(Updated 10/16/2026) Back in July 1999, the two-door Toyota RAV4 soft top was one of those curious little SUVs that seemed to exist more for style than for any practical reason. Its four-door sibling was a sensible, versatile hit, but the stubby 2-door convertible traded some of that usefulness for open-air charm. Let’s revisit what made this quirky little Toyota appealing, and what made it so hard to recommend.
Now, does anyone (besides Paul, of course) remember this car? I drove it for a week and barely remember it. Too bad there are so few around. My son turned 16 in 2022, and this would have been a perfect first car.
The following review was written on July 18, 1999.
The four-door Toyota RAV4, and its Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester brethren, are probably the most sensible, practical and fun vehicles you can buy. They combine car-like ride and handling with a cool SUV look and the safety benefits of all-wheel drive while offering plenty of room and excellent gas mileage. In effect, they offer something for everyone. The two-door RAV, on the other hand, is what’s known as a “lifestyle” vehicle: it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but people like it and buy it anyway.
Not that it isn’t still one of the cutest mini-SUVs on the road. The problem lies in the missing 16 valuable inches of length compared to the four door, resulting in a vehicle nearly two-inches shorter than the Chevy Metro! While the Chevy Tracker/Suzuki Vitara and Kia Sportage are also ultra-short two-door convertible SUVs, they all offer a low-range setting and can be taken places off road where the RAV4 can’t go. Like the others, the “convertible” portion of the RAV is the rear roof only; the driver and front passenger get a large removable sunroof. To lower the top, you must first un-velcro and un-zip the plastic rear-side windows and rear window, then store them. It’s a hassle.
Acceleration with the optional four-speed automatic is sluggish, even in “performance” mode. On the bright side, the ride is far better than its truck-based competition, and the tall roof creates lots of headroom. As with any SUV, especially one this short, corners need to be taken slowly.
What this vehicle is best suited for, believe it or not, is urban commuting. Parallel parking is a dream, and the (near useless) rear seat, though not removable, folds up clam-like against the front seatbacks to increase the limited cargo room. Finally, the big 16-inch tires soak up potholes and the numerous irregularities of city streets.
But 20 large, with manual windows and door locks, is a lot to pay compared with what you get, and front-wheel drive models aren’t much cheaper. Believe me, for only $700 more, you’ll be much happier with the four door. Or you can get the “real thing” – the go-anywhere Jeep Wrangler.
For more information contact 1-800-GO-TOYOTA
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Two-door Sport-utility Vehicle
Engine: 127-horsepower, 2.0 liter inline-4
Transmission: Four-speed Automatic
EPA Mileage: 22 city/26 highway
Tested Price: $20,423
Note: Another in a series of my reviews that appeared in the online version of African Americans On Wheels, a now defunct automotive magazine that was included as an insert in the Sunday newspapers of major cities.
weebles wobble but they don’t fall down
ROFL!
I remember this car.
If you’re looking for something modern like this for your son, I’d recommend Ford Edge or Lincoln MKX with panoramic roof.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/825757465/overview/
There is always the Wrangler too, but they are overpriced for what they are if you’re not using them for what they are designed for (Off-Roading).
I wouldn’t want a Wrangler to be my son’s first car. But if you’d consider the Rav convertible for your son, a modern Wrangler may actually be a slight improvement from a safety perspective.
Early 21st century options also include Isuzu Amigo and Suzuki Vitara. Just happened to stumble across a remarkably clean 1999 Amigo with just under 70K for $7,000.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/809450669/overview/
Thanks James, but what appeals to me about this car as a first car for a teenager are the fact that it checks all the boxes:
Slow – CHECK
Reliable – CHECK
Available Manual Transmission – CHECK
Mechanically simple – CHECK
Good gas mileage – CHECK
AWD for driving back and forth to college in New England winters – CHECK
Small rear seat so friends would only want to be back there for a short time with few chances of getting into “trouble” in the back of vehicle – CHECK
The Edge and MKX are much bigger, faster, more complex and automatic only. The newer Wranglers are horribly overpriced and the older ones get horrible gas mileage. None of these vehicles rate very highly on the reliability scale, either.
A late model Impreza probably would fit the bill better than anything else on the market today, and are most likely much cheaper on the used car market than the “Impreza jacked up 3 inches” Crosstrek.
Yeah, The Impreza is all that is left on the US market that meets all of your requirements.
There was a Ford Ecosport variant called AWD 1.5 EcoBlue that was available with a manual transmission but Ford never brought it to America.
https://www.buyacar.co.uk/ford/ecosport/ecosport-hatchback/1-5-ecoblue-125-titanium-5dr-awd-81737/deal-3414140
Also, I forgot to mention that there is a feature on I think most all Ford vehicles with Sync called MyKey that allows the owner of the vehicle to program the max speed.
I know I sound like a Ford shill but that is purely coincidental in this case.
Jeep Renegade Latitude – Turbo may impact the “mechanically simple” score though.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/823861080/overview/
https://www.carmax.com/cars/jeep/renegade/manual-transmission/4wdawd
https://www.jeep.com/assets/pdf/renegade.pdf
+1 on getting your new driver a stick. They learn car control and how to pay attention to what it’s doing; it’s hard to text and shift (so they are statistically safer for young drivers); their drunk friend can’t drive it.
Another reason to go for a Subie for a 16 yo is safety if he gets hit . One got rear ended by a box truck doing probably 30+ while waiting to enter my neighborhood. The back doors still worked. And I believe I learned here at CC that rescue crews are trained not to try to cut the b-pillar on Subies with the jaws of life as the reinforcement is too tough – just go for the roof.
To me these cars were always adorable. Love seeing one.
If you weren’t looking for off-road competency, and I suspect most folks who bought cute-utes weren’t, this was priced somewhat competitively with the competition.
Base MSRP, 2WD soft top:
RAV4: 15,678
Tracker: 14,835
Amigo: 15,810
Wrangler (4×4 only): 14,280
Vitara: 13,499
As if my fellow commenters don’t think I’m weird enough, I’d like one of these very much. If I recall, the mechanical bits were mostly Camry, so you get all the Toyota reliability, but you also get fun and whimsy.
To me this was the only RAV4 I do remember, every followup generation has just been a boring grey blur in traffic.
We just sold our 2-door Rav4 when a Nissan Pao decided to live with us. The Rav4 is nearly, almost as cute. I can’t recommend them highly enough as they’re endlessly flexible in interior accommodations, with all four seats folding flat for roadside supine naps and dual sunroofs for star watching.
http://davesanborn.blogspot.com/2020/06/Parappa-RAV4.html
I’d completely forgotten the first-gen RAV4 was available as a semi-droptop, so much that at first I thought the pic was of a Suzuki X-90 which preceded this cute-ute and had a similar size and shape (although a fixed top). I just learned the second-generation RAV4 also was made in a short two-door configuration; it wasn’t sold in the US though.
I don’t know whether we ever saw this body variation in Australia, it’s a new one on me – Don? Justy?
Well Pete, if it was a new one ON you, I reckon you’d recall it, even now.
Idiocies aside – or should that be “Asides aside”? – yes, we did get it, though I didn’t get it, and I didn’t get it either, if you see what I mean.
It’s too bad you don’t remember it much, but it’s likely one of the most ‘important’ cars that you tested, certainly so far. The 4 door would be more so, but this generation was still figuring that out. I remember one of the magazines ran a test of one vs a Wrangler, which makes as much sense as comparing it to a Miata. I still find this 2 door magnetically cute, it follows the “big puppy feet” stereotype of cuteness that the 4 door loses. Whatever Camry/Corolla is in there is hidden well.
I own a 1999 4-door RAV4 with 215,000 miles on it. Let me tell ya, it was my first car in 2014 with 125k, and I still love it to death. It’s my only car and daily driver and I find em to be dependable! Just packed my life in it in 2022 and drove 1400 miles across country…. she’s a soldier.
I had forgotten about it until several years ago when I pulled into a parking space next to one and went hey this thing is too short before I realized it was the 2dr “convertible” version. I thought they were cool when they came out and they did make some sense as there were other compact convertible SUVs around at the time.
Many years ago I saw one of these vehicles frequently, it was a rather cute little thing-before the Smart Car came along. It might have been useful for running to the convenience store in a snow storm for a six-pack but beyond that I never saw much use for it.
I remember there was an electric only model of RAV 4 in this configuration, it is based on Panasonic NiMH batteries commonly used as batteries for Toyota hybrid system. In other development of my work place it had one until mid 2000s, it probably was sold in public auction.
That is over 25 years ago, yet as of this date Toyota has not produced an electric only RAV 4 again. I wonder if Toyota has not believed the pure electric power train for personal vehicle, or it miss its chance to the future, or it is very comfortable in its current profitability leader.
About my work place, we had at least two infamous or famous GM EV 1 cars , again they were probably either retuned back GM after lease expired or sold in auction .But my work place is a public agency it is normal not leasing equipment, except in very rare case it leasing over 600 buses from NY Port Authority in 1980s. I believe that is a complicated business gimmick for tax purposes arranged by New York legislative body
Toyota sells several EVs and their BZ (RAV4 size) was the #4 selling EV in the US through Q3 of 2026.
The first generation of BZ4X was developed mostly by Toyota partner in China and produced in Toyota City, even its US model used CALT batteries. Again that was introduced after 20 years the mentioned RAV 4 EV. It is not clear about the current BZ except Toyota decided to use Panasonic lithium batteries in the US model in concern of US ban on China traction battery
No, the bz4x was developed by Toyota in Japan with some elements developed by Subaru. Yes, Toyota sells other EVs (mainly in China) developed by China partners, but not the bz4x. These used both batteries from PPS (Toyota-Panasonic JV) and CATL. Many manufacturers use CATL batteries.
I can tell you that for some folks these were and remain the perfect car .
4X4’ers likely won’t like this but those who like small, inexpen
$ive and reliable plus fun and dead easy to drive will never want to sell it on .
-Nate
Toyota RAV4: if “I used to be cool” was a car.
If Stranger Things was in a contemporary setting rather than 1980s retro, Mike’s dad would drive a recent RAV instead of his Pontiac Bonneville Model G.
This was that RAV4 that used to be cool, the ’64 Bonneville to the last 3 generations’ Brougham-era ones.