2026 Toyota RAV4 GX Hybrid FWD review

The new RAV4 is the singular car that sets the tone for Toyota over the next decade or so. It is, without a doubt, the most important car for the brand during a time of uncertainty around internal combustion engines and popularity for the mid-size SUV.

It’s beyond being a seriously important car for the brand, but an important car for the market in Australia, as Toyota has insinuated its plan to double down on the segment for the number-one spot overall instead of the HiLux.

What better way to discover any flaws than a base-variant GX, which will be the one you will be driving the next time you rent an SUV, or the best course of action if you want an entry into the RAV4 for the least amount of money possible.

It also means there is absolutely nothing for this car to hide behind: no nice materials, no big screens, and no massaging seats.

So, does this car have what it takes to be the number one in Australian sales, or has Toyota gone backwards? Well, it’s almost a catch-22 in some categories.

The Toyota RAV4 GX front-wheel drive (FWD) I am in is the absolute cheapest RAV4 you can buy new in 2026, starting from $45,990 plus on-road costs, which is a $3730 increase over the outgoing model.

Standard propulsion sees a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric system producing 143kW – a similar engine to the previous RAV4, but down on power. This is a closed-loop system with the plug-in hybrid being reserved for higher trim levels.

Standard features include 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, satellite navigation, a built-in dashcam, a rear-view camera, roof rails, and all of the safety gear you’ll find in the top-spec GR Sport from $66,340 plus on-road costs.

Interior components will see cloth seats, a plastic steering wheel and shifter, dual-zone climate, manually adjustable seats, a 10.5-inch infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plenty of USB-C ports, a six-speaker sound system, and even acoustic front windscreen glass.

You can opt for this trim in an all-wheel drive from $49,340 plus on-road costs too.

Just because it was a bit of a runaway success in sales last year, that doesn’t mean it hasn't got some seriously stiff competition now in all forms of propulsion.

You can jump into a Hyundai Tucson Hybrid FWD from $42,850 plus on-road costs, a Nissan X-Trail ST-L e-Power AWD from $48,915 plus on-road costs, a hybrid Kia Sportage FWD from $44,450 plus on-road costs, or a mid-spec Mazda CX-5 G25 Touring AWD from $47,490 plus on-road costs – although not a hybrid.

Then you now have the increasingly lowering costs of full-electric options in this segment: $39,990 plus on-road costs will get you into a BYD Atto 3, $41,990 plus on-roads buys a Geely EX5, and $45,888 plus on-road costs sees you in a Leapmotor C10 – though all of these are slightly smaller than a RAV4.

Toyota claims a fuel economy for the base-specification front-wheel-drive RAV4 of 4.5 litres per 100 kilometres combined – jumping into an AWD will see an increase to 4.6L/100km.

After cruising a mixture of 90km/h highway stretches, standstill traffic and trips around town, I averaged a consumption of 5.2L/100km.

Toyota’s closed-loop hybrid loves being in traffic and at slow speeds more than it does at freeway speeds, so on my gridlocked drive home, I saw consumption figures as low as 4.3L/100km.

While I didn’t hit the claim, it’s still incredibly frugal, especially when compared to others in the segment. A FWD Hyundai Tucson Hybrid returned 5.6L/100km, FWD Kia Sportage Hybrid got 6.1L/100km (both with me at the helm), and the Nissan X-Trail AWD hybrid has a tested economy of 7.0L/100km.

The RAV4 needs to be filled with 95-octane petrol, which eats away some of the cost savings between the Tucson and Sportage’s higher consumption, thanks to both being compatible with 91-octane.

Both the high-voltage battery and the car as a whole are covered under the same five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Still, if you service the car at a Toyota dealership, it will extend the battery warranty to 10 years, while the driveline warranty will be extended to seven years.

Luckily, it will likely be cheaper to service the car at Toyota than anywhere else thanks to a capped-price scheme, which will see a three-year cost of $975 and $1625 for five years.

It’s one of the cheapest in the segment to service, with the Hyundai Tucson costing $2072 for five years, the Kia Sportage $2613 for five years, and the Nissan X-Trail capped at $1995 for the same period.

For insurance based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW, the Toyota RAV4 GX FWD will cost you $1405. However, insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history and personal circumstances.

The new-generation Toyota RAV4 has yet to be tested by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program.

Toyota has fitted the RAV4 with the full suite of safety assists the brand has to offer across all trim levels; the only thing you don’t get unless you upgrade to XSE and above is a 360-degree camera.

For the most part, all of the systems work quite well. I always get a little bit confused using the cruise-control system in a Toyota, because you need to hit the button to activate the cruise control first, which isn’t labelled as cruise, then set your speed, instead of a one-touch solution that others have.

Still, it’s a remarkably accurate and steady system. Whereas others seem to either decrease or increase beyond your set speed, the RAV4 is compliant.

The lane-keep is another excellent and well-calibrated feature of the RAV4. It holds you in the middle of clearly marked lanes and seamlessly allows you to change lanes without jerking on the wheel.

The driver-monitoring camera isn't the best, which is unlike Toyota. I found it hard to live with the attention system because it became seriously annoying.

Whereas other cars are guilty of being too eager to tell you off for checking a blind spot or changing something on the screen, the RAV4 can tell you off when you’re looking directly at the road. It was especially bad when leaning your head against your palm, and worse at night.

I thought maybe it had something to do with me being a glasses-wearer, but other journalists at Drive had the same problem. Meanwhile, others didn't notice that much intrusiveness – perhaps it's due to the seating position and driver height. The beeping can be helped by setting the sensitivity to low, but this will just go back to being high when you switch the car off.

Sure, you can tape over the camera, which will give a warning saying it's unavailable, but you shouldn’t need to change anything in a new car.

The Toyota RAV4 obviously sports new styling for its new generation. Still, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the monocoque is the same as the previous generation, which means it's about the same size as it has been for the past eight years.

Those dimensions also put it on the larger side of the medium SUV segment – bigger than your typical BYD Atto 3 or Volkswagen Tiguan.

Much can be said about the styling, and much has been said about it. That considered, it’s really not a bad-looking car in my opinion – the new honeycomb grille is a bit odd. Still, the rest of it is a genuine improvement over the dated styling seen on the previous generation, and good enough to bring it to its midlife facelift, which will likely happen four or five years from now.

The 17-inch alloy wheels aren’t exactly heart-racing, though they do a good job of jacking the sidewall up with a 235/65 R17 if you’re particularly magnetised to hitting kerbs.

Glacier White and Eclipse Black are your only two free options for colour. Metallic options such as Saturn Blue, Dusty Bronze, Daintree Green, Massive Grey, Urban Rock (Solid), Frosted Crystal, and Atomic Rush (the colour of our car) will see a $675 premium.

Despite the new Toyota RAV4 sharing the same platform as its previous generation, the interior is a new design – though if you are coming out of 2019 or newer, you’ll find the same amount of space.

Main differences include a new centre console and dash, the addition of buttons, and the removal of some – but more on that later.

There is some thought put into the design of the interior, which is one of the good things to come out of modern cars: genuine care put into some form besides just function.

The front row in the GX is pretty straightforward, it has manually adjustable cloth seats, two phone holders (though no wireless charging for this trim), two USB-C ports, two cupholders, and a big gear selector.

New for this generation is a strange centre storage bin that can be opened from either side, flipped upside down, and taken off completely.

Spending some time in other base-variant cars over the past few months has shown that what we consider a 'base variant' is slowly dying, with improved low-cost international options and lower production costs for big touchscreens.

It’s becoming harder for brands to hide when it comes to interior design and equipment; that's something I believe Toyota has got away with for quite some time.

Look at a base-variant Kia Sportage or Hyundai Tucson, and while it is a noticeably low-trim car, there’s still some thought behind putting a leather-like material on the steering wheel, or trimming elbow touchpoints with a nicer material than just rubber.

But the RAV4 is keeping it the same as it always has, with a pretty average-feeling urethrane steering wheel, and the only glimpse of luxury is a leather-like material for the shifter boot.

Most of the plastics have some give in them, which gives a lower-tier build quality feeling. Like when you get into the driver's seat and hit the centre console with your knee, the whole thing moves, and this isn’t just the case for the GX.

Then there are just some odd design choices. You have physical buttons for the temperature controls, but everything else to do with climate controls is on the screen, which is fiddly. Yet, Toyota has put a massive LSD/traction-control button that FWD buyers will probably never reach for.

But I digress; the seats are comfortable enough for a long-distance cruiser, and I had no issues getting into a comfortable position for my 184cm frame, with the same applying to the passenger seat.

Moving to the second row, there’s enough space for two full-sized adults to sit for an hour or two comfortably, but it’s certainly more suited for kids or teenagers who will have no complaints about comfort.

A fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders, two USB-C ports and two separate air vents, which run off the front-row temperature, complete the basic second row.

The weird thing is that Toyota has not put any boot space figures in its specifications list. It looks around the same size as the previous model, which was 580 litres with the seats up.

Lifting the floor reveals a space-saver spare wheel that can be optioned to full size for the GX only.

The GX and GXL are both fitted with the smaller 10.5-inch infotainment screen, but they’re not lacking in internal hardware.

Allowing for Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto saw the RAV4 handle processes from my iPhone with ease. While there were initial hiccups connecting to it for the first time, it stayed sorted the entire way through the test.

If you’re not a fan of Apple CarPlay, you can run most basic functions through the in-built Toyota operating system, which is another very easy and straightforward system to use, with satellite navigation, DAB radio, and Bluetooth across all trim levels.

The voice assistant, which can be activated by a button on the wheel or by saying “Hey Toyota”, is one of the most sensitive systems I’ve ever dealt with. You will be having a conversation with your passenger, and any “Ah” or “Yo” sound in a sentence causes the assistant to activate and lower your music.

Even stranger was when I was listening to the artist Westside Gunn, who famously has an adlib where he says “Aye-yo”, which also triggered the system. Funny the first time, annoying by the tenth time.

Still, there are some cool functions found when you dig through the menus. Fitted to all variants is a dashcam that will automatically record and save when you trigger an emergency system, and will also record hundreds of one-minute intervals you can go back and save, rescinding the need to remember to trigger the camera like you would need to on an aftermarket system.

Despite the screen working great, it wasn’t good enough to put the climate controls here instead of physical buttons, which is strange for Toyota, historically late to the party with tech, to add such an openly hated concept to its top-seller.

An app is available to provide some remote functions, such as lock and unlock, to your phone. You do get a 12-month free trial to additional features such as fuel level and stolen vehicle tracking, but this goes up to $9.95 per month after the trial.

Toyota has nailed the most important part of the model update: the drive. The new RAV4 is simply a delight to drive once again, making for a well-tuned, well-calibrated package for Australian roads and new drivers alike.

This is where Toyota will need to get people into cars, because when you drive a particularly poorly calibrated car against something like this generation of RAV4, it all makes sense.

Starting with the engine and gearbox, sure, the RAV4 has less power for 2026, but the way it applies it makes you forget that you’ve got a CVT gearbox.

Pressing the accelerator will kick the electric motor in to bring you up to speed, then bring you into a low-RPM internal combustion engine, with the noise of the engine being the only hint that the two propulsion systems have handed over the load.

Being critical warrants a mention that the engine could be perceived on the louder side as it climbs up through the RPM for those less thoughtful on the throttle, which also leads to the internal combustion engine to kick in earlier than it should, even in EV mode.

With that being said, there’s more than enough grunt to leave intersections with haste, while the power band carries up to freeway speeds, so overtakes aren’t more work than they need to be in 100km/h zones.

One of the bonuses of a base variant means you get smaller wheels, which is only a positive in all sectors besides looks. Yokohama Advan-branded 235/65 R17 tyres are wide enough that you don’t get the signature front-wheel-drive SUV wheel chirp out of corners, and you have plenty of cornering grip while not eating too deeply into your fuel economy.

Some tyre noise does make its way into the cabin, but the larger sidewall on the small wheels provides a nice cushioning to complement the comfortable suspension excellently.

It’s not a sports car, but the RAV4 holds its own if you accidentally approach a corner too quickly or you need to swerve out of the way for wildlife on the road. Similarly, it doesn’t get itself too crossed up over undulations, settling quickly without being too firm.

Suspension comfort overall is fantastic, even if you hit one of the unavoidable potholes that litter our roads. There’s no harsh jolt through the cabin, but it doesn’t jerk you to the other side of the road, it just holds steady and predictable.

The steering is on the heavier side when compared to others in the segment. Still, it’s not over the top and isn’t tiring to drive around town or parking lots while holding you steady at speed.

The RAV4 really is a marker of how a medium SUV should be. It’s not hugely different to the old model – which isn’t a bad thing – but it simply does it all very well.

The new RAV4 has only been out for a short time, so finding a used one might be difficult. Still, you can find more affordable demo models and older generations through Drive Marketplace here.

Head here to find your nearest Toyota dealership, or you can check out more info and specifications on the RAV4 here.

It’s no lie that Toyota products attract a premium while falling short in the equipment department when compared to major rivals, but what it lacks in showroom appeal it makes up for in an excellent dealer network, cheap servicing, and a car that drives like a car.

The new RAV4 isn’t a massive improvement over the old model. In fact, it’s really just a modernised version of what we already had. But, in the case of a historically amazing car, not being a massive improvement isn’t a bad thing.

I do feel comfortable pointing people towards buying a RAV4, but perhaps spend the extra few dollars to buy something above the GX if the budget permits.

With that being said, it’s still a good idea to check out the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, Nissan X-Trail, and Mazda CX-5 to be sure of your decision.