Some quick notes on the ownership experience.
We bought the car 2016-model when it was 3 years old and had 90.000 km on the clock. It´s an Active S, meaning leather, powered driver´s seat, rear camera, driver assistance systems.
It´s a Toyota, so 2 years in and about 30.000 km we have not had any unexpected expenses. The drivetrain is bullet-proof. First set of front discs just wore out at 125.000.
The car is 4WD on demand, with an electric motor living all alone at the rear driving the rear wheels. This motor is also a generator and participates in energy recuperation. The front wheels are driven by the 150HP petrol engine and a separate electric motor – or two, actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Synergy_Drive. Quiet, linear acceleration.
Aspects to consider:
- Space is good. 5 adults can ride in the back, 4 very comfortably. Lots of leg room
- Decent 500 litre boot with strange hump in floor due to battery intruding
- Excruciatingly slow powered tailgate
- Very very comfortable and very silent running. Love the soft suspension, avoids the sea-sickness of old Volvo XC70s
- Rolls a bit in corners
- Good acceleration but you have to really ask for it
- Conti W7 (nordic) studless / friction tyres fantastic
- Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 for the summer. Much less noisy than standard tyres, very very comfortable (235/55 R18). Highly recommended
- Four wheel drive excellent in middle to quite hard conditions: car feels planted and goes hard, needn´t worry when parking in snow and rough ice
- Four wheel drive 100% useless when you really need it: ice and slight uphill from standstill, computer sends zero power to rear wheels, no selective braking of spinning front wheel. Nada. As ineffective as a FWD Yaris. Really disappointing. Seriously, Toyota! A few lines of code and you could get the car moving.
- The whole instrumentation etc smacks of 2001. The various systems are clearly not talking when the parking sensors start to complain at 100km/h because they are covered in slush. When you change wheel-set (winter/summer) you have to reset the tyre pressure sensor via a dedicated button hidden on the steering column. C´mon, c´mon, Toyota! I call Toyota twice a year to have them tell me how to do this, the instruction booklet has in inaccurate description. The EV button has no impact on anything. The manual selection of “gears” is there, but no-one ever uses it. So – if you´re hooked on the future, this is not for you. This is the past in terms of systems architecture
- Connecting phones via Bluetooth is reliable but infuriating. Well hidden, and max 4 phones at a time… what on earth?
- Fuel economy: computer says about 6.5/100 in summer, 7.5-8.0 in winter. The combustion engine runs a lot in winter just to keep occupants warm. Takes a while to heat the cabin – efficient engine gives off less heat. I always leave it in ECO- mode. Switch off ECO for more throttle response and more thirst. Switch to SPORT for …nothing!. Switch back to ECO.
- Towing capacity ot 1650 kg nice to have
- If you want a spacious, affordable, comfortable, reliable, 4WD that´s cheap to run and own and keeps its value, runs on petrol, and you rarely venture onto hills covered in ice, this it the car for you.
- When you get stuck, slap on snowchains in 3 minutes, and off you go
schoutbynacht 