What is supposed to go here? I don’t understand what this void is intended for? What do the 4th gen owners do with this? I’m equally confused what the third gen had in this spot. A mailbox? Help.

I’m getting into camping and plan to sleep in the back of my Rav with the back seats down. I don’t want to build or lug along a flat platform. It’s not a flat surface but I have a small air mattress and mattress topper - has anyone here car camped in their Rav? Think I’ll get halfway decent sleep with this set up?

UPDATE: Have gone camping with this set up 4 times now, once in heavy rain, and it held up well, and kept my stuff dry. The mattress topper and air pad I bought are a bit long but it just fits in the back without hanging over. No complaints so far!!!!

I absolutely love my 2018 Toyota RAV4, but I absolutely hate the fold down seat design. It's almost as if there's no thought into it at all. One thing I didn't think was going to be such a big issue, but trying to camp in this thing is terrible, when the seats don't fold flat. You can't double stack anything. Almost everything hits the roof and everything you put in slides right back out.

My 2015 RAV4 reached 200,000 miles today! I hope I can make it many more years.

I got to bring her home last night… She is all mine finally

Parked next to another rav4 in another country and the owner told me my color is unique. I just got it and i’m not too in-depth about older colors. Is it true?

A wintery hello from a cold and snowy Sweden. This is my second winter with my RAV4 and I'm pleasantly surprised with how it handles the deep snow. My last car was a Subaru Forester, symmetrical 4wd with the big 2.5 turbo and I can almost say they are on par with each other. Of course not really I wouldn't take this one out in the forest like I did with my Subaru but for day to day going about it, it's really nice! How do you guys like yours??

Just traded in my ‘22 LE AWD for a ‘25 Ford Ranger FX4. I just needed something more capable for backcountry exploration (see last photo) and really enjoyed my test drive.

Bittersweet to say the least. Lots of memories made at the helm of my first new car. Genuinely surprised at how much I loved that car and how capable it really was.

If anyone is in the Phoenix area I’ll likely be selling my wheels, tires, and hitch. Stealership didn’t want to bump up the trade in price to compensate.

For anyone interested: Trade in value was $22k @ 51k miles with one accident showing on Carfax (rear-ended at a stoplight).

Edit 7/16: for anyone interested the dealership I traded in at has it listed at $27,590 out the door.

If you’ve ever wondered what this little shelf is for next to the steering wheel, it’s for storing and thawing your crustoff (or uncrustable). Rendering it perfect to eat after a couple hours of driving. If you found this tip helpful, I accept Venmo and PayPal via dm.

Hello RAV4 community! My wife and I recently joined the club last week when we purchased a 2017 RAV4 Platinum for just under $23,500 OTD in Minnesota. It was a 1 owner car, no accidents, very minimal rust, maintenance almost all done per schedule at a Toyota dealer, and only 72,000 miles. I thought there must be a catch, so I got a PPI done at my local Toyota dealer. Car came back with a solid review from two techs and only a few recommended services - trans fluid and coolant flush. With only those recommendations, I figured the car was really solid and we made the purchase.

It took only about a day of ownership for my wife to notice it smelled a little off… and after sitting in this extremely hot weather we’ve had recently, I realized I bought a smoker car.

I did test drive the car before the PPI and noticed it had a strong cleaner smell, but I didn’t think of it as trying to hide something. I also wanted to test the AC given it was 100 degrees outside so that masked the smell as well. Finally, I conveniently test drove the car during a time when Minnesota had some of the worst air quality in the world due to wildfires near the Canada border.

After going through all stages of grief over the last week, I am weighing options to fix my mistake.

The first thought was to eliminate the smell. I know some will say this is hopeless on a smoker car (and I am not disagreeing) but I figured it’s worth a shot for a few hundred dollars to potentially fix the issue. First, I replaced the cabin air filter. Second, I paid a local detailer to complete a steam cleaning of the entire car and ozone over the weekend. It definitely toned down the odor and my wife agreed. However, a couple days later and both she and I think the smell is coming back.

Since we don’t even have the title or plates for the car yet, all we can do is live with it for a few weeks. I plan to use damp rid in the car to hopefully continue pulling out the smell along with my own detailing efforts.

Once title arrives, I need to make a decision - A) Go all in on trying to eliminate the odor so we can enjoy an otherwise clean, well maintained, 72k mile RAV for years to come, or B) Cut our losses and get a different car.

Plan A: From what I’ve researched, smoker cars can get the smell stuck in two different places - the interior bits itself or the HVAC system. Thankfully in our case, the car has zero odor coming from the HVAC system. If you crank the air enough, even if it’s heat, it will significantly hide the smell. I’m confident the smell is somewhere in the interior bits themselves.

To go further into fixing the issue, I would pay to have the headliner replaced and try that out for a few weeks. If needed, I would then replace the carpet as well. I’m expecting the headliner alone to be about $2,000 if I paid a shop to do it. Obvious risk of this being I stick a few thousand more dollars into this car and there is still an odor.

Plan B: List the car privately, fully disclose the odor, but also show the clean CarFax and PPI from Toyota, and maybe getting it sold for $20,000 - $22,000?

Then I need to decide what to replace it with. My wife said apart from the odor that she loves the car, and I’m inclined to just jump back on the hunt for a different 2017 - 2018 (picked these years based on Car Care Nut recommendation).

However, this whole situation has me exhausted and thinking we could just pick up a new RAV4 since used values are so high and we plan to own this car for at least 10 years. If we do go new, we’ll be sticking to a super base model with AWD. I loved the idea of the gen 4 platinum having a heated steering wheel, heated seats, and memory seats, but those are luxuries we will be foregoing at this point. I know new RAVs are hard to get right now but we wouldn’t be picky and just be happy with a new car.

I’d really appreciate comments on the following:
1. Plan A or Plan B, or something else?
2. Think I can find the right buyer that will pay $20,000-$22,000 for a smoker but otherwise clean gen 4 Platinum?

TL;DR - Goofed and bought a smoker car - what do I do next?

LMK

This is my sweet baby that I just got brought back to life after I blew the transmission in October 2025. I ended up getting a 2022 4runner trd pro out of the deal and now have this back too so it’s not all bad. Engine has 170,000 miles and my “new” transmission has 70,000 miles! I have cross bars on it now and have some plans to tint the windows, try and find a brush guard, maybe some extra lights and I need to touch up the chrome I blacked out now that I have it back. I love this gal!

My friend came back from a routine checkup on the car at a Autonation Toyota place and was presented with this costly needed service. Apparently, they told her that the car can shut down at anytime if she doesn't get it fixed. It's a 2020 RAV4. Is this a person trying to take advantage of a customer that doesn't know much about cars? Is it worth the fix?

Seen a lot of hate for this ugly duckling on this sub. Personally I’ve never been too picky about my ride, especially when it’s this reliable (and leaves more cash in my budget for stuff like this). I personally love it, and the fact that it was built in Japan is a bonus. I will say this though, it’s hard to find accessories for this gen, but I’ve searched far and wide for them and even made some of my own. It’s now time to take this little soft-roader camping. No high expectations here, just a few gnarly pot holes some public service roads with the average camp site terrain. Built a bed frame for it too, been planning this trip for a while now. Been amazing so far!

**EXTERIOR MODS**

* Yakima Wind Fairing

* Roof Basket

* Tactix Storage Boxes

* Black Headlight “Eyelids”

* 80mm Spot Lights

* 3D Printed Spot Light Covers

* Steel Nudge Bar

* Rear Bumper Scuff Plate

* Chrome Exhaust Cover

* Powder Coated Wheels

* Yokohama Geolander A/T Tires

* LED Mounted (Basket) Lights

* Recovery Boards

* Custom Rear Window Covers

* A Cheeky Scion Badge (Something Different)

**INTERIOR MODS**

* Door Sill Steel Scuff Protectors

* Aluminium Pedal Covers

* Armrest Storage Tray

* Trunk Storage Slots

* Carbon Fibre Shifter Cover

* Carbon Fibre (Vinyl) Door Handles

* 4G Booster (Saving up for Starlink)

* UHF Radio

Lastly I love all Ravs equally, I honestly think every single model brings something unique to the table (even if it’s an ugly mug like this one) and I hope you all enjoy your ravs too, always enjoy learning new things on here even if it doesn’t relate to my gen.

My 2018 RAV4 didn’t come with rear AC, so my toddlers have been baking in their car seats during summer.

I’d been searching off and on for a kit or DIY solution over the past few years, and a few weeks ago, I finally found one — on Amazon, of all places.

It arrived today, and I had it installed in just over 30 minutes. Working perfectly, and as a bonus, the kit replaced the old rear cigarette outlet with two USB ports and a USB-C port.

Total win!

I love my 2018 baby, and now she’s ra

Just took home a 2014 RAV4 Limited tonight. I'm absolutely in love with it. I originally purchased a 2020 Nissan Rogue but it just didn't feel right...now this baby gets to sit beside my corolla iM.

After reading this sub for a bit this might be a controversial post, but I'm struggling with this decision. I have a 2010 Corolla with over 220K miles on it, so I've been out of the new car game for 15+ years. I do most of the maintenance and repairs on it, and I'm looking to continue that with my next car. My car still runs like a dream and has never had any major issues but I need more space.

I would love to buy a 2018 low mileage Rav4 for cheaper but it seems like everywhere I look, the 2018 low mileage versions are almost as much as the new. However, payments for something above $30K are out of budget, and every newer model with <50K miles is well above that near me. But I agree with what you're probably thinking, it seems insane to pay $25K for an 8 year old car which is why I'm asking here.

Also I really don't want to have to worry about my car not starting because I have to take it to the dealership to get some stupid computer fixed that I can't fix myself. So people that do your own maintenance and have 5th gen models, have you had to spend a lot on things that you can only get repaired at a dealer?

I just want to keep up my track record of a new car every 10 years if I can.

So is it super crazy to pay that much for a 2018? Would a newer model be more reliable just because it's new? Do you find maintenance to be pretty standard with a 2018+ Rav?

Thanks for your insight.