L&S Toyota of Beckley

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

2013 Toyota RAV4: fourth generation SUV revealed at LA Auto Show

The Los Angeles Auto Show is in full swing and will continue being open to the public until December 9th. One of the featured vehicles at the Toyota exhibit is the RAV4 Sport Utility Vehicle. It was introduced to the press and media prior to the opening of the show.

The RAV4 became a significant part of the Toyota family in 1994 as the world's first crossover SUV. Back then, most of us did not really understand what determined a crossover vehicle. After a few years, the term morphed into CUV for Crossover Utility Vehicle. Most recently, the CUV designation has dropped and now the general term is SUV for all of those type vehicles.

Toyota has produced 1.7 million of the RAV4 vehicles for the US market and about 80 percent of them are still on the road. The RAV4 has been built in Canada for roughly the past 4 years. Three generations of the RAV4 have been introduced over the 15 plus years and Toyota continues to add more versatility and functionality.

The Toyota RAV4 has been recognized with numerous awards over the years including Car and Driver's Best Small SUV, Consumer Reports Top Pick, Parents Magazine Best Cars for Families, and Automobile Magazine Automobile of the Year.

Bill Fay, Toyota's VP and General Manager presided over the 'World Debut' of the fourth-generation: the 2013 RAV4. He commented, “new contemporary styling creates the most visually dynamic RAV4 ever… It has an agile, sporty character…and a dynamic silhouette.”

A noticeable design change was the relocation of the rear-mounted spare tire. It is now placed under the cargo area which allows a near rear liftgate instead of a side-opening door at the back. The 2013 model will continue to offer either Front-Wheel Drive or All-Wheel-Drive. There is also a new six-speed automatic transmission that improves gas mileage as well as performance.

Power is provided by a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine. Previously, a V-6 engine was available as an option, but that will be discontinued. The 2.5L 4 cylinder will have an EPA estimated 31 mpg highway. The RAV4 will also feature a Sport Mode and an ECO Mode so that the driver may optimize fuel economy or have a more sportier drive.

The RAV4, as all manufacturers, offer a number of technologies. This includes navigation, a standard Display Audio, Entune Multimedia System, a backup camera,Rear Cross Traffic Alert, and much more. The 2013 Toyota RAV4 is expected to be in US dealerships in January. The pricing was not available for announcement during the LA Show.

(Courtesy of Examiner.com)