Traveling is awesome.
Making traveling even better is when a rental car is involved. That’s how this Toyota entered the picture.
It was raining like pouring beer from a keg when we landed at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank last week. It had been raining for days (Burbank had 3 inches of rain within a 24 hour period a day or so prior; Malibu got like 9 inches within the same period, with 0.75 inches being typical for the entire month of November), with many records of both intensity and accumulation having been broken. The rain was lingering and the forecast looked really sucky. But we were committed.
We had visited Los Angeles in late May of 2023, when it was unseasonably cool, dribbley, and overcast the entire time. History repeats itself, it seems.
Despite the mostly covered walkway from the baggage claim (which is outside, although covered with some pretense of a roof) to the rental car garage, we still got distastefully moist on our walk.
The representative who greeted us at the thankfully covered rental car facility (my favorite rental company) gave us a choice of vehicles.
Option 1 was a dark blue Mazda CX90. Wanting to blend in, I did not like it having Ohio plates. Plus, we were wanting a luggage cover as there would be times when all of our stuff would be inside and parked for long periods in public areas. Reluctant pass.
Option 2 was an intensely red Toyota 4Runner. Realizing these are relatively thirsty (23 mpg city, 24 mpg highway according to the EPA), we passed.
As an aside, my curiosity about California’s relatively high fuel prices compelled me to research the reasons behind it. While pump prices are over $2 more per gallon than what I see in the Midwest (I paid $4.89 per gallon in Burbank, which was coincidentally the cheapest we found, and fuel in St. Louis was $2.72 upon our return 18 hours later), one factor is California having the highest state gasoline tax in the nation. California’s state fuel tax is $0.7092 per gallon in comparison to my home state of Missouri’s gas tax of $0.2999 per gallon, which is one of the lowest. Everyone pays the same federal fuel tax of $0.18 per gallon regardless of location, so that’s a wash.
In turn, the US Energy Information Administration states formulation requirements within California further contribute to the price as does the state being isolated from other refineries within the continental United States. Environmental compliance costs alone for California blended gasoline account for $0.54 per gallon as of March 2025.
To accompany California fuel prices, the state owns 52,016 lane-miles of highway, and fuel taxes are a good source of revenue for such infrastructure. This is a few more miles than what the State of Georgia maintains but less than Kentucky. Missouri maintains 77,000 lane-miles of roadway. So says the Federal Highway Administration.
All the highways we drove, at least around Los Angeles (I-5, I-110, I-710, and Routes 126, 134, 1, and 101 among others), tended toward doubling as parking lots at times. It’s little wonder why hybrids and EVs were so prevalent. We did not bother to check our fuel economy although this RAV4 was rated at 27 mpg city, 35 mpg highway.
Studying the fuel taxes in other countries is also fascinating – at least for me.
I digress.
Option 3 was a dark blue Toyota RAV4, but it had Kansas plates (no blending in) and no luggage cover.
Maybe my awareness of license plates was overthinking things, but when in Rome…
Option 4, which was the most boring of the bunch and the one we took, was this white RAV4 with a luggage cover, California plates, and 27,000 miles on the odometer. For wanting to blend in, this thing was, for anyone familiar with poker, a royal flush.
And I am happy to have picked it.
While I don’t rent vehicles that often, when I do my rate of getting a Toyota is around 50%. On the flight out, something told me my chosen ride of “Chevrolet Equinox or similar” would fall into the “or similar” realm and I was kind of hoping a RAV4 would be available. For what they are, I like the looks of them and while I don’t see them all over the place this was the third best selling vehicle in the United States for 2024 – behind the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado, which I do see all over the place.
The first thing I noticed is all controls are delightfully intuitive, which was nice since I took off in the rain. A lack of intuitiveness, primarily with the gear selector, was somewhat of a thing with my last rental, an Audi Q5. We learned from the lady at the rental counter the rains had prompted various government offices to close the prior Friday (we took possession of the RAV4 on a Monday).
It was a good reminder that what pulls the figurative trigger for some situations, and what people consider to be normal, can sometimes vary with location. If people are not accustomed to driving in (heavy) rain given their environment, I get it.
As an example of how normal can be a variable, a recent “share some food at work day” included two different dishes using deer meat. Deer doesn’t come from the grocery store. Nobody, including me, thought anything of it. Yet, somehow, I don’t see that as being a universal sentiment.
I digress, again.
This RAV4 was front wheel drive in XLE trim and had the 2.5 liter four-banger rated at 203 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 184 ft-lbs of torque at 5,000 rpm. When turning left onto Route 1 upon leaving Sycamore Canyon Campground within Point Mugu State Park, a Volkswagen Tiguan blasted toward me after I had committed myself. Romping the gas, I quickly made use of the full offering of torque plus most of that 203 horsepower. Crisis averted.
While not a dragster by any stretch, the RAV4 acquits itself nicely in acceleration whether it is flat-out like in this instance or for those sudden bursts to merge into traffic.
We meandered up California Route 1 (also called the Pacific Coast Highway) from Long Beach through Malibu, up to Oxnard. In retrospect I regret having taken this route from Long Beach to Santa Monica given there being traffic signals every 46 feet. Once we got past the vehicular impasses somewhere west of Malibu, I was able to surpass 35 mph and was able to see the RAV4 really come into its own. The RAV4 is quite compliant, maybe even complacent, at lower speeds, and seems to enjoy highway speeds much better.
Route 101 from Oxnard to Santa Barbara (which I’ve been calling Santa Granny due to my mother-in-law being named Barbara and my calling her “Granny” for over 20 years) is a pleasant yet somewhat hilly route with enough curves to keep your attention. In that environment the RAV4 thrived. It was almost eager for such roads.
One marker of vehicular success, for me, is from the two females I live with. Mrs. Jason has some leg issues in which car seats can be quite problematic, thus my discussion of seats in reviews past. In turn, our daughter has phenomenal hearing, so she is tuned into road noise. Neither of them ever said anything about this RAV4 and neither of them are shy about speaking up.
During our time with the RAV4, I got to thinking of the variety of uses I have seen them in. For instance, upon our traveling to the terminal at Lambert International in St. Louis for our departure, I saw a local taxi company that was using RAV4s. Other uses I have seen, other than the obvious private use, is for various security companies, parking enforcement in various cities, and miscellaneous business ventures. How many other single vehicle models see such varied uses?
Given the sheer number of models from all the manufacturers, seeing one model in so many different uses is quite remarkable. It’s not like this is a pickup, in which there is a much smaller number of choices. Toyota deserves credit for making a vehicle that has found favor in so many different applications.
Yet this also raises a related question of sorts. Walking and driving through the rental garage at Burbank, I saw lots of Nissans, Kias, Hyundais, and Toyotas. In turn, the only Ford was a sole F-150 and there were no GM products, with Chrysler Pacificas and Dodge Durangos being reasonably represented. Once upon a time, Ford, GM, and Chrysler took heat for the number of units sold to rental fleets. Now, the winds of rental fleet sales seem to have changed. What once may have been a sea of Ford Taurii, Chevrolet Malibii, or Dodge Avengii are now waves of Corollas, Camrys, and RAV4s. Has Toyota assumed the dubious crown of Rental Queen?
Does it matter? Toyota sold 36,000 RAV4s in the United States in January of both 2024 and 2025. The company sells around 15 million units per year worldwide. It’s doubtful their fleet sales break 10%.
In comparison, how many of the Chrysler Pacificas built every month start life at the rental garage? How many F-150s go to fleets? What percentage of Kias have a similar destiny?
Then again, one rarely sees a Honda or Subaru in any fleet.
Toyota isn’t shy about the fleet market (it’s another source of income and keeps the production lines running), and they have a very nice brochure about their fleet sales. This brochure also gives some insight into their corporate philosophy about hybrids vs. EVs, as they explain their 1:6:90 realization. Toyota states the same number of resources needed for one battery operated EV can build six plug-in hybrid EVs or ninety regular hybrid units.
So is it obvious I enjoyed this RAV4? I hope so, as I did enjoy it. However, I do offer up two points for consideration. Neither are bad, but both require cognizance by a prospective buyer.
The first is the requirement for 0W-16 motor oil. I had never heard of such a thing but Toyota and Honda are calling for this weight of oil in several of their vehicles. In comparison to 0W-20 oil, 0W-16 is for closer engine tolerances and can give a slight edge (up to 3% in some claims) in fuel economy. However, research tells me 0W-16 has lesser high temperature stability than does 0W-20. To me, the use of 0W-16 oil is gilding a lilly that doesn’t need it.
The other observation is the idle shut off. For a company that can build hybrids that so seamlessly restart the gas engine, this approach was not utilized for the automatic idle shutoff in this RAV4. In turn, I just kept hitting the override switch.
To be fair, these traits did not overpower the rest of the package.
Really, the only fault I can find, one in which the rental company shares some degree of responsibility, is the carpet, or diminishing amount thereof, in the driver’s foot well. There were no floor mats (likely from, I suppose, their potential for growing legs and walking away when the vehicle is with a customer) and the carpet had already worn through, with the wear going down to the styrofoam looking sound insulation beneath the padding. At 27,000 miles, this is ridiculous.
I’ve spent my career around Ford, GM, and Dodge fleet vehicles that rarely have floor mats and have rarely seen wear to this degree, even by 150,000 equally hard use miles.
Yet the bottom line is simple. The RAV4 is a terrific vehicle. This example was as plain vanilla as it gets, but somehow it endeared itself to me and I have never professed a fondness for Toyota. When next at the rental counter, I can see myself picking one.
Mrs. Jason and I have joked, yet again, about returning to visit Southern California. We were scheduled to go whale watching off the coast at Santa Granny, which was the primary purpose of the trip, but that was cancelled due to rain. We even experienced a profound thunderstorm in Burbank that night. So we might be returning yet again one day.
Rented for the soggy week of November 17, 2025
On the topic of “variety of uses” of a RAV4, NZ has recently bought a whole bunch for use as mobile speed cameras. This is purely due to them being so ubiquitous that they’re almost invisible. Most days I pass by a “Auto logistics centre” that seemingly has thousands of them ready to splurge onto Auckland streets, as seen here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PbeTPKqbQVfGaUZy7 The context here is that NZ is a relatively small country, so what looks like a lot of RAV4s is actually REALLY A LOT of RAV4s, compared to other cars on the road. You have to really be tuned in to spot one parked at the side of the road with a camera in the back.
The only model that seems more common on the road is the humble Aqua.
Wow, that is lot! It’s also good (or not, depending upon your viewpoint) they aren’t all the same color. This variety does create more uncertainty for those trying to be on the lookout.
Many moons ago, the car rental companies might have had been owned by the Big 3 automakers – they always seemed to have solely GM, solely Ford, solely Chrysler. I’d have to concur Toyota and Nissan have become the rental fleet kings – and niether brand has the cachet from my younger days.
I have one long-time friend who lives in Southern California, and sometimes when riding with him in someplace other than California – e.g., TN, TX, MO, or any number of the other places we wind up in annually for friend reunions – I ask him if he’s astounded by how much less gas is wherever we are than he would have back home. And he usually does acknowledge that it’s weird to see gas for around $2 less per gallon than he pays, BUT he otherwise seems kind of nonplussed. So, I guess it’s really all about what one gets used to. I have a hard time imagining how I’d ever be able to live somewhere where it cost $100 to fill my tank…and yet millions and millions of my fellow countrymen (I’m not even considering folks from, say Europe) do.
What of course this has pushed people to do is to adopt more sensible for their environment (so to speak) solutions like hybrids and EVs, which I suppose is a big part of the point. The strategy works, despite the fact that people who live in places that are further back on the timeline of implementation of such strategies can barely envision how that would be tolerable.
I do think it’s fascinating (to one of your other points) how the domestic auto industry has ceded the rental field to the likes of Kia, Hyundai, and the ubiquitous Toyota. Of course, all of those make something that’s relatively inexpensive and often car-like…which seems impossible to find domestically. That becomes very obvious when one spends time in rental car lots like you have.
Bummer about the rain, but you’re right, that just makes a return trip necessary! Safari Inn? Did you see any TV shows or movies being made?
The domestics having given up on sedans has indeed given an entire market to competitors. Their doing so has always appeared short-sighted, but what do I know?
The Safari Inn (chosen as it is close the Burbank Airport and this was on the tail of our trip) has had several movies and TV shows filmed there. I can see why, as it does have that certain movie hotel demeanor to it. As for as a place to stay, it was not exactly memorable.
On the surface CA prices seem ludicrous to me(and I’m in the Chicago Illinois area, which averages higher than surrounding states to begin with!), but I have seen through CA residing friends the spread between regular and premium fuel isn’t nearly as vast in California as it is here. In CA 91 is maybe $0.40more a gallon than 87, but here? 93 is often $1.30 more a gallon than 87 octane, which isn’t egregiously far off from CA prices for premium.
So if you’re well to do with a performance/near performance car you’re really not getting hit that hard compared to the national average to sway you out of gasoline. It’s the low income plebs running regular gas cars who are getting socially engineered to go hybrid or EV or take public transit to fix California’s emissions burden.
I have wondered what these are like – as you note, I have a lot of opportunities to wonder because I see them everywhere. So thanks for these impressions. The console must not have been too intrusive, or I suspect you might have mentioned it. :). That carpet wear is kind of amazing – I thought that even cars without floor mats had a little vinyl/rubber heel pad under the pedals. I guess the days of “fat” Toyotas with loads of little customer spoilers are well and truly over.
It’s a shame that the CX-9 had the wrong plates and no luggage cover. That is another crossover I like quite a bit more than the Toyota (from one who looks from the outside).
I remember when the U.S. automakers bought rental companies, and then abused them by churning the rental fleets 3x/year. That ended up flooding the market with lightly used vehicles and killing resales. I think Detroit divested the rental companies some years back.
There’s a few automakers that insist on carpeted floor mats being optional, and I think Toyota is one culprit. For fleet buyers there’s a way to pinch pennies.
I’m also thinking the Big 3 divested the rental companies. It likely sounded like a good idea at the time, but I’m not sure what it likely accomplished other than giving one the ability to buy a near new car at 60% of the sticker, which is how I bought our 2001 Taurus.
I’d have jumped at the chance to rent the CX-90, it’s a more expensive vehicle and I’m curious how the inline 6 powertrain behaves.
The carpet wear on the RAV4 doesn’t bug me much because I have never run a car without floor mats. Thin automotive carpeting seems ubiquitous now and the cheapest aftermarket mat set at Autozone will prevent this kind of destruction.
I spent a ton of time in Southern California before retiring a year ago. One thing that I quickly discovered was that many of my sales reps had Costco memberships, and that they easily justified the membership cost with the savings they received from lower gas prices.
I just did a quick check to confirm that nothing had changed. This quick review indicated typical Costco pricing for regular gas was between $4.00 – $4.30 per gallon; compared to the $4.89 best price that you found (the current price at the Burbank Costco is $4.19 per gallon).
Thanks for this review.
Since both of my daughters are coming of driving age, my wife and I have started considering whether we’ll need to buy another car sometime in the near future (i.e., new car for commuting, and then shuffle the existing cars to the kids). We’re looking for a generic, but flexible and durable car, so naturally the RAV4 and its ilk quickly bubbled to the top. Plain vanilla indeed, but that’s exactly what I’d be looking for right now.
I’ve never driven a RAV4 or any of its competitors, so I find your review interesting. I do see them all over the place here, but didn’t know until now that it’s the third best-selling car. I can see why. Sounds like it’s as good an all-around vehicle as I’d expect a popular Toyota product to be.
In doing preliminary searches for new/used selling prices, I’ve checked out Hertz Used Car sales, and I was surprised at the proportion of Asian vehicles in rental fleets. Still plenty of US brands, but also loads of Hyundais, Kias and Toyotas. I rented a car a few months ago (first time in ages) and got to choose between a Malibu and a Honda Civic… another make that surprised me in a rental fleet. We’re hoping to delay our new-car purchase until absolutely necessary, but in doing so, I hope that automatic idle shutoffs will go away by that time. A completely detestable feature, in my opinion.
Oh, and I also have never heard of 0W-16 oil, and I’m naturally suspicious of things that I’ve never heard of before, so I’m curious what other people’s takes are on this.
Too bad about the whale watching being cancelled (by rain, of all things). Hope you get to do it again soon.
The whale watching being canceled was a bummer. The day we flew back the company (Mrs. Jason was following them on the face page thing) reported seeing a record number of seals, dolphins, and whales. Sounds about right, doesn’t it?
Auto shut down is the one thing I could see going away with the elimination of CAFE fines and the roll back on CAFE standards. That of course is a few lines of code, or actually a few less lines of code, and maybe a slightly cheaper starter. Both things that are easily and cheaply done, and then un-done when the next administration takes over and changes the playing field again.
I quote: “ Traveling is awesome. Making traveling even better is when a rental car is involved.”
I agree up to a point. For me, traveling in my own car is the best, as usually no airports, airplanes, lines, delays, etc are involved. As for the RAV4, this article made me think … I’m sure I have never driven one, and I’m almost positive that I’ve never even sat in one, of any generation. But they seem to be one of the most popular cars in my area. The university campus in our coastal California city, which never sees snow or ice and whose roads are almost 100% paved, uses AWD hybrid RAV4’s for parking services. Tax dollars at work.
One significant reason for that is resale value. Fleet buyers have moved away from buying the cheapest domestic sedans to vehicles with the lowest depreciation, as it significantly affects total ownership costs. Without looking it up, I suspect the RAV4 hybrid is at or near the top of the list for low depreciation.
This is also a factor in rental fleets. Toyota hardly needs to sell cars cheap to fleets as they have generally struggled to keep up with demand in the retail market. But fleet buyers want Toyotas for the low depreciation. I suspect they don’t get much of a discount either.
Here’s another consideration…I’ve read and seen where nicer vehicles in fleet use tend to be treated better, which will also help with resale values. Yes, I’m in the public sector, and we have been acquiring retail units, something that started during Covid. They are washed more frequently, drivers tend to be more attentive to problems, and they aren’t showing wear nearly as quickly.
So, yes, tax dollars are at work and yielding a better rate of return.
Something else I meant to mention…it’s 1,754 miles from my house to where we spent our first night in California. So, yes, while I do prefer driving (we went to Florida twice last year, which is only 1,125 miles, and we drove it the second time) I did not care to be gone twice as long by driving.
Besides, I have to have a lead sentence of some type. What I had originally was weak so I changed it to this at the last minute. Likely still not a strong lead in but seeing what the rental car lottery gives me does contain a considerable amount of anticipation.
According to the internet, it’s about 49% tax dollars if you are talking about the major university in your area and declining every year as a percentage of total funding. The rest is mostly tuition/fees which is up *significantly* from when your kids attended school if what I’m currently paying for mine is any indication and then there is a good amount of return on invested capital.
They’ll have no problem selling Hybrid AWD RAV4s that never saw snow or dirt and were used in a low speed environment with usually only one person in the car for top dollar, never mind the fuel they are saving over something like a base model Chevy Colorado. Someone in the Econ department probably did a whole study on it… 🙂 And if they didn’t, they should!
And yeah, I’m pretty much over the rental car “experience”, would rather drive myself there if possible or just use public transportation/Uber/Lyft if any place that it’s remotely feasible to do so. It’s just another stress, never mind worrying about damage to the thing and the ensuing hassle. I’m currently almost 1000 miles from home for a couple of weeks and very happy I chose to just take my own car instead of flying right around thanksgiving and then renting.
In October, I took a trip to Bellingham, WA, a very tiny airport. I’m normally an Avis guy, but the Avis desk was closed at my arrival time, so I went with Alamo, which is apparently the same thing as Enterprise these days.
My choices were a GMC Sierra 4WD crew cab, which I rejected due to the same fuel economy concerns that Jason had with the 4Runner, or a brand-new 2025 Volkswagen Jetta with 4-digit mileage. I took the Jetta. It was also very competent. If the computer was to be believed, it got 39mpg, which is a lot better than the Sierra!
It had Florida plates! It couldn’t have been further from “home”, unless it was in Alaska! But unlike Jason, I *prefer* having out-of-state plates when I travel. I’m a tourist, and I don’t really know where I’m going. In most cities, I’ve found that “locals” will cut out-of-state drivers some slack because they’re “not from around here”. I’ve also had a couple incidents where police let me get away with something that would have earned a local driver a ticket. Maybe ticketing visitors is bad for the tourism trade, or maybe it’s a hassle for the officer, but either way, I didn’t get the ticket.
Enterprise owns Alamo.
Given your options, and presumable at the same price, I would have also picked the Jetta. However, I have seen instances in which a 1/2 ton pickup was seriously cheaper than a Jetta (or comparable), which would offset the fuel costs. It’s all in what a person needs / wants.
With respect to gas prices you said “the state being isolated from other refineries within the continental United States. ”
What you neglected to say was the state of California’s war on refineries and the effect on gas prices. Living in Arizona we suffer from higher gas prices due to most of our refined gasoline coming from California.
Didnt read all the comments, but one reason rental fleets love Toyotas is when they sell them. They have great resale and fetch top dollar used.
Im sure Toyota is not giving them away to Hertz/Dollar/etc like Ford did the Taurus back in the day. It would make no sense, Toyota is already supply constrained on most of their models.
A very timely article for me, as my wife and I are easing toward replacing her 2012 CR-V and the RAV4 is one of the finalists. Our local dealer s*cks so that may tip us toward another CR-V though. I hate auto shutoff at stops, and any vehicle that doesn’t offer the ability to shut it off won’t even be considered. I do like the RAV though, and it seems you can turn off all the “features” that try to do your driving for you, so maybe…. It’ll come down to a night test drive so I can see what the headlights are like. I didn’t do that on our current CR-V and curse every time I have to drive it at night.
Here in the People’s Republic of British Columbia gas prices are as bad or worse. My local station just dropped from 1.69/litre to 1.55. I’ll spare you the math but that’s $4.35 USD per gallon. For regular that I wouldn’t put in my lawn mower. The good stuff will run you another buck or so. A year ago it would have been closer to 7 bucks. Mostly tax.
Something to consider in regard to the auto stop/start is that I realized back when I was reviewing new cars that some are set up that a user can trigger it (or avoid it) by how they brake. If you brake and push the pedal hard when stopped they will all shut off. If you brake more gently and when at a stop use just enough pedal to keep it stopped then some cars will NOT shut off. If you then push down further it WILL turn off. You’d need to play with it on a test drive and be sure the car is fully warmed up. Some also shut down and restart VERY differently from others, just assuming they are all the same is shortchanging yourself, some are very noticeable and annoying, others are quite good.
RAV4 is about to be replaced with a new generation. The current CR-V is VERY nice, a huge step up from the prior model and nicer than the current (outgoing) RAV4 in my opinion. Hold out for a hybrid, virtually zero downside and there’s little point to paying for more gas than necessary to get to where one is going.
“The current CR-V is VERY nice, a huge step up from the prior model and nicer than the current (outgoing) RAV4 in my opinion”
Dunno; a family member has a current CR-V hybrid in upper trim and while the dash is nice the back doors are still cheap hard plastic and there’s a lot of typical hard plastics in numerous places. A coworker has the current RAV4 in Limited trim and I find it slightly nicer, particularly in the rear cabin.
Among other things that are different in California is that full size pickups are not nearly as common as in the rest of the country, where the F-Series and Chevy are #1 and #2. In fact, the F-Series sells at less than half the rate of the best selling car (Tesla Model Y), and the Rav4, CRV, Tesla M3, Camry and Civic all outsell it. (stats for the first half of 2025 attached).
This is quite noticeable (at least to me) when driving in CA, in or near the major metro areas. There are vastly more sedans and smaller cars on the road than elsewhere. It makes gobs of sense, as gas is high and commutes are long. What it graphically illustrates is the effect on automobile purchases when gas taxes are higher. Americans buy big trucks largely because gas is cheap. If the US had increased its gas taxes decades ago instead of instituting gas mileage standards it might well be that the composition of cars on the roads would be much more like they are in CA. Something to ponder.
You see the same thing in Europe where gas averages about $8.00 a gallon. Other than the same colors being prevalent, black, white and gray, most of the vehicles are small cars with a few small SUVs as well. You hardly ever see pickups.
If my observations here in western Canada are anything to go by, it might not make that much difference. Fuel taxation here results in prices roughly what you see in California, and up until earlier this year quite a bit higher. The top 5 sellers in Canada last year? F-150, Sierra, Rav4, Ram and Silverado in that order.
Over time people just get used to gas costing what it costs, wages adjust, and most people drive the same vehicles you’d see in any similar American locale. Some urban areas see less pickups, just like in the US but high fuel taxes (by North American standards) haven’t really changed the mix.
Just like in the US, about the only thing that seems to drive a move to smaller vehicles is a fear of restricted supply like we saw in the ’70s.
Good observation. But clearly things are different in CA, and not just because of the gas prices. My guess it’s a socio-political-cultural thing. CA of course leans very heavy to blue, and big trucks are perceived to be very red. There’s also the very large Latino market which never bought into the big pickup thing as much as Anglos. And there’s the reality of very massive and long commutes, which really favors economical sedans, hybrids and EVs. I’d wager the average Los Angelino drives a lot more per year than the average Canadian.
I’ve seen the smaller number of larger vehicles, such as pickups, in other cities, also. Plus there is undoubtedly differences around the country as far as what finds a higher amount of favor. Last year when we drove through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, rare was any four-wheel drive anything.
Plus, after having now driven in the Los Angeles area, parking spots are precious and small. I experienced that in several locations.
Glad to hear your rental experience was good, despite the rain during your SoCal trip. Rentals are a great way to dip your toe into the current automotive market and see what is new and interesting.
In the last five months, I have rented six cars: a Ford Escape in NJ, a Hyundai Santa Fe in Chicago, a Toyota Camry hybrid in Buffalo, another Camry hybrid in NYC and driven as far as Cape Cod, another Escape in Salt Lake City, and a Subaru Outback in NJ last week. All of these were rented through National and chosen among others off the Emerald Aisle for some of the same reasons as Jason’s: being as close to brand new as possible (less than 10k miles), good fuel efficiency, the ability to hide luggage in the trunk (or covered compartment), room in the rear seat for adult passengers, and local license plates (which meant the cars were equipped with an EZ Pass to allow use of electronic tollgates).
In all cases, I put at least 500 miles on the car, so it gave me a good feel for their character, an extended test drive, if you will. I actually liked the Camrys best, as the smooth hybrid powertrains were powerful, returned great mileage, and made for quiet motoring on the expressway. The Escapes were meh, underpowered, plasticky inside, and nothing special (but nothing truly awful, either). The Subaru (last of the previous generation) performed well but was really underpowered, especially when merging onto busy major thoroughfares like U.S. Route 1 from a standing stop; if I ever bought one, I’d opt for a turbocharged model. The Hyundai had the nicest interior, but felt clunky and surprisingly awkward in city traffic.
I have rented RAV4s as recently as last spring and I generally liked them, especially the hybrid models. In terms of packaging, handling, power and overall comfort, the RAV4 outperforms much of the competition. I don’t especially like the plasticky interior, but would consider shelling out for one of the top of the line models to get something (a little) better.
Driving them for 500 miles is indeed a good way to learn about them. We put somewhere over 400 on that RAV4. Given the distance and range of driving situations, we learned a lot about it – all of which were good.
I’d concur with the Camry, the 2025 we rented a year ago was fantastic and perhaps the best way to spend $30k on a new car currently. All are hybrid now, 40mpg was not an issue to achieve, it had plenty of power, was quiet and comfortable, AWD is a cheap option, and it was roomy.
A lot of Toyotas (RAV4 included) will have better interior materials as you go up the trim range. It’s usually first noticeable in the rear seat door panels with more soft material vs hard plastic, i.e. if you experience an LE trim, don’t assume than an XLE has the same hard plastic in the same places. The same goes for rear vents, power ports, and stuff like that.
“A lot of Toyotas (RAV4 included) will have better interior materials as you go up the trim range”
Correct, and I think many are forgetting just how plasticky and basic the interiors of CR-Vs and RAVs and Tucsons/Sportages were 10-15 years ago.
A coworker has a Limited trim of this generation of RAV4 and it’s a nice interior with stitched soft touch materials front and back and excellent feeling switchgear.
This was a great read! My main thoughts in bullet-point form:
* No shelter over baggage claim?;
* I like that there’s an airport named after Bob Hope. In Burbank, no less;
* Third best-selling vehicle in the U.S.? Wow. I would not have placed my money on that;
* Shameful about that carpet having worn through so seemingly prematurely; and
* Home-brought deer meat! That sounds so Michigan (my home state).
Thanks Joe for connecting to several points that I didn’t in my comment…but meant to (but for the sake of brevity).
– I don’t think I’ve flown into Bob Hope, but it seems to have maybe come from the same set of DoT master plans as the airports in St. Thomas and St. Croix USVI. The quasi-outdoor baggage claim area is the tell. I graduated from a high school that was sourced from a set of plans that originally came from “US High School Campus Plans from Southern California”. Which meant that it was particularly ill-suited to Maryland. No surprise that they eventually tore the whole thing down and rebuilt it with something more suited to the fact that people don’t appreciate walking around in outdoors areas between buildings in the mid-Atlantic in winter.
– I also was surprised by the carpet. And also the overall worn flooring of that rental. I’m guessing (hopeful?) that the Shafers may have been one of the last customers for that Toyota before it went to auction.
– Deer meat!! What I love about my ability to travel around the US for work is encountering regional differences. I distinctly remember being at a middle school faculty pot luck in Michigan around about this time of year and being presented with deer stew and deer sausage. Well, when in Rome (or Petoskey IIRC) you eat what’s there. Deer was great. And it was good to take advantage of the same creatures who live near me and who otherwise just eat our shrubbery and wreck our cars.
Most of the deer I have eaten was in the form of sausage. Some mix it with pork, some don’t. I did have deer steak once and it wasn’t memorable.
The regional differences around the US are amazing.
Your Southern California school design in Maryland might seem suboptimal, but at least it wasn’t one of our underground schools across the river here in Virginia. The photo below was Terra Centre Elementary in Burke, Va… built mostly underground (a trend that was briefly popular during the energy crisis before people realized that natural light was a good thing.
Terra Centre still exists, but it was rebuilt into an above-ground school a few years ago.
The shelter over the baggage claim is exactly as Jeff described it.
This also reminds me, again of how “normal” varies….a guy at work took in some meat one Monday. It was prepared and seasoned, with everything thinking it was pulled pork. People really enjoyed. Then the bomb dropped. It was groundhog.
Perhaps one of the better uses for a giant rodent (aka, a Whistle-Pig). At least if you were to have asked my Grandma, and other Appalachian folk such as Doc Watson.
I bought a RAV4 last December. I was trying to avoid some items that I felt would be headaches in the long run as I normally keep a car 9 to 10 yrs. Items to avoid: turbos, CVT transmission, 3 pot engines, Hybrid, and pushbutton/dial transmission indicators which have become the norm in this size class. The RAV 4 excluded the above.
My only concern is the car is slow off the line, but once underway, accelerates well. Fuel economy (31+ highway) is far superior to my ’12 Ford Escape V6. I also find the A/C superior considering I live in the Deep South. The interior is a bit cramped for the center console is too wide leaving the seats on the narrow side which is felt during long rides. The ’12 Escape was roomier.
Also, I find the car a bit dated. It has a gas cap which I had on the ’05 Escape, but not the ’12 Escape. Also, it has a spare tire..yea!! The salesman was shocked that I popped the hatch to look for it and was distraught when I wanted one sans a moon roof. He had to swap cars with another dealer to get what I wanted. Also, the fifth generation RAV4 debuted in 2018, so most of the bugs had been worked out by the 2025 model year.
My philosophy when it comes to cars is “less is more”. My RAV4 fills that definition nicely.
Ah, my old home airport (Burbank), but it wasn’t called Bob Hope back then… You were in the San Fernando Valley, home of the Valley Girl, LOTS of movies, the real Brady Bunch house exterior, and most of the porn produced in the U.S (from what I understand anyway).
I think I’ve only driven two of this generation of RAV4, one at the auto show back when it was introduced in a short around the block test drive and then a test car RAV4 Prime plug in hybrid that I believe I quite liked. It’s wild that it’s been around for what, seven years now and is still basically competitive, or at least certainly isn’t piled up on any dealer lots that I see. When my MIL tried to buy one last year she was told to leave a deposit and she’ll get a call when one arrives eventually, and no units available to test drive…she declined the offer. Apparently a not uncommon scenario (the deposit and wait for it, not the refusal). Hotcakes wish they would sell nearly as well as Toyotas.
We have gone from a 2014 Toyota Prius (that our son now owns) and a 2015 Camry Hybrid that both used 0W-20 oil to a new 2025 Camry Hybrid that specifies the use of 0W-8 oil! There are all kinds of scare stories on YouTube about the supposed dangers of “thin oil,” but we had no trouble relating to the 0W-20 and the engines in our older Toyotas. (The Prius is now north of 130K miles, and the 2015 Camry had nearly 105K miles when I sold it on eBay.)
I plan to stick with the recommended 0W-8 on the new car, which is coming up for its first oil change (I’m doing it at 7500 miles instead of the recommended 10K miles).
And yes, floor mats have long been optional on Toyotas. Our newest has the rubber all-weather variety, including a trunk mat.
Hence the world’s No.1. Sweetly-built, dead-reliable cars that for a long time now have been really rather good to drive. I’m tempted to say “good on them”, because it has been a long, determined earning, but I can’t quite bring myself to do that.
Things like this: “Toyota states the same number of resources needed for one battery operated EV can build six plug-in hybrid EVs or ninety regular hybrid units” may or may not be accurate, but I trust Toyota statements on EV’s as I would any Australian snake (they’re all venomous). They went hybrid, got caught napping, and rather than catch up on EV’s, decided to lobby and mislead over a long, long time. Depending on the metric, one of the biggest anti climate-change operators there is (and regardless of one’s view on that vexed topic, the monied, underhanded nature of such activity is always to be condemned). Full disclosure – I drive a white Toyota, though it is a bit old…
Anyway, the RAV hybrid is also the No.2 or 3 best seller here, if you can get one. And petrol is generally about $7AU a US gallon, with $7AU having (very roughly) about the buying power here of $7US in America, so complain ye all not about high prices! (It’s mostly tax, btw).
Bob Hope Airport, really? I love it. You gotta land between the lines. Or, to re-work one of his old lines in response to where he’d like to be buried, but used here in response to where you’d like to land: “Surprise me!”
Ahh the rental car experience. During my Lemon Law diabolical back in 98-99, part of the process was that every time I dropped off my truck to be looked at, I was treated to a rental. These were almost always from Enterprise and they always offered my a truck first (some that’s what was in for service) but I’d opt out.
I started out by taking what they offered (this was some 17 vehicles over a 14 month long process)
but quickly learned not to. For example, they offered my a then new Monte Carlo (2 door Lumina)
When he told be what I was getting I asked for the keys to go inspect the car. I opened the hood and found no oil in the engine! I politely declined and ended up with a new Town Car.
From then on, if I rent, I always inspect the car.
The latest, which was 5 years ago now, was flying from central Florida into Columbus Ohio. Avis had been the best deal and we were going to be looking at homes and properties so not knowing what that might look like, I took a new Ram with 4 wheel drive.
Wow. Just wow. It was almost 3am when we arrived at our hotel, only a block or so from car pick up. But the next morning, we saw that the windshield was cracked from side to side, that both the rear tires were down to the wear bar, and that truck idled poorly . It was clear that someone had “tented themselves a Hemi” and they aimed to have fun.
Since we would need a car for two weeks, I had Avis put me into a new Explorer, and the agent “red tagged” the Ram.
I think it’s a good idea to rent a vehicle before a purchase (unless it’s a I need car right thing)
Cindy have rented many cars and ours helped us decide off we like that model
Nice review. This generation of RAV4 has a wide breadth, I’m not surprised it sold bajilions to both private and fleet consumers. The more basic trims are workhorses with high utility, good comfort, and low TCO. The high trims are very nice inside and had torque-vectoring AWD in non-hybrid. The hybrid powertrain is excellent. The 2.5-liter gas engine may be a bit gruff but I still like hearing an engine rev out through gears rather than groaning at a fixed-rpm through a CVT. The ongoing design flaws in the Nissan and Honda 1.5-liter turbo motors show Toyota’s approach here was worth some refinement tradeoff. Auto journalists, as usual, are up in the night and the real world success of the RAV4 shows how irrelevant they’ve become.