Toyota RAV4 Problems

On average a 2008 RAV4 Cruiser would have done between 90,000 and 150,000 km, and its value on the private market would be $13,500 to $15,500. On that basis it looks too good to be true, which usually means it is. I wouldn't think of buying a car I haven't seen and checked out myself.

The CX-5 is the best vehicle in your line-up and gets The Tick from me.

The mileage is very low for an 11 year-old car, so make sure the odo reading is credible. A check of its service record should give you enough information to tell if it's correct or not. RAV4s of that era had quite a lot of trouble with the automatic transmission, so put the car through as many different driving modes as possible and look for things like reluctant shifting, hesitations, juddering, etc. Other than that the RAV4 is a decent car.

There is no reason for a dealership to do extra work beyond the logbook services, unless something is faulty.

If you genuinely have an unlimited budget, the best mid-sized prestige SUV is the Porsche Macan. If you're being more realistic, the Mazda CX-5 gets The Tick.

The ECU problem affected 2001, 2002 and 2003 models.

There is no such thing as a use-by date but my personal cut-off is 160,000km. Lots of cars run happily for much longer, and I have a friend with an immaculate old Honda Accord close to 800,000km. Before running into big expenses it seems like the right time to be moving to something younger.

If you're going to sell it do it sooner rather than later. The longer you leave it, the more it will drop in value, and if you wait long enough a new model will come out and yours will dip in value even more. Right now it's an appealing car being a one-owner with very low kilometres and with the remainder of the warranty.

It has a timing chain, which doesn’t require changing regularly, as a belt does. The only serious problem the RAV4 suffered related to the ECU controlling the automatic transmission, which could fail resulting in erratic shifting.