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How the heck did we get here? Most best selling "cars" are now superzied pickups and SUVs.
(www.caranddriver.com)
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this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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Your rav four either serves the purpose of a small SUV or minivan depending on the year. The current one is an MPV based on a small van so it's literally a minivan from Japan with regular doors. It does not have the cargo space of a wagon and it definitely doesn't have the performance or handling of a sport wagon. The closest thing Toyota had in the US would be the really old Camry V6 or the matrix XRS. Maybe a Prius v if it could have had the Prius all-wheel drive prime power train.
I'm always continually shocked at how small so many SUVs feel on the inside. The centre console and area around the gear selector is such a waste of space. For what, cup holders? Bring back the gear selector on wheel
"No cargo space" and "it's a van" are incongruent.
As for performance, it has "sport mode" but even in eco mode it can vastly exceed the performance necessary to drive within legal limits. I'm not going to race with it, I am taking my kids camping in South Dakota or shopping at Costco.
Their seating or slope roof instead of rear cargo space. The current crossover version of the outback fits way less stuff in it when you go camping then my 4th gen legacy wagon. There's a little more room for people but even with the seats folded down my legacy wagon fits more than the crossover.
There's so much space taken up by interior trim and sloped body areas for no reason that could be used for cargo.
Edit- On the performance front the new XT can accelerate, but it feels bad to drive, wobbles in the corners while bouncing on the road, and does not stop well. It has similar ground clearance with the same sized tires as my legacy and less than a legacy outback stock for stock. So I just don't get why you would pick the crossover if given the choice. It is also always fun to see the new Subaru dig a rut into a hill on a dirt road if they forgot to get a running start while I can climb it with my real AWD (VTD center diff.) Even old base models with 4ACT can shift into 4x4 mode (if you shift to 1 or 2 it locks the coupling if the steering wheel is straight so you essentially have a transfer case.)
The 2.5i withe the CVT is what I do not like. The 2010-2019 outback 2.5i take over 10s for 0-60, and the rest of the lineup was similar. They re-tuned the CVT to be more aggressive off the line so it is like 7.5-8s not for most of the NA line up, but the 5-60 is still over 10s. I had a 2017 impreza long term loaner and it felt unsafe to merge onto the freeway from a metering light in the bay area. It also got worse city MPG than my tuned LGT in the hills.
So my Kia crossover (needed ground clearance for rough unplowed rural roads at the time) has that, and I've found for most of the year it stays in Eco mode, I'll pop it into Sport mode if I'm visiting a large city like Chicago or Milwaukee and moving through a busy highway interchange to better accelerate and decelerate as I work through crazy traffic to make my needed lane changes, then in the coldest winter days I'll use Normal mode until it's up to temperature because in Eco mode the engine never warms up if it's below 0 out (I actually once watched the temperature dial go down as I went downhill into a valley once when it was around -10-15 out)