Is This The One To Beat? | 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime 

94 eMPG. 5.7 seconds 0-60. AWD. 600 mile range. 8.3inch ground clearance. And it cooks bacon! No compromises. This is a game changer. Great review!

The way Alex explain things is superb 👍🏻! I wish you’re my calculus teacher!

As an owner of a Prius Prime, PHEV's make so much more sense than full EV's. I drive over 90% in EV as I use it mainly as a commuter. The other 10% is for longer trips where charging isn't an option. Seriously considering a RAV4 Prime when the lease on my Prius is up.

Thank you for putting cabin noise ratings into each of your videos! Really helpful.

Mr. Alex, you have by far the best auto reviews on youtube! Absolutely amazing.

RAV4 Prime only exists on RU-vid.

I just love how your intro evolved. It's like advanced 80's sci-fi... like going to the future in an alternate universe. Mind blowing!

You Are The BEST Auto Reviewer .

Excellent report. Best automotive report I have seen. Clear precise & answers all the questions.

Fantastic review! How exciting! Thank you, Alex!

I literally just purchased this car today, the XSE version, fully loaded... Super freaking amazing!~ and I don't miss my Tesla one bit!

Best review on the Rav4 Prime. Thank you, this was a huge help.

Alex is so good at reviews, don’t care if Dodge is on his mind.

I really wish I hadn't just bought a new Subaru. I definitely see one of these in my future, it's a fantastic total package daily driver.

It’s a shame that this is so limited. It’d be the best selling car by far. It’s fast, probably reliable, practical, and decently priced.

Picked up my RAV4 Prime last week and already have 1,500 miles on it. LOVE IT! Coming from a Tesla Model 3 and Y, driving this long distance is a lot less stressful. There is plenty of HP and the room and ride is great! My only gripes so far…lane keep assist does tend to hug the right line, which I don’t prefer. Also, the app absolutely blows, hands down. No way to track your charging at all. Doesn’t even tell you if it’s fully charged which is very disappointing. I got the SE and I love the cloth seats. Driving 500 miles starting with a full charge, I wound up with a total MPG of 44, which was awesome. I drove it in EV mode on local roads, then auto while on the highway and the drive mode set to Eco the whole time. I found there was plenty of power at all times. The biggest difference I found with the driving modes was in traffic use ACC. Eco is much slower to accelerate and keep up compared to Normal and Sport Mode.

I've seen two of these in LA in the past couple months. Rare for sure as I see normal RAV-4s 10 times a day. Rav-4 already looks great, these look spectacular especially with those wheels.

Alex, such a good review. Keep up the good work!

The Rav4 Prime is simply the best compact suv

Love your review. Professional , concise and ultra informative. What a difference a year makes. Not only are there no rav4 primes available but if you could find one it would be $10,000 ++ over sticker and currently the $7500 tax credit doesn’t apply because the battery is not manufactured the USA. Actually there are not many cars available currently so one may have to settle for what ever is around if you are pressed to find a car. Would like to see some more of your videos if they are out there as they are some of the best.

I’ve got 7500 miles on my RAV4 Prime. The MPG displayed does exactly what you describe in the Volt. My prime often shows the max “99.9mpg” when the HV engine kicks on.

falling in love with this car the more I read about it.

Crazy that this is the 2nd fastest Toyota for sale, but then again, Toyota doesn't try to make fast cars. Definitely seems like a great vehicle all around!

Seen tens of reviews before this one, all my questions answered ... at last. Pretty nice filming too. Very good review. Thanks, so helpful.

This is the video that introduced me to and convinced me to buy a Rav 4 Prime SE, which I’ve had since Spring 2021. That said, the gas engine WILL turn on in a multitude of situations, even when the vehicle is “locked” in EV mode. Probably the instance that makes the least sense to me is when driving with the adaptive radar cruise control activated; when the vehicle senses the need to apply a medium or greater brake application to slow down, the engine will kick on and burn fuel, despite the car being completely able to regenerate into a partially depleted battery pack vs having to dump excess power into rotating the engine. Another minor gripe I have with the way regen is handled in this vehicle is that the traction computer is MUCH more willing to derate the amount of regen brake when making higher G turns while braking than the 2012 Prius I was previously driving. The transition is pretty abrupt, and you can notice the immediate decrease in deceleration as the regen cuts out and is replaced by the friction brakes. Not sure what the logic behind this behavior is. That being said, I’ve been pretty satisfied with the range I’ve been getting out of the vehicle based on my driving style. In city driving, ambient climate, I can get between 48-50 miles of electric range, and in moderate highway driving, 40 miles of electric range. I tend to drive a little more aggressively when the gas engine is on anyway, so my gas mileage per tank is not quite as high as the EPA estimate, but I drive relatively infrequently on gas that it’s not a big issue for me. If I really wanted to hypermile the car in hybrid mode, I’d have no problem doing that.

By far the BEST SUV I ever owned...and no range anxiety! Uses 5.5l/100km here in Canada

Great review. I just bought a Rav4 Prime and love it.

I really hope this catches on. A super high performance SUV, great gas mileage, and it's actually somewhat affordable.

I just upgraded my 2018 Prius Prime to a RAV4 Prime. Love, love, love. I knew after a few hundred miles in the Prius that the RAV is what I wanted , even though it wasn't available yet. In an area with a couple hundred inches of snow, the RAV only makes sense. The Prius was 100% geared toward fuel efficiency, and it delivered. What's next for the Toyota Prime lineup? I say follow the lead of the RAV by sacrificing a little efficiency and make a Prime equivalent of a Mazda Miata. A nice little convertible with some extra oomph and performance when you want it, and a great little EV hybrid the rest of the time.

Excellent review. Clearly, the RAV4 Prime is the best of both worlds.

A larger battery pack means more cells in parallel, which means more amperage is available to go out, but also go in. Which means you get more out of brake regeneration, making it more efficient.

The dealer in my area had one but they were "adding" an extra 10k to the price. I told him to find some other sucker. I will go get a Model Y.

Alex, thank you for telling MEANINGFUL truths. Toyota is the automaker I have the greatest admiration for. That being said, I believe they are limiting production their own desires, namely to maintain value. The Rav4 is sold in the UK as a rebadged Suzuki, seemingly only. because of Toyota's shameful previous ad campaign against plug in vehicles.

Definitely my next car... Fully loaded version!!! I'm happy you made comments on how the RAV4 PRIME compares to the engines of the plug in versions of BMW, Mercedes, Lincoln, Mazda, Volvo, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi, Kia, Hyundai and Pacifica.

Even at $38k it's a decent buy with 40 mile EV range. For me that would easily cover 80% of my driving and the rest of it would be at 40mpg or better. Looks pretty good in that red as well.

I love your reviews. VERY informative and you don't try to make dumb jokes or use the same shtick like some other reviewers.

Incredibly high quality content

I was actually able to see one at a dealership in San Jose and it had been sold that day. It sold for $60,000! It had $10k in options and $10k dealer markup. I'll wait a while...

Excellent video with useful insights and information. Thanks for another great video.

Hey Alex, great review as usual. Toyota should send you a $100,000 check for promoting its vehicles. You are the best.

Thanks Alex I enjoy your reviews I knew the EV 0-60 was faster than stated. We love our Rav 4 Prime SE $41,000 -$7,500 Federal Credit = $33,500 (No brainer) We own both the 2019 Rav 4 Hybrid XLE and 2021 Rav 4 Prime and hands down the Prime is my favorite. I noticed the transition from gasoline to EV seems to be smoother in the Prime vs our Rav 4 hybrid.

AA++ For the professional video. I have a Corolla Cross HV and I absolutely love it, now after watching this video, the prime is my new love, and my next target in a few years I hope. Thanks

I had a reservation, and could have had it by the end of the month. But it was $55,000 with the options I wanted. It's still just a RAV4, and I can't see spending that much money on a car like that. I hope whoever our reservation went to, enjoys it! For now, we'll just keep enjoying the inefficient Volt that we paid $17,000 for.

Excellent Review of a unique vehicle, Alex! 👍🏾

First off... awesome review! You know your stuff and you disseminate a truckload of information in few minutes. Excellent. You compared this Toyota RAV4 plug-in to the "competition" so many times... I guess that is appropriate. But to be honest Toyota is in a class of their own on forward technology like this. They are in class of their own on almost all vehicles to be honest. If any consumer is comparing stats and bumping that against price... and they decide The Toyota is no the value, well all I have to say is okay you do not get it.

As a (2nd gen) Volt owner, can I clarify something on the MPG issue? Yes, it is absolutely true that the default energy screen gives you a straight MPG read out that treats the electricity as free. However, there is also a MPGe read out. If you tap on the left side where the large MPG number is, it will switch to MPGe. On the right side, you get both: MPGe for electric mode, and MPG for hybrid. The left side shows MPGe in large print that calculates an average of your electric MPGe and the hybrid MPG for a combined MPGe. This number resets everytime you fully charge the volt (note that the right side will also reset when you fully charge the vehicle). There is also a lifetime MPGe that is in small print below the larger number. These numbers switch everytime you tap there. For example: my lifetime average (treated as if electricity is free) is around 160 MPG. However, if you tap to switch to MPGe, then my lifetime average switches and shows 80.2 MPGe. I actually leave it here all the time and don’t use the MPG only screen. As I said above, I’m a 2nd gen Volt owner so I don’t know if this is different than the 1st gen Volt, but there is an option to show MPGe that does NOT treat electricity as free.

Great review Alex!

Great review.

Great review Alex, thanks.

Can't wait for the Dodge Rav4 Durango review.

So funfact: I also found a way to treat my ‘09 Prius as a minor generator to power appliances in my home (recent hurricane power outages, as this is somewhat common where I live). I don’t see any different, for the new RAV4.

god how i love this channel

Excellent review. Thank you!

What a game changer this vehicle is! Wow is all I can say!

Thanks Alex for the great RAV4 P reviews. waited 7 months and picked myself up a XSE Premium. getting 48 miles on electric, 46 w/ AC, higher than the 42 amazingly! No complaints whatsoever so far. It's not a sports car but definitely feels premium. Passengers love the power, heating/cooling seats in front, heating in rear and the 360 camera helpful when parking! Did three things to the car so far, 1)blackened overlays and swapped out the rear exhaust w/ smoked TRD exhausts, 2) swapped interior door switches to lighted ones, and 3) LED lights all around including the mirror puddles! As for charging, got sick of slow charging and went for a ChargePoint home flex to utilize the full 6.6! Thank you again Alex!

At least based upon experience with our Prius Prime, I don’t often use Charge Mode. It’s almost always more efficient to just run it as a hybrid, than to burn gas to charge the battery and then later drive it out in EV mode. However, there are two scenarios when I do use charge mode: 1. When it first fires up the engine, it runs a warm-up cycle, and in the warm-up cycle it sometimes just wastes that gas solely to warm up the engine, whereas it should at least use it to charge up the battery. So, I do use it for that purpose, but only for ~3 minutes, then switch to normal hybrid mode. 2. Occasionally after road trip, necessarily in hybrid mode, I end up with too much gas in the tank! If so, I’ll often turn on just burn it down to 2-3 gallons or so. Since in day-to-day driving around town, I only use about a gallon per month, I never fill up with more than 2-3 gallons, lest it sit around forever fermenting in the gas tank!

Sold, I want one........Excellent review.

Best reviews on RU-vid

Another excellent review, thank you

Something everyone should know. Just got back from my local dealer. They have a 10k market price mark up. They said all of them are marking it up because it is a “hot” car. It put the price over 51k. Also gets smaller state and local incentives but does get the $7500 fed tax credit. Makes it the same price as Tesla.

I own a 2021 Rav4 Prime XSE Premium with 6000 miles on it.... Love It!!!

Averaging 80+ MPG most tanks so far!

The RAV4 Prime seems to have some type of program to determine how much range you have based on your driving style. When I drive on the freeway or drive stepping on the brakes and gas all the time, I get 41 mile range on a full charge. When I drive 25 mph and gently stop and accelerate (not super slow to be annoying), I get 45 mile range.

Just as an FYI, we've had ours now for about 2 - 3 months, and it's amazing. We're averaging 47 mpg average on a fuel tank, and 45 mpg on the HWY going around 65 to 70 mph. Not just us, but our friends did a drive from Reno to Vegas and did an actual MPG calculation. They got 45 mpg on the HWY too. Just amazing.

Great review as always. But since the old Chevy Spark EV had a battery pack with a good enough TMS to offer a low priced CCS DC fast charging option. That had about the same capacity as in RAV4 Prime, so ofc Toyota could have offered the same option. For ppl that use it though out day and want stay in EV mode.

Great review, thanks!

This shoe would fit me well. I commute 38 miles one way to work. The drive is warm climate flat highway commute. I work 12-14 hour days, and I can charge it at work. Awd (ish) almost 300hp.. sold. Maybe next year or so.

I love the RAM 4 prime!!

If I can get my hands on this for $30k after Federal Tax Credit I'm all in. I just drove an LE as a loaner as my Land Cruiser was in for service, and yes, its nowhere near what the LC is but the efficiency was insane, it was comfortable to drive, plenty of room for 4 and our gear for a weekend. Hard to complain

6:12 this changed with the 2nd generation and it started using MPGe on its efficency display as the default give them a break they were the 1st to make a mass market PHEV and yet 10 years later there is no set way that everyone agrees on they just used what they knew.

Regarding the MPG display discussion around 7:00, the *Prius* Prime most prominently displays that wacky “electricity is free” number, but yes, it also shows you the much more reasonable MPG while in hybrid mode and separate MPKWh in EV mode. You have to did a little deeper to find those two numbers, though.

Bought a 2021 Rav4 prime se, with a few options, drives great, getting used to longer Level 1 charge. Initially got over 50 miles in EV mode. So far only 250 miles in first week. I previously drove Prius V five for 140K.

the transmission is a continuously variable transmission. It uses the number one drive electric motor generator to vary the gear ratio by spinning the electric motor. the higher the speed the slower it goes. When the motor slows down to the point where it stops it rotates in the other direction to create an overdrive situation. Very smart people.

I'm on a dealer's waitlist for a RAV4 Prime in 2021, but I may end up with a VW ID.4 instead. The ID.4 cost is not much different than the RAV4 Prime after federal and state incentives (depending on trim level), and I'm not as worried about range anxiety as I used to be.

haha you actually removed the rear seat to see what's under it - that's awesome. thumbed the video up !

A "Microwave On Board" sticker is a must.

Awesome review as usual, but a couple errors on the Volt efficiency readouts. My gen2 volt offers MPG and MPGe (combined). MPG is like what you described (electricity is considered "free"), but it maxes out at 250 mpg. MPGe converts kWh into gal at 1 gal = 33 kWh and combines the electric and gas efficiency numbers into one value. It's still a terrible system, but doesn't count the electricity as "free".

I put my name on the Toyota dealer's waiting list several months ago in the state of Washington. He would not accept a deposit and had no ETA in this area. Even though RAV 4 Primes are available in CA, they are not available to those living outside the state. Someday, a RAV4 Prime will be mine, but not today.

DC fast charge on the other side ... the gas LOL!!! I cant breath! LOL!

Great review Alex...before I saw this review....I was all set on the Rav 4 Hybrid...toss a 2 headed coin!!!

Seems odd to say, but this might be the best vehicle for the use case of most people that anyone has ever made.

What a great video, although it is obviously US-centric. Here in Australia our government doesn't offer the tax credit, in fact the various states are moving to introduce a 2c per km tax on PHEVs and 2.5c per km on EVs, where as the standard Hybrid is excluded. From what you said, it would be far more expensive to buy and also more expensive to run. The only advantage is the extra HP (or as we call it KW}. We are literally about to purchase a RAV4 Hybrid AWD Cruiser. I am just waiting to compare it to the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which will probably lose, but I still have to test it for myself.

I might have just found the only car reviewer in the world who understands the way plug-in hybrids work.

It cooks bacon...SOLD!

Everybody’s situation will be a little different, but in Austin TX, running our Prius Prime on electric charged from home, is about 40% cheaper per mile than on 55MPG gas. That, based upon pre-COVID-19 gas prices here (around $2.20/gallon).

Looks nice, though not sure how it'll hold out over time, or how resistant it'll be to scratches, but I don't get the piano black on the lower half. Still, I would love to have one. Excellent review and thanks for posting.

I am in line to get this next. Hope they come out with Sienna Prime soon.

I had to watch an ad just to watch this toyota ad!

If i ever own an EV i would plug it in at work and make my employer worry about the bill lol

I use Chargepoint I'm getting 5.9 kw at 13 miles per hour charge. It takes more than 2.5 hours from a low to full charge. Still glad I traded my Model Y for the Prime. The Prime beats the Y in every catogry except for faster speed.

Great review. Love the color. I don't know how you got your hands on the pano roof - I feel like I'll find Bigfoot before I find a Prime XSE w/ pano roof available for reserve!

You misspelled Rav4 with RAM4

Wow you said all the detail i need to know

If Toyota ever gets with the program and introduces a hybrid Tundra, they're going to clean up.

“The engine hasn’t been on whilest I’ve had my bacon cooking...” *lovingly pats down bacon* “I’ll eat you later.”

RAV4 Prime is what I want!!!!

Oh wow! I am just on time to view just 2 minutes since it post.

I just test drove a Rav4 Prime XSE today. The MSRP is $48,288. They said the markup they expect is at least $5k. It becomes a bidding war and the last car sold was marked up to $7500, the rebate price. That means, no savings. If I offer $5K extra, I would get the car out the door around $56,700 or so. Subtract from the rebate, that's still close to $50K! I am not sure saving on gas will make up for that extra cost.

This is literally perfect except one thing...the rear glass does not come up like the Ford Bronco...still worth it if I had the money!

Question, for the RAV4 prime - does the AWD work at all speeds (e.g. on highway)? If memory serves, on the hybrid RAV4, the AWD (via electric motor) only works at lower speeds (i think up to 35 mph?)