2019 rav4 hybrid does 41/37/39 mpg. (City/highway/combined)

Now imagine what it would do if it weighed 30% less and had lower wind resistance.

Like a Camry hybrid from which the RAV4's platform is based on? 44city/47hwy/46combined.

The Camry only weights 10% less though. 20% reduction in fuel economy for far more cargo space, AWD, and higher ground clearance seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

You might have a different opinion if your fuel costs priced in the negative externalities of that 20% additional fuel consumption. It might not seem like much at $2.25/gal. What about at $4? I'm paying about $4.25 USD/gal now in Canada and that's still lower than many European countries. At $5/gal you might start asking whether you actually need AWD or how many times you've actually needed higher ground clearance driving on developed-country quality roads.

I'd like the higher ground clearance daily just to avoid scraping up my bumper on the dips on my commute home on the residential streets. Instead I just take the 30% longer/slower route around.

Even if gas were $6/gal, at the typical American 12k miles/year, that's still less than $300/year extra to run the CUV over the sedan. That's less than the cost of a rental for a weekend trip.

> just to avoid scraping up my bumper on the dips on my commute home on the residential streets

That sounds like you're saying we also need a significant amount more investment in infrastructure in America.

Please. The Camry has 5.7 inches of ground clearance. The RAV 4 has 6.1 inches of ground clearance. That's not getting you over any fallen logs any easier.

It's more the difference of a ~29° approach angle on the RAV4 vs the 15° on the Camry. Neither will get you over logs, but one does far better on steep driveways.

The Toyota Highlander shares the Camry platform. The smaller-then-Highlander RAV-4 platform is not shared with a car model.

The last generation RAV4 (2005-2017) used Toyota's 'New MC' platform which is shared with the Prius and Corolla. The current generation RAV4 uses the 'TNGA-K' platform which is shared with the Camry and Avalon. Since we're comparing 2019 models, the comparison of the RAV4 with the Camry is appropriate.

I believe Toyota is moving all their FF vehicles onto the TNGA-K platform.

Thanks, I hadn't caught that change to the 2018+ models. That also explains why I'm not a fan of the current model as they drive differently to me... I'm keeping my old XA-30 ;)

That's effectively a Camry Hybrid. It gets 20% better mileage and has about a quarter the cargo space.

The Toyota Prius does 53 - 55 mpg...

True, but Detroit doesn’t sell nearly as many hybrid vehicles as the Asian brands.

Only a fraction of rav4's sold last were hybrids, about 11%.