[rav4enous]

Toronto Star 'Wheels' editor Mark Richardson is driving a new, 2006 RAV4 (4cyl Ltd, by the looks of it) from Toronto to the Yukon (8,000 km in about 8 days) to deliver the vehicle for the Fulda Challenge.......his daily blog can be found here.....an interesting real world account of what the new Rav4 is like.
http://thestar.blogs.com/yukon/

 

[flyingn]

great find!!!!! Thank you very much!! Quick reading tell sme it is a 4 cylinder and it is not 'gutless' like his 99 Rav4 is at home.. Good stuff

 

[autumnwood]

500km for full tank?? that's no good, almost like my BMW Z4!!!

 

[karrock]

500km for full tank?? that's no good, almost like my BMW Z4!!!

Considering his reported range of -19 to 10 degrees celsius for winter driving weather, I wouldn't expect very high mileage. :?

It's a fair bet that the all-wheel drive, stability and traction control are getting quite the workout as well.

 

[autumnwood]

I drive my BMW Z4 with aircon on all the time at 30-35 degree celcius condition. I usually have it on sports mode for quick accelaration and better road holding too. The number for RAV4 is still not good except maybe it's really windy in Canada now and that may affect the mileage.

 

[flyingn]

if ya read the article you would see that he was battling 80 mph (KPH?) headwind for hundreds of miles.. The truck was coming out of od it was so bad..

Frank

 

[autumnwood]

if ya read the article you would see that he was battling 80 mph (KPH?) headwind for hundreds of miles.. The truck was coming out of od it was so bad..

Frank

But that's in Day 4.

 

[edcruz_2010]

500km for full tank?? that's no good, almost like my BMW Z4!!!

Well, the new RAV4 4 cyl, canadian version weights 400-500 Kg (880-1100 lbs) more than your Z4, and the drag coeff. on your Z4 must be way smaller than the one in a boxy SUV. The actual EPA estimates are pretty similar between them, which in my opinion talks a lot in favor of the low consumption on the new RAV, considering again the type of car we are talking about.

"500 Km to a tank", where " a tank" most probably means whenever the low fuel light comes ON would translate into around 10-11 Km/L, which is not too bad for an SUV.

 

[karrock]

Final update?

Our blogger's little trek across Canada was completed at the beginning of the week on the 30th, but luckily, he followed up today with a new article that details a particularly memorable experience driving through the Yukon.

I had thought the rear wiper blade looked a bit short, and by the evidence in this photo, the sweep area looks entirely too small. What do you new 4.3 owners out there think about it?

I hope my temperature gauge never reads this!! :shock:

 

[Phourwheel]

500km for full tank?? that's no good, almost like my BMW Z4!!!

Assuming a 15 gal tank, that roughly translates to about 21 mpg. However, no ever uses up the total 15 gallons before re- filling up the tank, so my guess is that this translates to about 25 mpg. Thus a range of 21-25 mpg is really not bad at all, considering he was driving through a lot of snow covered roads (aside from the "chilly" "call-of-the-wild" weather), so I imagine he wasn't always traveling at optimum at cruising speed.