How does the RAV4 drive? The RAV4 doesn’t impress here, unfortunately. The engine is willing around town, and passing and merging are drama-free. But if you’re in a huge rush, you might notice the engine’s ultimately modest power delivery. In Edmunds’ testing, our RAV4 Adventure test vehicle needed 9.1 seconds to cover 0-60 mph, which is slightly slower than the class average.
Another gripe we have is with the steering, which is vague at the center point and doesn’t have appropriate levels of feel and heft. As such, it’s easy to misjudge your level of input. In better news, the RAV4’s optional upgraded all-wheel-drive system includes rear-axle torque vectoring and more advanced traction control systems with selectable terrain settings and hill descent control. These systems, plus respectable ground clearance, give the RAV4 Adventure above-average off-road ability for a small SUV.
