Toyota RAV4 (2013-2018) review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

The RAV4 has grown in size with each new generation. This time, the Toyota is 30mm wider and 205mm longer than its predecessor. It also has a 100mm longer wheelbase, at 2,760mm, giving impressive interior space, particularly in the rear which features a totally flat floor and excellent head and legroom for all three passengers.

The boot is now accessed by a top-hinged tailgate, rather than one that opens like a door. Boot space has increased by 51 litres, to 547 litres, thanks to the fact that there’s a 100-litre storage area under the boot floor. However, this means there's no spare tyre.

There are plenty of deep cupholders throughout the interior, too, while the sports seats fitted on Icon models and above are comfortable.

Size

The RAV4 is around 4.6 metres long and 1.8 metres wide, which is on the large side for a crossover. It's bigger than the Nissan Qashqai, Skoda Yeti and even the Mazda CX-5, and the boxy shape means it makes good use of that size, with plenty of room inside.

Leg room, head room & passenger space

Thanks to a flat floor there's enough room for three passengers in the back, and none will be wanting for legroom, even with a tall driver or front-seat passenger. There's lots of headroom for the out seats, but the middle seat does start to feel cramped as it's much higher up. Getting in and out is easy as the RAV4 doesn't ride that high, even on the larger 18-inch alloy wheels.

Boot

With a boot capacity of 547 litres with the seats up, there's lots of luggage space in the Toyota. That's reduced to 501 litres in the hybrid version, but that's still comparable to the Mazda CX-5, which has 503 litres. The Honda CR-V's 589-litre space beats both significantly though.

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Fold the rear seats down and you'll open up 1,735 litres of space, but the floor isn't completely flat. There's a useful storage net that goes across the boot, though, which means you can slot in longer items underneath and store things like backpacks and coats in the net for easy access. There's an under-floor storage area too.

Towing

The RAV4 can tow up to 1,650kg in AWD hybrid form, but the towing capacity varies greatly depending on which engine you go for - the petrol manages 1,500kg, but the FWD hybrid only pulls 800kg.