Truth is I really like her 2015 RAV4 LIMITED ~ VOICE Navigation ~ back up CAM ~ ZONE air conditioning ~ LEATHER all over the place ~ reasonable MPG ~ However rides like a truck.
Like the "Toyota care" ~~ her out of pocket on maintenance has been ZERO ~~ That includes a new battery, wash jobs, Tire rotation and oil filters etc.
Believe the re-sale value (on the CURB) will be satisfying --
I tried driving it and I felt no engagement with the vehicle or got any useful feedback from it. After driving a bunch of newer cars, I completely understand why so many guys refuse to give up their MKI/MKII golfs.
My mom's car had 3 choices when it came to buying. The price gap between each one was another car(moderately priced used vehicle that is still good). That's completely absurd, if you ask me.
It was not possible to add just foglights and heated seats. That required to buy the top tier model(it does have nice options, though), but for just wanting foglights and heated seats, the cost was simply prohibitive. I will be taking care of these two things with a small budget of only a couple hundred and doing the labor myself.
The small suv/crossover segment of cars is likely
THEE worst, out there in my eyes. The short version of it: too much car to be a good suv and too much suv to be a good car.
You're forced to use the back-up camera, even if your neck works and your head still turns. I felt like I had horse blinders on when I was driving. It's only possible to see(somewhat) to the left of me and a little forward(because I tend to scoot my seat all the way back in most cars) and straight ahead at medium and long distances. To me, that is atrocious, because there's simply not enough visibility for hurling that much metal at highway speeds. Don't start me on maneuvering in cramped city or tight space conditions. It is simply terrible and you're going blindly, unless you kick a passenger out, open windows and make them be your flagger.
The fact that the average driver doesn't really know how to drive, but is simply capable of making their vehicle move, scares me. Most just don't know about what they're buying or what they have, other than how to start it, make the blue tooth work and where the cupholders are. Not saying that everyone should be an expert or even an enthusiast to my own level, but there should be more knowledge about the product, especially when it costs $25,000+, after talking about how much people care about money. The automotive homogenization of the society is a highly negative concept for me.
I'm going to cut my rant/criticism short on just that, since you guys aren't here to read that. But, I will add the fact that the Honda CR-V is basically the unofficial female vehicle in my town. I counted 36 within a <5 mile radius, when I was out running errands for less than 1 hour.
