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What's the difference?
The Toyota RAV4 has long been one of the most popular medium SUVs on the Aussie market. In recent years, however, it has faced increasingly intense competition from its rivals.
And as car buyers move towards alternative energy sources and lower emissions, the hybrid realm has swiftly become a hotly contested section of the market.
The all-wheel drive RAV4 has impressed me, but how about the 2WD version? And in top spec to boot?
Read on.
The Wildtrak grade in Ford’s Ranger line-up has attracted plenty of fans over the years and now the wagon version has arrived.
The Ford Everest Wildtrak replaces the Sport as the second-most expensive variant in the Everest line-up, under the top-shelf Platinum.
At more than $74,000, the Wildtrak gets some extra driver-assist tech and Wildtrak-specific wheels and styling that lower-spec versions don’t.
But under the metal it is no different to any other V6 Everest – same engine, same suspension, same everything.
So, how good is it off-road? Well, 'Bi-Turbo' and V6 Everests have proven very effective 4WDs on my tests in the past, so I wasn’t expecting any surprises – but you never know.
Read on.
The Toyota RAV4, particularly in Cruiser Hybrid spec, is a sensible, comfortable family 2WD wagon with plenty of standard features onboard.
It's nice enough to drive on-road without ever being over-the-top dynamic and offers a sensible amount of practicality and functionality for the price.
It feels a tad underdone, especially as rivals in this section of the market are improving all the time, but if you're patient enough to wait for Toyota's supply to catch up with customer demand, the RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid might just be spot-on for you.
The Everest is a very impressive seven-seat 4WD wagon, with real off-road capability.
As standard, it has a lot going for it. It’s quiet and refined on-road, very capable off-road and packed with features.
Do you need any of the Wildtrak additions? No, but if you have the cash and fancy a nice-looking, feature-packed off-road wagon you could do a lot worse than an Everest Wildtrak.
I still like the Sport, though…
Beyond its distinctive RAV4 grille, 18-inch black gloss alloys and that rather striking Saturn Blue paint, this medium-sized SUV remains inoffensive enough.
For those of you who love measurements, the Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid is 4615mm long (with a 2690mm wheelbase), 1865mm wide, and 1690mm high. It has a listed kerb weight of 1700kg.
The Everest Wildtrak retains the same dimensions and design as regular grades, but its few styling differences boil down to a front bumper with darker accents, LED fog lights, black wheel arch flares and window trim, as well as Wildtrak badging and branding.
As mentioned, it has 20-inch Asphalt Matt Black alloy wheels with all-season tyres – but you can option 18-inch ‘Boulder Grey’ alloys and all-terrain tyres for no extra cost.
On the inside it has 'Ebony' leather upholstery with 'Cyber Orange' stitching, a panoramic sunroof, 360-degree camera, and interior ambient lighting.
Exterior paint jobs include the no-cost 'Arctic White', or choose from 'Aluminium', 'Meteor Grey', 'Absolute Black', 'Blue Lightning', 'Equinox Bronze' and the Ranger Wildtrak’s distinctive like it or loathe it 'Luxe Yellow' paint on our test vehicle.
It's a clean and comfortable cabin with a solid attempt at a premium look and feel, but it all feels a bit dated and under-done, even with leather accented interior trim and plenty of soft-touch surfaces.
There's the usual amount of RAV4 storage, which is more than adequate and, for charging your devices, there are three USB ports up front and two for the rear seat passengers.
The 10.5-inch touchscreen multimedia system and driver display are bright, clear and generally easy to use, although the media unit's operating system can at times be a bit of a labyrinth to work through.
Buttons, dials and grippy textured controls are easy to locate and operate.
All seats are okay without being great, but up front they are power-adjustable every which way, so there's that.
The rear seat is roomy enough in all directions for even those whose nickname is 'Stretch', 'Big Unit' or simply 'Tall Bastard'. The fold-down armrest has cupholders.
For kids, that seat row has three top-tether points and ISOFIX anchors in the outboard positions.
In terms of packability, the rear cargo area has a listed 580 litres of space, but with that rear seat stowed away there's a listed 1690 litres.
That area has a cargo blind, four tie-down points, a 12V socket and a removeable floor liner.
The leather-appointed interior is comfortable and functional, but in the Wildtrak everything has an extra level of classiness to it.
There are plenty of storage spaces with sizeable bins, bottle holders in each door, cupholders for everyone – even third-row passengers get cupholders and places for their bits and pieces.
The driver and front passenger have access to two 12-volt sockets and two USB ports.
The portrait-style touchscreen is easy to use although there’s a confusion of choices going on and sometimes it takes a few substantial taps on the screen to activate the function you want.
The power-adjustable front seats are comfortable and supportive, without ever being too much of either.
The cabin feels a bit too cosy – narrow but tall – and second-row seating is a bit squeezy for three adults, especially in terms of hip and shoulder room for larger blokes, but it’d be fine with slighter adults and even gangly teens.
Second-row passengers get a pair of pop-out cupholders in the armrest, and can control their air con temp and fan speed, as well as open or close their air vents as they see fit, and use a 230-volt or 12-volt socket from their seat.
The second-row has a 60/40 split-fold seat back and the third-row has a 50/50 split-fold. There are five child-seat anchor points, and two ISOIX anchor points in the second row.
Third-row seats can be manually deployed or stowed away. The third row is for kids only, I reckon, with shallower room all-around.
When all seven seats are in use there’s a claimed 259 litres of cargo space in the rear; 898L when the third row is stowed away; and 1823L of cargo space when the second row is also lowered. The area behind the third row has bag hooks each side, and luggage tie-down points on the floor.
There is a 12V power outlet in the rear cargo area, plus the Wildtrak has a hands-free power tailgate.
The front-wheel drive, five-seat Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid has a MSRP of $51,410 (excluding on-road costs).
Standard features include a 10.5-inch multimedia touchscreen system (with sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), a nine-speaker JBL stereo set-up (with digital radio), a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a surround-view camera, plus 10-way power driver's seat incl. memory, eight-way power passenger seat, heated and ventilated front seats, leather accented interior, dual-zone auto climate control, a power tailgate, tilt/slide sunroof, and 18-inch gloss black alloy wheels.
Exterior colour choices include 'Glacier White', 'Silver Sky', 'Frosted White', 'Graphite', 'Eclipse Black', 'Atomic Rush', 'Mineral Blue' and 'Saturn Blue' (the latter on our test vehicle).
The seven-seat Ford Everest Wildtrak has a suggested retail price of $74,704 (excluding on-road costs) and is only available with the V6 turbo-diesel engine.
For your reference, at time of writing, it’s about $1100 more than the equivalent Ranger Wildtrak.
Standard Everest features include a 12.0-inch touchscreen (in portrait-style layout) with sat nav, Apple CarPlay (wireless or wired) and Android Auto, a wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control, heated and ventilated power-adjustable front seats, and leather-accented trim.
Wildtrak-specific additions are mostly limited to updated styling as well as 20-inch ‘Asphalt Matt Black’ alloy wheels with all-season tyres – but you can option 18-inch ‘Boulder Grey’ alloys and all-terrain tyres for no extra cost – and there’s also a 360-degree camera and tyre pressure monitoring system.
The Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD hybrid has a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine and electric motor set-up with a 1.6kWh (6.5Ah) nickel-metal hydride battery system.
Combined system output for power is 160kW and the torque output (combustion engine figure only) is 221Nm at 3600rpm.
This RAV4 has a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and it's pretty cluey when it comes to always being in the revs and ratios sweet spot.
It also has an EV mode for driving only on battery power to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, and several driving modes including 'Eco', 'Normal' and 'Sport'.
The drive settings are designed to produce optimal ride and handling via maximised engine performance and tuning, steering and throttle response, best suited to the terrain and conditions.
The Ford Everest Wildtrak has a 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel engine producing 184kW at 3250rpm and an impressive 600Nm from 1750rpm to 2250rpm and a 10-speed automatic transmission.
The Wildtrak has a full-time 4WD system with selectable two-wheel drive (2H), four-wheel drive high-range (4H), four-wheel drive low-range (4L) and four-wheel drive automatic (4A = 4Auto) that sends drive to the front and rear axles as needed, and which can be used on sealed surfaces.
It has selectable drive modes including 'Normal', 'Eco', 'Tow Haul', 'Slippery', and for off-roading: 'Mud/Ruts', and 'Sand'.
These all adjust engine outputs, throttle control and transmission behaviour to best suit the terrain you’re on and the driving conditions you’re exposed to.
The Wildtrak has a locking rear diff.
The Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid has listed fuel consumption of 4.7L/100km (on a combined cycle).
I recorded 5.9L/100km on our test, but, as a mate so kindly pointed out, I drive like an old gentleman.
The RAV4 has a 55-litre fuel tank, so going by that on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect to get a driving range of about 930km out of a full tank.
Official fuel consumption is 8.5L/100km on a combined cycle.
Our fuel consumption on this test was 15.4L/100km after a lot of 4WDing.
The Everest has an 80-litre fuel tank, so, going by those fuel figures, if your trip involves a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 520km out of a full tank.
The RAV4 is very quiet* and generally rather nice to drive. So, as a daily driver, it's on the right side of impressive.
* Except when it's not, keep reading.
It has smooth acceleration and quickly settles into an easy groove at higher speeds.
Steering retains a welcome precision, visibility is good all around, and the RAV4 always feels settled on any surface.
It does ride and handle well on the blacktop and it's not too shabby on gravel and dirt surfaces, though it skips around on rougher, more irregular sections, due to its firm suspension and road-biased tyres.
The CVT is smooth and efficient in terms of being the optimal auto. It's not dynamic but it's certainly reliably consistent.
This hybrid switches between the engine and electric motor seamlessly and battery charge is easily regenerated through the vehicle's forward motion when little to no throttle is being used to maintain momentum (as in downhills or while otherwise coasting), or the vehicle is slowing to a stop.
NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) levels are mostly subdued except when you give the RAV4 some heavy right boot to spur it into immediate action. There's also some mild wind-rush noise around the big wing mirrors when you hit the open road.
As I've said before, the owners of city-focussed SUVs would be surprised by just how capable their vehicles are when driven sensibly, even the 2WDs.
You can undertake your own scaleable adventure in a 2WD vehicle but, of course, any trip off of a sealed surface in a 2WD will have to be very light-duty off-roading. So, nothing more difficult than a well-maintained dirt or gravel track surface in dry weather.
Towing capacity is 480kg – unbraked and braked – so you won't see a RAV4 skull-dragging a horse float any time soon.
The Everest has always impressed me as a refined drive and it’s one of the best large SUV wagons on-road.
The V6 is a gutsy unit, consistently delivering sustained power and torque at low and high speeds. It’s torquey and plenty of its 600Nm is available across a broad rev range.
The 10-speed auto transmission has had the previous-gen’s thrashiness between ratios smoothed out – and if you want to take over duties yourself you can do so via the 'e-Shifter' in this 4WD wagon.
At 4940mm long (with tow receiver; 4914mm without) with a 2900mm wheelbase, and at 2207mm wide and 1837mm high, the Everest is a sizeable SUV, but it never feels too bloated to steer accurately, with a well-weighted helm keeping it under control.
But you do have to drive with absolute focus, otherwise it’s long undercarriage may suffer the consequences – but more about that soon.
The cabin is very quiet, with nothing much intruding in terms of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness), other than low-level wind-rush around the wing mirrors.
The suspension set-up – with coil springs at every corner – helps to produce smooth, composed ride and handling.
So, while it is impressive on-road, it’s not too shabby off-road, either.
For a large 4WD it feels nimble, even on tight overgrown tracks, but, as mentioned earlier, it requires the driver’s full attention at all times.
Approach angle is 30.2 degrees, departure angle is 25 degrees, and ramp break-over is 21.9 degrees.
The Everest has a long wheelbase making its undercarriage vulnerable to scraping rocks, tree stumps or exposed tree roots, especially during more technical 4WDing sections.
The sidesteps are also pronounced enough to be magnets for damage when off-roading.
Low-range gearing is good and the Everest has an electronic rear diff lock to enhance this wagon’s dirt-grabbing abilities.
Driver-assist tech aimed at making 4WDing safer and easier for everyone includes off-road driving modes such as Mud/Ruts and Sand, which adjust engine outputs, throttle, transmission, braking, traction and stability controls to best suit the driving conditions.
Hill descent control kept the Wildtrak to a controlled 3.0-4.0km/h while we tackled short steep downhills.
Wading depth is 800mm and while I didn’t get to test it this time – no mud around – I have tested the Everest previously through water and it has performed admirably.
The Wildtrak as standard has 20-inch alloy wheels on Goodyear Wrangler Territory HTs (255/55 R20). A 20-inch tyre doesn’t give a 4WDer much flexibility in terms of how much air you can drop out of it for off-roading and correct tyre pressures are crucial for 4WDing.
Ford offers an easy fix, though, in the shape of 18-inch black alloys on all-terrain tyres as a no-cost option.
If you’re thinking about using your Everest as a touring vehicle be mindful that the Wildtrak’s payload is 741kg, gross vehicle mass (GVM) is 3150kg, and gross combination mass (GCM) is 6250kg.
The Everest’s towing capacity is 750kg (unbraked) and 3500kg (braked).
The Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2019.
Safety gear onboard includes AEB with pedestrian/daytime cyclist detection, intersection turn assist, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, lane tracing assist, rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors, traffic sign recognition, trailer sway control, hill-start assist, a 360-degree surround-view camera and more.
It has seven airbags including front, front side, full length curtain and driver's knee airbag.
The Everest has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2022.
It has nine airbags (dual front, front side, driver and passenger knee airbags, curtain airbags covering all three rows and a centre front bag to prevent head collisions).
There's also a full suite of driver-assist tech including front AEB (autonomous emergency braking), adaptive cruise control with speed sign recognition and speed adaptation, lane departure alert and lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
The Everest’s AEB operates up to 130km/h, with pedestrian and cyclist detection operating up to 80km/h, according to Ford.
It has reverse brake assist (aka rear AEB), a tyre-pressure monitoring system, a 360-degree surround-view camera, front and rear parking sensors and an auto parking system.
The Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid has a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Get all your work done at a certified Toyota mechanic and you're in line of powertrain coverage under warranty for seven years.
Servicing is set at 12 month/15,000km intervals and capped price servicing keeps costs to $260 a pop for the first five years or 75,000km.
The Everest is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
Ford offers a five-year roadside assistance, and a capped-price service plan.
Service intervals are scheduled for every 12 months or 15,000km and the maintenance cost for the first 48 months/60,000km (the first four services) is capped at $329 a pop for MY22 or MY23 Everests.
As always, check with your preferred dealer for up-to-date pricing.