The car is great fun to drive. It begs to be driven on curvy roads without bashing your kidneys doing so. The clutch is smooth but the manual transmission still needs to break in (it's only a couple of months old) but it enhances the driving experience. The SYNC works well with smartphones and you can stream internet radio over Bluetooth. Trackapps let you monitor things like 0-60 times, your g-forces etc. With the premium package you get ambient lighting (cool), mustang-shaped puddle lights, and a power passenger seat The cloth convertible top seals well and it's remarkably quiet and warm.

The Rav4 averaged 9.6l/km over 3 yrs. The rear seats slide and recline and there's lots of trunk space, with extra under the floor. It's pretty torquey for a four cylinder and had no problem handling mountains with 4 adults and their luggage aboard. The seats only get heat with leather and they clean up well. The dash is intuitive and the interior has lots of storage. The lockable center differential came in handy when going up snowy cottage roads. With a proper set of winter tires it goes through snow and more importantly, stops with confidence. While it has had several recalls, none impacted it. No wonder it won Car and Driver's comparison tests.