[Mindscape]

*stands up in front of the crowd*

Hi, my name's Mindscape, and I'm a RAV4 owner.

*waits for the chorus of "Hi, Mindscape"s to die down*

Here's my story:

September of '04, my poor little Honda Civic was brutally slaughtered by some random cockroach-lookin' sedan, so I was in the market for a new car. I managed to survive without one until January of this year, when I got an '84 Chevy Celebrity.

Don't ever get a Celebrity. EVER.

Anyway, yeah, the Celebrity has come to be known by everyone who's come in contact with it as the Demon Car. We've had mechanics we've known and trusted for years tell us that there wasn't anything that they could do for it, and mechanics closer and nearly as trusted tell us that it simply hates us. Going across town (a mere ten-minute drive, here in Podunkville), its average rate of dying was about five times. Thanks to an oil leak that'd cost more than the car's worth to fix draining onto the belts, the alternator doesn't always charge the battery, and so long-distance trips with it became completely unfeasible, and driving to work got pretty darn iffy.

So my fiance and I went looking for a new car.

We checked around at used car lots and found some things that were okay, and some things that were kinda bleah, but nothing that we just fell in love with. We had finished looking one day and were on our way home when we saw a RAV4 L parked in a lot somewhere with a For Sale sign in its window. We stopped, checked it out, and called the next day.

So, this past Wednesday, I got my hot little hands on a four-wheel drive, silver and black RAV4 L with only 60,000 miles on it for $4200. It's got a salvage title, but it seems to be in pristine condition even so, with the exception of some bubbling of the paint and a few scratches down its sides. It runs beautifully and checks out with our mechanic, and most importantly it doesn't die on us constantly. We plan to repaint it with a custom paint job, though we're in no huge hurry because the damage to the paint is relatively minor, and not obvious when you're more than fifteen feet or so from it.

So far, I've learned a good bit about RAV4s, and this site has been quite helpful in doing so. I hope to learn even more in the future, and maybe do a bit of upgrading as time goes by, helping to boost the performance of my new toy.

 

[bmorton]

Great story. I also kind of "fell into" my used RAV last year when I wasn't really looking for one, and after nine months I'm very happy with it. One of the reasons I felt confident buying it was visiting sites like this and seeing how many other people had RAVs that are older and with many more miles on them than mine. All seemed to agree that it's a particularly solid and reliable vehicle. Enjoy.

 

[Mindscape]

Well, my family's been known for it's Toyota fans for generations. My grandparents in particular love Toyotas, and Mom would rather have one than her Ford wagon she's got now. My first car was a Toyota Corona station wagon that had over 400,000 miles on it when I got it, and the only reason I had to get rid of it is because the transmission finally gave out and reverse didn't work. Still, I drove it to the junkyard.

I started out liking this car because it was good-looking and handled well (and the fact that it would be much more reliable than the Demon Car). In looking for information on whether it would be a good car for us, I found dozens of good reviews from companies. Since then, I've found the many forums of avid fans and very helpful people. Overall, I don't think I could have picked a better car... and it's a Toyota, too, which is always a boost.

Further, I won't have to wrap myself around the engine to change the spark plugs in this, because Toyotas are actually built to allow at least some convenience with repairs. The only thing I've ever worked on that's been easier has been my Volkswagon Jetta I had for a while, where changing the front brake pads took a grand total of ten minutes, both sides, start to finish.