My wife is looking for a new car and we are trying to decide between a Toyota RAV 4 and a Honda CR V.
She will probably drive this for at least 10 years so looking for longevity and low cost of ownership.

RAV 4's seem a little more pricey but the engine looks to be slightly larger as well.

Any thoughts on which is better?

Also, we typically buy slightly used (less than 30K miles) but the price delta between that and new really doesn't seem to be that large so I'm second guessing that as well.

Just did this last spring. Wife changed jobs and lost her company car which was a 2018 CRV-EX

Wife drove both the '22 CRV-EX and the '22 Rav 4 XLE.

She felt the RAV4 was very boxy and did not have as much space on the inside as the CRV. Not as much power either. I wanted her to look at the plug-in hybrid but she just didn't like the ride/looks of the Rav4, especially the interior. She said the whole thing looked very cheap on the inside.

Used prices have come down a bunch, you can find a much better price on a 1-2yr old CRV now than new (like before Covid insanity). Dealers are still adding 'protection' packages to cars, so check that before you start to deal with a dealer and understand that's adding cost to the vehicle.

Her 2018 was rock solid for the 60k she drove it, oil changes and one set of new tires and a few other things. The company paid for her to follow the OEM maintenance plan so she did whatever was listed in the manual at the dealer.

6-months after she left some chuckwagon salesmen wrecked it.

Edmunds slightly prefers the Honda. I personally prefer Toyota. Looks like the base CR-V has a CVT which would be a deal breaker for me.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-comparisons/toyota-rav4-vs-honda-cr-v/

Shopped these recently, if you value pedal responsiveness at all, the CR-V is way better than the RAV-4 base engine (though neither are outstanding). I do a lot of highway driving so I placed a lot of importance on that.

My mom picked up a CR-V and it's pretty awesome

I'm going RAV4 before the CRV with CVT based on the length you want it

The CRV is also deceptively large in the rear hatch. Lower deck level and several more cubic feet

My mom had a 2021 RAV4 until she wrecked it last year and stopped driving. It felt small on the inside IMO

Only thing I dislike about the CRV is the cvt transmission but I believe it is easy to service yourself

Good input! The only thing keeping me wary on the CR V is the CVT, otherwise I think it would be a clear winner. I'm not saying it is bad but just that it is an unknown for me and that is worrisome.

Also, my wife has a lead foot so less responsiveness in the throttle might be a plus on the RAV4

I haven't heard/read anything bad or that the Honda CVT is unreliable.

They do recommend you change the fluid every 30k (IIRC) and also the diff fluid at 15K then every 30K after if it's AWD.

Just make sure you use the Honda branded stuff.

Definity drive both. The CRV feels a lot larger on the inside and we've moved kids back/forth to college with it. Lots of space when the back seats are down. The interior was also, IMO, laid out better and just more ergonomic and seats more comfortable.

agrace said:

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Definity drive both. The CRV feels a lot larger on the inside and we've moved kids back/forth to college with it. Lots of space when the back seats are down. The interior was also, IMO, laid out better and just more ergonomic and seats more comfortable.

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I'll add to my last post. I have a 180 pound Great Dane. He was uncomfortable in my mom's Rav4 even with the seats down.

With the CRV, the height difference was so drastic I probably could have fit another Dane in there with the seats down.

One thing I would research heavily is whether the AC is sufficient to cool the massive cargo area and whether or not the AC is prone to breaking.

aggiepaintrain said:

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One thing I would research heavily is whether the AC is sufficient to cool the massive cargo area and whether or not the AC is prone to breaking.

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That's a good point.

R-1234yf was implemented in 2022 for most auto manufactures. It runs at a higher pressure than the old R134a systems.

There are some claims that it is not as good as the old R-134a but there are some EPA reasons for this.

On my wife's CRV (and it will be on any newer Rav4) the system takes a little longer to cool down. But the EPA drive for more fuel mileage has led manu. to shutting down the AC compressor part time to get hose extra ounces of gas out of a tank. So if you car as an "eco" mode, it will cycle the compressor off to gain fuel mileage at the expense of passenger comfort.

My wife and I both noticed this past summer it did not seem to cool as well as her 2018 CRV.

The solution for my wife's CRV was to put in in "LOW" (or whatever the lowest setting was on the AC temp buttons) and make sure the "ECO" button was disabled on the car. This would allow the AC to operate at full cooling 100% of the time and cool the car off faster. I found this on the Honda boards last summer and once she started doing this, she said it worked much better.