2014 TOYOTA RAV4 Review

Speaking of this, the Toyota RAV4 feels rather solid in rugged terrain. It’s obvious that Toyota wanted it to be pretty capable here. For example, the tires fitted in Europe are hybrid ones, good for both on and off-road driving.

Well, the result is pretty dependable: we’re crossing a river right now and the car doesn’t seem to be sweating too much. Of course, the suspension does turn the ride into a pretty rough one. This, together with the moderate resources of the engine, limit the play to a medium approach.

We head back to the road and, after a quick trip to the carwash, we start experimenting with the Sport button. As far as the powertrain is concerned, this doesn’t make too much of a difference, but the story is a totally different one when it comes to handling.

The Toyota RAV4 is mainly front-wheel driven, but the torque distribution can go up to 50:50 via an electromagnetically controlled coupling placed just ahead of the rear diff. There’s a Dynamic Torque Control AWD system that sends the power to the rear wheels when slip arrives up front. Unlike in the previous RAV4, the rear axle is also nourished if the system detects understeer.

However, press that Sport button and the default torque delivery moves to 90:10 from the moment you turn the wheel. If understeer still appears, and it usually does, the system automatically sends 50 percent of the drive to the back.

By the way, we forgot to tell you: during that aforementioned offroad stint, we used the 4WD lock mode, which keeps the 50:50 split fully on up to 25 mph (40 km/h).

We know you won’t take your RAV4 to rugged terrain, but we still recommend opting for the 4WD. That’s simply because the basic front-wheel drive setup makes it an understeering creature. All the aforementioned tech mumbo-jumbo allows the 4WD models to feel much safer through the corners.