2023 RAV4 Prime XSE - Full first impressions 

Does that power outlet in the back come in handy?

@@djaztec97 I've used mine on a couple of occasions,....for blowing up air beds when glamping!

LOL, yeah, single take - I wasn't really shooting for the stars with this video… didn't memorize any talking points or anything like that, just went through the stuff that came to mind! So I appreciate the kind words! I'll post a more complete *actual* review later on after I've spent ample time with it, but I'm really glad people are enjoying the content!

@@OtherSteve That's the way to do it... just talk about what's important to you, and you'll be spot-on with what most of us are really interested in knowing! Thanks again.

Can you post a link to the aftermarket pads you used on the pockets and drink holders? I have 2021 Prime SE, and I hate how my phone and sunglasses slide all over the place on the stock hard surface.

@@kevinwhilden5394 Auovo Anti Dust Mats for Toyota... www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYK4H1S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Hey, that's fantastic news about the tires. I was honestly concerned about that somewhat, though I think I would still trade a couple of miles of MPG for better traction in inclement weather. I'll be sure to report back with my impressions after a little bit of time driving on them as well, but I appreciate your feedback! And thanks for watching also!

Thanks for the kind words! This truly was the prime (sorry) reason that I decided to finally pull the trigger: aside from all else, this vehicle would be substantially safer than my previous one. Naturally, like you said, I could have gotten pretty much anything probably and still that would have been true, but the other variables such as performance, cargo space, and my admiration for Toyota for a variety of reasons came into play also. Not too long from now I'll probably assemble a full review video after I've spent some time with it, but I just bought Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires also, and although there's definitely a fuel economy penalty attached to those, I'm not sure if I've ever felt more secure and capable when driving any vehicle, much less one with this kind of performance behind it. I'll get into more details whenever I put that video together, but I drove through a monsoon last night and it was almost like I was on dry pavement. Plus, I'm still getting 42ish EV miles anyway even with those installed. I probably would be getting closer to 48 or 49 with the stock tires, but the jury is out on how things will be in a couple thousand miles. From a safety standpoint though, it's just in another universe coming from my 2009 V6 😂

@@OtherSteve Nice I really like the Cross Climate 2

Personally I just buy good reliable cars to begin with so five years isn't really a big deal nor is 10 for my cars. Hell, Toyota and Hondas have a great rep for getting ya 20+ and 300k+ miles. If you just want a car for 2 years and to always have payments and pay for the dealer's appreciation on the car just lease. You'll have a newer car every few years in exchange for paying way more money than owning.

Here's the tray: EVTIME fit for Toyota RAV4 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Accessories Center Console Organizer Tray Armrest Box Secondary Storage (Black) a.co/d/0gs4Rik It fits the 2023, in spite of the fact that it says it doesn't.

And here are those rubber inserts: Auovo Anti Dust Mats for Toyota... www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYK4H1S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I have a new 2024 and the charge mode I just figured out. The engine looses a lot of power in charge mode and gets a little noisy. It seems to be best on steady highway driving not where you need to accelerate a lot.

your fuel consumption will suffer... its most expensive way to charge your battery

@@Larss70time will tell. First impression is that the drop in fuel consumption when charging on the highway with constant speed is not dramatic. More we, when the battery is empty the auto mode will also engage the engine more often. So to calculate how this compares to the Charge hold function is not so easy.

So you would rather purchase gasoline and burn it to charge the battery, than plug in overnight when home to charge the battery? I fully agree that it is good to have the option to have the car charge the battery, but if you refuse to "plug in", why get a plug in hybrid???? (and pay extra for it)

@@edchesnut7309 No but let me explain what I mean. I drive longer commuter routes, like 250-300km per day. I start off in auto mode, which means I use EV to get out of my city. On the highway, the battery is empty at some time and switches to HV, so burning fuel. At that time, I switch over to Charge hold mode as I want to have as much EV range as possible when entering my destination city. So on the highway I burn fuel anyway as the EV range is not sufficient. If possible I try to charge at the customer destination as they usually have some charging points.

Hey Puc! You're going to absolutely love yours. It's worth the wait, that's for sure. I have about 400 mi on the odometer so far, have done a decent amount of highway driving actually (more than usual this past week), and I still have 2/3 a tank of gas. It's incredible. At this rate I probably won't fill up but once per month, or slightly more depending on how much highway driving I do. The interior really is nice from a utilitarian standpoint, and has a really premium feel in context with the rest of the cars in this segment. Everything is tightly assembled, build quality is as expert as expected, ergonomics are terrific in my opinion. Soft touch surfaces practically everywhere that matters, everything is neatly cushioned, displays are bright and colorful, knobs are clicky and supple. It's just a great interior experience in spite of the fact that other vehicles with a more luxury slant obviously have it beat. I'm not missing anything personally, though I do wish my non-premium package XSE included the smart key sensors on all doors (a small problem if you change the setting to unlock all doors when touching any handle), I miss a 360° cam every now and then, and I would enjoy the AC outlet in the back. But all of these omissions are survivable and I believe the car feels no less premium in their absence unless someone spends an extensive amount of time driving it when alternating between vehicles that do have these options. I don't miss the digital rear view mirror, I tried it in a friend's sienna and it's weird to say the least. I know it has its utility when you have the back stacked up to the top, but I usually don't, and even when I do the backup camera still functions when it needs to and the side view mirrors are perfectly serviceable. Visibility is great anyway, better than my 2009 RAV4 and my wife's Honda Pilot 2019. And the ride quality really is excellent in this thing. I'm about to have the tires swapped for Michelin cross-climate 2 tires on Monday, since we're heading into winter and we occasionally get some snow and ice here in Louisville. But even the stock Avid GT tires don't seem that loud to me and ride pretty smoothly. I did have one situation where the screen stayed black when I got into the car and put it into ready mode, but I discovered that was actually a problem with my phone. Fortunately, my job is one of diagnosis, so I have a diagnostic mindset and I'm able to isolate these types of problems. Simply disabling Bluetooth on the phone corrected it temporarily, and so restarting my phone fixed the problem once and for all. The wireless charger also can be a little finicky, but I've found a way to make it reliable. I'll probably do another video pretty soon with some coverage of these quirks and the solutions I've found so that others can benefit from them.

@@OtherSteve Thank you so much for the excellent write-up, WELL DONE!! Steve, do you have any thoughts on the HEV Power Cable connection issues. Do you know if that was solved on the 2023 models. Wondering if the dealership who you got yours from mentioned it. I am looking for a complete skid plate/under carriage for mine as I type this, looking for availabilty. Any thoughts? I just realized you are in Louisville, you folks probably dont get much salt on your roads? Here in Michigan THAT is a problem.. Anyway, THANK YOU again for the write up! WELL DONE SIR! Puc

​@@pucpuc937As far as I know the HEV cable issue is ancient history; I believe it affected 2021 models only and was resolved in those via a TSB. Newer models feature a design that allows drainage from the undercarriage of the vehicle to prevent rust. Yes, salt could potentially be an issue I guess, and it's a frequent topic of discussion, but given the reliability of these vehicles I doubt it's much to worry about. Surely engineers took this into consideration when revising the design. We have brine and salt several times per winter over here, though the bigger problem here for me is wet roads the rest of the year. That's why I'm switching the tires; well, that, and the fact that Costco has them for $100 off this month and Chase 5% calendar is warehouse clubs this quarter :-)

@@OtherSteve AWESOME!! GLAD TO HEAR IT! Cosco carries the 19 inch? What kind of $$ for what ur looking at? Sounds like the tire manufactures are getting caught up some.. THANK GOD!!! I use to cross country tour on Motorcycles (check out my utube channel) before cancer ended it for us. The new Yamaha Venture (2017) had a 1 off rear tire that only the dealerships could get,, thing was $515 (for one tire, not installed). 2 years later the tire companies caught up it dropped to $200. By the way, we will be trading in our 2018 Hyundai Ioniq hybrid (also shown on my utube channel).. I am waiting on the local Hyundai dealership here to finish a service on it than its on to a detailer then over to local Toyota dealer for appraisal. It will be interesting to hear what they come up with!! Hey Steve,, do they offer "under coating" of these rigs? Thats probably old school LOL

@@pucpuc937 I don't know about undercoating, I didn't ask and I figure the bottom is pretty well armored from what I've seen from other videos on RU-vid. As for the tires, I think I'm paying around 900 plus tax out the door, installed. So they aren't cheap, but they also last forever apparently

In my experience, at least at 60 - 75 degrees ambient temperatures, you actually get quite a lot more than that. I was getting 45 / 46 before I swapped my tires for Michelin CrossClimate 2s... now the range has dropped to closer to 41/42. It may improve again over time if what I'm reading is to be trusted, but I figured we're heading into wintery weather conditions and the tires were on sale... not to mention how good they apparently are in wet conditions. Some people report above 50 miles EV range.

Looks really premium in person IMHO, but maybe I'm just happy it's not the typical matte plastic strips.

It's kind of noisy above 75 mph, I'll say that. But it's certainly not bad, and no worse than the 2019 Honda pilot elite that we have. Part of the problem with the RAV4 Prime I think is that you get so used to it being quiet when you're running in EV mode that you get spoiled, such that when the engine actually kicks in you regret it, haha.

2009 here and researching. How do you like it? I hold onto cars forever. Thank you.

Hey man! Personally, I think it sounds quite good. I did tweak it a bit, as I found the mid-range a bit too prevalent for my liking (listening primarily to 60s - 90s rock and jazz), but everyone has different opinions on what sounds "right". The highs are pretty clear and the lows really can punch depending on what you're listening to. It's a definite upgrade over my old RAV JBL and my wife's 2019 Honda Pilot Elite. I'll try to cover it more extensively when I put together my review video in a week or two. Hope this helps!

Funny you mentioned that, I'm actually getting the ceramic coating this coming week! It was kind of expensive, I'm paying around $1400 for it, but it's a graphene coating and it's supposed to be really high quality. The guy who is doing the work has a good reputation and says it should last eight or nine years most likely.

I got the ceramic coating on my Prime, and am very satisfied with it.

If you aren't going to plug it in, don't get the Prime. If you are, it's one of the best total packages of any vehicle out there at the moment if you ask me.

It was pretty seamless. I simply called TFS and paid them with a check, personal check mind you, as soon as the account showed up and I was able to register online. It was a cinch! Ultimately, after all fees, the savings were somewhere in the 5,000s, but that's still well worth it!

I'm always in such a hurry I just immediately set it to unlock all doors with every touch 😂

Sorry, haven't gotten around to all these comments, lol. When they ship the cars from Japan, the tires are filled to 50 psi and above for shipping reasons. The dealer is supposed to deflate them to 35 PSI, but they very often forget.

Got mine from the great folks at Toyota of Louisville... after plunking down a reservation 18 months ago

Did you just pick up a brand new 2023? The 2024 are coming soon??

​@@obsidyenneg4333The 2024s are allocating now, however, there are literally no changes coming from the 2023 models. The price is around $1,100 higher for the XSE trim however, and a few hundred higher for the SE.

Well, this isn't just the hybrid, it's the Prime, which is a plug-in hybrid... So it literally depends on how long your commute is and how often you plug in. Currently I have 700 miles and am only slightly shy of half a tank after nearly 2 weeks of driving. But, to more directly answer your question, my mileage was higher for the first week of ownership before I got my new Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires (they seem to reduce mileage by 10%+), however I'm still getting pretty terrific mileage overall. In hybrid mode alone it's between 35 and 40 mpg, and of course, that's to say nothing about the electric range (which, after swapping the tires, is somewhere close to 3 mi/kWh).

@@OtherSteve I was thinking more like a long highway trip. It would be interesting to see how far a fully charged, fully fueled, Prime XSE could go while interstate driving (70-80 miles an hour) before I needed to stop for gas. I'm retired and most of my local trips are less than 30 miles round trip so I'd probably use electric for most of those trips, but I plan to travel extensively on long trips at high speeds. If I could go 500 miles on a full tank of gas using both electric and gas that would be something! I wouldn't plug in again until I reached my destination.

@@tommajor2940 I doubt you'd actually make it 500 miles, as the vehicle apparently reports it's needing gas when there is still ~3 gallons left in the tank! But highway mileage, I want to say I was getting 37ish mpg prior to swapping the tires to the CC2, and now it's closer to 35 mpg. So at 11.5 gallons usable capacity, that'd factor out to around 425.5 miles in HV mode, plus the EV range of probably around 35 miles (since driving highway speeds in EV mode is less efficient than lower speed trips). So 460ish?

That's because the XSE trim (without Premium Package) that I have does not have ventilated seats, but rather heated seats only. What you're looking at are buttons for high and low heated seat settings. At first I was worried I would really be missing the ventilated seats but after reading a lot of impressions about them it seems that they only recycle internal cabin air anyway, so probably doesn't make a huge difference. We'll see how hot these seats get in the summer but so far it doesn't seem too uncomfortable.

@@OtherSteve yeah yeah sorry that’s what I mean. The heated seats button looks different in mine. But it’s not big deal tho. I just thought that the buttons are standard across high trim ravs. What I have is the red and blue heated seat button that are separate from each other

@@OtherSteve /agree with poster. XSE Prem seats are not too bad in the summer. IMO, while the vent seats are useful, they are not as "cooling" as other brands that I have tried. Not to sound offensive, but it is literally air blowing up your bum! I found that in the summer, sometimes, I forget to even turn them on.

I just got the 2024 premium with ventilated seats and they are surprisingly effective really cools your butt and the whole back will be great in summer on high they out out a lot of cool air.

It's on the Premium Package. I wasn't interested in waiting around for one of those

Panoramic roof comes with premium package, and 360° view on the screen

18 months.

Where I live, there’s a 2 year waiting list and $10k markup

EVTIME fit for Toyota RAV4 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Accessories Center Console Organizer Tray Armrest Box Secondary Storage (Black) a.co/d/0gs4Rik It fits the 2023, in spite of the fact that it says it doesn't.

If the lease cash buyout deal works it'll be closer to $44k. Even still, I would have paid $49k and been satisfied, which is current MSRP for the XSE + delivery charges.

@@OtherSteve So the $6,500 lease thing doesn't work?

@@CumBrianFries Pretty sure it does -- but the dealer (as is typical with these) had no clue. Numbers didn't add up for them (lease interest mostly ate up the credits on their paperwork), but I did a lease anyway under the assumption that my research was correct, and that the money factor/rent fee will be credited back when a payoff is requested first month. We'll see.

@@OtherSteve I see. Thanks for sharing this. I also plan on going this route but unsure if there's gonna be a buyout once the first payment is available.

@@CumBrianFries I will report back and let you know once I get my paperwork.

2024 model year? 2024 isn't a redesign, it's a carry forward, with $1k higher MSRP. You'll be waiting until 2025 (or end of 2024 at earliest for those models to drop). I've done my research ;-)

@@OtherSteve No. Incorrect. The new redesign is shipping in 2024. Huge improvements over the old model including all new infotainment, bigger muscular appearance, more power, and insulation upgrade to address irritating road noise issues. ✅ The old model was good. The new model far better.

@@billyrock8305 So you mean 2025 model year then. The 2024 model year is the same as 2023, +$1K MSRP (XSE). All new infotainment again in 2025? Didn't they just refresh this for the 2023 MY? www.motortrend.com/cars/toyota/rav4-prime/2024/#:~:text=After%20receiving%20a%20redesign%20for,is%20a%20carryover%20for%202024. What is your source?

@@OtherSteve Did you lease this model? (Financially speaking the absolute worst method for vehicle acquisition). If leased it will be easy to flip this old model when the new model ships next year. Source is Toyota not a magazine.

@@billyrock8305 My friend, I'm afraid I'm so far ahead on the research from what you expect that we are having a fruitless conversation. Yes, I leased, specifically because of what's called lease cash. I wrote a $20,000 check and will pay off the rest of the car the first month to avoid the money factor and save roughly 5 to $6,000 off MSRP on the vehicle as a result. It's more or less a back door tax credit loophole that many of the EV manufacturers have been leveraging if their cars do not otherwise qualify for the conventional inflation reduction act tax credit due to foreign materials or manufacturing. So, to answer your question, yes, at leased the vehicle because I'm paying off the vehicle the first month and it will save me thousands of dollars due to the loophole.