Toyota wheels out new RAV4
Newswheel staff :: 07 November 2005 :: Filed under Four wheel drive, SUV, Toyota, Toyota RAV4, Europe & UK, US,
[Click on an image to view]
Creeping gargantuanism continues
The first RAV4 was a cute little soft-roader that provided reasonably classy competition for the popular but pikey Suzuki Vitara. Predictably, the more mature second generation RAV4 was larger all-round. Ten years after the orginal, Toyota has unveiled another all-new RAV4. And surprise, surprise, it’s put on the pounds and the inches once again. In fact, it’s now a thoroughly conventional compact SUV.
Based on an all-new platform (again, a car-like monocoque chassis, rather than traditional 4x4 body-on-frame effort), Toyota says the third generation model, “is significantly longer and wider, inside and out, with a roomier and more contemporary designed passenger compartment than the previous generation.” Just how much bigger? Well, the wheelbase measurement is perhaps the most revealing. It’s up by a massive 17cm over the second gen car, itself much larger than the original.
But if there’s one item that really socks the new RAV4’s stature to you, it’s the optional 3.5-litre, variable valve-timed V6 engine. With an output of 269bhp and 246lb/ft, it’s closer to a 4.0-litre Range Rover V8 the original RAV4’s 2.0-litre four in terms of pure poke.
Whatever, the base models retain the 2.4-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine from the second gen RAV4, with a modest 5bhp upgrade for a total of 166bhp. Both engines are available with Toyota’s part-time electronically controlled four-wheel-drive system. Cheaper, front-drive models will also be available. Sales start in 2006, but prices have yet to be revealed.
The portly new RAV4 in pics:
Posted 14 February 2007, by Shelly
Very interesting site, take a look at mine:
promethazine
[url=http://promethazine.125mb.com]promethazine[/url]