[arunrajk81]

Congrats for acquiring the rare one.

In my view with 2013 Update, Rav4 totally lost its character of compact/Sturdy sort. There was a 7 seater version as well as a 3.5V6 Engine available for short period in US, I guess might be in between 2011-13. Its still one of the hot selling compact SUV in US. I was trying to buy 3.5V6 for some time. It was dropped since price was too high in the second hand market.

Model till 2013 was seen with incremental updates in the basic design, though size increased considerably.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...ia-rav4old.jpg

Model Post 2013 is totally a new Design:-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...a-rav4new1.jpg

[deetjohn]

Congrats JayD! That's a very clean find.

The interior is well maintained and those plastics and fabric looks so good even after all these years. Love the twin sunroofs. Wish it had a transparent cover, will be amazing during monsoons.

Any plans for getting rid of the bull bar and the auxiliary lights upfront? They spoil the look and could also affect the air flow and ventilation for the engine.

[qr20de]

@JayD: That was an awesome post! And more so and immense vehicle! You found an absolutely gem of a vehicle. Those cars are bullet proof.

Back home in Kenya Rav4s (and Toyotas in general) are extremely popular and therefore attract a huge premium. (The Kenyan market is over 95% second hand imports because of extremely high import duties)

I was debating between the Rav4 and X-Trail when I was in the market for a car but the fact that the Rav4 was approximately 30% more expensive, even though it had almost the same specifications, I went for the X-trail. It was more spacious and had selectable AWD.

Great choice again and enjoy the kilometers ahead!

[JayD]

Originally Posted by arunu

As many others have mentioned, this car was very popular in the Gulf region. My office PRO has a 2010 model and even though he has access to other LCs, Prados, he prefers this car for small foot print and easy parking in the cramped parking lots. In addition, its also a decent 4wd performer.

At one time, Rav4 along with Daihatsu Terios, Suzuki Grand Vitara / Jimmy were very popular due to their smaller size and average 4wd capabilities.

Recently it has been updated, but competition in the form of Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, Suzuki GV, Subarau Forester etc have taken over the market.

Really very nice of you to find such rare car and dare to pay for such a car.
Wishing you millions of happy kms together.

Originally Posted by arunrajk81

Congrats for acquiring the rare one.

In my view with 2013 Update, Rav4 totally lost its character of compact/Sturdy sort. There was a 7 seater version as well as a 3.5V6 Engine available for short period in US, I guess might be in between 2011-13. Its still one of the hot selling compact SUV in US. I was trying to buy 3.5V6 for some time. It was dropped since price was too high in the second hand market.

Model till 2013 was seen with incremental updates in the basic design, though size increased considerably.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...ia-rav4old.jpg

Model Post 2013 is totally a new Design:-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...a-rav4new1.jpg

Originally Posted by qr20de

@JayD: That was an awesome post! And more so and immense vehicle! You found an absolutely gem of a vehicle. Those cars are bullet proof.

Back home in Kenya Rav4s (and Toyotas in general) are extremely popular and therefore attract a huge premium. (The Kenyan market is over 95% second hand imports because of extremely high import duties)

I was debating between the Rav4 and X-Trail when I was in the market for a car but the fact that the Rav4 was approximately 30% more expensive, even though it had almost the same specifications, I went for the X-trail. It was more spacious and had selectable AWD.

Great choice again and enjoy the kilometers ahead!

Thank you! Good to hear positive reviews on the Rav! And yeah, i too prefer the first gen to the later cars. This gen had a unique look and USP, compared to the later ones which became just another SUV.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Congrats JayD! That's a very clean find.

The interior is well maintained and those plastics and fabric looks so good even after all these years. Love the twin sunroofs. Wish it had a transparent cover, will be amazing during monsoons.

Any plans for getting rid of the bull bar and the auxiliary lights upfront? They spoil the look and could also affect the air flow and ventilation for the engine.

Yep. the interiors are MINT, and nothing is broken or drilled. This was one of my main criteria while selecting a car, since exteriors can always be restored. Interiors on these older cars are hard to bring back to spec, once they are ruined.

[forester]

For its age, I would say the car is in pristine condition. And that old school charm it has, clearly comes across through your words. Thank you very much for bringing us closer to it.

Congratulations on the lovely little wonder!

[blackwasp]

Congrats on your purchase! May you both cover lakhs of kilometres together. Toyota reliability and old school charm - the lil Rav is a cute vehicle. And let me tell you, I wouldn't have even guessed her age if you hadn't mentioned the 18 year old spare wheel!

This is an off beat purchase and very very rare vehicle on our roads. Seeing old Toyotas, LCs, Mercs shows us the way these vehicles were made.

Cheers

[DicKy]

Wow, Can't believe i missed this thread.

The st gen Ra is one of my favorite small SUVs (the other being Jimny) and i still have a year old die cast model of it with me.

Seeing this one and another RAV4 frequently on the Imports and Exotics of Kerala page in FB a couple of weeks back used to wonder who bought it.
So it's our own fellow BHPian JayD who bought this.

Thanks for the review and write-up, and many more happy kilometers.

Pssstt... During your offbeat search, had you considered or came in touch with those Toyota Mark IIs which seem to have come to Kerala en masse from Mumbai.

[JayD]

Originally Posted by forester

For its age, I would say the car is in pristine condition. And that old school charm it has, clearly comes across through your words. Thank you very much for bringing us closer to it.

Congratulations on the lovely little wonder!

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Congrats on your purchase! May you both cover lakhs of kilometres together. Toyota reliability and old school charm - the lil Rav is a cute vehicle. And let me tell you, I wouldn't have even guessed her age if you hadn't mentioned the 18 year old spare wheel!

This is an off beat purchase and very very rare vehicle on our roads. Seeing old Toyotas, LCs, Mercs shows us the way these vehicles were made.

Cheers

Thank you! The simplicity and reliability of this lil Rav is what pushed me to buy it. Ive always been a fan of old school LC's, especially the LC 80. But their size can get cumbersome, and I will rarely use their off road prowess. More importantly, with the NGT hanging over its head, waiting to kill it, i guess petrol is the way to go.

Originally Posted by DicKy

Wow, Can't believe i missed this thread.

The st gen Ra is one of my favorite small SUVs (the other being Jimny) and i still have a year old die cast model of it with me.

Seeing this one and another RAV4 frequently on the Imports and Exotics of Kerala page in FB a couple of weeks back used to wonder who bought it.
So it's our own fellow BHPian JayD who bought this.

Thanks for the review and write-up, and many more happy kilometers.

Pssstt... During your offbeat search, had you considered or came in touch with those Toyota Mark IIs which seem to have come to Kerala en masse from Mumbai.

Yep! That was me. The second Rav will be unveiled here soon!

I did see a lot of Mark 2's and other imports, but most of them have been used and abused to the core, and are mostly in the hands of shady dealers. While picking up older used vehicles, petrol is the fuel of my choice, mainly due to the fact that petrol cars will be used lesser and mostly less abused, compared to a diesel car, which will be flogged to every last bit of its capabilities, treated to lots of jugaad parts to keep them running etc.

[JayD]

Soon after my highway run, I called up Lanson Toyota (ECR Branch), to fix up an appointment for service. Before I could do that, I had to go there, and get my car registered in their system. This being an import, was not reflecting in Toyota India's servers, hence this procedure. They noted down the engine and chassis numbers of the vehicle, and told me to return after a couple of days.

The following Monday, i dropped off the car at Lanson, and gave the following list

1) Complete mechanical and electrical checkup
2) Check reduced pickup
3) Check a small vibrating noise at idle
4) Left passenger seat was hard to slide
5) Minor rattling from glovebox.


They kept the car for 2 days, and returned with the following notes

1) The car was perfect mechanically and electrically, no damage to the under body even. One engine mount 'may' need replacement in the future.
Suspension was perfect.

2) Fuel filter is completely blocked- came as a surprise since the Rav comes with a so called 'lifetime filter'. This is what Rav4 forums say

When Toyota Engineers first developed their electronic fuel injection (EFI), they were searching for a maintenance free, self regulating fuel system that would continually maintain itself in optimum working condition, with NO maintenance. A fuel system customers would just love for it's low, low maintenance.

They knew that the fuel must be kept clean enough to pass freely through the fuel injectors, etc. without any clogging at all. For this dedicated filtering purpose "Nippondenso" developed a very special fuel filter with over ten times the filtering surface of any previous automotive fuel filter. It is inside a very strong, rust proof metal container with high quality threaded fittings, to withstand the high fuel pressures of EFI. The filter medium is carefully pleated, so a huge filter area can be installed inside a compact metal container. It is a truly fantastic fuel filter! "State of the art"!!!


Anyways, since 'lifetime' is an optimistic statement, i figured Indian fuel had gotten the better of it. decided to change the same

3) The noise turned out to be from the exhaust. The core of the resonator seems to have reached end of life and causes a mind vibration at idle rpm. Step on the gas and it becomes quiet again.

4) Took out the channel and lubricated it. Not too much of a difference though.

5) Fixed with some jugaad.

requested them to order the parts, and asked for an estimate. The same was promised in a couple of days.

Below are some pics from Lanson Toyota. The first pic against the Innova gives an idea to the height of the Rav. Most pics make it look like a dwarf.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by JayD

..... petrol is the fuel of my choice, mainly due to the fact that petrol cars will be used lesser and mostly less abused, compared to a diesel car, which will be flogged to every last bit of its capabilities, treated to lots of jugaad parts to keep them running etc.

That makes perfect sense, even more so with the current lobbied diesel ban fad.

Only problem would be if it's a big car like LC and/or the quality of petrol that the cars have been fed on.

[JayD]

Followed up with the ECR branch for over a week with no updates on parts availability or prices. This was pretty disappointing since everybody was all praise about how Toyota was supporting imports.

After several days, it was mentioned to me that they did not have access to the parts manual, and instead to go to their Pallikarnai branch.

Did the same immediately, and again had to go thru the whole excercise of a general service etc. Despite spending over 2k uselessly in the ECR branch, i had to spend the same amount again, which made no sense. Still i went ahead.

The team there, while very friendly, had no coordination. I was assigned different SA's and had to repeat the whole story several times. Finally after about 2+ hours, i demanded for someone to take the car in or just return the keys so that I could leave.

Immediately, a test driver was assigned to me. The guy was pretty knowledgable, and was working with Toyota in the middle east earlier, which meant he was aware of this car.


Took a detailed test drive and he to acknowledged all the issues i pointed out. He wanted to check the compression the engine(which I felt was unnecessary, but agreed to go ahead with it). Opened the hood and i was shocked get the smell of rat litter. My heart sank for a moment.

I had left the car parked in my basement parking for several days when I was away, and a rat decided to eat some Japanese food.

It had nibbled on some cables, but thankfully nothing was cut or exposed. Told them to do another detailed check up and revert. Left the rav there went home dejected.

Dropped off the car and was promised delivery in a few days.

[Nimish anthony]

Eagerly awaiting for the rest of the story. Rats on an import is an owners nightmare.

[v12]

Congrats on the RAV4 JayD - this one really looks very well maintained. I believe then this is the 3rd SWB SUV on our forum, right?

• Your SWB Toyota RAV4
• Khan Sultan's SWB Toyota Land cruiser Prado (1998 Toyota 90 Series SWB 3 Door Land Cruiser Prado. EDIT: Now with 2" Ironman Lift)
• Hanmust's SWB Mercedes G Wagen (The rarest Merc: G-wagen)

[avinash_clt]

Hello JayD,

I found this thread quite late. Congratulations on acquiring that wonderful piece of Japanese engineering, a true form-following-function compact SUV.

Hope you still have the car and enjoy it. Could you share some updates, and how the service/maintenance is being handled by Toyota ASCs? I'm curious to know about the level of support offered to these niche Toyota imports through authorised channels.

Maybe you already have obtained all the necessary resources over time, but in case you need some part number/repair documentation, please feel free to PM


Cheers,
Avinash