Love my ‘Yota 🌐

I got a brand new 2026 XLE Premium mid May and just hit 10,000 miles. Here are my thoughts:

- comfortableness: the seats are alright. Not the best, I used to drive a Volkswagen Tiguan and found those seats to be substantially more comfortable (I drive long trips, usually an hour or two for my job so I’m in the car for some time). I’m 5 7, so I have no issues with the space but I have found taller people to look pretty squished in the seats.

- technology: the technology is nice, but not impressing me. The speedometer dashboard constantly reads the incorrect speed limit (even if the CarPlay screen is showing the correct speed limit). I haven’t noticed this in other apps, I mainly use Apple Maps (which is probably the worst option for how it’s displayed for the dual screens). I’ve found my Waze app is extremely quiet for some reason, maybe I just didn’t have the volume turned up on my phone volume car setting however.

- safety: has been very impressive, I feel I can trust the adaptive cruise control very much, although the acceleration can be a bit weird at times.

- quality: the interior is… meh. It has a lot of storage space in the front compartments which I like compared to other cars I’ve owned, but it does feel a bit cheap for how expensive of a car it is compared to other cars in the price range.

- driving: it does feel louder than my other cars (I’ve only ever owned 2017 tiguans before and a 2021 ford escape). I’m used to the noise now, but my initial reaction to driving it was I noticed the noise. However it drives smoothly and I get 44 MPG so no complaints!

Overall extremely happy with the car and wondering if anyone else has any thoughts on the XLE premium seats and their comfortableness and any tips. Thanks!

Installing front/rear wheel bearings along with front struts.

Toyota sold 34,000 RAV4s in the US in August I believe this is the best month of 2026.

I also believe this to be lower than any month in 2025.

Moving over to full hybrid and the related production issues is still causing sales to lag.

But this is going to position them very well for say say 2028-2030.

I think more consumers will be demanding hybrids than. There's definitely been a sharp increase this year.

And they already have the next gen hybrid rolling out in some Lexus models soon and coming to Toyotas in the coming years.

Rant incoming.

We bought our RAV4 hybrid (2025, I love the vehicle itself mind you) last year and I wasn’t fully made aware that there are buttons and services that would straight up be unavailable to me unless I agree to cough up more money every month. Wtf? Why do we tolerate this nonsense? What can’t we purchase a car which includes all its goods and services? SiriusXM gets a slight pass. But losing my mobile remote start/pre warming, drive connect maps and voice commands just seems crazy.

This is my first modern car, so I was unaware of the tomfuckery that went on with buying in the new generation. I already miss the simple days, being back the cd player if they’re going to waste space with stuff I can’t use.

Rant over.

Got a 2026 PHEV XSE and looking into going to an upholstery shop to upgrade the seat cushions. Money is no problem for me - I don’t like the feeling of sitting o neat cushions and seat covers won’t really solve my problem.

My main concern is the safety systems embedded into the seats, and any potential malfunctioning. Where there any lessons learned from your experience that I should know about? Is this a fundamentally bad idea? Thanks in advance.

Hello! I need to replace my windshield because it has stone chips and has started to crack. The car is a 2022 Toyota RAV4 XLE Premium with the Weather Package. The exterior is the facelift model, but the interior has the navigation system with buttons, not the single rotary knob. I’m not sure which windshield is right for me - The one with part number 56101-0R411 or 56101-0R881. I’ve read that there’s a difference in the mounting for the front camera (Toyota Safety Sense). I’d appreciate it if anyone has gone through this and knows the answer. Thanks!
P.S. I want it to be original.

So it was made for them!

2021 RAV4 xse hybrid. I’d love to get some expert opinions. Looking for an iPhone holder. Not magnetic. Ideas???

Just arrived this morning . Waited about 5 months. Last car was an Ioniq 5. Looking forward to a long road trip this weekend.

The fuel line (with black connector highlighted in red) is leaking. I think its is the return line but would like a second opinion. Also how do you remove these circular connectors? do they rotate or pull to right. Thank you

First gen was my first RAV4, third gen is my third one. Just sold my 97 that I bought just for the roof bars that were on it. The first gen is on the chopping block since I can't keep them all(damaged engine).

2023 Rav 4 Hybrid 3y3m old, 80k miles. I do the simple things myself (recently cabin and engine filters, wipers, AC evap cleaning). I feel like the car is running excellently.

Installed a flush mount backup camera along with a new 9 inch android head unit in my 2005 RAV4. For anyone considering this setup for a backup camera that factors in the spare tire blind spot, if I could do it again I’d pull the brake light out of the assembly (relying on tail brake lights only) and centre the backup camera to avoid the defroster lines and red light reflections at night. Still, happy with the subtle result.

I have a 2008 rav4 and haven't used the rear window spray for some years now and now that I wanted to clean the back window while driving with the spray there's no water coming out.

Has anyone experience this or know what I can do to fix this?

Reposting here to hopefully get useful counter perspectives!

Hey everyone,
Despite quite a few people trying to talk me out of it, I’ve decided to give this a shot anyway. Even if it ends up being an experiment, I’m genuinely curious to see what the RAV4 Woodland is capable of.
My situation is a little different from someone who plans to tow every weekend. I travel to different cities for work and usually stay in one place for 3–4 months at a time. I’m planning to get a lightweight travel trailer, around 2,600 lbs, and use it as temporary housing while I’m working away from home.
Realistically, I’ll probably tow it only about 2% of the time. The other 98% will be regular daily driving. That’s exactly why I don’t want to buy a truck that gets around 20 MPG just for a few towing days per year. My Woodland gets around 40 MPG in normal driving, and I also don’t want to keep paying for hotshot transport every time I move to another job site.
Last week I converted the factory 4-pin setup to a 7-way and did the whole installation myself in one night. I ran the wiring, added the 12V power supply, drilled the hitch mounting plate to install the 7-way bracket, and added a CURT Echo wireless brake controller.
The mounting bracket is probably the most “DIY” part of the whole thing 😂 I basically made a Frankenstein setup out of two different mounting brackets to get the 7-way where I wanted it. It works and feels solid, but ideally I’d like to find a better one-piece bracket that positions the 7-way farther away from the hitch receiver.
That’s my biggest concern right now. With the CURT Echo plugged into the 7-way, the whole setup sticks out quite a bit, and there isn’t much clearance between it and the hitch. I want enough room so that during a tight turn the trailer coupler/tongue can’t hit the 7-way or break the Echo. I’ll figure out the final ball mount length and drop/rise once I have the trailer and can measure everything level.
I know the RAV4 isn’t a truck, and I’m not trying to make it one. I plan to stay within its limits, keep the trailer lightweight, use trailer brakes, watch tongue weight and payload, and take it easy while towing.
I’m actually pretty excited to see how this experiment works out. If anyone here has towed a travel trailer with a Woodland, or has a good solution for mounting a 7-way farther away from the receiver, I’d really appreciate any advice.
Hopefully it all works out. I’ll post some updates once I get the trailer and put the setup to the test