Toyota RAV4 - Practicality, comfort and boot space

The Toyota RAV4 started life as a compact SUV but has grown in size over the course of five generations. Today's car is a full-size family SUV that's aimed squarely at the Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Kodiaq, and as such has been designed with practicality and space in mind. 

Top-spec versions of the RAV4 come with a panoramic rear-view mirror similar to what you’ll find in a Land Rover Discovery Sport. It takes a feed from a camera just inside the rear hatch glass and shows it on a digital screen integrated into the usual mirror housing. It takes some getting used to, but ultimately shows a wider-angle image than you’d see in a traditional mirror. The main benefit is more for those who load up the boot to the ceiling, because with the camera engaged, you can at least see what’s going on behind you. 

Dimensions and size

The fifth-generation Toyota RAV4 is 100mm shorter than a Skoda Kodiaq, but is easier to place on tighter streets in towns and villages because it’s around 40mm narrower, and being a little higher by 20mm helps with visibility. The latest RAV4 is closer in width and height to the Hyundai Tucson.

Leg room, head room & passenger space

A 30mm stretch in wheelbase over the old car means that there’s space for four adults – and five could travel reasonably comfortably for a decent length of time. Headroom is good for six-foot adults too. Cabin space isn't quite as generous as a Hyundai Santa Fe or Kia Sorento, though, nor does it have a third row of seats like those rivals mentioned earlier, or the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Peugeot 5008, and Nissan X-Trail. Two Isofix points are provided on the outer rear seating positions, which is one less than the 5008.

Boot space

The RAV4's boot is a practical shape and size; in the regular model there are 580 litres on offer with the rear seats in place (79 litres more than in the Mk4 RAV4), and 1,690 litres available if you fold them down. Go for the plug-in hybrid version, and boot space is reduced to 520 litres with the seats up, then 1,604 litres when you fold the rear seats down.

These figures look competitive enough against, say, the Nissan X-Trail, which musters 575 litres as standard. But the Toyota can’t match the latest Honda CR-V, which has 587 litres in hybrid form, and (despite having a large battery pack) 617-litres in plug-in hybrid form. The RAV4 also doesn’t have the ultimate capacity of the Skoda Kodiaq, which offers over 2,000 litres of storage space when all the seats are folded down.

Those rear seats only fold in a conventional 60/40 split, which isn’t the most versatile when carrying people and luggage. The 5008 offers three individually folding second-row seats, and a sliding bench in order to maximise passenger leg room or luggage capacity, depending upon your needs.

Towing

Towing weight is quoted at 750kg for the plug-in hybrid and two-wheel drive models, or 1650kg for AWD models. The latter is a match for the similar hybrid Hyundai Santa Fe, but lags behind the 2,000kg capacity offered by the 2.0-litre, four-wheel drive petrol and diesel versions of the Kodiaq.