2007 Toyota RAV4 Consumer Reviews

Great except for one thing!

Written by: daf62757 on 09/30/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 4dr SUV (2.4L 4cyl 4A)

Review

This is actually my wife's car. I drive it about once or twice a week. The car now has 55K miles and the problems, or complaints that I want to mention are the lack of power when the AC is on, and the knocking that comes from the steering column linkage. The power is expected because it's a 4 cylinder. The linkage problem is a flaw that has received a technical notice, but no recall. Very frustrating that Toyota won't recall this and fix a potentially dangerous problem. Otherwise, a very good car and excellent for your wife to use for work or kid hauling.

Favorite Features

Size. Very good interior room and comfort.

Suggested Improvements

Larger 4 cylinder to improve performance. Make it a hybrid for gas mileage improvement.

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Poor Toyota quality and service

Written by: sandy on 09/22/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Sport 4dr SUV (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

I experienced a windshield tick soon as I purchased the vehicle. Toyota service attempted a fix and it got worse. The tick was intermittent and after several trips to the dealer, and test drives, the dealer resealed the windscreen. The problem resurfaced recently. The dealers are unable to diagnose and fix it. My 36,000 mile warranty is expiring. There is also a rattle around the dash on the passenger side. Toyota is unable to diagnose that problem as well. I occasionally hear other noises and vibrations as well in the interior from the sun roof area and around the passenger door. Toyota replaced defective sun visors, and the glove compartments. The radio display mysteriously would go blank.

Favorite Features

Suggested Improvements

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Be careful with the spare tire cover

Written by: TS3787 on 09/08/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Sport 4dr SUV (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

We got our RAV4 in 7/2007 and since then we haven't have any problem at all. There are two areas where the 2007 design failed: 1) The rear bumper upper part is too exposed to scratches during loading/unloading. 3) At winter ice forms between the spare tire and the rear bumper. That ice eventually tends to damage the rear bumper. 2) the spare tire cover was removed during a car wash and totally ruined. Someone mentioned that TOYOTA said only they know of one case... that is simply not true, it is pretty common and a big design flaw. After 2007 they changed the design of the car cover.

Favorite Features

Smooth acceleration. MPG, reliability, perfect size.

Suggested Improvements

Rear deck, spare tire design. Radio antenna, sound equipment.

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Engine Whine

Written by: Les on 09/07/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Limited 4dr SUV (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

Our Rav4 problem is that the engine(6cyl) starts to whine at 40mph and continues at higher speeds although it is somewhat less obvious due to wind and road noise. I have never seen a review where an owner is concerned about this problem. Dealer says no technical notes from Toyota. Looks like we dump the car.

Favorite Features

Engine power, styling, color, electric seat.

Suggested Improvements

Find out why the engine whines!

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Little Maintenance?

Written by: Rav4 on 08/03/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 4dr SUV 4WD (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

Bought this new in 2007. It has 36,000 on it now. At 26K had to replace all 4 tires. They are 17" tires ($$$) and the dealer wanted us to pay 800 dollars to get it inspected. I bought them at a tire place for half. They said it was normal on Rav 4's that the stock tire wears out by 25K miles. The 30K maintenance cost us almost 400 dollars and I'm not really sure why. I get carsick in it if I'm not driving, same thing with my wife. My kid gets carsick on long trips as well. At 36,000 miles the check engine light came on accompanied by a light that said VSC and the 4X4 light too. Took it in and had to replace the coil. Paid 109 dollars for diagnosis. Also hard to tell if 4WD is on or not.

Favorite Features

It is the right size, convenient for two kids. Decent leg room. Good power.

Suggested Improvements

Stability control maybe to lessen the carsickness. Better tires too. Reassess the warranty and maintenance items... seems like too much for such little mileage.

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Watch out for the VVTi oil line

Written by: genkuro on 07/24/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Limited 4dr SUV (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

Coming soon to a recall near you: the external VVTi rubber hose of the 3.5L engine fails spraying quarts of oil all throughout the engine compartment. This is a very common problem in Toyota's 3.5L lineup and potentially affects Avalon, Camry, and Rav4. Engine seizures are a possibility. Toyota has redesigned this rubber hose as a steel hose for 2009 models but hasn't done much of anything for current 2006, 2007, and 2008 owners. This line broke at 45,000 miles for me. For other owners, it broke outside of the power train warranty. Many Rav4s have needed short block replacement due to this defect.

Favorite Features

Looks, interior, engine power.

Suggested Improvements

Toyota needs to learn the fine art of keeping oil in the car. Toyota needs to own up to major problems. Toyota needs to be willing to repair damaged engines instead of putting bandaids on them. In short, Toyota has really gone downhill.

7 out 7 people found this review helpful

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Great Suv

Written by: Robert on 07/10/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Limited 4dr SUV (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

This SUV is nimble and quick. It is still fun to drive after 2 years and 30K miles! The gas mileage - even for the V6 - is great, usually 22-23 mpg in mixed driving and 27-28 hwy. Acceleration literally blows anything else off the road and almost stops on a dime. It handles like it's on tracks. I have not had any mechanical issues with the vehicle. The one thing it needs, however, is a mounting bracket for the front license plate. In a 2- plate state like this one, that can be a problem.

Favorite Features

Acceleration, handling, brakes, low fuel consumption rate, cargo area, front and rear foot and head room, and mechanical soundness.

Suggested Improvements

Definitely needs a front license plate mounting bracket!

3 out 3 people found this review helpful

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A Rav4 Can't Start

Written by: ToyotaNoMore on 07/01/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Limited 4dr SUV 4WD (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

I have owned many Toyota (4Runner, Camry) - this is the third one and the last one - quality control has been an issue for my Rav4. There were quite a lot squeeze noise on the plastic part in the interior even when it's brand new. Spent some time to fix them. Now second year - the vehicle won't be able to start every 5 to 7 days. It's not battery for sure. It could be security system, starter, spark -- dealers (yes, I tried two Toyota dealers) won't fix it because they can't duplicate the error so they can't fix it. Oh, by the way, the audio system display started to not show anything, or strange Japanese characters. If you press the panel really hard - it fixes the problem.

Favorite Features

Ride, size, flexible space design, relatively quiet for its class.

Suggested Improvements

Quality, quality, quality (Toyota started to make the same mistakes as GM now that they are the #1 in the world...)

1 out 1 people found this review helpful

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VVT OIL hose Failure. Engine replacement

Written by: West Coast Toast on 06/13/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Sport 4dr SUV (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

Just like the post from Deb on 05/05/2009, last month my 2007 Toyota rav 4 with v6 and 38,000 kms had its vvt hose break spraying oil in engine compartment but no engine light came on. Caused engine failure. Had to replace the engine - wasn't easy but they did it under warranty after pushing them hard.

Favorite Features

v6 power

Suggested Improvements

Drivers power window has no ability to stop it quickly as it jumps into automatic mode and wants to bring it all down or all up. Engine also jumps from 1 gear to next when slowly accelerating...almost like it's all or nothing with this vehicle's impressive power.

4 out 4 people found this review helpful

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Catastrophic Engine Failure/vvt oil leak

Written by: Deb on 05/15/2009

Vehicle

2007 Toyota RAV4 Sport 4dr SUV 4WD (3.5L 6cyl 5A)

Review

I used to love this car. I ordered it specifically. We own several Toyotas. After only 37000 miles I had a VVT hose leak spraying the car engine and making loud grinding sound. The dealer will not examine the valves or open the drip pan. I have found this is more common than Toyota is letting on. Toyota has only replaced the hose (60000 power train warranty) and will not agree to look for any damage that may have occurred. The warning light does not come on until the oil is gone and the engine is frozen. Horrible combination. Hope this helps someone else avoid this situation.

Favorite Features

Suggested Improvements

Common sense when this is a known issue and the company looks the other way. The whole thing could be avoided by a Technical Service Bulletin like they did on the Avolon.

6 out 7 people found this review helpful

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