should i buy a sport or base?

[NickRav4]

after driver a bmw 330xi, i dont think i would notice the harsher ride, but who knows. Now im just trying to find a good milage/year/price combo to jump on.

[Gryph]

Originally Posted by NickRav4

after driver a bmw 330xi, i dont think i would notice the harsher ride, but who knows. Now im just trying to find a good milage/year/price combo to jump on.

Yah I figure it can't be much worse than my TSX either. Yep same boat here, only thing I'm set on is a V6 4x4, everything else I can deal with and most upgrades can be done after the fact as needed if you really want something.

[NickRav4]

I definitely want the 4x4 I4, but now it is whether or not I want to get a base model and upgrade it myself, or buy the sport model, and have to do nothing. Modifying isnt a problem for me as I did it on the BMW quite frequently, so we shall see. I am trying to just find one though before I head back to college, so the search is on!

[vanib]

The Sport model is not really much of an upgrade over the Base. An upgrade would be a Limited.

On the RAV, Toyota went a bit cheap on stuff on Sport/Base e.g. no steering wheel buttons, no power seat, manual climate control, most arm rest buttons are not lit even in Limited, ...

When you test a Base or Sport, you will find that many things that you took for granted in a BMW/TSX are not available in Base/Sport, sometimes even in the Limted.

[NickRav4]

I found a clean 2008 sport with 80k miles in my price range so I will see how the test drive goes tomorrow!

[MrPulldown]

The sport drive a little nicer.
Not all sports had the SAP (sport apperance package). The no spare tire is a deal breaker for me, and my ussualy very optimistic wife.
Seems like it would be worth the extra money to get a newer 09+ RAV.
3rd row seats was key for us.
The three option that I would have liek to see on our base was: leather, fog, and alloy wheels.
I got some alloy wheels off a limited for use with winter tires for $350. I will conver t the interior to leather once the seats get stained pretty bad. That will be a $1000 job.
I will do fog lights as soon as I clear out my garage of current projects; next fall.

[NickRav4]

For more rugged and uneven terrain, would you guys recommend the sports feel or the base model feel to absorb more of the bumps and such?

[mrodgers]

Originally Posted by NickRav4

For more rugged and uneven terrain, would you guys recommend the sports feel or the base model feel to absorb more of the bumps and such?

No experience with Rav4s as I'm just looking myself. Long time from the past owner/enthusiast of Toyota trucks though.

You don't want to absorb bumps when driving on rugged and uneven terrain. You want to dampen them. A softer suspension you won't feel so much, but something stiffer like on the Sport, you will still feel it. It's hard for me to explain the feel, but for example, with a good shock (Rancho 5000's I ran) on a 4x4, you can feel the suspension compress and immediately rebound to neutral. That means that you feel the bumps more, just not worse. A softer road suspension is going to oscillate more and get more bouncy.

I test drove a Sport V6. I hit some rough sections of pavement. Wifey commented, "it runs a bit rougher than my Mazda (Tribute)." I commented, "I love it! Reminds me of my old Toyota truck with the Ranchos." It hit the potholes, the car jolts a bit, and then the suspension stops moving abruptly and settles back to neutral. You don't feel that with more of a road going suspension because the tire and shock would be oscillating up and down a few cycles while keeping the actual vehicle body stable.

Now on driving rough roads such as the softroading I am seeing mentioned around this forum, at higher rates of speed, that stiffer suspension keeps up with the bumps and jolts where a softer suspension will start to skip around as it is compresses then the tire moves to the valley of a bump, it can't react fast enough so you start skipping along hitting bumps midway instead of the suspension absorbing everything. Stiffer more off-road capable suspension reacts faster where it compresses and falls more in sync with the bumps.

[NickRav4]

Mrodgers, thanks for the insight and info. From what you said from experience, I think I am going to go with the sport model so it doesnt bounce around as much as the base. I wish i could afford the gas for a big truck but I cant, so this is the next best thing for me!

[Songdog]

Before my wife and I bought our 2010 Rav4 we test drove the Base and the Sport. The ride was was not noticeably different to us. But the run flat tires and no spare ruled out the Sport. We bought the Base and the only regret was that we could not get the moon roof option.