Toyota RAV4 long-term test: report 3

The car Toyota RAV4 PHEV GR Sport Bi-Tone Run by Darren Moss, deputy editor

Why it’s here To show that plug-in hybrid power makes sense for a growing family, even when you can’t charge up at home

Needs to Provide comfortable family transport, lots of space for luggage, and keep fuel costs minimal

Mileage 2043 List price £49,245 Best price £45,595 Price as tested £49,530 Test economy 50.7mpg Official economy 282.5mpg

13 October 2025 – Positively parenting

I’m still rather new to being a parent. You see, my partner Sarah already had her two wonderful children, Elijah and Freya, when we met. The past 18 months that we’ve been together, then, has meant getting up to speed with parenting at a breakneck pace.

This was brought home recently when I had to fit new child car seats to my Toyota RAV4. Previously, I’d not looked too deeply into the Isofix system which standardised the fitment of child car seats since 1997. But now, with some very precious cargo accompanying me on most journeys, I wanted to make sure the kids were as safe as possible. 

As luck would have it, we’d recently completed testing of some of the latest child car seats, and consumer editor Claire Evans asked if I’d like to take some home for an extended test with Elijah and Freya. 

This was welcome news, because reading about the latest seats had made me realise that although the Halfords-bought seat bases we’d been using had done a stirling job until now, the fact that they rely solely on the car’s seatbelts to keep the kids safe in the event of an accident made them inherently less safe than the Isofix alternative. So when Claire offered, I accepted.

Installing the seats into the RAV4 was easier than I expected, partly because they have extending arms which physically hook onto the car’s seat structure, but also because, like most modern cars, the RAV4 helpfully points out where these hooking points are with little labels on the seat bases.

With the seats installed, the kids can travel in more comfort and, crucially, be safer in the event of an accident. 

Speaking of which, my RAV4 scored a full five stars from Euro NCAP when it was crash-tested in 2019. And even though the tests have gotten a lot stricter since then, I reckon this is still a very safe option in the family SUV class.

That’s not least because of the vast array of safety kit which comes as standard, including Automatic Emergency Braking, lane-keeping assistance and a driver attention monitor. And because my car is in range-topping GR Sport trim, it goes one step further with blind-spot monitoring and a rear cross-traffic alert to stop me reversing into cars on a busy road.

All of that, combined with our new seats, gives me real peace of mind on the school run.

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