Hybrid or not

That is insane mileage! I can barely get that with my RAV4 Prime in HV mode on the highway.

 

Rav4 will outperform in the mountains as well.

 

Hand calculated 227miles 5.191 gallons = 43.7 mpg. Not bad.

This is the first vehicle I have ever owned that exceeds the EPA estimates.

 

PHEVs are great in the mountains. A regular hybrid battery will fill up pretty quickly going down hill, then the car uses engine braking and wastes the rest of the potential energy. My commuter car is a Prius Prime, and my best example of mountain driving is when I drove up Mt. Blue Sky (formerly Mt. Evans) at over 14,000 feet. I used plenty of gas to get up there and reached the top with an empty battery. From there I drove 60 miles and ended up in Denver (5,280 feet) using zero gas and zero added electricity, just the energy recovered from going down the hill. This is in a car that has typically 30 miles of EV range when the battery is full. I think I got 30mpg on the way up, so it still averages out to around 60.

Even in my Tacoma I get pretty good mileage in the mountains, usually just over 20. I guess it's thinner air and slightly lower highway speeds (I-70 has a speed limit of 65 through most of the mountain sections and that's plenty IMO).

 

I go from Colorado Springs to BV and regularly average 20-22 MPG’s on those trips and 16-18 everywhere else so I agree with your assessment

 

You cannot by definition go off-roading on a road, ie driving on a forest road is not off-roading.

But anyway, I can’t say for sure if there was a rav4 on any of the group trips with a club I wheel with, but there were plenty of AWD crossover SUVs, plus trucks and jeeps. The group started as a Subaru only group and then expanded.

The AWD crossover SUVs do fine until they loose clearance. I owned a 2001 Subaru and off-roaded it more than most people off-road tacos. I would not take one on any boulder filled black (Minnesota dnr rating) trails though.

AWD cars are also a complete blast to drive on snowy roads, more fun than my taco by a smidge. CAVEAT: my 2001 Subaru had no safety traction control systems. She would drift with no complaints.

 

Wait we have real off-road in MN???

 

My wife had a 2016 Rav4 hybrid, and we loved it. Great mileage, never a problem in 8 years. We sold to our son and it's still like new. I personally am not in favor of hybrids, as I worry about the cost of battery replacement, but that Rav was the goat.

 

I know I’m kind of late to this party, but I’m a fan of the hybrid. We started with a 2007 Camry Hybrid, put over 100,000 mi,es on it with no issues at all. Then we bought a 2012 Camry Hybrid and put over 120,000 miles on it over 10 years. I traded my Prerunner in late June of 2023 for a Hybrid Woodland edition. My needs had changed and gas mileage and the ability to carry more than 1 passenger outweighed the benefits of the 2nd gen Access Cab. So 19 years of hybrid ownership with absolutely no hybrid drivetrain issues or need for battery replacement. I love my RAV4. As many have stated the ride and quietness are outstanding. I really appreciate the advances in the throttle response over the past 19 years.

 

This just got posted and seemed pertinent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eC5FFoCq4s

 

Yes.

Here are some places to wheel.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ohv/gilbert/index.html
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ohv/trail_detail.html?id=4
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ohv/trail_detail.html?id=27
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ohv/trail_detail.html?id=121
I also found this wikipedia page today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Range_Off-Highway_Vehicle_State_Recreation_Area

A quote from the page:

"Minnesota is one of three states to have a state-maintained off-road recreation area, the others being California and Utah."

 

No.
Ask the folks in the hurricane flood zones about how salt water ignites lithium batteries.

 

Unlike regular cars, which have no issues whatsoever with salt water.

 

Looks like an ad for Mobile 1 to me.

 

Cute.
When was the last time you saw a regular car burn with toxic lithium fumes?

 

Not all hybrids use lithium ion batteries...

 

I've never seen an EV fire.

Not saying it's not a big deal, but what happens to a Tesla when submerged by a storm surge has no bearing on my decision to buy a Toyota with a completely different technology.

Especially since I don't live near the ocean...

Decent reason not to buy a Tesla in that location, though.

 

This is just like every yes / no question on this forum, where the loudest noes are from people with no experience in the subject at hand.

 

Literally the only concern for RAV4’s in salty environments should be cablegate. Even that seems to be mostly limited to Canada and the salt belt. Bottomline is there are so many Prius’s with 250k-300k+ that it gives me enough confidence that Toyota knows what they are doing with the RAV4’s and I’d have confidence it could get me to 200k with minimal financial burdens along the way.

 

Some quick Google says Tampa has 30-40k EVs on the road. I don’t recall there being 30-40k burnt down cars. Go find something real to complain about, maybe about the thousands of other cars and homes destroyed by saltwater that weren’t EVs.