When you’re young, surprises are frequently exciting. Making honor roll, getting into your first-pick college, that first promotion, big life moments. However, once you start to have responsibilities, the seesaw of surprise tends to tilt towards aggravation. The heart palpitation-causing surprise meeting with your boss, the nasal shock of your child forgetting a sandwich in their backpack all year, that mole being more than just a mole. Sometimes it’s just nice not having to deal with extra surprises, and that’s where the 2026 Toyota RAV4 comes in.
It’s arguably the most important new car all year, which is interesting because it’s not groundbreaking when it comes to speed or power or chassis architecture. It’s important because the old RAV4 was the best-selling car in the world last year, per the analysts at JATO Dynamics. Those are some huge shoes to fill, and to take this best-seller up a notch, Toyota’s going all-in on hybridization. Prepare yourselves, you’re about to see these Rav4s everywhere.
[Full disclosure: I drove out to Niagara-on-the-Lake to drive the new RAV4, and Toyota put me up in a charming hotel, took me on a tour of the Woodstock assembly plant, and scheduled a couple of dinners at some of the region’s notable vineyards.]
The Basics
Engine: 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated Atkinson-cycle twin-cam inline-four.
Battery Pack: 248-volt 1.1 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
Transmission: Twin-motor/generator eCVT with planetary gearset.
Drive: Front-wheel-drive or through-the-road all-wheel-drive with an electric motor on the rear axle.
Output: 226 horsepower on front-wheel-drive models, 236 horsepower on all-wheel-drive models.
Fuel Economy: 48 MPG city, 42 MPG highway, 44 MPG combined for front-wheel-drive models; 46 MPG city, 40 MPG highway, 44 MPG combined (5.1 L/100km city, 5.9 L/100km highway, 5.4 L/100km combined) for entry-level AWD models; 41 MPG city, 36 MPG highway, 39 MPG combined (5.7 L/100km city, 6.5 L/100km highway, 6.0 L/100km combined) for the Woodlands with the chunky tires.
Base Price: TBA
Why Does It Exist?
Just like how non-crab crustaceans keep evolving into crabs, the default family car continues to trend towards a tall, reasonably sized crossovery-thing because it just works for the highest number of people. You can throw an IKEA haul in the back, pick the kids up from school, pull a small trailer to the dump, you name it, without much in the way of compromise. When it comes to compact crossovers that simply carry about the business of transportation, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the RAV4 is the most popular name in the genre. It was early on the scene, and between Toyota’s reputation for reliability and the real efficiency of hybrid models, you’re looking at the obvious choice for a new family car from Louisiana to Lyon.
How Does It Look?
While the new RAV4 shares about 40 percent of its parts content with the old RAV4, you really wouldn’t know if you put the two crossovers side-by-side. Even looking beyond the standard front end seemingly designed to terrorize people with trypophobia, the new car goes boxier, with a more upright greenhouse and flatter hood. Find the grille detestable? Well, the Woodland Edition and the plug-in-only GR Sport get more conventional front ends, but of course, they’re going to cost a chunk of change more than an LE. Still, don’t those taillights look great? Fine vertical finned elements are rather distinctive these days.
Depending on trim, you can get the new RAV4 in subdued blues or a glorious red, but I find myself particularly fascinated by the hypnotically suburban, barely-beige notes of Brown Sugar Metallic. It has a tinge of pre-recession to it without being the visual equivalent of trying to sneakily unwrap a Werther’s Original. Then again, maybe it’s too subtle. To summarize a long story, I had to make a quick Home Depot run while actively on a press event, and ended up walking right past the new RAV4 in the parking lot. I guess that’s the ubiquity test passed.
What About The Interior?
Millions of people buy compact crossovers because of their spaciousness, and on that front, the new Toyota RAV4 is unlikely to disappoint. It has space for humans, space for 37.8 cu.-ft. of thousand island dressing with the rear seats up, and space for all the trinkets that come with raising a family. We’re talking two tiers of trays in the center stack and a wide shelf above the glovebox, but the big party piece is a sort-of Missy Elliott armrest. You can put that thing down, flip it, and reverse it to turn it into a shallow tray for gorging on Taco Bell. Actually, the whole piece is even removable in case you carry a small-but-tall bag and don’t want it flopping about in the footwell like a carp in a jon boat.
However, after some real time in the driver’s seat of the new RAV4, I’ve realized I’d trade my kingdom for some foam. The center console bulges out where it meets the dashboard, and while I’m not especially tall at five-foot-ten, my left knee found itself firmly up against some mighty hard plastic. It probably wouldn’t seem like a big deal on a 30-minute test drive around the block at your local dealership, but it gets to you after an hour in the saddle — you know, the point at which you start to notice the little touches.
While many competitors cover their inner window frames with black plastic, the RAV4 still shows a bit of body-color inner door stamping. Likewise, you still sit a bit close to the headliner in the new RAV4, even with the rather flat driver’s seat at its lowest setting. Come to think of it, the Honda CR-V Hybrid, Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, and Kia Sportage Hybrid all seem to just be made of nicer stuff on the inside, too. Then again, some people don’t buy RAV4s for an affordable premium experience. They buy them because of the reliable efficiency under the hood.
How Does It Drive?
Of course, the big story with the 2026 Toyota RAV4 is that, like the new Camry, every single variant is a hybrid, a sort of powertrain that’s really the best solution for most people right now because it requires zero changes in driving habits. You don’t have to plug it in, you don’t have to learn what a kilowatt-hour is, you don’t have to decide whether you like one-pedal driving, you just go about your business and get sensational fuel economy. In a mid-range XLE model, I averaged 5.5 L/100km or 42.7 MPG without even trying, and all the credit goes to the new fifth-generation hybrid drive system.
There’s still a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-four under the hood, and the available eAWD is more of a get-through-a-snow-drift solution than a get-up-the-trail one, but everything’s just more efficient thanks to lighter, smaller, more powerful high-voltage components. Out on the road, this updated hybrid powertrain is more subdued than the old one, more eager to glide along on electric power alone.
That being said, aside from huge efficiency and a impressive towing capacity of up to 3,500 pounds, we’re talking a game of inches when it comes to improving the driving experience. It seems slightly quieter on the freeway than the old car, although tire noise over small bumps is still a slap of a drum rather than a gentle ahem. The ride’s slightly better sorted than in the old RAV4, although not as supple as in a Subaru Forester Hybrid or as taut as in a Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. The blended brake pedal — which mixes electric regenerative braking with friction braking — feels a bit more natural than before, but don’t expect a transformative experience. Alright, so the knobbly tires on the Woodland Edition seem to give it a bit of a freeway wander, but other than that? You’ll know exactly what you’re going to get with this new RAV4’s driving experience.
Does It Have The Electronic Stuff I Want?
Beyond the all-hybrid lineup, the big draw of the 2026 Toyota RAV4 is a huge leap forward in cabin tech. Even the base model gets a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster with fairly deep ties to a new infotainment system displayed on a standard 10.5-inch touchscreen. Top trims embiggen that latter number to 12.9 inches, but frankly, you don’t need it. Between generous screen real estate and big tiles on the homescreen, this latest infotainment system is the most user-friendly one we’ve seen from Toyota so far. Sure, I do wish that the heated seat controls were physical buttons, but at least they’re permanently docked at the bottom of the screen.
Speaking of screens, Toyota’s gone with a hoodless digital gauge cluster, and I’m not sure if the image quality is quite there for the application. Without a bit of overhanging plastic, the instruments can wash out slightly in direct sunlight, but the configurability really hits the spot. Plus, if you’re on Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, you can see the Waze map displayed behind the steering wheel. As for other noteworthy gadgets, you can option a RAV4 up with dual wireless phone chargers, 45-watt USB-C charging ports, and ventilated front seats. Even if you don’t splash the cash on extras, a new active safety suite with a built-in dashcam that can automatically record video. However, perhaps the coolest bit of tech is a gizmo in the radar cruise control system that tells you what sort of aerodynamic advantage you’re getting by following the vehicle in front and optimizes following distance to safely make the most out of a windbreak. It’s draft-o-matic!
Three Things To Know About The New Toyota RAV4:
- Every model’s now either a regular hybrid or a plug-in hybrid.
- It still comes with a temporary spare tire, and the non-plug-in model even has enough space under the cargo area false floor to securely hide the cargo cover that everyone throws on a shelf in the garage.
- If you’re tall, you’re really going to want to test-fit the new RAV4 before you buy it.
Does The 2026 Toyota RAV4 Fulfil Its Purpose?
The 2026 Toyota RAV4 is exactly what you’d expect to a whelming degree. Nothing alarming, nothing surprising, just a more modern, more user-friendly, more electrified evolution of the compact crossover seen on just about every block, all around the world. In fact, the only real unknown is pricing. In America, it’ll start in the low $30,000s, while the ballpark base price in Canada is likely not too far off from what the current RAV4 costs, but Toyota hasn’t released specific figures yet.
Sure. The Honda CR-V Hybrid is made of nicer materials, the Subaru Forester Hybrid feels airier and has a mechanical all-wheel-drive system (check out our comparison coming in a few hours!), the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid and Kia Sportage Hybrid are more fashion-forward inside and out, but if you’re shopping for a RAV4, you’ll probably buy a RAV4. Good thing, then, that the new one’s even better at its job than the old one. I probably wouldn’t upgrade from the old one to the new one as it isn’t a huge leap forward, but if you’re coming from a model that’s eight, ten, even fifteen years old, you’re likely going to like the 2026 RAV4. Mission accomplished.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2026 Toyota RAV4?
Meet the new electrified boss, comfortably about 40 percent the same as the old boss.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
The drafting gauge sounds like a good way to get brake-checked. I guess that’s why it has a dash cam and automatic braking. It’s amazing how cramped these big vehicles are nowadays when economy cars decades ago that could fit in the back of one of these (if the interior volume actually matched what it looks like it would be from the outside) were far more spacious and even felt it. How does something this large and high-sitting have cramped knee space? And it’s not just this thing, it’s plenty of other road hogs out there. I get all the wussy safety concerns that make doors as thick as beachside bunkers meant to shrug off a naval bombardment, but why does the dash come down so far and why are there center consoles as wide as a Hummer H1, a vehicle that was once mocked for such a thing? It’s nuts that my GR86 feels more comfortable and spacious than these “family” cars.
Styling is a little goofy but still way nicer looking than the outgoing model imo. The taillights look pretty cool though.
I’m barely whelmed.
We have a Toyota hybrid crossover station wagon. It excels at MPG; nearly everything else is disappointing – interior design, exterior styling, interior quality, NVH, etc.
Definitely sounds like a Toyota!
And it must have been on a Friday. The panel gaps are ridiculous.
We do love the red paint and the great MPG. We put an aggressive set of three-peak all-terrains on it, and it holds its own off-road.
I think if it weren’t for the reliable drivetrains, Toyota would be a very different company today, if it survived at all.
Toyota’s reputation for reliability alone (not their documented reliability) has done an incredible amount of heavy lifting for decades, despite them being uncompetitive in every other metric save fuel economy. I don’t think there has ever been anything else like it in automotive history.
It’s the car equivalent of “Nobody was ever fired for buying IBM”. And just as exciting as IBM!
That’s what I don’t get about fanboys who don’t like that the GR86 is a Subaru and Supra is a BMW. I can only think: have you been in and driven Toyotas? If so, have you driven anything else? I’ve driven them on occasion for over 30 years and the common thread for me is mediocre to bad (uncomfortable) interiors and bland to soul-stealing to drive. Dynamics were always at the bottom, but you don’t get a great ride in return.
For a vehicle whose premise is that it does everything you’d typically expect competently rather than chasing trends, there’s a few too many unnecessary small flaws. The unhooded digital gauge cluster is fashionable but the screen brightness is underspecced to compensate for it; this problem will be worse the more equatorward you go compared to Canada. Knee room is encroached upon by (blank?) center console buttons and USB-C ports that are displaced by ugly, heavily stylized drive mode buttons above. Headroom seems somewhat poor despite the author not being especially tall, even with the seats lowered all the way. High-use controls like HVAC temp, fan speed, and zone are sacrificed to the touchscreen in favor of the drive mode buttons that will likely not be used often. Critical armrest touch points are undercushioned to save cost. I’m not gonna mention the looks because they’re subjective, and the relative lack of sound deadening might be considered acceptable.
They got the big details right (excellent powertrain, chassis, etc) but the small details are lacking in execution.
I’m not even in the market for one, but the front end makes me sad.
Do I see a pushbutton ignition though? Guess I don’t need to avoid RAV4s at the rental lot anymore.
Only Toyota PHEV RAV 4 GR, 320 HP well made. I’m gone switch my Prime 2021 for new one. Even today showing me 55 miles to go on EV.
Sixty years ago, the “default car” was a Chevy Impala. This is now the “default car”. And it seems to do a reasonable job of that. And just like the Impala, there are a lot of vehicles available that are demonstrably different from which to choose, and some people will choose them. I’d be one of those people.
Interesting, that “PRE-PRODUCTION SOFTWARE” label below the screen. Knowing that it will appear in article photos, the reporters are nudged to cut the manufacturer some slack.
Yeah, I thought it was odd, but allegedly they hadn’t finished dialling in the optional JBL audio system, and not all examples had extended cloud-connected voice commands active. I mostly stuck to driving the volume trims most people will buy so didn’t get a chance to sample the JBL system, but I didn’t experience any wireless CarPlay dropouts or weird glitches, which is more than I can say for the production-spec infotainment system on the outgoing RAV4. Overall, a big improvement on the software side.
Yeah no-brainer to drop the non-hybrid trims. If you’re gonna get something this bland, at least get the best fuel economy you possibly can
My god, does every trim level come with black wheels?
If it’s true, they really are officially over.
They do not: Reviews from other sites have shown different (non-black) wheels on different trims. I think black is mandatory on the GR-Sport though.
Side profile looks like a Subaru Forester. In a good way.
This looks like a Niro front end. Which I don’t think they should have gone with.
If you have too much time to kill, go and read the review of this car over on Jalopnik. Their writer spent approximately 10,000 words delivering such fake news as saying that the gas engine never drives the wheels and the brakes have no regeneration capabilities. Sheesh!
Was it a writer or an AI???
Sounded like a real name. I presume it was a real person, and I feel sorry for him. Two long, long reviews of the regular RAV4 and the sport model in one day. As somebody once said about Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” “This isn’t writing. It’s typing.”
So they will still be able to bring Woodstock cars into the US? Any tariff? USMCA gets reviewed in July 2026. Who knows what will happen?
Yes, Yes… and who knows? It changes with the wind.
I really don’t mind the front end. At least it’s not angry looking, and has headlights where you’d expect them to be.
Are the designers in a competition with themselves to see how ugly they can make the RAV4 and still have incredible sales? I mean… that front end. Yikes!
That draft feature is the only exciting thing about this car (unless you count repulsion as excitement)
The draft function is to help make it easier to hide this ugly thing behind another vehicle.
Did they HAVE to make it so damned ugly? Both outside and inside. They have just gotten uglier with every generation past the second.
Having had more than a few RAV4s over the years as rentals, I both do and don’t get the appeal. A safe bet, but not a particularly pleasant one (other than the third gen, which I found oddly enticing, and got my housemate to buy an example of). A car I would put my mother in today if they weren’t so damned expensive, but nothing I would ever remotely consider for myself. Even the third gen – I kinda liked that one, but not nearly enough to buy one.
I just spent a week driving a 2025 XLE and found it to be noisy, slow and the suspension crashy. I truly feel sorry for the folks spending their own money on these as there are far better choices out there. Just because it’s a Toyota, that shouldn’t be the reason to buy this over something else. Also, the CVT transmission took forever to do a “downshift” whenever power was needed. Not sure what that’s about. This would be way down my list of potential purchases. In other words, folks go out and drive the competitors first.
“It’s fine!” said like Tony the Tiger.
“but the big party piece is a sort-of Missy Elliott armrest. You can put that thing down, flip it, and reverse it”
Hahahaha
Serious question: is the lane following and radar cruise better? I had a new RX for a week recently and it was an entire new (good) experience. I consider that my 22′ Prime’s Achilles heel since it is our utilitarian family car.
The lane-centering seems noticeably more precise than in the old RAV4 and at least as precise as the system in the RX, although light traffic meant I couldn’t really put radar cruise to the rush hour test. The new RAV4’s the first application of Toyota Safety Sense 4.0, so everything learned from 3.0 in the RX gets built upon here, which was already half-a-generation ahead of TSS 2.5 in the outgoing RAV4.
Sweet! Thank you!
Also, I now really want that aero drafting gimmick tool on all my cars, haha, I’m a nerd.
You’re not alone. That was the only part of this that really stood out, but that’s quite fun and I like the idea of that a lot. Beyond that, it’s the typical beige you’d expect from Toyota’s volume seller.
Pretty much what I would expect for this update. Toyota wisely isn’t messing with success with this vehicle. I appreciate that Toyota is leaning into their hybrid strengths with most of their lineup.
We have a 2017 RAV4 Hybrid and it has been a stalwart companion requiring little effort on our part to be efficient. I can only imagine the newer systems are more efficient
I love a car review that makes me learn a new word. Google, search “trypophobia – definition”.