Why are the rav4 ev owners spread out?

[HD172]

I've seen rav4 owners on this site, leaf, rav4 ice, and tesla forums, we need to get everyone together in one place. I just bought mine a few days ago. I have a lot to talk about with my likes and dislikes.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Ok, spill...

 

[HD172]

Well I definitely love the Tesla power train. After driving around for a day I found that I can get 115-150 miles out of a single charge depending on my mood and type of charge. I don't like the Leviton deal with Toyota. Leviton will only sell you their new charger if they install it. This wasn't an issue initially but I have an HOA and Leviton wants the HOA to sign three different forms before they will even do an assessment. My HOA said they would not sign the forms because they don't approve or disapprove of anything inside an owners home or garage. So I'm getting a Clipper Creek CS-100. I'm also having trouble with setting a charge schedule for the Rav4. I had the schedule set on my charger and had the Rav4 set for immediate charge. When I went down the next morning I found that I did not get a charge. I'm trying a different method tonight by setting the schedule on the Rav4 and leaving the charger ready. I will see it charged in the morning. I also don't like how toyota does the charge schedule by departure time. I want to be able to tell the car when to charge not when to be charged for my departure. The Nav system is different and I haven't decided if I think it's an improvement over past models. Most vehicles that I own or have owned have been pretty easy to learn how to operate. I have been repeatedly going through the owners manual to figure things out. I think overall it's been a little more complicated than needed. I definitely love the Rav4EV I just wish I didn't have to study and experiment so much with it.

Anyone have similar issues?

Oh and the charger I've been using is a Blink so that could be a factor.

 

[HD172]

Well the charge schedule on the Rav worked last night. So it must have been me. One gripe down. Ive just about have the Nav/smartphone-in-dash system down. I think the only thing I miss is buttons on the side to access radio, map, etc. it's now a two step process to get to the screen you want Home button>desired app/function. Just to make it clear even knowing what I know now I'd still buy it again.

 

[marta]

Glad to know you figured out the charge schedule issue - even if it was user error! It's bound to happen with all this new technology in vehicles these days!

I thought there was an option to set the Rav4 EV to be charged by a certain time OR by when to charge??

 

[HD172]

The schedule can only be set to your departure time. It determines how long it will take to charge and be done by your selected time.

 

[Joyride]

(This is a repost of something I posted tonight over at the TeslaMotorsClub forum. I've been hanging out there for a while as I wasn't finding much in the way of Rav4EV forums. I hope this community really starts to take off.)

Well, I took deliver of a Blizzard Pearl Rav4EV a week ago Sunday, 11/11.

I'm very happy with my decision to get the black leather instead of keeping the cloth interior. It definately contrasts with a few things, but I think it still looks good, and will likely stand up to the test of time much better than the cloth seats. The install is a Katzskin install that the dealer arranged for. Ironically, they initially wanted to charge me $3k for the leather, which retails for a little over $1,500 from the Katzkin website. Silly dealer.

It's taken me a bit to get accustomed to a few things on the car.

• The bluetooth audio system is a little strange for me. When I first paired my phone, the car would seemingly pick something at random from my phone and start playing it. Sometimes the audiobook I was listening to, sometimes the soundtrack from Book of Mormon, sometimes Aerosmith. I couldn't figure out a pattern. After the first couple of days of that, the car seems to have "learned" that I didn't like that and doesn't start playing stuff automatically. Not sure if I found a setting somewhere that changed this irritating behavior, but I'm good with the result
• The GPS. Sheesh, you'd think Toyota would fire the people who do their Nav design. The car has essentially the same system that was in place in my wife's 2005 Prius. But this one's in color. I finally had to bust out the manual and spend about 20 minutes reading through things to get to the point where it seems somewhat logical. I'm keeping my Garmin Nuvi in the car with me however, just in case.
• The steering wheel buttons aren't illuminated. I'd grown quite accustomed to illuminated buttons on my 2008 Prius and was surprised to realize when driving after dark last week that the buttons on this car aren't illuminated. Granted, there are relatively few of them, and they follow a pattern, but still increases the learning curve for new drivers.

Unexpected things I like about the car:

• I really like the rear below-deck storage area, which I guess on the gas version can store a 3rd row of seating. I've been able to stow my 120V charger in the smaller area, and in the bigger area I've got my little emergency bag, a first-aid kit, two folding "captain's chairs", and the sunshade umbrella my wife and I use at our son's soccer games. The chairs and umbrella used to rattle around in the rear of my Prius, and I really like having them stowed out of sight.
• XM Radio. I haven't listened to the regular radio with any consistency since the Bush administration (George W), and once I found a channel guide and programmed in a few stations that I thought I might like, I've been listening to the radio more frequently. I still mostly listen to audiobooks, but it's nice to have higher quality radio available.
• The side-opening rear door. At first I saw the rear door as one of those gimmicks that car companies use to differentiate one model from another, but the side-opening door is starting to grow on me. It most certainly takes a lot less effort to close than its liftgate cousins.

Things I liked before, and really like now:

• Charging at home. I really like just plugging the car in at night and letting it fuel itself up over night. I stopped by a gas station the other day to pick up some sunflower seeds to snack on while watching my son's soccer practice. If there's been a more convenient store along the way I would have gone somewhere else instead, but it was still kind of fun to go to a gas station and spend a whopping $1.50.
• Spunkiness. My wife drove the new car over the weekend and I kind of purposefully didn't give her a lot of instructions. I pretty much told her, "just drive it like you do your Prius." When I saw her later, she was fairly gushing about how responsive the gas pedal is. In standard mode.

I'll do my best to post some photos of the interior here and over at the myrav4ev forum (I'm "Joyride" over there) soon.

-Chris