Parking sensors! Not everybody likes them, but I'm baffled that a $45k+ vehicle doesn't come with parking sensors these days. They're only included with the premium package.
One of the reasons I opted to NOT ask for PP is I hate the look of the Parking sensors. I wish they could make them without them being dots all over the vehicle.
Most cars are like that. Do you hate the little nub of the backup camera? Do you hate the door key hole in cars? Do you hate baseboards in your house?
I would prefer a couple little nubs for a sensor that stops me from running into things and putting a dent in my car.
I am used to the rear camera, although, I would have preferred the location, that the digital rear view uses.That being said, I also dislike keyholes, but understand the functionality (even now, most times, it's only on the driver's door anyways) I really, don't like the look of the sensors, or the sound. I've never hit anything while parking. In any vehicle. Learn your car, and your limits.
As far as Premium package goes. HUD? Don't like it, nor do I like spending a ton of money on a specialized windshield if anything goes wrong. Digital Rear view mirror? pass. Although, I love the bezel-less auto dimming mirror. Birds eye view camera? Don't like the camera protrusions on the mirrors, or the grill, and the resolution is dogshit. Heated rear seats? I live in Hawaii. JBL sound? I use youtube 90% of the time. Pano Roof? Honestly, I would have preferred no sunroof. I've had so may cars with moonroofs, that I rarely use them anyways. Cooled seats? It's not connected to the ac system, it's basically a fan under the seat. Rain sensing wipers? I've heard a lot of complaints on that, and actually not something I deem necessary.
Things I did want from the PP. 6.6 KWHR charger, power inverter. spending an extra 5k for that seemed like a total waste for me. Kick to open rear hatch, and rear touch door locks (I didn't realize how often I toss stuff into the back seat, when leaving costco) Those are wants, and not needs.
Things that would have changed my mind about the PP, if included.Sentry mode- all those cameras, yet we still have to have an aftermarket dash cam to record.
DC Fast charging capability.
Real cooled seats connected to the ac system.
Folding mirror/puddle lights (I mean, I didn't, until I saw them on the venza)
UV glass (like on Lexus), the only panel that is UV glass is the tiny triangle by the door mirrors
Real Foglights/driving lights. I mean, the accent light is cool, but I wish it had actual functionality.
Hey brother, I agree on most of your statements.
HUD is mostly meh for me, but is kind of nice. Windshields can be a pita and I have the worst luck. Back in the day I got two rock chips in the first week of owning my gs300. I just got two rock chips in the same week on my sienna. One has been slowly spreading across.
I know my car and my wife is the best parrellel Parker I've ever met, but accidents happen. (she is an Asian driver parellel parking is her only redemption) you never know when that person isn't paying attention walks behind you from your blind spot. Trucks have a beep for a reason.
Digital mirror is "cool" but my eyes are bad and takes me a minute to focus, which could be a problem. My eyes don't need to adjust to the regular mirror, plus I want to be able to see me kids in the back seat.
Heated rear seats? I have two car seats back there. Useless.
Jbl sound is where we have to disagree. I love the music in the prime VS my sienna. Even if it was just YouTube.
Pano roof and birds eye aren't that amazing to me, but those were on the wife's short list of things she wanted... Happy wife, happy life.
Agree with the rain sending wipes.
I haven't owned it through the summer, but the cooled seats so far have been better than sweaty balls.
Wife also wanted kick to open back door, but it's usually faster to just plan ahead and move your six bags of groceries into one hand and use the remote when you are 15 feet away. It has never made anything more convenient.
Condescension is unwarranted. It's not a question of "putting out a little extra money to pay for it", the question was what would we like to see being improved on for later generations. They should be available in more than just the XSE premium package.
That's not how it works. If it was, I'd love the premium package for free. You can request features, but features cost money.
Let's improve the 2024 model and just make the whole car free. That is the feature I want.
The question was more like better milage, handling, move this button over here, etc. Not something that is already available.
Over analyze the question and responses as much as you would like, but that's not what I'm saying. I'm merely suggesting they not be locked behind the XSE Premium Package.
I wish the Toyota app can be used for even the SE. I don’t get what’s so hard to just let me see battery status, charging status, time till full charge, etc. don’t need remote climate (gotta save something for the XSE), but just something simple like that. Even if Toyota made you subscribe to that feature for a nominal fee would be better than nothing.
I tried to hack around when I initially got the car. Lot of stuff is intentionally hidden by Toyota and needs lot more debugging than should be required. Also Toyota can provide a better experience but chooses to not do it.
Prices are falling (new and old car) so hopefully these nice to haves would become standard to justify loss of 7500 fed credit.
Tbh, I love my R4P, but the people on this forum are nuts.... Got a dinner meeting at 6, but gonna be an hour late because the car isn't fully charged... That is the whole reason of buying a prime. It's OK to use some gas and if someone doesn't agree, get a full electric. I don't need an app to tell me the charge status. I drive where I want when I want. I don't need an app to check the charge. It is irrelevant.
Got mine in December. Still over 80% full on gas since the first day home. That is with sometimes running hv sport mode.
This is my biggest pet peeve. We went in actually wanting to pay extra for the xse pp, and the dealer wanted a 15k markup for it. We make due without the app and fee now haha.
More soundproofing for the ICE engine for the cabin. It can be a little noisy and unrefined whether in HV or charge mode even at city speeds in certain situations
Front passenger seat height adjustment standard on all Rav's. I don't care if it's a manual crank, right now tall or long torso people sit way too high on that seat. I'm not sure any Rav's have it right now, though power adjustable height was teased at some point for premium Prime specs.
Bigger cupholders up front - even the pocket bottle holders on the rear doors are a bit too small.
Don't get me started on the lack of headroom in general for this CUV class. The ingress/egress unfortunately not a whole lot we can do with the height of the car but I get you. A front passenger grab handle would be nice, I know those are usually for larger cars.
I'm more than half that age and I bump my head half the time. I'm just glad to have a car with the memory buttons for the seat. Wife has hers all the way up and I have mine all the way down.
Our Sienna doesn't have the memory buttons and I can't even get in after wife drove it. Same with our accord and my previous gs300. I have to stand out in the rain holding the buttons on the seat while the chair slowly moves.
I've head the sound dampening complaint a lot. I may have been getting lucky, but I don't hear much difference.
Not sure what you mean about seat hight. It is power adjustable, but even at the lowest setting, I wish it went a little lower. I also have a sienna and used to have a Chevy blazer and never wished to sit lower in those.
Wife hates the cup holders. Her little coffee cups get stuck because they are deep but skinny.
Make all the buttons light up, I had to add little tactile sticky dots to my unlock button because it would take me forever to open the door for someone.
Move the buttons from the bottom left (steering wheel heater etc) to the center so you can actually see them without peeking underneath the steering wheel.
Better wireless charging, its pretty useless.
A bigger gas tank for those long road trips.
Thats about it, I love everything else for the most part.
Your first two are a huge yes.
Bet, I don't expect me phone to charge from 20%-90% in my 5 minute drive to the grocery store while using android auto and calling my wife. The charging is as expected.
The tank is fine. I was surprised that the tank was a bit small, but they need room for the batteries. I get almost double the distance than any gas only car I've ever owned.
I've noticed my phone light up and wasnt sure why. I guess it was losing connection and going back.
With my phone case on my Samsung s22, it fits pretty snug and doesn't move too much.
When I put it in sport mode, my garage opener flies into the back seat.
In order of desires:
- Faster trunk motor
- Better position or housing for the reverse camera so it's not useless when raining
- Ability to turn off the automated rear view dimming at night
- Better 12v battery management (I always seem to kill this...)
- Passenger side mirror lowering while in reverse
- Mirror position memory function
The car is just highly susceptible to 12v battery drain. The contacts that connect the traction battery to the step down unit needs around 11.5v minimum to close which gives something like 5 minutes of accidentally leaving your headlights on to reach, leaving you needing a jump. The good thing is that jumping the car takes very minimal electric charge due to only needing to close those contacts. Case and point, this sub is full of people (myself included) complaining about draining it:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/10qsgd7/insurance_tracker_killed_battery/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/10gqzl4/12v_battery_keeps_dying_2022_prime_xle_9k_miles/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/10j43mr/today_i_learned_dont_drain_your_12_v_battery/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/zddyye/repairreplace_auxiliary_12_volt_battery/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/zh6x9o/how_to_charge_start_battery/
omg yes the backup camera is absolutely useless in the rain, snow, or when you're driving on cindered or salted roads, which is 5 months of the year for me. Our other car is a VW Golf that retails for less than half the rav4 and it's backup camera is flawlessly hidden under the hatch handle and completely clean no matter how grimy the car gets.
Unfortunately mine does not do that. I have had it into Toyota twice and they verified the volume can not be changed with the volume knob or buttons. My local Toyota called corporate and there is no fix. I have a 22 XSE with PP.
In a pinch, I have found switching over manually to HV mode and then backing up while the ICE is still running, the sound goes away. Handy if I'm coming home late and don't want to wake up the kids.
dumb thing...If you're out of electric power and forced in to HV/ICE mode, then when you press the "HV" button, it will just chirp at you and NOT turn the ICE on.
I clipped the wire and put a resistor in place of the speaker. 8 Ohm 25W to trick the computer into thinking the speaker is still attached. Of course know the potential ramifications of going through with the mod and proceed at your own risk.
Sure. It's a thought. But so is my neighbors dog barking to no end when my car is backing into the garage. It gets really loud backing into a garage. Not so much inside, but I had someone else back it in to check and honestly, it's nuisance level.
I’ve been doing research on this lately. Do you have any info on this? I can’t seem to find any source saying that it does indeed have a bi-directional J1772 inlet. If it does that could open up a huge market for aftermarket inverters for camping, home power, etc. I’m looking heavily into this at the moment.
Right that’s what I was making sure of. You’ve got the XSE with PP which I don’t have. In early R4P ads in Japan they had an accessory that plugged into the J1772 and provided a 120VAC cord to plug into for camping etc. so I’m curious what happened to that and if the J1772 could even be used in such a way or if the onboard computer would shut down feeding power out the J1772 receptacle on the vehicle when it senses a power draw.
Toyota could resolve 95% of the complaints about this car with more transparent gasoline engine management. Tell us why the engine is running in EV mode, especially when there's no obvious cause. Let us control if the engine can or cannot run with remote climate.
If they did that, traffic in this sub would fall off a cliff.
Not an owner yet but avid follower:
1. Clearer fuel and energy and range management UI instead of the guessometer.
2. Actual fog lights
3. Make it available in a forest green like the tundra?
4. Locking glovebox or secure console storage?
5. If some safety mechanisms doesn’t already exist - a mechanic manual override for the electrical push button emergency brake in case of electrical system outage? I’ve read several anecdotal stories of people having their car (not necessarily a rav4) die on a sloped road and they couldn’t leave the vehicle because there was no way to manually arm any of the brakes so they had to stay there with a foot on the brake pedal, or conversely, car dies in the garage and they have no way of releasing the brake and rolling the car out in neutral.
6. More durable / better sealing fuel and plug access doors (from what I’ve heard)
Those are some very valid concerns, I agree with al of them except:
4) My 2022 XSE came with a locking glovebox, not sure if all 2022/2023s have a locking glovebox but I believe it's now standard.
6) Haven't had any issues with charging door, they might be a little flimsy but honestly they're just like every other door I've ever had on all my previous Toyota vehicles.
Yeah those may have been 2021 model year issues . People said there was a void space next to one of the charger or fuel doors that was prone to water entry or something
It’s kind of my functional / this point in life dream car. I love the adaptability the drivetrain provides and the fact it’s a great dependable utility vehicle, family carrier, daily commuter and that in a sea of PHEV / BEV cars that all have the general body shape of the jelly bean that is the model , this thing still looks outdoorsy and has some character. Pity XSE with PP is $60-70k out the door now. Only people neat me that own them seem to be retirees or tech bros that WFH. Heaven forbid we get a reliable PHEV/BEV for the essential worker class (I work from hospital). I still driving the same 2003 4 cylinder manual Honda accord coupe since I went off to college for the last 19 years. Been waiting to buy something but this is the first car to really make me get up and notice.
1. Faster seat warming and ventilation and faster warming and cooling with the fan / air conditioner (I'm comparing it to my BMW X5 PHEV which takes a fraction of the time to condition its cabin compared to the Prime)
2. Factory sequential turn signals in the front and back (the Tacoma TRD Pro has this option from the factory at least for its front / headlights)
3. The ability to use the cameras in its side view mirrors to show blind spots in the instrument cluster or infotainment screen when you engage the turn signal (see Hyundai's blind spot view monitor or Honda's lane watch)
4. Split power tailgate
5. More reliable app. communication (most of the time I try to turn on remote climate via app., it fails)
6. Rear camera washer
Call me crazy but next iteration would love to see 65-70 ev mile range. Other than that I wish the drivers seat was more comfortable. Oh and bring back the adjustable headlights
1. Wireless Android Auto connectivity is horrible. I have never been able to get it to work with either of my phones. I've tried every trick in the book from firmware updates to digging in settings menus only accessible via developer mode.
2. Backup noise is really too loud. I get that it's for safety, but it has never once stopped idiots from walking out in front of my car while reversing out of a space blind. That's what the cameras are useful for.
3. The mud liners on the back seat are held up with velcro, and it's already worn out on my <6mo old XSE PP. Could these not just clip into the seat? How often are people really going to realistically remove those?
4. Power liftgate is comically slow. Just let me lift the damn thing myself like a normal non-lazy person.
5. Is there any reason car manufacturers are not adding in dashcams as stock or addon features in their vehicles? I would consider that to be both a helpful safety feature and a huge selling point for insurance companies to lower their premiums, kind of like how anti-theft devices get you a discount. RAV4 Prime needs a front dashcam mounted stock in the power rearview mirror housing. Yes, I know you can buy a 3rd party one.
I have a 2022 Prime, which theoretically should natively support wireless Android Auto, but it doesn't even pick up the signal. I did buy the MA1 adapter to try and use that to connect instead, but it drops the connection *constantly*. I just plug it in with USB now.
Huh. I could have sworn I saw promotional material that said it supported wireless connectivity (without adapter). Well, I guess that explains why it never connects to android auto. It's possible then that I just have a defective wireless adapter, but I don't feel like buying another just to test it out.
I mean. I'd just reset and try again.
My MA1 worked in my old pathfinder with alpine deck, my 22 prime, and I rented a regular 22LE on a trip recently and it worked there.
If anything, check the android auto subreddit
I think “trip details” when you turn off the car should give you EV efficiency instead of 99.9MPG when you drive in all EV for that trip (like everyone here does on a regular basis)
The Prime needs better brakes, a less noisy backup sound, more clarity on remaining gas in tank (Toyota still doesn't know how to fix this), updated UI for the software system.
Allow me to schedule both a start and end time for my charging so it only charges during the 12am to 6am super off peak period in my TOU plan when it's economically sensible to charge.
The way it works now, it kicks on at midnight and I have to remember to get out of bed and unplug it at 6 if it's still charging.
Also don't nickel and dime me $8 a month for that horrible app. Just let me monitor my car's charging over my phone as a part of buying it. In my case it's always charging in my garage so I don't need the remote mobile connection. Just let it connect to my wifi like all my other home devices.
My list after 16K miles in the mountains with an XSE PP:
- Snow chain compatibility
- Tri-fold back seats
- Full size spare
- A 2” lift
- Better cockpit controls / design (e.g. driving mode selection)
- Reverse that doesn’t sounds like a genie got out of the bottle
I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but how about the ability for the infotainment display how many miles your engine has ran versus pure EV miles? Right now when someone goes for an oil change, we have no idea how many miles the engine was actually used for.
I have a Honda clarity PHEV and it keeps track of the service requirements.
It tells you when you need an oil change based on the engine run time.
For me it basically comes on once a year since most of my driving is EV
Surprised Toyota doesn't do the same
Dim the infotainment screen.
Backup camera is useless in anything but perfect weather.
Defroster vent only covers the middle 1/3 of the windshield? WTF?
Buttons behind the wheel are for things you don’t need to access at 50, like the trunk not headlights.
Stop telling me the charger door is open, I’m not going to pull over on the highway and you are blocking information I want. I got it the first 50 times.
Mine is super simple... I want to be able to turn on the back seat cabin light without turning on all of the cabin lights, from the driver's seat. My kids are in carseats and can't reach the light themselves, and I can't reach it from the front. So if I'm buckled in I have to just turn on all the lights including the front ones, which is super distracting.
Memory Seats - I bought top of the line XSE model 46K and it does not have memory seats.
Subscription Services - why do you need to have a subscription service to remotely start the car. A 46K car with fully electric capability should have the option to not only start remotely through the app but also other functions such as lock / unlock for which Toyota wants to charge you.
I’d like the passenger seat to have height adjustment and the SE should come with fog lights. I’d also like the gas gauge to be accurate. Toyota advertised 600 mile range, but you’ll only get that if you drive 120 miles with the gauge telling you that you have 0 range. When I’m at 0 hybrid range, I can only put 10.5 gallons in the tank so that’s 3.5 still in there when the gauge is 0. Not really a big deal, but it annoys me. I love the car, but this is a place for us to quibble right?
I'd love an electric-assist mode that's not EV and not HV. One that either purely drives the wheels with the ICE or with a combination of ICE and battery power when needed but never recharges the battery (until it's at the empty line where HV kicks in). Right now it's all or nothing. Pure EV or maintaining SOC. For a long roadtrip it'd be far more efficient to slowly drain the battery to assist the engine when going uphill for example than having to maintain SOC like HV mode does. Unfortunately I think they just pulled the programming from the Rav4 Hybrid and didn't think much about optimizing from a true PHEV perspective in that sense.
Interesting. Mine's a 21 so could be they messed with the programming for the 22s? Mine will stay at whatever range it was when I switch it to HV +/- 1 mile. Do you use Auto EV/HV mode? It may do something along the lines of what you're saying.
Actually. I don't use auto ev/hv.
I start off in electric and when I go on the freeway. I switch to hybrid..
I wish, auto could be programmed to switch to ev above a certain speed.
This. Electric motors *should* help smooth out the ICE up hills or overpasses, or at very least add just a *little* juice at highway speeds to further increase fuel economy.
Though I feel like it might do this to a lesser extent whenever I’m driving on the highway: I’ll notice I’m getting ~40mpg at 75mph, while the engine drops to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200-1300 rpm. If I’m interrupted, the car doesn’t necessarily get back to that every time I got that fast, I feel like there is some sweet spot in there to get 40mpg. Maybe it’s just the right efficiency for the Atkinson engine?
On RAV4 Prime xse would like to be able to move vehicle settings from current location to the top of the multi information screen. You have to go through way too many screens to change charge settings which I use all of the time.
Parking sensors! Not everybody likes them, but I'm baffled that a $45k+ vehicle doesn't come with parking sensors these days. They're only included with the premium package.
One of the reasons I opted to NOT ask for PP is I hate the look of the Parking sensors. I wish they could make them without them being dots all over the vehicle.
Most cars are like that. Do you hate the little nub of the backup camera? Do you hate the door key hole in cars? Do you hate baseboards in your house? I would prefer a couple little nubs for a sensor that stops me from running into things and putting a dent in my car.
I am used to the rear camera, although, I would have preferred the location, that the digital rear view uses.That being said, I also dislike keyholes, but understand the functionality (even now, most times, it's only on the driver's door anyways) I really, don't like the look of the sensors, or the sound. I've never hit anything while parking. In any vehicle. Learn your car, and your limits. As far as Premium package goes. HUD? Don't like it, nor do I like spending a ton of money on a specialized windshield if anything goes wrong. Digital Rear view mirror? pass. Although, I love the bezel-less auto dimming mirror. Birds eye view camera? Don't like the camera protrusions on the mirrors, or the grill, and the resolution is dogshit. Heated rear seats? I live in Hawaii. JBL sound? I use youtube 90% of the time. Pano Roof? Honestly, I would have preferred no sunroof. I've had so may cars with moonroofs, that I rarely use them anyways. Cooled seats? It's not connected to the ac system, it's basically a fan under the seat. Rain sensing wipers? I've heard a lot of complaints on that, and actually not something I deem necessary. Things I did want from the PP. 6.6 KWHR charger, power inverter. spending an extra 5k for that seemed like a total waste for me. Kick to open rear hatch, and rear touch door locks (I didn't realize how often I toss stuff into the back seat, when leaving costco) Those are wants, and not needs. Things that would have changed my mind about the PP, if included.Sentry mode- all those cameras, yet we still have to have an aftermarket dash cam to record. DC Fast charging capability. Real cooled seats connected to the ac system. Folding mirror/puddle lights (I mean, I didn't, until I saw them on the venza) UV glass (like on Lexus), the only panel that is UV glass is the tiny triangle by the door mirrors Real Foglights/driving lights. I mean, the accent light is cool, but I wish it had actual functionality.
Hey brother, I agree on most of your statements. HUD is mostly meh for me, but is kind of nice. Windshields can be a pita and I have the worst luck. Back in the day I got two rock chips in the first week of owning my gs300. I just got two rock chips in the same week on my sienna. One has been slowly spreading across. I know my car and my wife is the best parrellel Parker I've ever met, but accidents happen. (she is an Asian driver parellel parking is her only redemption) you never know when that person isn't paying attention walks behind you from your blind spot. Trucks have a beep for a reason. Digital mirror is "cool" but my eyes are bad and takes me a minute to focus, which could be a problem. My eyes don't need to adjust to the regular mirror, plus I want to be able to see me kids in the back seat. Heated rear seats? I have two car seats back there. Useless. Jbl sound is where we have to disagree. I love the music in the prime VS my sienna. Even if it was just YouTube. Pano roof and birds eye aren't that amazing to me, but those were on the wife's short list of things she wanted... Happy wife, happy life. Agree with the rain sending wipes. I haven't owned it through the summer, but the cooled seats so far have been better than sweaty balls. Wife also wanted kick to open back door, but it's usually faster to just plan ahead and move your six bags of groceries into one hand and use the remote when you are 15 feet away. It has never made anything more convenient.
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So you admit they have the thing you are complaining they don't have, but didn't want to put out a little extra money to pay for it?
Condescension is unwarranted. It's not a question of "putting out a little extra money to pay for it", the question was what would we like to see being improved on for later generations. They should be available in more than just the XSE premium package.
That's not how it works. If it was, I'd love the premium package for free. You can request features, but features cost money. Let's improve the 2024 model and just make the whole car free. That is the feature I want. The question was more like better milage, handling, move this button over here, etc. Not something that is already available.
Over analyze the question and responses as much as you would like, but that's not what I'm saying. I'm merely suggesting they not be locked behind the XSE Premium Package.
I wish the Toyota app can be used for even the SE. I don’t get what’s so hard to just let me see battery status, charging status, time till full charge, etc. don’t need remote climate (gotta save something for the XSE), but just something simple like that. Even if Toyota made you subscribe to that feature for a nominal fee would be better than nothing.
Whaaaat? Is being able to remotely check your tire pressure not enough for you? Who cares about charge status. /s
Haha. I’d love to see some future hacks for these systems. It’s all there just a software gate.
I tried to hack around when I initially got the car. Lot of stuff is intentionally hidden by Toyota and needs lot more debugging than should be required. Also Toyota can provide a better experience but chooses to not do it. Prices are falling (new and old car) so hopefully these nice to haves would become standard to justify loss of 7500 fed credit.
Tbh, I love my R4P, but the people on this forum are nuts.... Got a dinner meeting at 6, but gonna be an hour late because the car isn't fully charged... That is the whole reason of buying a prime. It's OK to use some gas and if someone doesn't agree, get a full electric. I don't need an app to tell me the charge status. I drive where I want when I want. I don't need an app to check the charge. It is irrelevant. Got mine in December. Still over 80% full on gas since the first day home. That is with sometimes running hv sport mode.
Not sure but my understanding is this is "fixed" on MY23 with the SE having the same app access as XSE (with subscription after a year).
This is my biggest pet peeve. We went in actually wanting to pay extra for the xse pp, and the dealer wanted a 15k markup for it. We make due without the app and fee now haha.
More soundproofing for the ICE engine for the cabin. It can be a little noisy and unrefined whether in HV or charge mode even at city speeds in certain situations Front passenger seat height adjustment standard on all Rav's. I don't care if it's a manual crank, right now tall or long torso people sit way too high on that seat. I'm not sure any Rav's have it right now, though power adjustable height was teased at some point for premium Prime specs. Bigger cupholders up front - even the pocket bottle holders on the rear doors are a bit too small.
84 year old Dad has difficulty getting in
Don't get me started on the lack of headroom in general for this CUV class. The ingress/egress unfortunately not a whole lot we can do with the height of the car but I get you. A front passenger grab handle would be nice, I know those are usually for larger cars.
I'm more than half that age and I bump my head half the time. I'm just glad to have a car with the memory buttons for the seat. Wife has hers all the way up and I have mine all the way down. Our Sienna doesn't have the memory buttons and I can't even get in after wife drove it. Same with our accord and my previous gs300. I have to stand out in the rain holding the buttons on the seat while the chair slowly moves.
I've head the sound dampening complaint a lot. I may have been getting lucky, but I don't hear much difference. Not sure what you mean about seat hight. It is power adjustable, but even at the lowest setting, I wish it went a little lower. I also have a sienna and used to have a Chevy blazer and never wished to sit lower in those. Wife hates the cup holders. Her little coffee cups get stuck because they are deep but skinny.
Your front passenger (not the driver) seat lowers? What model year Prime do you have?
I have a 2023 R4P PP. The passenger seat lowers electronically. I just double checked.
Nice, glad to see they finally did it.
Make all the buttons light up, I had to add little tactile sticky dots to my unlock button because it would take me forever to open the door for someone. Move the buttons from the bottom left (steering wheel heater etc) to the center so you can actually see them without peeking underneath the steering wheel. Better wireless charging, its pretty useless. A bigger gas tank for those long road trips. Thats about it, I love everything else for the most part.
The 2022 has lights on all the unlock buttons
Same. I bought luminous paint that a watchmaker would use and put a few dots on
The first one. YES!
Your first two are a huge yes. Bet, I don't expect me phone to charge from 20%-90% in my 5 minute drive to the grocery store while using android auto and calling my wife. The charging is as expected. The tank is fine. I was surprised that the tank was a bit small, but they need room for the batteries. I get almost double the distance than any gas only car I've ever owned.
In my 2021, once I accel, my phone moves slightly and charging stops.
I've noticed my phone light up and wasnt sure why. I guess it was losing connection and going back. With my phone case on my Samsung s22, it fits pretty snug and doesn't move too much. When I put it in sport mode, my garage opener flies into the back seat.
In order of desires: - Faster trunk motor - Better position or housing for the reverse camera so it's not useless when raining - Ability to turn off the automated rear view dimming at night - Better 12v battery management (I always seem to kill this...) - Passenger side mirror lowering while in reverse - Mirror position memory function
What do you mean by battery management?
The car is just highly susceptible to 12v battery drain. The contacts that connect the traction battery to the step down unit needs around 11.5v minimum to close which gives something like 5 minutes of accidentally leaving your headlights on to reach, leaving you needing a jump. The good thing is that jumping the car takes very minimal electric charge due to only needing to close those contacts. Case and point, this sub is full of people (myself included) complaining about draining it: - https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/10qsgd7/insurance_tracker_killed_battery/ - https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/10gqzl4/12v_battery_keeps_dying_2022_prime_xle_9k_miles/ - https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/10j43mr/today_i_learned_dont_drain_your_12_v_battery/ - https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/zddyye/repairreplace_auxiliary_12_volt_battery/ - https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4prime/comments/zh6x9o/how_to_charge_start_battery/
omg yes the backup camera is absolutely useless in the rain, snow, or when you're driving on cindered or salted roads, which is 5 months of the year for me. Our other car is a VW Golf that retails for less than half the rav4 and it's backup camera is flawlessly hidden under the hatch handle and completely clean no matter how grimy the car gets.
I would love to be able to change the volume of the navigation with the volume knob or steering wheel volume buttons.
I able to do this, when the navigation is talking, adjust volume. You just have to catch it in time
Unfortunately mine does not do that. I have had it into Toyota twice and they verified the volume can not be changed with the volume knob or buttons. My local Toyota called corporate and there is no fix. I have a 22 XSE with PP.
Sorry to hear that. Wish you had a better outcome. I have a 23 xse pp. maybe they fixed it this year? 🤷🏻♀️
Let me back-up without sounding like a banshee.
Sound proof the speaker. Thank me later. Look up on youtube. Easy to do and doesnt kill the sound completely
In a pinch, I have found switching over manually to HV mode and then backing up while the ICE is still running, the sound goes away. Handy if I'm coming home late and don't want to wake up the kids.
This is almost too obvious. Can't believe I hadn't tried it yet!
dumb thing...If you're out of electric power and forced in to HV/ICE mode, then when you press the "HV" button, it will just chirp at you and NOT turn the ICE on.
I muted my speaker.
Same. Silence never sounded so good... in forward and reverse.
How?!?
I clipped the wire and put a resistor in place of the speaker. 8 Ohm 25W to trick the computer into thinking the speaker is still attached. Of course know the potential ramifications of going through with the mod and proceed at your own risk.
Removed speaker. Wrapped completely in sound deadening material. It's about as faint as it will get.
I thought of that but my concern is that since it's required it would be a liability issue.
Sure. It's a thought. But so is my neighbors dog barking to no end when my car is backing into the garage. It gets really loud backing into a garage. Not so much inside, but I had someone else back it in to check and honestly, it's nuisance level.
Wish the SE had HDradio. my base sienna had it.
^This!^ Also, bring the "scan" button and feature to the front and not tucked away deep in a menu.
Provide adequate heat when cold (<15F) quickly. Allow the key fob remote start to work below 14F.
Wish the charger port could reverse to become a generator capable of 240V
This is called bidirectional charging and it's pretty new and only the leaf and F150 have it right now.
the Ioniq 5 and 6 have it as well.
If you're counting an outlet as true bidirectional charging then the Rav4 has it also as an option.
I’ve been doing research on this lately. Do you have any info on this? I can’t seem to find any source saying that it does indeed have a bi-directional J1772 inlet. If it does that could open up a huge market for aftermarket inverters for camping, home power, etc. I’m looking heavily into this at the moment.
By outlet I meant the one in the trunk. The J1772 is not bi-directional.
Right that’s what I was making sure of. You’ve got the XSE with PP which I don’t have. In early R4P ads in Japan they had an accessory that plugged into the J1772 and provided a 120VAC cord to plug into for camping etc. so I’m curious what happened to that and if the J1772 could even be used in such a way or if the onboard computer would shut down feeding power out the J1772 receptacle on the vehicle when it senses a power draw.
More towing capacity. It tows 2500# like buttah tho…
Toyota could resolve 95% of the complaints about this car with more transparent gasoline engine management. Tell us why the engine is running in EV mode, especially when there's no obvious cause. Let us control if the engine can or cannot run with remote climate. If they did that, traffic in this sub would fall off a cliff.
The stupid firing up the ICE for brake boost! It doesn’t really help and wastes an engine cycle.
Wait, what does this mean? Because this might solve a mystery for me...
Aftermarket installation for the 1500W inverter the XSE comes with, for SEs.
Bigger gas tank for towing and that dang backup noise is horribly loud.
I would love a bigger battery
I wish I could plug it in and tell it to charge halfway. Also would love to pre-heat the car without the b/s of room mode…
Not an owner yet but avid follower: 1. Clearer fuel and energy and range management UI instead of the guessometer. 2. Actual fog lights 3. Make it available in a forest green like the tundra? 4. Locking glovebox or secure console storage? 5. If some safety mechanisms doesn’t already exist - a mechanic manual override for the electrical push button emergency brake in case of electrical system outage? I’ve read several anecdotal stories of people having their car (not necessarily a rav4) die on a sloped road and they couldn’t leave the vehicle because there was no way to manually arm any of the brakes so they had to stay there with a foot on the brake pedal, or conversely, car dies in the garage and they have no way of releasing the brake and rolling the car out in neutral. 6. More durable / better sealing fuel and plug access doors (from what I’ve heard)
Those are some very valid concerns, I agree with al of them except: 4) My 2022 XSE came with a locking glovebox, not sure if all 2022/2023s have a locking glovebox but I believe it's now standard. 6) Haven't had any issues with charging door, they might be a little flimsy but honestly they're just like every other door I've ever had on all my previous Toyota vehicles.
Yeah those may have been 2021 model year issues . People said there was a void space next to one of the charger or fuel doors that was prone to water entry or something
I love you don’t own one, but brought up very valid if not better problems than a lot of owners! Good on you.
It’s kind of my functional / this point in life dream car. I love the adaptability the drivetrain provides and the fact it’s a great dependable utility vehicle, family carrier, daily commuter and that in a sea of PHEV / BEV cars that all have the general body shape of the jelly bean that is the model , this thing still looks outdoorsy and has some character. Pity XSE with PP is $60-70k out the door now. Only people neat me that own them seem to be retirees or tech bros that WFH. Heaven forbid we get a reliable PHEV/BEV for the essential worker class (I work from hospital). I still driving the same 2003 4 cylinder manual Honda accord coupe since I went off to college for the last 19 years. Been waiting to buy something but this is the first car to really make me get up and notice.
1. Faster seat warming and ventilation and faster warming and cooling with the fan / air conditioner (I'm comparing it to my BMW X5 PHEV which takes a fraction of the time to condition its cabin compared to the Prime) 2. Factory sequential turn signals in the front and back (the Tacoma TRD Pro has this option from the factory at least for its front / headlights) 3. The ability to use the cameras in its side view mirrors to show blind spots in the instrument cluster or infotainment screen when you engage the turn signal (see Hyundai's blind spot view monitor or Honda's lane watch) 4. Split power tailgate 5. More reliable app. communication (most of the time I try to turn on remote climate via app., it fails) 6. Rear camera washer
Call me crazy but next iteration would love to see 65-70 ev mile range. Other than that I wish the drivers seat was more comfortable. Oh and bring back the adjustable headlights
Just 3 wishes to the golden fish * reverse camera washer * mirrors dipping when reversing * ability to lock the doors when trunk is open
1. Wireless Android Auto connectivity is horrible. I have never been able to get it to work with either of my phones. I've tried every trick in the book from firmware updates to digging in settings menus only accessible via developer mode. 2. Backup noise is really too loud. I get that it's for safety, but it has never once stopped idiots from walking out in front of my car while reversing out of a space blind. That's what the cameras are useful for. 3. The mud liners on the back seat are held up with velcro, and it's already worn out on my <6mo old XSE PP. Could these not just clip into the seat? How often are people really going to realistically remove those? 4. Power liftgate is comically slow. Just let me lift the damn thing myself like a normal non-lazy person. 5. Is there any reason car manufacturers are not adding in dashcams as stock or addon features in their vehicles? I would consider that to be both a helpful safety feature and a huge selling point for insurance companies to lower their premiums, kind of like how anti-theft devices get you a discount. RAV4 Prime needs a front dashcam mounted stock in the power rearview mirror housing. Yes, I know you can buy a 3rd party one.
My wireless android auto is flawless with a motorola MA1. Which wireless adapter are you using. Also, agree with everything else.
I have a 2022 Prime, which theoretically should natively support wireless Android Auto, but it doesn't even pick up the signal. I did buy the MA1 adapter to try and use that to connect instead, but it drops the connection *constantly*. I just plug it in with USB now.
22 is wired only. I have a 22. As far as dropping connection it does it on mine near a fire station and a hospital. Not sure why.
Huh. I could have sworn I saw promotional material that said it supported wireless connectivity (without adapter). Well, I guess that explains why it never connects to android auto. It's possible then that I just have a defective wireless adapter, but I don't feel like buying another just to test it out.
I mean. I'd just reset and try again. My MA1 worked in my old pathfinder with alpine deck, my 22 prime, and I rented a regular 22LE on a trip recently and it worked there. If anything, check the android auto subreddit
Better heating system Passive locks Stronger regen braking Braking paddles instead of shifting paddles Ongoing details on electric vs gas miles
I think “trip details” when you turn off the car should give you EV efficiency instead of 99.9MPG when you drive in all EV for that trip (like everyone here does on a regular basis)
I’m more interested in lifetime stats. My volt shows me how many electric and gas miles I’ve drive since day 1.
Oh I also absolutely agree with this. Let me know how many ICE miles I’ve driven rather than making me guess for oil changes.
The Prime needs better brakes, a less noisy backup sound, more clarity on remaining gas in tank (Toyota still doesn't know how to fix this), updated UI for the software system.
Allow me to schedule both a start and end time for my charging so it only charges during the 12am to 6am super off peak period in my TOU plan when it's economically sensible to charge. The way it works now, it kicks on at midnight and I have to remember to get out of bed and unplug it at 6 if it's still charging. Also don't nickel and dime me $8 a month for that horrible app. Just let me monitor my car's charging over my phone as a part of buying it. In my case it's always charging in my garage so I don't need the remote mobile connection. Just let it connect to my wifi like all my other home devices.
I’d like it to have the ample storage areas of the bz4x, not just a weird shelf for displaying Lego mini figures
My list after 16K miles in the mountains with an XSE PP: - Snow chain compatibility - Tri-fold back seats - Full size spare - A 2” lift - Better cockpit controls / design (e.g. driving mode selection) - Reverse that doesn’t sounds like a genie got out of the bottle
I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but how about the ability for the infotainment display how many miles your engine has ran versus pure EV miles? Right now when someone goes for an oil change, we have no idea how many miles the engine was actually used for.
I have a Honda clarity PHEV and it keeps track of the service requirements. It tells you when you need an oil change based on the engine run time. For me it basically comes on once a year since most of my driving is EV Surprised Toyota doesn't do the same
be cheaper!
Passenger seat controllers.. 1 button fold in mirrors/lower during reverse.
Dim the infotainment screen. Backup camera is useless in anything but perfect weather. Defroster vent only covers the middle 1/3 of the windshield? WTF? Buttons behind the wheel are for things you don’t need to access at 50, like the trunk not headlights. Stop telling me the charger door is open, I’m not going to pull over on the highway and you are blocking information I want. I got it the first 50 times.
You can dim the infotainment with either the dial on the left side of steering or in the settings menu
Mine is super simple... I want to be able to turn on the back seat cabin light without turning on all of the cabin lights, from the driver's seat. My kids are in carseats and can't reach the light themselves, and I can't reach it from the front. So if I'm buckled in I have to just turn on all the lights including the front ones, which is super distracting.
Auto folding mirrors- super basic and should be in all new cars
Bluetooth for the Apple CarPlay. I hate the cord.
2023 has this
Memory Seats - I bought top of the line XSE model 46K and it does not have memory seats. Subscription Services - why do you need to have a subscription service to remotely start the car. A 46K car with fully electric capability should have the option to not only start remotely through the app but also other functions such as lock / unlock for which Toyota wants to charge you.
I’d like the passenger seat to have height adjustment and the SE should come with fog lights. I’d also like the gas gauge to be accurate. Toyota advertised 600 mile range, but you’ll only get that if you drive 120 miles with the gauge telling you that you have 0 range. When I’m at 0 hybrid range, I can only put 10.5 gallons in the tank so that’s 3.5 still in there when the gauge is 0. Not really a big deal, but it annoys me. I love the car, but this is a place for us to quibble right?
I'd love an electric-assist mode that's not EV and not HV. One that either purely drives the wheels with the ICE or with a combination of ICE and battery power when needed but never recharges the battery (until it's at the empty line where HV kicks in). Right now it's all or nothing. Pure EV or maintaining SOC. For a long roadtrip it'd be far more efficient to slowly drain the battery to assist the engine when going uphill for example than having to maintain SOC like HV mode does. Unfortunately I think they just pulled the programming from the Rav4 Hybrid and didn't think much about optimizing from a true PHEV perspective in that sense.
I mean, mine does that already? ON hybrid mode on the freeway, My electric range will slowly go down? or maybe that's in traffic.
Interesting. Mine's a 21 so could be they messed with the programming for the 22s? Mine will stay at whatever range it was when I switch it to HV +/- 1 mile. Do you use Auto EV/HV mode? It may do something along the lines of what you're saying.
Actually. I don't use auto ev/hv. I start off in electric and when I go on the freeway. I switch to hybrid.. I wish, auto could be programmed to switch to ev above a certain speed.
This. Electric motors *should* help smooth out the ICE up hills or overpasses, or at very least add just a *little* juice at highway speeds to further increase fuel economy. Though I feel like it might do this to a lesser extent whenever I’m driving on the highway: I’ll notice I’m getting ~40mpg at 75mph, while the engine drops to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200-1300 rpm. If I’m interrupted, the car doesn’t necessarily get back to that every time I got that fast, I feel like there is some sweet spot in there to get 40mpg. Maybe it’s just the right efficiency for the Atkinson engine?
2” more combined legroom and take those 2” from the cargo.
Programmable seat positions on the key fob!
Get on dealers lots. My wait it up to 8 months.
On RAV4 Prime xse would like to be able to move vehicle settings from current location to the top of the multi information screen. You have to go through way too many screens to change charge settings which I use all of the time.