Toyota’s biggest presentation at the Los Angeles Auto Show is also a big, four-wheeled contrast. This very famous crossover used the North-American event to make the worldwide debut of its fourth generation, but this moment can be seen in two different ways: some can complain that it became only one more crossover like the dozens there are released each year, while others applaud Toyota for using a proven-success formula to promote their brand new visual identity. After reading this article, which side will you take?
Do you remember the first-generation RAV4? The year of 1994 received a tiny two-colored Toyota which was very similar to Suzuki Vitara in both style and conception: in that distant era when nobody referred to cars with “crossover”, these Japanese brands showed their cars wanting nothing more than reducing the normal off-road size and wrapping it in a funner and more casual design, which was helped by the removable roofs. It wasn’t difficult for RAV4 to achieve success around many countries, which led Toyota to expand its offer into a five-door version, with bigger space to seat five but with a more familiar approach, investing in a more classic appearance. And this was enough to make it worth receiving a whole new generation in 2000. The car took this opportunity to evolve its original concept, giving it a much more modern design and more sophistication, even though losing the “direct connection” with the sky. But at this time RAV4 faced a different market, which started to prefere two-door cars only in sporty or cheap versions. So the third generation came in 2005 with the opposite of the initial idea: there was only a five-door option and a more urban design than ever, with several style items that weren’t even close to resemble that 1990s little 4x4 which seemed to be ready for any obstacle.
But there’s no argument with numbers, specially when they’re bringing cash. Even though this car debuted with a very nice idea at that time, in nowadays people seem to have decided what they really want to drive. So instead of insisting on that Sunday-beach body, Toyota reprojected their “Recreational Active Vehicle with 4-wheel drive” as a true urban crossover, with bigger size and much more sophistication – if the first two phases shared Corolla’s platform, it passed to using Camry and Venza’s. The urban dedication comes with hiding the spare tire under the car, instead of carrying it on the trunk lid as it used to. However, it’s undeniable that this enables RAV4 to show the mentioned Toyota’s new style rules: the front became more aggressive by joining the headlights and the grille into one V-shaped element, which is only divided by the brand logo. Besides that, the entire car became more elegant, using straight lines with nothing but the right size of volumes and creases, not to mention the tail lights: the beautiful horizontal design shown by the pictures leads to very high expectations for cars such as the next Corolla. The interior brings more luxury than ever, with plenty of space for five occupants and items such as dual-zone air conditioner, reverse gear camera, blind spot monitor and eight airbags. The full traction now works only on demand, and the V6 engine was dropped: there will be only the 2.5 with 170 hp and a new automatic transmission, with six speeds.