Toyota RAV4 2.2 D-4D T140 XT3 review

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Toyota RAV4 2.2 D-4D T140 XT3 Road Test

Test date 29 March 2006 Price as tested £19,975

For Quality feel, refined and torquey engine, on-road dynamics

Against Not cheap, side hinged rear door, suspect brakes

Back in 1994, when Toyota launched the original RAV4, the market for style-led small off-roaders didn’t exist, but customers quickly warmed to the appeal of a car that offered ‘street-tough’ looks (to a point) mixed with hot-hatch driving characteristics (again, to a point).

Toyota soon discovered it had a star on its hands. The market boomed, competitors got in on the act and the opportunities to succeed got tougher. Toyota, keen to protect the market it generated, fought back, launching the excellent and even better-selling second-generation RAV4 in 2000.

There is no denying how successful – and profitable – the RAV4 has been for Toyota, so it was not going to take many chances with the latest version. The 2006 RAV4 Mk3 is therefore a gentle evolution of a proven formula. Perhaps the biggest change this time round is the absence of a three-door model; it accounted for only 20 per cent of sales last year, so Toyota has ditched it. Other than that, the range is updated but pretty similar to before. In the green corner power comes from a 147bhp 2.0-litre VVT petrol, and in the black corner from an aluminium-engined 2.2 D-4D diesel, available in either 134bhp or 175bhp tune. Trim levels rise through XT3, XT4 and XT5 to the range-topping T180 model – an effort by Toyota to take the fight to the more upmarket BMW X3.

The biggest seller, however, is likely to be from the bottom of the range, so that’s what we’re testing – the entry-level T140 D-4D XT3 at £19,750.