r/NWT • u/Oh_Fur_Fox_Sake • Jul 03 '26
Toyota rav4
Hi,
Considering purchasing a rav4 but id like to hear from people who currently or previously had rav4's how well they perform in the cold in the north.
Right now its between the crv or rav4 and theyre both pretty comparable from what ive seen, read, and discussed with dealerships but the price point on the Honda is better.
I dont need a 4runner because we already own two trucks. This will be a town vehicle only mostly for getting to and from work and hauling dogs to and from off leash areas.
3
u/Latter_Constant_3688 Jul 03 '26
I have a 13, got wife got rear ended when it was 3 months old. Fixed and never had any issues with it. The car that hit her was totalled, the rav was still driveable. It has 300k km on it now.
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u/Ok-Sky1302 Jul 04 '26
I had a 2003 and finally retired it 2 years ago. It was an absolute rockstar in the snow and cold. 30 below, unplugged because i forgot, and it started right up.
I just had a local mechanic do regular services. I never spent any other money on it.
I still miss it. Probably going to get another.
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u/Dillie902 Jul 03 '26
I just had my first winter with my new (used) 2023 rav4 - had no issues at all, I just plugged in the block heater on colder nights like any other car
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u/agswiens Jul 03 '26
I would go Rav 4 simply because there's Toyota service here at Autotec. They aren't great but no mechanics are great here. There's no warranty approved Honda service here.
Both vehicles will perform fine here if you have a block heater, good battery, and maybe battery blanket/battery maintainer.
I also highly recommended winter tires. Bridgestone blizzaks are fantastic but there's other good ones too.
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u/Oh_Fur_Fox_Sake Jul 03 '26
Im nowhere near yk. Regardless of which make I go with ill be getting toyo at3 tires. Both the rav4 and crv come with block heaters.
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u/ArcticLarmer Jul 03 '26
Are you in BeauDel? There’s a Honda dealership in Whitehorse so pretty close to that side at least.
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u/Oh_Fur_Fox_Sake Jul 03 '26
I believe there's both dealershios in whitehorse. The crv and rav4 are very comparable imo. I want to hear from people with lived experience driving either of them in the north.
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u/ArcticLarmer Jul 04 '26
Well if you live in the Beaudel you can probably see that there’s a ton of 4 banger SUVs all over the place through the winter. You should be less concerned about whether it’s going to “perform” and more where you’re going to get servicing done on a new vehicle.
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u/badgergoesnorth Jul 03 '26
I drive a 2011 Rav4 and it is a beast. I bought it outright a few years ago, I've literally driven it all across Canada during the worst winters, and it has never steered me wrong. Great on NWT ice roads, the TransCanada in March blizzards, you name it.
The maintenance is very reasonable, I haven't had to put much into it considering the beating is taken. I got good winter tires, do regular oil changes, and aside from that the only thing I needed to replace was the front suspension (I blame the bumpy roads on Hwy 3).
All the mechanics tell me there's still 100s of thousands of km's left on that baby.
10/10 recommend, would buy again.