My mother chose the rav4... For my dad... In white... My poor dad lol.
She has a solara that she's in love with and it's been a great car. It's pretty much a Lexus level Toyota. Still don't like it myself aside from the fact that Toyota built a large 2 door car which I find unusual and neat.
The crv is ex-l. I really had to have the center console and moreover- the leather seats. My last car was leather (BMW 540) and i liked my honda elements seat material better.
But the fabric seats in the crv werent as comfortable. Maybe a different foam is used, maybe the tautness of leather vs fabric. Either way i sat in a used crv w leather and sank in about an inch and "dug" in.
So comfortable! I was really surprised- I'd never felt so comfortable in any prior car. Those BMW sport seats were amazing for their purpose, but for the crv they put money where it matters. (I'll take seriously cheap carpets, sound deadening and floor mats over sacrifices in mechanical integrity and seat comfort any day!)
Case in point- the transmission is really smooth. Yes it does that shift too soon thing that the latest crop of cars are doing to get mileage figures up, but it really shifts so smooth tgat I just give it a little push and the car downshifts or gets into overdrive gearing. Very effective. I don't miss the manual transmission at all. It was getting to be a real pain and source of worry- am I going to fudge this one and on the verge of overtaking get caught in a place on the road I don't want to be??
So when I say the crv is so nice to drive- I mean it.
The biggest surprise was the stereo. It's the subwoofer optioned non nav one. And speaking as an audiophiles I can say this- no it's not a custom system, no it's not the best of upgraded systems that you'll get in a Lexus, but it really sounds good. That's because they replaced the rear door speakers which only serve to pull your soundstage back into the car (the orchestra or band is in front of you, not behind -right?!
. So they basically put in two sub speakers where the rear speakers would be and put an 80 watt amp under the passenger seat.
iPod integration is seamless.
I'm 6'2. I could use a little more visibility of traffic lights- the top of the windshield frame doesn't extend back far enough. But nothing like sitting in a scion xb or Toyota fj cruiser.
The only thing that sucks is the swept back side mirrors. They are swept back for aerodynamics but when you drive you don't want to have to look any further sideways to see than you have to. A mirror check shouldn't be such an issue- but then I may only just have to acclimate.
I'd even consider hunting down older mirrors that I could retrofit w power and heat functions, but well see.
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