- 3 months ago
Toyota has just unveiled the 2026 RAV4, and it’s a serious step up, especially the all-new GR Sport Plug-In Hybrid. In this video, we break down everything you need to know about the latest version of Australia’s top-selling SUV.
We cover:
• ✅ The new GR Sport trim
• ⚡ 227kW plug-in hybrid performance
• 🚘 Updated exterior and interior design
• 🔋 Up to 100km electric-only range (WLTP)
• 🛡️ New safety features and tech upgrades
• 🎯 First impressions + why this might be the best RAV4 yet
⸻
We cover:
• ✅ The new GR Sport trim
• ⚡ 227kW plug-in hybrid performance
• 🚘 Updated exterior and interior design
• 🔋 Up to 100km electric-only range (WLTP)
• 🛡️ New safety features and tech upgrades
• 🎯 First impressions + why this might be the best RAV4 yet
⸻
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00It's fresh off the press, I have it here right in front of me, the new
00:052026 Toyota RAV4, Australia's top-selling car last year, has been updated.
00:10I'm going to explain everything you need to know about it in this video.
00:13So I think Toyota is cooking with this new RAV4, especially the GR Sport model, which
00:19is an all-new model for Australia, an all-new model for the world actually, they've never
00:22done a GR Sport RAV4 before, and we finally have a cool Toyota SUV for car guys.
00:28Have I mentioned it's now a plug-in hybrid?
00:30You can still get the series parallel hybrid with 143 kilowatts, but you can now get a
00:36plug-in hybrid, a PHEV, with 227 kilowatts of power that's quicker than a new Golf GTI.
00:42That's right, it can do 0 to 100 in 5.8 seconds, which is quite scary because my grandmother
00:47will probably buy one too, so yeah.
00:50So I've got the news in front of me here, it's hot off the press.
00:53I've actually already written up the article, so I know one or two things about it.
00:56You can go read that at mandamedi.com right now, it was the lead in our newsletter today,
01:00so you may have already seen it.
01:01Let's start on the exterior design.
01:03So I have all the photos here in front of me, and the one that's sticking out is the GR
01:07Sport model, because it's the first time we've seen a GR Sport model on a RAV4.
01:12We've already seen it in Australia on, heck, things from the tiny little Yaris, GR Yaris,
01:16to the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 series.
01:19And it's usually just a design change, but they always sort of change one or two things
01:25with the suspension, do a little bit of reaching with the dampers, and that's happened here
01:29with the GR Sport.
01:30But let's talk about the exterior design first, because there's a lot to unpack here.
01:33How good is that red color that they've chosen?
01:36I'm not the biggest fan of these sort of generated images that a lot of car companies use.
01:41JLR, you are the worst at this.
01:43No offense.
01:44And Ferrari, you're not far behind.
01:46But look at it.
01:47It's so masculine.
01:48It looks like a car that a car guy would actually want to drive, which when you're talking about
01:52SUVs, is usually not the case.
01:54I think as soon as I pulled this up at my desk in the office, everyone was like, is that
01:57the new RAV4?
01:58That thing looks pretty darn sharp.
02:00It's wider.
02:01It definitely has a Camry-like design on the front of it, but I love the angular design
02:06overall, especially down the side profile.
02:09It does look a little bit like someone's just taken a pencil and sort of drawn some lines
02:13on a page.
02:14But I don't mind it.
02:16I actually didn't mind the design of the previous model either, but they finally fixed that
02:19rear end with the weird exhaust pipes that used to sit out down the bottom.
02:23I never really understood that.
02:25Starting at the front, it's new, Camry-like with high-tech LED signature headlights.
02:30You've got a sort of slimmer profile at the top.
02:33It's not quite as elongated except for that massive grille at the front where there's broader
02:38sort of lower design there.
02:40It has a tough stance.
02:41Looking at it from the front, it's a very tough-looking vehicle, and especially in GR Sport trim, I'm
02:46really interested to see how people modify these because I'm sure they will.
02:49I think for me, the most important thing is that they haven't chucked that exhaust pipe
02:54on the back.
02:55I've always hated that.
02:56The GR Sport one, though, this is the one that I'm actually passionate about.
02:59It's not an Uber car.
03:01I mean, if you get picked up in one of these as an Uber, you'd be pretty lucky, but black
03:04mesh grille, obviously.
03:06Looking at the photos, everything that was plastic on the sort of base model trim or painted
03:12is now painted gloss black.
03:13Yeah, just to tick it all off, the gloss black accents are on the mirrors, roof rails, window
03:17surrounds, roof, front bumper, rear bumper, sides, everything, basically.
03:21It's nice.
03:22It's just a contrast color, which I think is pretty cool.
03:24The GR Sport model specifically, to focus on that for a second, has a lower ride height.
03:29Overseas, they're not giving us a number, but overseas, it's, let's say, just under an
03:33inch, so it's not like slammed to the ground or anything like that, but it's lower.
03:37It is 20 millimeters wider, too, which is important for wheel track, and that's not a small amount.
03:43Upgraded high performance, damp, as they're saying, with a stiffer rear suspension brace.
03:48Rear suspension, interesting.
03:50Usually, they put that on the front.
03:51Retuned suspension and retuned power steering calibration, so it's going to be sportier.
03:55It's not just, you know, some visual changes.
03:58They've actually included some suspension changes here, and I don't think they had to do anything
04:02to the motor, to be honest, because it has a lot of power, which I'll not talk about.
04:06So, both models have a two and a half liter petrol engine, combined with some form of hybridity.
04:11The standard series parallel hybrid engine will hang around, which is the one that's in
04:15all the RAV4s now in Australia.
04:17They don't actually make any petrol-only models anymore.
04:20143 kilowatts, which is the same as before for all models using the series parallel, but
04:25the new one is the plug-in hybrid, or FEV, or PEV, or PHEV.
04:30I mean, all the brands have been using weird marketing jargon for that for years, but I
04:34call it a FEV.
04:3622.7 kilowatt-hour battery.
04:38So, that's a decent-sized battery.
04:39It's not huge, but it's going to be similar to Mitsubishi Outlanders and all the cars that
04:44this thing's competing with.
04:46Up to 100 kilometers of electric-only range targeted, WLTP.
04:51So, it's not confirmed yet for Australia, but I think Toyota's hoping for 100 on the
04:55dot.
04:56I don't think they want 98, because it doesn't sound as good in the press.
04:59The output, because of this, jumps to 201 kilowatts in the front-wheel drive plug-in hybrid
05:05model, or 227 kilowatts in the all-wheel drive model, which is a ton of power for a RAV4.
05:11I'm honestly shocked.
05:12When I read that, I was like, is this a mistake?
05:14But no, 227 kilowatts.
05:16And that's because it has a larger, more powerful, 150 kilowatt electric motor on the front axle.
05:24And that helps it accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers an hour in 5.8 seconds, which is faster than
05:30a Golf GTI.
05:31The new GTI as well, which has more power than all the previous models.
05:35So, that's doing it in 5.9 seconds, which is not bad for a front-wheel drive car.
05:39It'd be hilarious to get chopped by a RAV4.
05:41Maybe the Uber drivers will go for the all-wheel drive models.
05:44That's pretty much it for power, though.
05:45And I should preface that none of this stuff's necessarily been confirmed for our market just
05:50yet, and we don't have pricing.
05:52But everything that I'm saying here is from Japan, and usually doesn't differ too much.
05:56Let's take a look at the interior.
05:58So, it looks pretty Toyota.
06:00I actually thought they'd pretty much just extract the interior from the Camry and put
06:05it into the RAV4, but they haven't.
06:08It does have a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, which is standard across the range
06:14according to this press release out of Japan.
06:17We have to use a combination of the Japanese press release and the Australian press release
06:21because the Australian press release usually doesn't go into too much detail.
06:24The Japanese one does, so that's why I'm quoting sometimes the global press release.
06:29But what probably will stay around is this 12.9-inch infotainment touchscreen, which has
06:35sharper graphics and quicker response, and has some AI stuff built into it as well, which
06:39apparently is meant to help out with things.
06:41But I think usually that's just the marketing team's contribution to things.
06:45How can I make a cut?
06:46The engineers are like, oh, we've made this great cut.
06:48Then the marketing team's like, yes, but does it have AI?
06:51You'll get wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, over-the-air updates as well, which I
06:56feel like it's taken Toyota a long time to add over-the-air updates to their cars, but
06:59it's not something that we usually get to experience as the press anyway.
07:02We usually only have a car for seven days.
07:04Refresh dashboard layout.
07:06It has a more modern look.
07:07I'm just checking out the photos here.
07:10I think it has one of those sort of pretty, as a knob.
07:16It doesn't have a gear.
07:16They call it a gear selector.
07:17I was in a 79 series the other day for a video, and I called it a gear selector, and
07:22guys are like, imagine calling it a gear selector.
07:24It was an automatic too, so they weren't very happy about that.
07:26It has a knobby, which is, again, like a Golf GTI randomly.
07:30I'm looking here.
07:31I'm seeing a lot of touch buttons.
07:33I'm seeing a physical handbrake button.
07:36I'm seeing a prundle for that gear selector.
07:39I'm seeing three, six physical buttons on the lower console there.
07:43That looks to me like a wireless charger, but we'll see.
07:46I mean, I don't really care if it's a wireless charger or not, as long as I can plug my
07:49phone
07:49in in some way with USB-C.
07:51Two knobs above that.
07:54It looks like there's a decent amount of just chuck storage.
07:56You know, you can just chuck stuff into the front dashboard.
07:58I'm kind of loving that.
07:59And that giant screen.
08:00It kind of does sit on the dashboard like a bit of an afterthought, which I'm not a
08:05massive fan of.
08:05I really like how the Camry touchscreen is integrated into the dash.
08:08It makes that car feel oddly luxurious and like kind of Lexus, but this doesn't really
08:14make me feel like that at all.
08:15It does look like a little bit of an afterthought, but I can see the most important physical controls,
08:20which are your temperature controls as buttons up and down on the temperature, heated and
08:26what looks like cooled seats from this photo here.
08:29And my favorite, the physical volume dial, because every time I get in the car with my
08:34girlfriend, my brother, my dad, my mates, someone's always reaching for the volume control,
08:39which, you know, shouldn't be allowed, quite frankly.
08:41That is the driver's job, but it's here.
08:44What else we got?
08:45Steering wheel.
08:46Looks like a newish steering wheel.
08:47I haven't spent much time in the new Camry, but it looks like, or even the new Prado,
08:52to be honest, but that looks like a pretty new steering wheel.
08:55You've got that digital instrument cluster as well.
08:58And they actually all look pretty high resolution.
09:01You have all your adaptive cruise control stuff.
09:05And on the left-hand side, you've got some, you know, controls for what will be volume and
09:10track skip, amongst other things.
09:12And I can actually see a button to access the new camera.
09:15So there's actually a 360 camera, including the RAV4.
09:18We'll talk a bit more about that once we get to the safety features.
09:20But in terms of looks on the interior and the exterior, sign me up.
09:25I'm a big fan of the RAV4.
09:27Did I mention it looks a little bit Lexus?
09:29Like that front grille, especially on the standard model, it looks a little bit Lexus.
09:33Kind of LBX-y.
09:35LBX-y?
09:36LB sexy.
09:38Next section I need to talk about is the safety.
09:41Pretty much all the new cars, except for maybe the Cupra, they have a speed limit warning
09:47chime.
09:47So if you're doing 61Ks an hour or 51Ks an hour or 41Ks an hour, it bings and bongs
09:54at you until you don't.
09:55And you have to turn that off every single time you get in the car.
09:57It drives me absolutely insane.
09:58I don't know for sure if it's going to be in the new RAV4, but let's assume it probably
10:02will be because Toyota doesn't mess around with safety ratings.
10:04But what will be in the new RAV4, now I'm quoting the Australian press release, which
10:09is not confirmed yet, but it will probably be, front cross traffic alert, blind spot
10:14monitoring with rear vehicle approach indicator.
10:16That's new.
10:17Lane change assist with turn signal linked autonomous lane change on highway.
10:22So we're stepping up to level two and a half, level, yeah, level two, level two and a
10:26half in terms of autonomous driving.
10:30If you need help changing lanes on the highway, you probably need help driving.
10:33So I don't really understand this type of thing, but anyway, it's got it.
10:37You also get pre-collision system functionality, which recognize obstacles, bicycles, and motorbikes.
10:42And that's new because previously it kind of just thought everything was a car.
10:45So not very helpful, but now it is.
10:49Advanced parking feature that now lets you control the car from outside the vehicle.
10:53Damn.
10:54So it's kind of like something that we've seen on Korean cars for a really long time.
10:57In fact, what car am I drawing right now?
10:58I have a Zika 009 right now, this big ass sort of people mover that looks like a Rolls Royce.
11:06And you can control that on the key.
11:08And I know you've been able to do it on keys and Hyundais for pretty much as long as probably
11:11five years now, if not older, and Genesis.
11:14Finally, a 360 camera, which is something that people have not been including in cars
11:18recently for some reason.
11:19They've been relying on, you know, down.
11:21They've had cameras in the mirrors, cameras on the front, camera on the back.
11:24But the 360 they haven't been bothered with.
11:25So it's here though.
11:27I hear my final thoughts on the RAV4.
11:29So they've nailed it on the exterior design.
11:31It's tougher.
11:31It's more car guy friendly, especially that GR Sport model.
11:35Imagine a two-car garage with a GR.
11:37Maybe that's like the Aussie dream now.
11:39It's a GR Sport RAV4 and a GR Yaris or a GR Corolla.
11:43Maybe that's the perfect two-car garage now for a car guy.
11:46I'm really interested to see what the pricing of the plug-in hybrid variant is going to be
11:50because I think the hybrid models will still stay at that like early $40,000 pricing.
11:56But the plug-in hybrid ones, because it has a battery, like a pretty large battery,
12:01it'll be more expensive.
12:02I'm interested in that.
12:03I do like it though.
12:04I like how it has up to 100Ks of all-electric range.
12:07Big plug-in hybrid guy.
12:08I love the community.
12:09I can commute to work three days a week on plug-in hybrid and then charge it off a PowerPoint
12:12because the battery's not that big.
12:14Is it premium enough?
12:16You let me know in the comments.
12:17And you also let me know in the comments what you think of the new RAV4
12:20because that's it for this video.
12:22We're not going to cover this thing again probably until we get to drive it,
12:25which won't be until next year.
12:27I think first deliveries for this, they're aiming first half of 2026 in Australia,
12:33so it'll be sometime around then, probably early January.
12:36If you like this video and you like the RAV4, click the like button, please.
12:40It helps us out greatly.
12:41Hit the subscribe button if you want to see more videos like this.
12:44That's been another new car first reaction video.
12:48Thanks for watching.