Maybe you're in Eco mode?

Try Normal or Sport modes.

 

Drive it some more and see if it “learns” your driving habits.

 

This

My rav4 was the same way for awhile.

 

Or reset the computer
What fuel did you put in?

Also check the floor mats
Make sure the mats are not messing with the gas pedal action

 

That "laggy throttle response" is due to the newness of OP's RAV and his easy-going driving style to carefully break in the two week old car. The 8 speed automatic trans in the OPs gas model has ADAPTIVE LEARNING. It will learn and adapt its behaviour to his driving style over the first months and miles of ownership. If he is a slow and conservative driver it will tend to shift into a higher gear quicker and keep his RPMs lower in each gear. It will feel slow and boggy and sluggish like you are in ECO instead of NORMAL mode. If he is a sporty and spirited driver it will hold in each gear longer so the revs can get up more into the torque and horsepower curves. In his 2 week old, new gas model '25 RAV he probably has not "punched it" yet and really accelerated hard. The '23 he drove previously that did not have the "laggy throttle response" was probably fully broken in and had been driven by more aggressive drivers that the trans adapted to.

 

My thought is to agree with the other who said it's in ECO mode. It drives way differently when you switch it to NORMAL or SPORT mode.
ECO in my new 2025 Rav4 is like driving a worn-out Corvair from the 60's, lol. I like the Normal mode.

 

worn-out Corvair from the 60's,

The very last Corvair Monzas were supposed to be OK and had a good reputation and some were raced in the SCCA. I seem to remember GM changed the axle design and copied Porsche and that the air-cooled engine got an early turbo charger.

 

Or there could be an issue in the fly by wire controls

Did the dealer scan and look at the throttle response?
Live data would show if there are dropouts or lag in the response

 

Laggy as compared to a car that has the engine running 100% of the time?

When in HV mode, it takes a fraction of a second to start the ICE...

So, what vehicle are you comparing this "lag" to? your last car?

 

When in HV mode,

OP has a 2025 XLE AWD. That is an ICE/gas model. Not hybrid.

 

whoops! that's what I get by filtering by "new" and not by forum!

 

Hmmm...we just got a new to us Hybrid LE. Have had for a couple of months now. I never thought about any throttle lag or lag in power - probably because I never thought of the Rav as something to challenge Hemi Chargers et. al. and I'm pretty pokey in my natural state anyway.

 

The hybrid models are unlikely to EVER have throttle lag because their electric motors supply instantaneous torque whenever you hit the throttle. I guess if the ICE in a hybrid has a serious misfire, then there might be what some might perceive as a throttle lag.

 

Taz... you speculated that the hybrid cars would not have lag...

but you don't have one...

I have the phev.... '24... it does have a lag from a stoplight as the motor is turned off, and smashing the throttle you can feel a little lag until the motor starts and generates power (singe ICE does not have max torque at zero rpm)...

so, my vehicle does have a noticable lag as compared to a normal ICE, or BEV.... (I have/have had both, several of each)

 

I am frankly surprised! For years on the 5th gen hybrid sub forum some rude hybrid owners ballyhooed their instant torque and responsiveness. They ridiculed gas models for their alleged slowness and different feel since the torque and horsepower peaks are way up in the rev band in ICE models. Of course, those early hybrid owners (circa 2019-2021) also claimed their cars were bullet proof as compared to the supposedly less reliable gas models that required more maintenance--but that all ended with the CABLEGATE fiasco. Many of those early hybrid blowhards have disappeared from this forum. Hybrids with throttle lag!...who would have thought.

 

Definitely laggy when compared to my Mustang 5.0.

Hybrid more enjoyable to drive than gasser.

How many rav4's does the OP have?

https://www.rav4world.com/threads/ev-mode-not-activating-consistently-in-my-rav4-prime.340398/

 

My thought is to agree with the other who said it's in ECO mode. It drives way differently when you switch it to NORMAL or SPORT mode.
ECO in my new 2025 Rav4 is like driving a worn-out Corvair from the 60's, lol. I like the Normal mode.

My thought is to agree with the other who said it's in ECO mode. It drives way differently when you switch it to NORMAL or SPORT mode.
ECO in my new 2025 Rav4 is like driving a worn-out Corvair from the 60's, lol. I like the Normal mode.

Had one!

 

1. Isn't the Corvair the impetus for Nader to write "Unsafe at Any Speed?"

2. I'm surprised that a LOT of people debate about lag in a RAV4 - like with our former Prius, it's just not something that I looked at/for or bothered me, so I never even notice. If it was happening in the 69 396 Camaro I built in high school or 340 six-pack Cuda I built just out of high school, I'd be irked though.

Disclaimer - I'm pokey as h3ll now days, my "speed" days are LOOOOOOONNNNGGG over (I'm 62 now) so it probably contributes to me not knowing/caring about any lag.

 

If it was happening in the 69 396 Camaro I built in high school or 340 six-pack Cuda I built just out of high school, I'd be irked though.

If there really is lag in a 5th gen RAV (which is unlikely) it is nothing like the bog you get with wrongly jetted Weber side drafts on an Alfa, or the lag in old MGs when the SUs go south.

 

Could the lag be the fly by wire throttle that new cars have? I had to get out of the way and “punch it “ in my gas limited. Felt laggy to me…

 

Had the GreenBrier "van" variant... that poor belt, but you could put it back on by hand, ask me how I know!

 

Twice on my annual trip to southern Utah, I got 45 to 47 MPG for the entire return trip (400+ miles). That was taking the back roads (US 89 mostly) which has speed limits of 50 to 65 MPG. I'm sure I could have gotten 48 - 50 MPG on those trips if not for having to take the last 50 miles on I-15 at 80 MPH to keep up with traffic.

Clearly, speed matters.

 

Must be all downhill...

 

I have a 2024 & am very disappointed with it's lack of oomph. Will never buy another.