Hi Carol - yeah, I thought these photos really showed the flint mica rather well, especially for those who have been trying to get a good idea what it looks like. It is a bit more sparkly than the photos show, but I describe the flint mica as being very "organic".
One of the dealers was a bit pushy and trying to get me into a blue one (which was my 3rd color choice) and when I saw that a different dealer had the flint I had to go look and I fell in love. I took it up a long steep incline for about 7 miles at 10% grade and it kept up with traffic with 2 out-of-shape people in the car, so it had decent power.
It's a great car, a joy to drive and extremely happy with it. The handling and control are wonderful and it's nice and solid and smooth.
There are a few things of concern one minor, one major-ish:
Minor: the cup holders are crap. My wife has a Honda Accord and her cup holders are wonderfully engineered with 4 points of contact on the cup with spring loaded contacts. Works amazingly well, but the Rav's is poor. All my drinks tip sideways and spill all over so I can't put anything in there with an open top. I did, however manage to work out a system with it where when possible I lift up on the spring thing after getting the drink in there and it kind of secures it. Still not a good design though. I like the old style better with just 2 different sized fixed diameter holes.
Major: The stereo sound is pretty bad. This, in hindsight, could've swayed my decision, at least to have tried to have a different system installed (if that's even possible). The stereo's factory sound is just cranked with the bass. Even at the minimum allowed setting of -5 level for bass I am still thumped out with some music. Not to mention the treble is so high and shrill that in combination with too heavy bass the system sounds really strange. The best settings are bass @ -3 and treble at +1. Does anyone else feel the same? Differently?
Acceptable but not preferred: I notice some lurching during acceleration, but this is normal (I think). I have been driving a stick for the last 15 years and have had a lot of control over the operation of the car, so when trying to get up to speed for hgihway driving I need to be conciencious about the way an automatic shifts and work with the amount of pedal accel to keep up with the engine's work.
Little concerned about the reclining chair issue only because it's a big inconveneince. The dealer wants me to leave it there all day on a weekday (fixing this is not a priority to them).
I sort of miss the a/c vent in the crotch position my old Rav4 had. Gotta admit that was a great idea!
Also, I sort of wish I had known about the different options - manul vs. automatic a/c switch and JBL system, but that's my fault for not researching enough. Is the automatic a/c an option with the Sport? However, one bonus to the manual a/c selectors is that there's sort of an in-between setting that I don't think you can get with the automatic one (or am I wrong about that?)
BUT, I am pretty much 100% satisifed with the car.
J.
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