Online Forum for the 2012 Rav4 EV

When my wife and I bought our car we didn't notice any whine in the demo vehicle, but in our car there is a noticeable whine when you first get on the freeway if the car is cold. The whine goes away after driving on the freeway for 10 miles and it becomes as quiet as the demo RAV4 EV. We will ask about it at our 5000 mile service.

I have driven the RAV4 in demos and I suspect a rental weekend is in order. Due to Toyota intransigence on giving a decent lease ($649 +$4500) we got a Ford Focus EV ($195 +$2500) on a lease. But I still like the RAV4 for the extra range and utility as it could replace our Prius. The comments about the noise is very interesting and something we need to look out for. We drove the Leaf and it was ok, great back seat room. They wanted $245 +$4500 which was a non-starter given they advertised much less. The Focus is very quiet, no noise issue though the car feels the extra weight. All the creature features one expects in a luxury car, less universal remote and dimming mirror are there.

I am waiting out Toyota on the RAV4 to finally get real on leases. As long as they refuse to give a solid warranty on the battery capacity, it is way to risky to buy and I may not be able to use the $7500 tax credit this year. These noise issues may push me to wait until next year and get an S.

The leases aren't going to get substantially cheaper (and I'm not referring to what a dealer might do, but what Toyota does). It's a pricy car, and money is already almost free. The residual isn't going to come up, and the only thing I can substantially see on the lease is to put the $7500 fed tax credit in the lease like everybody else.

By the way, the Tesla also does NOT have a battery capacity warranty. The noisy gear box on the Rav4 is exactly the same one on the Tesla. If it makes noise, it needs to be fixed.

My impression is that Toyota swallows the tax credit and keeps it. I hope you are wrong about the lease prices coming down as they are 3X what I paid for the Ford Focus EV whose MSRP is about 25% less than the RAV4. So if it was taken linearly, the RAV4 would be $260/mo and $3200 at signing. So Toyota may get to keep those great cars a few more quarters....

Sorry for the slow reply, it was a busy weekend. We were out enjoying driving our RAV. The difference after the motor change out is significant. It really makes a difference. My advice is seriously consider getting a RAV4EV. It is a great car. Just make sure to take a through test drive in any vehicle you are considering buying, and make sure that you test it at highway speeds on a smooth road. The rental we had for a weekend was very quiet, and that's why we were so surprised when get our own car.

Now we just need to get our registration classification straightened out. The dealership was so kind so that both John and I to have our cars listed as gas RAV4's. Grrr

Glenn, glad to hear that you got a RAV4EV. It's funny, but we talked about you when we got ours, "This would be a perfect car for Glenn's commute".

In summary, we love our RAV4EV. I think they might have had some issues in production early on, so be cautious when test driving a particular car. If you find a nice quiet one, buy it and enjoy it.

Tim

I had the same experience with the dealer classifying the car as a motive power gas, which has delayed my HOV sticker.

Ok, for those who are on the sidelines because if the motor or tranny noise: We went and test drove two rav4evs. Both my wife and I immediately noticed the difference between the one we rented for 2 days and these two. Much much quieter...still not as serene as the leaf in our opinion but sooooo much better. We also thought that our first test drive (before the rental) was also noisy (a white one from Power Toyota in Irvine).

If you're in SoCal and want to hear the difference, just rent the white one at South Coast Toyota (Costa Mesa I think) and then test drive one of the new ones. It's definitely not right.

Needless to say, we pulled the trigger. We are now gas free! Oh what a feeling!

Congratulations on your new Rav4!

Way to be patient and take your time to test a few of them as well.

Carlsbad Toyota sent a mechanic on a test drive and concurred that my motor / gear box is noisy (and getting louder) and will need replacement.

Looking forward to quiet EV driving in the coming weeks.

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