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Toyota RAV4 Goes Full Hill Climb Monster, If Only the Hill Were Real

Giant Japanese carmaker Toyota is a lot of things to a lot of people. For the industry as a whole, it’s the maker of some very sturdy and reliable machines, and it’s the one that more or less started the entire electric frenzy with the launch of the Prius all the way back in 1997.
Tomica Toyota RAV4 hill climb 13 photos
Photo: Jakarta Diecast Project
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Three or so years before that, in 1994 on the markets in Japan and Europe, Toyota surprised the customer base with something some in the industry consider the first compact crossover: the RAV4. By 1996, the model was available in the U.S. as well, and a new path to success carved by the Japanese.

In the U.S., a market that is simply crazy for SUVs (and some other things), the current generation of the model is at the top of the food chain. In 2021, it sold according to Car Sales Base over 400,000 units, and in the four months that have passed of 2022, it came close to 135,000 units.

Selling from $26,975 and available in no less than 12 variants and trims, the RAV4 has a little bit to offer for anyone. What Toyota doesn’t offer is an official hill climb monster, although plenty of customers went down this path over the years.

Looking at the photos in the attached gallery, you’d be inclined to believe this is the latest RAV4 hill climb monstrosity, cooked up in a garage somewhere with the goal of taking on some insane roads. You’d be partially right, but those insane roads would have to be miniature ones, as that’s not a real Toyota.

What you’re looking at is a diecast conversion handled by a shop going by the name Jakarta Diecast Project. It’s not a Hot Wheel, as we’re used to seeing from this crew, but a Tomica, but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular.

We’re not going to go into the technical ramblings of the designer (V10, anyone?), given how this is a toy and all, but we can’t stop from admiring the end product and wish it were sitting in the corner of our desk. Especially given how there’s so little of the original RAV4 left…

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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