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| The Toyota Rav4 is designed to explore the byways and find things, like these sculptures inspired by Yugan Govender, owner of Global Scrap Metal in Pietermaritzburg. |
IN South Africa, the most popular vehicle shape after the double cab bakkie is the sport utility vehicle, or SUVs.
My ageing mother calls them “big station wagons” and like the stations wagons of yore, the SUV’s are made for family life with lots of space. Unlike those lumbering wagons, modern SUVs also add a dash of speed — some more so than others.
Courtesy of Hyundai and Toyota, I had me one of each type last week, in the shape of the Tuscon 2.0D Elite Sport and the 2,0 RAV4 AWD GX-R.
Back in 2016, when the new Tuscon arrived, it was the most sold sport ute in SA, with seven in every 10 SUVs coming from this Korean factory — most of them the Tuscon 2.0-litre Elite with an automatic transmission.
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| Desmond Govenden, owner of DY Performance and one of KZN’s top drag racers, says the best thing about the Huyndai Tuscon 2,0d Sport is its handling on those big low profile tyres. |
Fast forward to 2019 and Hyundai has given the Tuscon a bespoke body kit and model-specific alloy wheels. Under the hood, they also boosted the power quite a bit in the Elite, to the point where this auto manages to chirp the wheels in first second and third gears, with little tugs of torque steer when the engine pile on its 460 Newtons.
This is the kind of power you want to pull big trailers, and the Tuscon is licensed to pull a braked trailer weighing 1 900 tonnes. Not that we recommend doing this, as pulling such a heavy trailer is the job of a heavier vehicle, not a light sport ute.
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| All wheel drive in the RAV4 means no fear on slime slick surfaces. |
This power comes in at a low 1 750 rpm and continues unabated to 2750 rpm, with a torque-converter shifting smoothly between eight ratios to deliver acceleration that tempted me to take it to one of the many illegal drag races held late at night in several parts of Msunduzi. I did not give in to this temptation. Instead, I met up with Desmond Govenden, tuning guru and a former drag racing and drifting champion, to get a second opinion on this Korean.
He was impressed with the way the high-riding SUV handled around the bends on its big, 19-inch wheels clad with wide, low profile tyres (245/45).
Sure, its is not quite as firm as a big Beemer, Range Rover, Jaguar or Merc, but then the Tuscon does not cost well over a million rands, as do the top SUVs of these brands.
Ventilated disk brakes front and rear initially did a good stopping job, but after a few runs, it was clear that these disks are engineered for civilian use, not repeated hard braking into corners.
Which was when we did a drag, and when I discovered it was a good thing I did not pit the Tuscon against the lads’ hot hatches at the illegal drags.
From a standing start, the Tuscon’s big turbo takes a second or so to spool up, despite having variable vanes that limit this turbo lag to the point where one does not notice it when driving sensibly in diesel-saving Eco mode. In Sport mode, this lag would have had me eating humble pie against all the laities in their tuned hatches.
But once the blower forces air into the diesel, you will run out of road long before you run out of acceleration in the Tuscon. Where the road run out is where the RAV4 comes in.
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| The Tuscon where its most at home, an old race track. |
SEPARATING MEN FROM WOMEN
This is where the men are separated from the women, who have been the main buyers of the RAV4 since the first, much more rounded model launched when we had our first democratic elections back in 1994. (You can still find those old RAV4 curves in the Cherry Tiggo, which is surprisingly good on dirt.)
To get a women’s perspective on latest RAV4, I asked Shay Kalik to give her views. While Kalik liked the new edgy exterior, she loved the interior with its orange trim and soft-touch cladding.
“Its a lot more like a Volvo than the Toyotas I know in here,” was her first comment.
The interiors in both SUV’s are sumptuous, but the panoramic sun roof and keyless entry in the Tuscon put the Hyundai ahead on the useful luxuries count.
Toyota and Hyundai is on par when it comes to easily connecting Bluetooth devices, and the first thing you want to do in the RAV4 with continuously variable transmission is to connect your music to drown out the continuously varying drone. CVT-boxes keep an engine humming in the optimum power band for the most effective work rate and the new RAV4 has ten settings — like a 10-speed box — but that drone does require getting used to.
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| Inside the 2019 Tuscon Sport. |
Call me old school, but I much prefer the eight-speed Sport Direct Shift transmission which Toyota fits exclusively to 2.5-litre RAV4.
Toyota said in a statement the new RAV4’s all wheel drive system automatically adjusts different vehicle systems — steering assist, brake and throttle control, shift pattern and drive torque distribution — according to the drive mode selected. ‘Mud & Sand’ and ‘Rock & Dirt’ modes are available.
But it is not a patch on the four-wheel drive abilities of the first to third generation RAV4s, and we had to back down from The Slope with our tail between our legs. Officially we did not force the RAV4 up there because the axle benders on our steep, test hill demand the higher road clearance of the old RAV4 or the new Jimny.
It came as a bit of a let down for me to learn the new RAV4 is now a soft-roader and no longer an off-roader, but this did not bother the 586 people who bought a new RAV4 last month. And as Kalik says, normal people consider dirt roads to be pushing the limits, so for normal people, the RAV4 works fine.
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| Inside the 2019 Toyota RAV4. |
All RAV4 models carry a three-year or 100 000 km warranty and a 90 000 km service plan with six-services built in. This is rather shorter than Hyundai’s seven-year or 200 000 km warranty, which breaks up into a five-year or 150 000 km warranty on the vehicle and two years or 50 000 km on the powertrain. Hyundai also has a five-year or 90 000 km service plan.
The Tuscon and RAV4 compete for the hearts and budgets of motorists against the Volkswagen Tiquan, which was SA’s second-best selling SUV last month with 574 units sold; and the best seller, Ford’s much smaller EcoSport, which last month sold 658 units.
Buyers can also kick the tyres of the newcomer Haval, which Chinese premium brand is still offering a lot of SUV in three sizes at relatively low prices.
(First published in Witness Wheels.)
