End of the RAV4 Journey
Takuo Fukuichi, who is head of Toyota's ED2 Design studio in France, concedes that SUVs have moved from a rural necessity to "an urban fashion accessory”. Very, very few of the SUVs sold will ever see the kind of bad road or non-road conditions many – including the new RAV4 - have been engineered to handle. Not surprisingly, Fukuichi doesn't consider this bad news.For reasons best left to the socio- psychology wonks to determine, city dwellers today want a personal vehicle that proclaims to the world, "Don't mess with me." This pseudo-military model (as The Independent of London calls it) resonates particularly strongly among middle class Americans although it is increasingly favored by the emerging urban "business" class in places like Russia and China -- places where, if you have money, you really need to get out the "Don't mess with me" message.
I'm not a fan of big SUVs when their main use is for single person commutes, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the RAV4 to friends, especially the base model 4-cylinder. It's an excellent vehicle and, apart from the extra fuel required to push what is in reality a boxy, very heavy vehicle through the air, it should be relatively cheap to own and operate.
