Is The RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid A Good Family Car?

Article by Downtown Toyota Brisbane’s Jon Wimhurst, Senior Toyota Sales Consultant

Yes, it can be. But I would want to know how the family uses the car first.

The RAV itself is already a good family-size SUV. That part does not really change. It has the size, the practicality, the comfort, and the features people already like about a RAV. What the Plug-In Hybrid does is add another way to use it.

You still have the RAV size, the RAV features and the day-to-day practicality. But now you have the electric side as well, and that can be very useful if the family’s week suits it. It is not saying every family needs the Plug-In Hybrid. It is saying, if the way you drive lines up with what the Plug-In Hybrid can do, it could make a lot of sense.

Start with the family’s week

If a family is looking at one main vehicle, I would ask where it goes during the week, where it goes on the weekend, whether it is doing school runs, whether it is going to work, whether it is used more Monday to Friday or more on weekends, and whether it is the only car doing the heavy lifting.

That tells you more than just looking at the spec sheet. A lot of family driving is short driving. School, shops, sport, work, appointments, back home again. If that is the pattern, and the family can charge at home, the Plug-In Hybrid could be a really good fit.

You might use the electric side for a fair bit of the normal weekly running around, then use the petrol hybrid side when the family needs to go further. That could be a weekend drive, a trip away, visiting family, or just those days where the car is doing more than the usual local loop.

That is where the Plug-In Hybrid becomes interesting. It gives the family a choice in how they use the car, rather than locking them into one way of driving it.

It still gives families backup

This is the part families will like. You are not relying only on electric. If the car is charged, use the electric side. If you are going further, use normal hybrid. If you need fuel, go to a servo.

That makes it less stressful for people who are not ready for a full electric car. It gives them the electric option without taking away the petrol and hybrid backup that they are used to.

For a family, that backup matters. You might have one car doing school runs, work trips, shopping, sport, weekend driving and longer holiday runs. So the ability to use electric when it suits, but still have the normal hybrid system there when you need it, is a nice balance.

It is that best of both worlds idea. You can use the EV side for the shorter stuff, but if the day changes, or the weekend changes, or you have not charged it, the car can still work like a normal hybrid.

It depends what problem the car needs to solve

Most families are changing cars because something has changed. Growing family, shrinking family, kids leaving home, more driving, less driving, different work, more need for safety, more need for space. So the question is not just, “Is the Plug-In Hybrid a good family car?”

The question is, “What does your family need the car to do?”

If the current car is too small, or using too much fuel, or not giving the family the technology and safety they want, then the RAV starts to make sense as a general family SUV. Then the next question is whether the Plug-In Hybrid side adds value to the way that family actually drives.

If it needs to be practical, comfortable, good for short daily driving, and still capable of longer weekend trips, then yes, the RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid could make a lot of sense. If the family can charge at home and most of the week is made up of shorter trips, they may get a lot of use out of the electric side.

But if the family is doing long highway kilometres all the time, or they do not have an easy way to charge it, then we would talk that through properly. The normal RAV4 Hybrid may still be the better fit.

It is not about saying one is right for every family. It is about looking at what the family actually does with the car, because that is where the right answer usually sits.

To find out more about your options with the Toyota RAV4 and Toyota Electrified contact Jon and the team at Brisbane’s Downtown Toyota today.