Sitting in Toyota dealership

B

bmninada

Contributor
:
2016 CX-5 AWD GT+iActive Soul Red
Looking at the latest RAV4. Trunk space looks small. Their Hybrid is just couple of miles more than CX5. The dashboard layout looks cheeky. Below it in center console the storage looks odd, open from 1 side. Too many buttons all over the place.
Few things going for them: surround view cameras, memory seats, pedestrian detection, front and rear sensors, integrated predictive traffic
Overall with these It's about $4000 more to price.

Worth it? NOPE.
 
Yeah the new RAV4 is hideous looking IMO. They did some nice things to the new Hybrid that looks somewhat better, but still nowhere near my liking. I've only seen the outside and a brief lookin on the interior at a dealer. Awful lol But, those are some nice features. But the big thing is the lack of driving fun. Have heard that car is extremely numb to drive.
 
Yeah, but they'll go 500k miles without a hiccup.

I'd way rather drive a CX-5 on looks alone so don't get me wrong, but the Toyota has one big thing going for it. They're the most reliable brand on the road.
 
Natey said:
Yeah, but they'll go 500k miles without a hiccup.

I'd way rather drive a CX-5 on looks alone so don't get me wrong, but the Toyota has one big thing going for it. They're the most reliable brand on the road.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. I used to have a 4Runner, then a Rolla which i still own (thus my reason to be in the dealership today). They are truly reliable. Also, its so easy peesy to do nomal maint or even intermediate as DIY that it's really good. Spare parts, after-market parts, upgrades, etc. : dime a dozen.

I didnt buy my CX5 for looks but rather for this: a 2-degree shift of steering - immediate response. A slight tap in gas: immediate response. Turning a curve at 70, no understeer/oversteer and my bum doesn't slide all over the place and my head doesn't rest on the A-pillar....
 
The Rav 4 was one of the few in the class I didn't test drive. I went to the dealer, looked at them, sat in one, but ended up walking away without wanting to test drive it. The interior was hideous. I hated the layout and the color combinations on the leather was atrocious. I wasn't too big of a fan on the outside either and it just didnt feel that great sitting in. The one thing I did like was the birds nest view.
 
Scythe024 said:
The Rav 4 was one of the few in the class I didn't test drive. I went to the dealer, looked at them, sat in one, but ended up walking away without wanting to test drive it. The interior was hideous. I hated the layout and the color combinations on the leather was atrocious. I wasn't too big of a fan on the outside either and it just didnt feel that great sitting in. The one thing I did like was the birds nest view.
Click to expand...

Exactly same. Completely put me off, did not want to sit inside.
 
I did test drive the RAV4 (current gen), back in 2013. It is not bad at all. Yes, the 'shelf' like thing with the faux leather & stitching did not look appealing at all. From the outside it looks meh, especially in the front. However, it did drive better than the previous gen RAV4, with less body roll, but not as good as the CX-5, which also has better steering. Throttle response was definitely better than the CX-5, which commonly refuses to shift to save gas. I liked the reclining back seats and the cargo volume is larger than the CX-5.
At the end, there was not much hesitation. The CX-5 is better looking, handles better, nicer interior better fuel economy and better engine.

While we owned Honda vehicles in the past and we have one in our household today, the CR-V looked too hideous to be considered and was up for new engine / transmission change. I did not even test drive it.
 
ALafya said:
Throttle response was definitely better than the CX-5, which commonly refuses to shift to save gas.
Click to expand...

That's odd, my CX-5's shifts are almost telepathic. I learned a long time ago to not ease onto the throttle if I wanted some quick pick me up. If you move the throttle quickly and deliberately it will downshift almost instantly and off I go. Unless they changed this behavior in the 2.5L models?
 
Natey said:
Yeah, but they'll go 500k miles without a hiccup.

I'd way rather drive a CX-5 on looks alone so don't get me wrong, but the Toyota has one big thing going for it. They're the most reliable brand on the road.
Click to expand...

Hard to make a blanket statement like that. The last generation V6 Rav4 was plagued by transmission whine, rearend failure, and several other problems. All, not some, of these Rav4s suffered transmission whine. After failing to fix the problem, they discontinued the V6. Toyota had a string of problems with their automatic transmissions several years ago too.

Lesson is to research particular car you are interested, and not buying solely on a name.
 
MikeM. said:
That's odd, my CX-5's shifts are almost telepathic. I learned a long time ago to not ease onto the throttle if I wanted some quick pick me up. If you move the throttle quickly and deliberately it will downshift almost instantly and off I go. Unless they changed this behavior in the 2.5L models?
Click to expand...

what he means is, most cars don't require "quick and deliberate throttle" to initiate a downshift. The CX-5 does. It takes some getting used to. All other vehicles I owned are happy to downshift, the CX-5 holds on till the 11th hour. This is however remedied with the "sport" mode on the 2016 model.
 
I owned a RAV4 for more than 10 years. It was my first car and was very happy with it. I loved driving it and it served me well without causing any major headaches. I never considered getting a new car until it got totaled :( The test drive of the 2016 RAV4 for me felt similar to my old one but of course not the same. The interior put me off plus the price. I was disappointed with the test drive.

What got me to get the CX-5 was all the features it offered, how it looked, and the price. I can't claim to know the difference of how cars drive but found that the more I drive it the more I like it (2thumbs)
 
MikeM. said:
That's odd, my CX-5's shifts are almost telepathic. I learned a long time ago to not ease onto the throttle if I wanted some quick pick me up. If you move the throttle quickly and deliberately it will downshift almost instantly and off I go. Unless they changed this behavior in the 2.5L models?
Click to expand...

No, this is the same behavior, I believe. While it is true there are more possible combinations of throttle position + gear ratio with the CX-5, I find it not intuitive. I think the logic is also wrong for steep inclines while driving slow, where it chooses a <1500 RPM ratio, which can barely has enough power to push the car up the slope. In less steep and slightly faster driving (30~35 MPH), it was just an annoyance when the car stayed in the <1500 RPM range to hear the engine protesting its auto-selected ratio and feel the lack of power and to force it to a lower gear after every curve ...
However, I must say that in the Mazda 3 2L the transmission feels very good, so maybe there is a difference in the 2L CX-5 as well ...

I also think that Mazda introduced the (unnecessary IMHO) transmission sport mode switch for 2016, because people complained about this - which means it is not intuitive.
 
Last edited:
ALafya said:
I also think that Mazda introduced the (unnecessary IMHO) transmission sport mode switch for 2016, because people complained about this - which means it is not intuitive.
Click to expand...

I'll point out that my original response was in response to a post in which you claimed the CX-5 "commonly refuses to shift". And I said it shifts instantly as soon as you communicate to the car that you want fast acceleration by depressing the accelerator with a quick motion. Now, you admit this is true but claim that it's not very intuitive for you. Which is different from your earlier claim that it "refuses" to downshift.

Personally, I think Mazda could fine tune this behavior to be somewhere in the middle but I appreciate the utility of the way it's programmed differently from most other cars and I'll explain why. The biggest annoyance of an automatic over a manual is when you're cruising along chatting with a friend and you depress the accelerator slightly to cruise a little faster and it drops a gear and the engine goes into high rpm acceleration mode and your friend looks at you like "what's the big hurry?" not realizing you didn't intend to make the car downshift. This is a problem on many automatics, even after you have familiarized yourself with their operation and try to accelerate gently without a downshift. It's irritating and the shift logic of the CX-5 completely eliminates this problem while still allowing instant downshift when you want it to downshift.

Yes, it is different from other vehicles and this is a good thing. But it requires the driver to learn new things. I don't know about you but I'm 52 years old and I have no problem learning new ways to control my car without resorting to reaching for the manual shift lever. If you are not adaptable than you will be happy sticking to vehicles that work just like the automatic you learned to drive in.

Maybe that's the difference, I learned to drive in a manual shift, four on the floor and the first three cars that I owned were manual shift.
 
MikeM. said:
I'll point out that my original response was in response to a post in which you claimed the CX-5 "commonly refuses to shift". And I said it shifts instantly as soon as you communicate to the car that you want fast acceleration by depressing the accelerator with a quick motion. Now, you admit this is true but claim that it's not very intuitive for you. Which is different from your earlier claim that it "refuses" to downshift.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think it should down shift sooner, especially on steep(er) inclines where <1500RPM is not an appropriate selection and without me stubbing or doing anything at all (only maintain similar throttle position). For me, this is not a mind reader transmission, because I need to override what it automatically chooses to do. Like I said above, in one instance, on a very steep incline the car stayed in 2nd and the engine had no power at that speed (something below 10 MPH) to propel the car forward. When I stubbed the throttle it actually shifted to 1st with a little of a wheel spin. A smooth proper selection would not have caused any wheel spin.

Now, I am not saying it is completely broken (otherwise I would not have bought the car), only that for me, it is not a great mind reader all the time, and on occasion, it is annoying.

If many people think it does not shift properly, it means that they could not figure out how to do it and/or are not completely satisfied with how it works (my case). My guess is that the sport mode was a remedy for this type of feedback.
 
Last edited:
Toyota like most car manufacturers can engineer and release BAD designs. Toyota/Lexus released some really bad V6 engines that had catastrophic failures due to oil starvation problems caused by build-up and sludge.

I drove a 2010 Corolla and it was horrendous on the highway as the steering floated all around. Toyota couldn't fix it and blamed it on the electronic steering. Felt like I was driving a 1970 Cadillac since the steering was loose and floated all over the place. Not confidence building.

Tons of recalls on the 2010 Corolla. Still had drum brakes in the back. Acceleration was poor and the car was boring and dull to drive. Always had a burnt coolant smell when parked. It never left me stranded, that's true.

The WORST car I ever drove in my life was a 2012 Prius. It was absolutely horrendous to drive. I hated everything about that car.
 
Last edited:
MikeM. said:
I'll point out that my original response was in response to a post in which you claimed the CX-5 "commonly refuses to shift". And I said it shifts instantly as soon as you communicate to the car that you want fast acceleration by depressing the accelerator with a quick motion. Now, you admit this is true but claim that it's not very intuitive for you. Which is different from your earlier claim that it "refuses" to downshift.
Click to expand...

Having upgraded from a 2013 2.0L AWD to a 2016 2.5L AWD it feels to me that they changed the way it was programmed again. Like you said, I was used to floor the pedal to signal to the car to downshift and accelerate, this is still mostly there, however they seem to have introduced somewhat of a lag impression when you depress the pedal, especially "feel able" at a full stop, and that wasn't there on my 2013. Sport mode seems to reduce that lag a lot and also reduces the need to floor it to accelerate at the expense of fuel economy, but you can achieve the same thing with manual mode.

This is minor to me, I like the new car anyway but that's one thing I noticed first.
 
Last edited:
bmninada said:
Looking at the latest RAV4. Trunk space looks small. Their Hybrid is just couple of miles more than CX5. The dashboard layout looks cheeky. Below it in center console the storage looks odd, open from 1 side. Too many buttons all over the place.
Few things going for them: surround view cameras, memory seats, pedestrian detection, front and rear sensors, integrated predictive traffic
Overall with these It's about $4000 more to price.

Worth it? NOPE.
Click to expand...

Check out the CRV if you think the RAV looks bad, lol!
 
I use the SPORT MODE when I need to accelerate hard (passing, on ramps).

It seems like it shifts harder/faster in sport mode and of course the engine goes to higher RPMs and stays longer in the lower gears. Remember, low gears do torque multiplication. High gears are for highway cruising and better MPG.Trying to accelerate in 4th gear is not the best.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
From Toyota to Mazda..
Replies
10
Views
2K
blwag
B
U
    • Like
20,000 miles in a CX5 GT-R...
5 6 7
Replies
129
Views
21K
bluegrass
B
T
2016~2023 Considering CX-9 but have leg room concern. Will modifying console help?
Replies
3
Views
3K
youri
Y

Latest posts

Back