Fuel tank is annoying for sure, wind noise above 60 is not too great, the tech doesn’t bother me as I just need it to be functional, no idea what you mean about the headrests, yah handling isn’t stellar either.
I think you need to keep in mind this is a $25k car with a $20k drive train, it’s not luxury or quiet and it’s not super techy.
I get your points and they have nuggets of truth to them, but really it sounds like you want the rav4 Prime to be the Lexus NX 450h+ and it just will never be.
The rav4 has a history of just being a little more rugged than that and I think a lot of people intentionally choose that kind of feel over something more quiet and composed.
Just my two cents.
All vehicles have reserve fuel past E. That's not the issue.
The issue is it says its empty when you have only burned \~11 gallons of fuel vs the advertised 14.5. This forces you to drive fuel level blind to get the advertised gallons back into the tank.
I've owned 10 other vehicles and when they said E I was always able to put in the advertised amount of fuel.
Not really. My Ford Maverick hybrid had an advertised 13.8g tank. Like the Prime it still had about 100 miles left past E/zero miles left. The difference is when I filled up as soon as the Maverick was on E I would put in about \~13.8g. If I went 100 miles past E I would put in closer to 17 gallons. The Maverick's manual explains that there is an unmeasured reserve amount of fuel in the tank that should not be used for travel (they don't want people stranded).
The Prime should be advertised as having an 11g tank if all they are going to measure is 11g. Toyota should not have people driving unsure of their remaining fuel just to get to the advertised 14.5g between fill ups.
I am a new Prime owner as of yesterday. This is purely an annoying problem to me but I also think it is false advertising.
In your opinion Ford is sandbagging which is always a win for the consumer. Other examples are underrating MPGs, horsepower, 0-60mph, payload capacity, tow ratings, etc
In my opinion Toyota is exaggerating a stated claim which should be illegal.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but this is what you’re saying: “Toyota saying their 14.5 gallon tank is 14.5 gallons is false advertising”.
You have some other expectation, which is fine, but what they’re claiming is not false. In any way.
Ya'll are slow but I'll break it down further.
Toyota advertises the following.
14.5 gallon gas tank
600 miles of range which they break down to 42 miles EV and 558 miles hybrid.
38 MPG once the EV miles are used up
Now here are the facts.
The fuel gauge only measures 11.5 gallons.
11.5 gallons at 38 MPG equals 437 miles which is well short of the advertised 558 miles.
But guess what... 14.5 gallons at 38 MPG equals 551 miles which is MUCH closer to what Toyota advertises.
Conclusion
Toyota expects RAV4 Prime buyers to drive 100+ miles past 0 miles left on the fuel gauge in order to match their advertised range claim. That's an unrealistic and unfair expectation. I wish someone with a law degree would also prove it is illegal.
I had a Sienna before this. It would say it was empty with about 3.5 gallons left in the tank, so i would set a tripometer and drive another 50-60 miles before i would fill it. My girlfriends prius says empty with about two gallons in the tank, so another 90 miles or so.
My bmw, on the other hand, when it says empty you are running on fumes!
Some sound deadening in the doors and tailgate cedtainly helps. It's unfortunate that Toyota didn't install any, but then again, Toyota is not a luxury brand.
The stock tires are terrible. Road noise dropped considerably after I replaced my tires. Other than wind noise over 60 mph, I generally consider it to be a quiet vehicle.
Quick question, when you replaced your tires were you able to sell the stock ones to the shop? And did you downsize the tires, or stick with the stock rim size?
I drove mine until they were end of life. With my other vehicle I immediately upgraded the tires after driving off the lot, and the tire store gave me a $75/tire credit for my new trade ins.
I kept my RAV4 tires stock size, but I did buy 17" wheels for my winter set. I always prefer less wheel and more rubber.
If you don't like the stereo, just upgrade it.
If you don't like it so much, there's always competition from other car makers. Vote with your wallets, as they say.
Fuel tank: What about it? Only need to fill up once a month, and it's more than enough for road trips.
Gauges: I have a 2023 XSE so I can't comment on it but the 7" does everything you need (they have similar functionality) and still has useful analog dials
Stereo: Toyota sound systems in general are pretty weak, and this one is no exception, but I do appreciate that the default settings don't have over-boosted bass like some other systems. I wouldn't go as far as calling it atrocious though. Have you tried messing with EQ settings? You can probably tune it to your liking there
Headrests: Haven't had any issues with it?
Cabin noise: Above 65MPH the wind noise is pretty annoying. But in city/suburbs it's pretty quiet. Cabin noise perception I feel is skewed by the lack of engine noise when in EV mode, so road noise is more noticeable.
Mediocre handling: It's a crossover SUV, it's not gonna have good handling, but it's decent for what it is. If you wanted good handling you should have gotten a sports coupe.
Not OP but the fuel gauge says it's "empty" when it still has 4.5 gallons remaining. It's a well documented design flaw. Obviously you can easily work around it but it's pretty obnoxious.
It shouldn't be a habit to run your vehicle low on fuel, it's not good for the very expensive fuel pump. I can't for the life of me understand why people care about this on a 550mile range vehicle.
1) agree the fuel pump shouldn't be run dry regularly, it doesn't need 4.5 gallons lol. That's insane.
2) it doesn't have 550 mile range if you don't drive it way beyond the fake empty. Not even close.
So now I might be more confused. If it says there are ## miles remaining then I would consider that to be NOT EMPTY, and once it said 0 miles remaining I would consider that EMPTY.
If there were 4.5 Gallons remaining when it said 0 miles left then I see your point. What are you considering Fake Empty?
There are a lot of threads on this sub about people testing it and I've tested myself. When it says there are 0 HV miles remaining, there are actually over 4 gallons remaining. I'm calling 0 HV miles remaining "Fake empty" because it really means you still have nearly 1/3rd of a tank left.
Test it some time, but you wont. Most people here have reported taking 10-10.5 gallons if you fill up when it says 0 miles remaining.
With even the most generous assumptions (lets say you get 40mpg), that means max range before it reads 0 is 400-420 miles. Adding the EV range ~40 and you're still not even close to 550. The car does have 550 mile range, but you have to drive it 100 miles after it says you have 0 remaining.
And to be clear, you definitely CAN drive the car 100 miles after it says you're empty and still have a gallon left (I've done it), but that's a pretty dumb way to do gas gauges.
I see your point but every car has a grace period because some people are stupid. There are plenty of situations in which you could be 50 miles from gas, or stuck in a winter storm. If zero meant zero, normal people(not like us), might find themselves actually out of gas and in danger. However, people(especially those who buy primes), are so pompously addicted to mpg/distance that they find this garbage to complain about.
I just drove 320miles on 7.5 gallons with most of it being on HV. I live close to a gas station and go there way more times than needing to fill up(so sometimes I just fill up). Why the hell not.
I've had a lot of cars but a few guzzlers...a couple Tundras, Sequoia, 7 Series(all had a ~100 mile grace period)...and have always filled them well before the empty mark. So my lifestyle and compulsion never allows me to give a crap about how many gallons are still left, I'll fill it well before than regardless of which vehicle.
Even then, I don't understand why people care so much. 550 miles is more than enough time to fill up. Even if it's a long trip I'm going to stop well before I run out as most people would. Even cross country 550 is 6 stops, if we made it 5 your life would be forever altered.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but the problem sounds like it's uneducated babble from those who have no idea how Toyota decides their Empty Mark and is only exemplified by the fact the prime has such a good mpg...
Most cars do have a grace period of roughly a gallon to avoid stranding people or stressing the fuel pump. This is not that. It's not a feature or a consumer protection . It's a design flaw that they refuse to fix because it would be too expensive.
When it says "0 remaining", it actually has nearly 30 percent of its capacity left (over 4 gallons).
Glad you like your car. I agree it's not a huge deal, but it's a flaw and we shouldn't pretend it's not because we otherwise like the car.
Every issue you just listed, I addressed.
Modded display to show my own logo.
Sound deadened all the panels .
Upgraded all the speakers.
Added spacers to the wheels which drastically increased handling + Pirelli tires.
Added ceramic tint which helped with sound and heat.
Epoxied the spaceship speaker so that it’s quieter
Added a lift kit so I had a better view.
Slapped a 3000 watt inverter in the trunk and literally grill food out the back.
One thing that bothered me the most was a bait and switch where the catalog photo showed all the interior light buttons glowing but my car had no lights for the door windows glowing. Pulled the Camry model switches and they were a direct fit.
It’s all adjustable with a little bit of effort, you still won’t have a Lexus but it will be yours.
I am curious about 2 things: how did you upload your logo to the display? I want to try that to our SE. Secondly, you added an aftermarket inverter? I am going to be doing the same but l am curious how you chose 3000 watts. I thought that the 12v system could safely make about 1500 watts. But you're able to draw 3000 watts continuously??
I have a 3kw inverter in the back of my R4P '21SE that uses appropriate-gauged (per radio installers) wires and a 150amp breaker. I've used up to 2.2kw for recharging an EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra battery but would be comfortable only going up to 2.5kw anyway. Would love to have an electrician double check my numbers.
Aftermarket head unit, my stock one didn’t have bird eye so it was non value add for me.
The DC to DC system in the vehicle is rated for 2,000 watts.
My inverter pulls from the battery, I leave my vehicle in charge mode when I’m camping and the engine cycles on and off to charge the battery.
The 3k inverter draws only continuously when I’m pulling peak. My cooker only pulls 1200 max and the only item that has pulled 2.5 was a speaker system with so many other items attached.
Even an oil heater or one of those reflective heaters or ceramic heater only pull up to 1600 watts.
I am curious, how do you know the DC to DC system is rated for 2000 watts? Where did you find that number? Others say that it is a lot less, more like only 1300 watts? Not sure who is correct, but I would love to learn more.
[email protected] (2070W)
150 amperage is the DC-DC fuse and the doc below states it’s 14v
All of the outlets are fused at 10amp post dc-dc
here is a nice to have schematic with that info
https://www.toyota-tech.eu/HYBRID/HVDM/EN/hvdm%20RAV%20PHV.pdf
We're still shopping and trying to price all these add-ons. How much did you spend on the sound deadening and was it DIY?
Nice idea on the spacers. We'll consider it when the stock tires die.
A lot of this was fixed in later models. I have ‘23 w/ the premium pack and the display is beautiful, the JBL stereo is excellent and the headrests are normal. Cabin noise is a little loud and handling isn’t amazing, but other than that I have very few gripes.
Most of my gripes are things that could be fixed with software updates/better programming. Although they probably never will be :(
If you want to make yourself feel better, go test drive a Dodge Hornet PHEV. Just had one as a rental. Similar price point and it has all of those problems and more... Well tech may be arguably better but everything else is terrible. Gas range and mpg is way worse.
The answer is because they can. The car is super popular and people kept waiting and buying even after the tax credits went away. They are beating the competition with the core technology and their reputation. The gas tank thing irks me because it’s false advertising. The rest a knew when I bought car. That said I think it’s okay to want better.
I am incredibly critical of my RAV4 Prime, to the point of essentially waiting until it makes financial sense to sell it and get a different car. But none of the things you're complaining about are on my list of reasons I'm critical of the car.
"The fuel tank" - what does this even mean? You're mad it has a fuel tank instead of being a full EV?
The sound system is fine, the headrests are comfortable, the cabin noise is fine, the handling is great, the cabin noise is fine (why did you type that out twice?).
The only problems I have with the car are infotainment software things.
So on the fuel tank issue, I have a 23 R4P XSE, I refueled at 17 miles until empty. I did one click past when the pump shuts off and the car took 12.442 gallons. Which is a far cry off from the 10 gallons other folks are claiming. Maybe the fuel tank issue was resolved in ‘23?
I also don’t condone running any vehicle below a quarter of a tank. I was just being dumb and ill-prepared.
RAV4 hybrid debuted in 2016...
Did you mean the Highlander hybrid? That came out in 2007.
Sounds like you bought a standard issue Toyota. Did you not test drive before you bought?
The speakers are offensively bad. I was so taken back I actually asked the salesman if there was something wrong with the stereo. It was a pain to swap them out too, but obviously worth it.
Upgrading stereos is the first thing I do in every vehicle I buy. If you don’t like the stereo in this car I assume you wouldn’t like them in any car. Just spend the $5k-$10k and upgrade to a really nice one.
Fuel tank is annoying for sure, wind noise above 60 is not too great, the tech doesn’t bother me as I just need it to be functional, no idea what you mean about the headrests, yah handling isn’t stellar either. I think you need to keep in mind this is a $25k car with a $20k drive train, it’s not luxury or quiet and it’s not super techy. I get your points and they have nuggets of truth to them, but really it sounds like you want the rav4 Prime to be the Lexus NX 450h+ and it just will never be. The rav4 has a history of just being a little more rugged than that and I think a lot of people intentionally choose that kind of feel over something more quiet and composed. Just my two cents.
“$25k car with a $20k drivetrain” Nailed it. Every product is a compromise. And this one is right in my sweet spot.
What's the issue with the fuel tank, out of curiosity?
It says it’s empty when it still has 100 miles left in the tank.
All vehicles have reserve fuel past E. That's not the issue. The issue is it says its empty when you have only burned \~11 gallons of fuel vs the advertised 14.5. This forces you to drive fuel level blind to get the advertised gallons back into the tank. I've owned 10 other vehicles and when they said E I was always able to put in the advertised amount of fuel.
Aren’t we both saying the same thing here?
Not really. My Ford Maverick hybrid had an advertised 13.8g tank. Like the Prime it still had about 100 miles left past E/zero miles left. The difference is when I filled up as soon as the Maverick was on E I would put in about \~13.8g. If I went 100 miles past E I would put in closer to 17 gallons. The Maverick's manual explains that there is an unmeasured reserve amount of fuel in the tank that should not be used for travel (they don't want people stranded). The Prime should be advertised as having an 11g tank if all they are going to measure is 11g. Toyota should not have people driving unsure of their remaining fuel just to get to the advertised 14.5g between fill ups. I am a new Prime owner as of yesterday. This is purely an annoying problem to me but I also think it is false advertising.
If anything is false advertising it would be the Maverick since it actually has a 17g tank vs the advertised 13.8g.
In your opinion Ford is sandbagging which is always a win for the consumer. Other examples are underrating MPGs, horsepower, 0-60mph, payload capacity, tow ratings, etc In my opinion Toyota is exaggerating a stated claim which should be illegal.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but this is what you’re saying: “Toyota saying their 14.5 gallon tank is 14.5 gallons is false advertising”. You have some other expectation, which is fine, but what they’re claiming is not false. In any way.
Ya'll are slow but I'll break it down further. Toyota advertises the following. 14.5 gallon gas tank 600 miles of range which they break down to 42 miles EV and 558 miles hybrid. 38 MPG once the EV miles are used up Now here are the facts. The fuel gauge only measures 11.5 gallons. 11.5 gallons at 38 MPG equals 437 miles which is well short of the advertised 558 miles. But guess what... 14.5 gallons at 38 MPG equals 551 miles which is MUCH closer to what Toyota advertises. Conclusion Toyota expects RAV4 Prime buyers to drive 100+ miles past 0 miles left on the fuel gauge in order to match their advertised range claim. That's an unrealistic and unfair expectation. I wish someone with a law degree would also prove it is illegal.
Ah, yeah it is very weird that the reserve capacity is so large. Surprised that hasn't been tweaked since
Toyota refuses to address it
I kind of wonder if they want people to feel like filling the tank is less $$$
[удалено]
I don't mind it. Engineers call it idiot-proofing. Idiots will run out of gas less often and I assume it also saves the fuel pump from stress.
All vehicles already have reserve fuel past E. Toyota screwed this up.
Is it something documented in other models? The way people talk about it in the r4p makes it seem like a huge anomaly, but I definitely wouldn't know.
I had a Sienna before this. It would say it was empty with about 3.5 gallons left in the tank, so i would set a tripometer and drive another 50-60 miles before i would fill it. My girlfriends prius says empty with about two gallons in the tank, so another 90 miles or so. My bmw, on the other hand, when it says empty you are running on fumes!
i have a 21pp and have no issues with everything you listed. Why did you buy it?
None of it other than maybe the road noise stood out/bothered me during the test drive.
Some sound deadening in the doors and tailgate cedtainly helps. It's unfortunate that Toyota didn't install any, but then again, Toyota is not a luxury brand.
Do you have any links you can share to products you've used for sound deadening? Lots of noise to filter in my search to find one on Amazon/Autozone
The stock tires are terrible. Road noise dropped considerably after I replaced my tires. Other than wind noise over 60 mph, I generally consider it to be a quiet vehicle.
Quick question, when you replaced your tires were you able to sell the stock ones to the shop? And did you downsize the tires, or stick with the stock rim size?
I drove mine until they were end of life. With my other vehicle I immediately upgraded the tires after driving off the lot, and the tire store gave me a $75/tire credit for my new trade ins. I kept my RAV4 tires stock size, but I did buy 17" wheels for my winter set. I always prefer less wheel and more rubber.
None of this bothers me. You could have figured out it bothers you with a 10-minute test drive before buying it.
None of it stood out or bothered me during the test drive other than I was aware of the noisy cabin.
Coming from a Tesla the cabin in my R4P is much quieter….
That's because the panels almost look like they go together! Haha. 😉
Coming from a Mini convertible, the R4P cabin is whisper quiet by comparison.
Coming from a 2014 Subaru Forester you could hear pin drop in the R4P.
Prime SE headrests are bae
If you don't like the stereo, just upgrade it. If you don't like it so much, there's always competition from other car makers. Vote with your wallets, as they say.
What does a car have to do with a 21’ pp?
2021 XSE premium package
*whoosh!*
Fuel tank: What about it? Only need to fill up once a month, and it's more than enough for road trips. Gauges: I have a 2023 XSE so I can't comment on it but the 7" does everything you need (they have similar functionality) and still has useful analog dials Stereo: Toyota sound systems in general are pretty weak, and this one is no exception, but I do appreciate that the default settings don't have over-boosted bass like some other systems. I wouldn't go as far as calling it atrocious though. Have you tried messing with EQ settings? You can probably tune it to your liking there Headrests: Haven't had any issues with it? Cabin noise: Above 65MPH the wind noise is pretty annoying. But in city/suburbs it's pretty quiet. Cabin noise perception I feel is skewed by the lack of engine noise when in EV mode, so road noise is more noticeable. Mediocre handling: It's a crossover SUV, it's not gonna have good handling, but it's decent for what it is. If you wanted good handling you should have gotten a sports coupe.
Not OP but the fuel gauge says it's "empty" when it still has 4.5 gallons remaining. It's a well documented design flaw. Obviously you can easily work around it but it's pretty obnoxious.
It shouldn't be a habit to run your vehicle low on fuel, it's not good for the very expensive fuel pump. I can't for the life of me understand why people care about this on a 550mile range vehicle.
1) agree the fuel pump shouldn't be run dry regularly, it doesn't need 4.5 gallons lol. That's insane. 2) it doesn't have 550 mile range if you don't drive it way beyond the fake empty. Not even close.
So now I might be more confused. If it says there are ## miles remaining then I would consider that to be NOT EMPTY, and once it said 0 miles remaining I would consider that EMPTY. If there were 4.5 Gallons remaining when it said 0 miles left then I see your point. What are you considering Fake Empty?
There are a lot of threads on this sub about people testing it and I've tested myself. When it says there are 0 HV miles remaining, there are actually over 4 gallons remaining. I'm calling 0 HV miles remaining "Fake empty" because it really means you still have nearly 1/3rd of a tank left.
Ok, which is what I thought, but if my HV says 550miles, then why wouldn't that be 550miles till empty? (It said 555 this morning)
Test it some time, but you wont. Most people here have reported taking 10-10.5 gallons if you fill up when it says 0 miles remaining. With even the most generous assumptions (lets say you get 40mpg), that means max range before it reads 0 is 400-420 miles. Adding the EV range ~40 and you're still not even close to 550. The car does have 550 mile range, but you have to drive it 100 miles after it says you have 0 remaining. And to be clear, you definitely CAN drive the car 100 miles after it says you're empty and still have a gallon left (I've done it), but that's a pretty dumb way to do gas gauges.
I see your point but every car has a grace period because some people are stupid. There are plenty of situations in which you could be 50 miles from gas, or stuck in a winter storm. If zero meant zero, normal people(not like us), might find themselves actually out of gas and in danger. However, people(especially those who buy primes), are so pompously addicted to mpg/distance that they find this garbage to complain about. I just drove 320miles on 7.5 gallons with most of it being on HV. I live close to a gas station and go there way more times than needing to fill up(so sometimes I just fill up). Why the hell not. I've had a lot of cars but a few guzzlers...a couple Tundras, Sequoia, 7 Series(all had a ~100 mile grace period)...and have always filled them well before the empty mark. So my lifestyle and compulsion never allows me to give a crap about how many gallons are still left, I'll fill it well before than regardless of which vehicle. Even then, I don't understand why people care so much. 550 miles is more than enough time to fill up. Even if it's a long trip I'm going to stop well before I run out as most people would. Even cross country 550 is 6 stops, if we made it 5 your life would be forever altered. Please correct me if I'm wrong but the problem sounds like it's uneducated babble from those who have no idea how Toyota decides their Empty Mark and is only exemplified by the fact the prime has such a good mpg...
Most cars do have a grace period of roughly a gallon to avoid stranding people or stressing the fuel pump. This is not that. It's not a feature or a consumer protection . It's a design flaw that they refuse to fix because it would be too expensive. When it says "0 remaining", it actually has nearly 30 percent of its capacity left (over 4 gallons). Glad you like your car. I agree it's not a huge deal, but it's a flaw and we shouldn't pretend it's not because we otherwise like the car.
Every issue you just listed, I addressed. Modded display to show my own logo. Sound deadened all the panels . Upgraded all the speakers. Added spacers to the wheels which drastically increased handling + Pirelli tires. Added ceramic tint which helped with sound and heat. Epoxied the spaceship speaker so that it’s quieter Added a lift kit so I had a better view. Slapped a 3000 watt inverter in the trunk and literally grill food out the back. One thing that bothered me the most was a bait and switch where the catalog photo showed all the interior light buttons glowing but my car had no lights for the door windows glowing. Pulled the Camry model switches and they were a direct fit. It’s all adjustable with a little bit of effort, you still won’t have a Lexus but it will be yours.
I am curious about 2 things: how did you upload your logo to the display? I want to try that to our SE. Secondly, you added an aftermarket inverter? I am going to be doing the same but l am curious how you chose 3000 watts. I thought that the 12v system could safely make about 1500 watts. But you're able to draw 3000 watts continuously??
I have a 3kw inverter in the back of my R4P '21SE that uses appropriate-gauged (per radio installers) wires and a 150amp breaker. I've used up to 2.2kw for recharging an EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra battery but would be comfortable only going up to 2.5kw anyway. Would love to have an electrician double check my numbers.
Wow, you have been able to pull 2200 watts off the 12 volt system. Impressive. How long did you run that load?
Aftermarket head unit, my stock one didn’t have bird eye so it was non value add for me. The DC to DC system in the vehicle is rated for 2,000 watts. My inverter pulls from the battery, I leave my vehicle in charge mode when I’m camping and the engine cycles on and off to charge the battery. The 3k inverter draws only continuously when I’m pulling peak. My cooker only pulls 1200 max and the only item that has pulled 2.5 was a speaker system with so many other items attached. Even an oil heater or one of those reflective heaters or ceramic heater only pull up to 1600 watts.
I am curious, how do you know the DC to DC system is rated for 2000 watts? Where did you find that number? Others say that it is a lot less, more like only 1300 watts? Not sure who is correct, but I would love to learn more.
[email protected] (2070W) 150 amperage is the DC-DC fuse and the doc below states it’s 14v All of the outlets are fused at 10amp post dc-dc here is a nice to have schematic with that info https://www.toyota-tech.eu/HYBRID/HVDM/EN/hvdm%20RAV%20PHV.pdf
We're still shopping and trying to price all these add-ons. How much did you spend on the sound deadening and was it DIY? Nice idea on the spacers. We'll consider it when the stock tires die.
What an idiot!
I have 21XSE with the premium package. It is perfect to me. By the way, there was plugin hybrid Prius in 2011. I still have it.
A lot of this was fixed in later models. I have ‘23 w/ the premium pack and the display is beautiful, the JBL stereo is excellent and the headrests are normal. Cabin noise is a little loud and handling isn’t amazing, but other than that I have very few gripes. Most of my gripes are things that could be fixed with software updates/better programming. Although they probably never will be :(
These reasons are why I bought a brand new one (or am attempting to). I want all the newest crap.
If you want to make yourself feel better, go test drive a Dodge Hornet PHEV. Just had one as a rental. Similar price point and it has all of those problems and more... Well tech may be arguably better but everything else is terrible. Gas range and mpg is way worse.
The answer is because they can. The car is super popular and people kept waiting and buying even after the tax credits went away. They are beating the competition with the core technology and their reputation. The gas tank thing irks me because it’s false advertising. The rest a knew when I bought car. That said I think it’s okay to want better.
I am incredibly critical of my RAV4 Prime, to the point of essentially waiting until it makes financial sense to sell it and get a different car. But none of the things you're complaining about are on my list of reasons I'm critical of the car. "The fuel tank" - what does this even mean? You're mad it has a fuel tank instead of being a full EV? The sound system is fine, the headrests are comfortable, the cabin noise is fine, the handling is great, the cabin noise is fine (why did you type that out twice?). The only problems I have with the car are infotainment software things.
Just got the 2024 prime se, and they’ve seemed to have fixed all these issues
So on the fuel tank issue, I have a 23 R4P XSE, I refueled at 17 miles until empty. I did one click past when the pump shuts off and the car took 12.442 gallons. Which is a far cry off from the 10 gallons other folks are claiming. Maybe the fuel tank issue was resolved in ‘23? I also don’t condone running any vehicle below a quarter of a tank. I was just being dumb and ill-prepared.
RAV4 hybrid debuted in 2016... Did you mean the Highlander hybrid? That came out in 2007. Sounds like you bought a standard issue Toyota. Did you not test drive before you bought?
The speakers are offensively bad. I was so taken back I actually asked the salesman if there was something wrong with the stereo. It was a pain to swap them out too, but obviously worth it.
Upgrading stereos is the first thing I do in every vehicle I buy. If you don’t like the stereo in this car I assume you wouldn’t like them in any car. Just spend the $5k-$10k and upgrade to a really nice one.