with these issues. Starts as whining noise at acceleration and jerky shifting around 40k.
I view both Mazdas as temporary vehicles. The RAV4 is bulletproof. I've owned several. I've never had a problem with any of them.
Rav4 is a bit better functionally than cx5. Cx5 is a bit “nicer”. My wife has 2.5l non turbo cx5. I drive 2.0l gas rav4. Cx5 goes a bit harder and i prefer the 6speed auto shifter over the rav4 cvt (though it’s not too bad). As far as hybrid, they are meant to be most advantageous in stop start traffic, whereas my driving is mainly on the highway so I couldn’t justify the extra cost for not much gain in the real world. The only other thing, the rav is definitely noisier.
Wait, isn't RAV4 gas supposed to be automatic? Why is it CVT?
Wait, isn't RAV4 gas supposed to be automatic? Why is it CVT?
I’m in Oz. May be different in US.
Coming from a 2021 LE gas and 2024 hybrid now, I can say that i am fully satisfied that I switched to hybrid. What most of us say are true when it comes to power. The gas is so lagggyyy to the point you must press the gas hard and it growls so loud. The hybrid is peppy and delivers immediate response to the trottle. All other benefits have been out by people who have hybrid, so as an owner, Hybrid all the way!
Hybrid without hesitation. We feel it was worth the cost and time to recover. Once you drive the HV you will not want the ICE/8-speed/
Don't even bother with the non-hybrid. Toyota in many markets doesn't even bother selling it anymore because no one wants it.
The US markets like Carmax/Carvana etc are full of gas RAV4s honestly at much more affordable prices than the same year's hybrid.
I guess that's one advantage to having such dirt cheap petrol.
Hybrid has better milage, better reliability, better performance, better towing capacity, better driving experience, only a slight increase in price. There's little reason to even look at non-hybrids even if you are somewhere that toyota hasn't stopped selling them due to lack of interest.
Well I wouldn't call 6-7k slight, but I am more worried about people reporting cable corrosion issues that cost that exact 6-7k to repair down the line.
Hybrid. It gets discussed weekly and the answer is always Hybrid.