2012 Toyota Rav4

2012 Toyota Rav4

Toyota’s compact RAV4 SUV was an instant hit when it hit the market back in 1996, but has been playing second fiddle to Honda’s CR-V for several years now. In addition to the now best-selling Honda CR-V, the RAV4 is facing new competition in the form of the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox – which has Toyota readying an all-new version of its most popular SUV.

Although the RAV4 received a refresh for the 2009 model year, and minor changes for 2010, the current iteration of the four-door SUV dates back to 2006 – not old by industry standards but certainly up there by Toyota’s life-cycle system. As such, a new version of the compact rig will likely surface in 2010 or 2011.

Using information gathered from various inside sources, we had our in-house artist draw up a rendering of what the next-gen RAV4 will look like. Although we aren’t expecting the next RAV4 to grow much in size, we expect it to adopt some styling cues from the Tundra pickup and FJ Cruiser SUV, giving Toyota’s lineup of trucks and SUVs a more uniform appearance. Despite giving the small SUV a more truck-ish appearance of an exterior spare tire, the RAV4 will retain that feature on some models.

Underhood, we expect the RAV4’s powertrain offerings to remain unchanged. That means a 2.5L four-cylinder and a 3.5L V6 will likely be employed, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see some tweaking to get the four-pot model up to 30 mpg. Toyota already boasts the quickest SUV in the class, so they will want to retain the sporty edge they hold over the competition.

Another engine possibility is the addition of a hybrid drivetrain. Although Toyota has stopped short of revealing the specific models, Toyota has said that it will add 10 new hybrid models by 2012 – meaning almost certainly that the next RAV4 will be one of those models.