2025 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid: Maybe the Woodland trim helps

2025 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid vs. GMC Terrain: The “cure for insomnia” competition?

Price: $37,470 as tested. Woodland Weather Package added heated seats and steering wheel and rain-sensing wipers for $925; and two-tone paint added $500.

Conventional wisdom: Edmunds likes the “excellent fuel economy, smooth ride quality, plenty of space for cargo,” but not that the “front seats lack comfort for longer drives, brakes and steering feel mushy and loose.”

Marketer’s pitch: “Find yourself discovering more.”

Reality: There’s a definite winner (or is it loser?) in this SUV yawntest.

What’s new: I called this a “ho-hum hybrid” when I tested the RAV4 for 2023. In that episode, I was lamenting the lack of the Woodland trim, which was new for the model year. Now that I’ve tested it, does that really improve things?

But whether it’s improved or not, pitting it against the GMC Terrain seems like a fitting pairing. Surprisingly, one of them seemed far easier to live with.

The 2025 is the last of the RAV4’s current generation, and a new one starts with the 2026 model.

Competition: In addition to the Terrain, there’s the Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and CX-50, and Subaru Forester.

Up to speed: The 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine coupled to the electric motor creates 219 horsepower.

Car and Driver reports 0-60 takes 7.3 seconds, and I’ve had other vehicles that still felt fun in that range of acceleration (Toyota Tacoma and Jeep Gladiator come to mind, but maybe trucks are just more fun).

Shiftless: The continuously variable transmission is operated through an old-style lever, rather than the joystick that Priuses and most other Toyota hybrids and plug-ins receive. The CVT seemed to be a major contributor to the vehicle’s sluggish feel.

On the road: I usually find RAV4s no fun for handling, and this low-budget edition did not disappoint. Or rather, it did disappoint, but about as I expected it would.

Mr. Driver’s Seat forged ahead, gritting his teeth, taking on trips to Center City for Christmas Village (fun but too cold) and up north to see Sturgis Best Friend’s Mom (fun and even colder) so that maybe you wouldn’t have to.

But after a bit of driving, I found the RAV4 to be a pleasant companion. Highway driving was smooth, and the RAV4 handled as directly as a Subaru might. That’s not exactly high praise, but at least Toyota is past its old days of vague steering. (In a strange twist of events, the Subaru Outback Touring XT earned my ire recently for its vague steering.)

Another bonus, a bit of slippery back roads showed that the traction control and all-wheel drive worked quite nicely.

Driver’s Seat: My biggest complaint about the RAV4 would be the driving position. I couldn’t arrange the seat with the pedals and also have a commanding view of the road. I ended up feeling like I was peering over the sides of a wall.

The fabric seat felt cheap and kind of stiff, but it didn’t leave me achy over all those test miles.

Friends and stuff: The rear seat, though, feels especially sad and uninspired. The seat back has two settings: a decent upright position and a weird half-reclined position, but legroom is generous for both corners, as are headroom and foot room. The hump and console intrude into the middle spot a bit, but it’s still a usable seat.

Cargo space is 69.8 cubic feet with the rear seat folded and 37.6 when it’s upright.

In and out: This size crossover is among the easiest to get in and out, and the RAV4 matches the best of them.

Play some tunes: The bare-bones six-speaker stereo system provided fairly nice sound, about a B+, maybe even an A-. It wasn’t super clear and was maybe a hair off the best reproduction you can find, but bass, midrange, and treble adjustments got me where I needed to be.

A volume knob is the only function outside the smallish 8-inch touchscreen, but the screen is easy enough to follow.

Keeping warm and cool: We endured some temperatures in the teens and even single digits for one trip, and the heater never wavered, exceeding my expectations from a four-cylinder hybrid power plant.

Little buttons with nice labeling operate everything except the temperature controls — those use big dials — and it was all easy to use.

Fuel economy: The RAV4 averaged a solid 35 mpg until we got on the highway and temperatures really started to drop, then it went down to 32-33.

Where it’s built: Woodstock, Ontario. The SUV is made up of 45% U.S.-made parts and 45% from Japan.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports gives the RAV4 Hybrid a 5 out of 5 for reliability.

In the end: It’s nice to get something super reliable and economical, but does it have to be so boring, Toyota? Perhaps the 2026 redesign will liven things up a bit (it will certainly be economical, as it will come only as a hybrid or PHEV).

Next week: 2025 GMC Terrain