Did they really sell these here? The whole shorty-CUV era is beginning to seem like a distant dream. I wonder if it’s a recurring one.
CC Outtake: RAV4 Shorty – My, How We’ve Grown
– Posted on December 1, 2011
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Curbside Classics Archives
They were pretty popular at the dealer I was at. They were competent little rigs for semi-softroaders. It even had a center locking diff.
The 2 doors were never outfitted with AWD, IIRC Toyota couldn’t jam all the necessary stuff underneath.
I consider these a poor replacement for the Corolla 4wd/AllTrac wagons, personally.
The 4WD 2 door was available from 1996-2000.
They did use some of the parts involved with the Celica All trac/Previa AWD.
Ive always really liked two door “SUV’s,” the RAV4 included.
Two door SUVs of any size have all pretty much disappeared. Suzuki made something similar called the Sidekick. It was also sold as the Geo Tracker. All these mini-SUV’s were apparently marketed as more practical Jeep clones. Ironically the Jeep is the only 2 door SUV left standing.
Suzuki still sells the 2 door version of the Grand Vitara here, and if they don’t sell the Jimny (Samurai) any more it has been dropped only recently
they did and i think they were awesome. what they didn’t sell here was the honda h-rv which is too bad.
A Jeep option for those who wanted the traction of 4wd, without the hardcore off-road stance. Short, stubby, sit high…but in some comfort.
I would have considered one; but when they were out, I was broke. And they disappeared faster than most Toyotas do…I suspect part of it was that they didn’t sell so many of the two-doors. Once they put four-door models out, the soccer moms were ALL OVER it.
Any event…I would have; but my success and its presence never came to intersect.
The look hasn’t worn well over time.
Nothing like this sold now. I wonder if it was due to low sales or the fact that the rear passengers were the rear crumple zone.
The Range Rover Evoque is similar in some ways, except for being massively more expensive and likely to be about as reliable as a meth user.
I remember first seeing one in Palm Beach in January 1996. At the time, I thought it looked like it should be towing a train of luggage carts around on an airport tarmac.
I liked it then and I like it now. Of course I still liked my Saturn Vue at that time. My 210 has taught me the value of the back doors. I think they should have all come with a second door on the right like the early suburbans and some pickups did. Anyway, drive watcha got.
I will repeat a previous comment here, ad keep repeating it until people get it.
The morphing of the RAV4 into the NEW RA4 is nothing more than social Darwinism in marketing.
They all do it, ever since Darwin was expanded on by Galton, the world has been viewing everything through the eye of “progress”. What does one do when there is no real progress to be made? Make it bigger, faster, smoother, more comfortable, that’s what. So you move a car from entry level – compact all the way up to upper level – full/mid-sized. Then you introduce a new compact to take it’s place. It’s a treadmill giving the illusion of progress. Honda Civic to Honda Fit, it’s the same car in concept, just separated by several cycles of “progress”.
Love the 2 door 4wd SUVs, especially with locking diff.
I get tempted every now and then to go look for a rot-free 95-97 2-door Blazer to put my recently-installed low-mileage 4.3 into the ’97 4-door I currently own.
But then I look in the garage at the ’68 C-10 Pickup and ’57 210 Handyman projects I currently have and it straightens out my head. Only so much time and $$$…
I had totally forgot these existed until a couple of weeks ago, when I pulled into a parking spot next to one. I recognized it as a Rav-4 but something didn’t look quite right. Upon looking again I noticed hey it’s the 2dr version, I haven’t seen one of those in a long time.
Paul – you probably would have lost your mind if it was 2 door soft top model! There was one at my high school in northeast Ohio. It actually made sense. AWD for he 6 months that it snows and convertible top (sort of) for the 6 months that it doesn’t 🙂
I saw one a few months ago, after not seeing a two door for years and I was astonished at how small they were compared to the hulking camcords in the adjacent lanes.
How many of you have ever spent any time in one of these short-wheelbase SUVs?
When I was in college I drove a 1969 Cadillac ambulance with a 156″ wheelbase – it simply absorbed road surface imperfections and I never slowed down for a speed bump either.
One year my roommate’s mom forced him to take the Suzuki Samurai back to school after Christmas break. I rode with him a few times, and my neck has never been the same since. I never knew that the roads had so many bumps in them (ones that I never even realized were there since I didn’t even feel them in my car)!
Just bought one of these actually. A 97′ model for about $3300… has only about 90k on it.
There is only one place to sell something like this… Ebay!