The Cripple's New Car

I got my RAV4, All Wheel Drive new from the dealer in 2005. To avoid new car enthusiasm, I decided to wait before reviewing the car. I honestly never thought I would buy an SUV of any type but after rolling and totaling my Chevy S10 pickup (see previous reviews), I ended up with spinal injuries and found that Toyota's more ergonomic seats made driving comfortable for me again. I don't drive a lot so my RAV currently has only 22,000 miles on it.

The flip and fold rear seats are easy enough for me to do without help. Once they are folded, the car is capable of hauling just about anything from hot water heaters to lumber. Although the car came with a roof rack, I've never had to use it because there's so much room inside when the seats are folded. The grocery bag hooks are a real plus. No more listening to things rolling around as I round all the hairpin turns on the mountain on my way home from the store.

The acceleration from a dead stop is good enough to outrun smart-@@! kids at red lights. Eat my dust, babies. Ok, I know that a 50+ year-old woman isn't supposed to think or act like that but I really never grew up.

I live in a rural area and travel mountain roads: the power of the engine is impressive. Even with the air on at full blast, the drag is minimal.

The stereo is fabulous. Speakers all over the place. The radio reception isn't the greatest but that is to be expected due to where I live but I actually can pick up radio stations in two states when I use the radio. Most of the time I'm blasting the CD player.

The ride is smooth. The tires were oversized from the factory but the speedometer was calibrated by the factory too.

Mileage--the RAV4 gets 30+ miles per gallon and that's better than my 1996 GMC Sonoma, manual shift truck that spends 99 percent of its time parked. I'd sell it but I'm not putting garbage in my RAV4.

The only problem with the RAV4 is really more of an annoyance than a problem. The Low Tire Pressure light comes on and stays on. I had new tires put on the RAV recently and reset the light. Within minutes it came back on again. I've had my tires checked, rechecked, and even had air added to the spare but the light continues to come on for no reason. I was told that I could try taking the battery cables loose and waiting for about 10 minutes and then reconnect them. That worked for a previous vehicle but all the radio stations will need to be reprogrammed so I haven't tried it yet.

I did see a review by someone (male) who thought the RAV4 was, well, unattractive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I've always thought that the 2005 RAV was far more attractive than later models. For me, even before gasoline became liquid gold, MPG matters and that was another plus with the RAV4. The RAV doesn't require anything more than 87 octane.