Used Toyota RAV4 Buying Guide

• The safety ratings on used Toyota RAV4’s get better as the models get more modern, with some of the best models hitting the roads in 2023.
• No matter what you’re looking for, either gas or hybrids, the RAV4 comes with some great mileage, making it a reliable, and safe daily driver.
• The most recent generation of RAV4’s come with some features that make driving off-road much easier, and more predictable.

The most recent iteration for the RAV4 lineup, will be the easiest to find. While there is a newer generation, it has yet to enter production, so we won’t cover it here. This generation saw 5 gas trims and 4 hybrid trims. The trims that you can find that have hybrid variants are the LE, XLE, XSE and Limited. For the gas powered trims, you have the LE, XLE, XLE Premium, Adventure and Limited trims. Both the Adventure and Limited trims come with Multi Terrain Select providing operators an ability to maximize traction when driving on sand, mud, rock, or dirt.

With so many trims to pick from, there’s a few things that are standard across the board. One of these features is a 7-inch multi-touch screen. The other tech focused feature is the addition of Toyota Safety Sense 2.0. This outfits the vehicle with lane tracing assist, automatic highbeams, dynamic radar cruise control, road sign assist, and lane departure alert.

When 2020 models came around, the TRD Off-Road trim came out. In the 2021 models, the XLE Premium Hybrid trim is added to the lineup. While in 2022 models, the SE trim was added for the hybrid lineup, giving even more options. For an upgrade to safety, Toyota Safety Sense 2.5 was added in 2023, further cementing that this model is one of the safest on the road as it receives the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick.

Being that this model came with so many trims, it only came with one engine option for the lineup. This is the 2.5L I4, on gas variants, this engine has an EPA rating of 30 MPG combined at its best. But if you want the highest rating, then you can look for a hybrid variant as they come with 40 MPG combined.

This is the first generation that gave us the modern RAV4 as we know it today. This one came with a rear liftgate rather than a side-opening rear door, and also dropped the V6. When this generation came out, it came with 3 trims, these being the LE, XLE, and Limited. These trims were outfitted with inline-4 engines and there were both gas and hybrid variants.

The engine that you can find in this generation is the same as the newer one, but it is “worse” when it comes to mileage. While the numbers aren’t low, they aren’t as good as the fifth generation. This is because the gas variant comes with an EPA rated 26 MPG combined, while the hybrid variant gets 32 MPG combined.