2025 Toyota Rav4 XSE Hybrid Review and Off-Road Test

This is the 2025 Toyota RAV4 XSE Hybrid. In this video we're going to check out all the features, take it for a drive, and then put it to the test. Because this one has a trail mode. That's coming up right now on Driving Sports TV. The Toyota RAV4 is, far and away, the best-selling compact crossover in the United States. Believe it or not, in 2024 alone, they sold nearly half a million of these. Well, today we're going to check out the latest version. This is, of course, the 2025 RAV4 XSE Hybrid. The XSE means this is the sporty version of the RAV4. The XSE comes with special two-tone paint, black accents in the front, as well as over the wheels, and the side rockers. Inside it gets synthetic leather with blue contrast stitching, an available panoramic glass roof, and a power rear gate. The optional XSE Tech Package adds parking assist, a wireless phone charger, 8-way power driver seat with memory, and a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster. This one also has the weather package, JBL sound, a cargo liner, and fog lights. Price as you see it here, you're looking at $43,728 including destination and delivery. The powertrain features a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a trio of electric motors for a combined output of 219 horsepower. The gas engine provides up to 163 pound-feet of torque all by itself. Two of the electric motors provide drive, with the front one producing a peak 149 pound-feet of torque, and the rear up to 89 pound-feet of torque. The rear wheels on this are exclusively driven by the electric motor. There's no driveshaft from the front to the back. The sealed battery is a small 6.5 amp-hour lithium-ion unit. It charges and discharges automatically, so there's nothing you need to do with it. EPA rates economy at up to 41 miles to the gallon in town and 38 on the highway. This being a hybrid, it is of course more efficient in stop-and-go traffic than it is on the freeway. The standard tire on this is a Michelin Primacy EAS. This is a standard all-season tire. It is wrapped around a really nice-looking 18-inch alloy wheel, and the fitment is a 225-60 R18. This generation of RAV4 has been around for several years, and we've already looked at pretty much all the details of these vehicles. So we're just going to quickly gloss over some of the features, then we're going to take it for a drive, and then we're going to test the trail mode on this hybrid here at our Peninsula Proving Grounds. Let's do it. Inside, the RAV4 is an interior that is very familiar. I mean, the RAV4 has been around for many years now, and in fact, mules for the next generation RAV4 have already been spotted in the wild, which means a new RAV4 is probably just around the corner. But the thing to keep in mind is that this vehicle for 2025 is about as refined as the RAV4 will ever get. And we have a nice interior here. I like the blue contrast stitching. We have the dual climate control with these big chonky knobs that can be used with mittens. Below that, we have seat warmers. I get power adjustments here. The seat's actually pretty comfortable. I also get two big cup holders. I think I could probably put some big gulps in there. And then in the armrest, we get a couple USB-C power plugs. Up here, we do get wireless charging at this trim level with an optional package, and then also get a classic USB-A slot as well as a 12-volt. So we got lots of power solutions going on here. I think the second row, yeah, they also have USB-Cs back there as well. They also get vents. Now, down here, I get a number of buttons, including automatic, high beams, view camera, and hey, heated steering wheel. Now, the heat on the steering wheel is mostly in the three and nine position. Top and bottom do not get heated. So if you're this kind of person or that kind of person, no heat for you. The gauge cluster here is digital, and I like what Toyota's been doing with this. It gives us three zones for customization, and then we can also customize the overall layout to a degree. But it provides a lot of good, useful information, very easy to read, very nice. Now, over here, we do have a large integrated infotainment system that does have the newest version of Toyota's homegrown infotainment software. A couple of years ago, they finally updated to the new system. We get lots of little options in here. We have everything from XM satellite radio to we can even look at like energy flow to see the diagram of how the vehicle's working and all that. Plus it also supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. As the diagram shows us here, there are two primary electric motors. There's also a third one that acts as a motor generator, but these are the primaries. And up front, you have both an electric motor working with a gas engine, and then in back, you have a dedicated electric motor just pushing the rear wheels. So this is a part-time all-wheel drive system. It'll basically give us power back there when it feels it needs it. But that said, we do get some drive modes, which will customize the way power is distributed around the system. And then we also have a trail mode, which will give us kind of the emulation of lockers by using brake vectoring. We'll try that out in just a moment. But first, let's head out to the road and just see how this thing drives in 2025. So the price on this specific tester is almost exactly the price that I paid for my new Bronco Sport Badlands. So why am I not doing a head-to-head between these two vehicles? Well, the XSE Hybrid here, it's totally a different class of vehicle. It is trail kind of as a far second concern, whereas the Bronco Sport Badlands is more primarily a trail style vehicle. I mean, hence the skid plates, higher output engine, all that kind of fun stuff. This one is more about street style and economy, but that doesn't mean that it's not fairly fun to drive. Now when I lay the throttle in, I do get a pretty good pull because of course we have more than 200 horsepower here, but it does feel very front-wheel drive oriented in the way that that power is put down to the ground. You can even see on the diagram here what's happening as we're doing it, which that's pretty cool. So it feels pretty potent actually for like around town driving. Let's see what it can do with a zero to 60. Now I'm going to put the drive mode into sport and we're just going to stop. It's mostly level. Three, two, one, floor it. Okay, that's pretty good punch out of the gate. 40, 50, and 60. That's pretty good. Now I want to point out here that we don't have to worry about disabling the auto start stop function on a zero to 60 with a vehicle like this because the electric motors provide the launch. I don't have to wait for the gas engine to kick on. Because of that, it's a very smooth start. Also, electric motors provide 100% of torque at zero rpm, so it's quick. As you would expect in sport mode, the throttle is more aggressive. Accelerating up to highway speed, it uses the all-wheel drive system. But now that I'm up at 45 miles per hour, it's primarily front-wheel drive. It doesn't use that rear electric motor at all. It would only kick in in the case of some slip. But it's dry today so far, so no slip at all. If I go back into normal, it basically feels about the same. Just your throttle isn't quite as aggressive, but that can be managed with the foot. The drive modes here, they don't make a huge difference. I am hoping that the trail mode will make a big difference in a little bit though. Flooring it, rear wheels kick in as I'm turning. That's good. Provides stability in the cornering. Actually, let's see here. This is not a fast corner, but let's see if I just roll on some throttle with a little bit of steering input. Yeah, I get traction to the back. There's a little gauge here on the left that actually shows me power distribution front to back. We are getting power in the back whenever you would expect power in the back, like going through corners for example. But obviously on straightaways at highway speed, yeah, it's not going to do anything back there. There's no reason for it to. That gives it an opportunity to charge up the batteries so that you'll have more power when you need it. You can just watch this thing as I'm driving. Seating position is very vertical. I get great visibility. I can kind of see why the RAV4 is such an incredibly popular vehicle. Usable space, good performance, and amazing economy with all-wheel drive. That's kind of a very compelling package. In fact, I do not envy the engineers over at Toyota who have to one-up this. I mean, half a million of these sold just last year in 2024. I think what will be interesting to see is whether or not the next generation of this is hybrid only. There's rumors that that could be the case, but I would be concerned with them being able to hit that lower price of entry that you can get with a straight gas motor. Time will tell. Maybe they'll offer both again. This is a very slow road. Let's try the EV mode. Yeah, so it's full electric right now. That speeds up to 25. This is a 25 mile per hour road. Also interesting to note that I am seeing that as I'm adding a little extra throttle, it is still powering those rear wheels even in EV mode. Not a lot. I'm only getting one little pip out of five on the on the little display there, but it is actually doing something which is interesting. Well, not now because I'm driving straight, but I'm sure as soon as I turn it'll kick back in. So what is the use of an EV-only mode at 25 miles per hour? I don't know. Parking lots? I guess it's mostly about efficiency. You know, use the free power when you can. Why not, right? Okay, went over 25 miles per hour. I hit 26 and it deactivated EV mode. That's fine. Let's feel corner roll as we go through the corners here. Very well composed. I mean, this is actually not, this is a kind of a fun vehicle to drive. The RAV4, it's basically like the modern Camry. Even though Camry, yes, still exists, but the Camry used to be like the number one selling car. Now this thing, this is the number one selling compact crossover, which compact crossovers now are about the same size as a Camry was back in the day, because that, even though it was a mid-size, anyway, it's all very confusing. But the point being is that this vehicle sells really well. I can see why. It drives great. No complaints. Now, one thing to keep in mind is I did test drive one of these for my wife probably about four or five years ago. Same generation of RAV4. And the entry-level seats with the hybrid, I found very uncomfortable. These ones are actually quite nice, but keep in mind, this is an upper scale XSE. So if you are looking at an entry-level hybrid, be aware that the seats are not the same between all of the vehicles here. So you definitely want to like sit in it and make sure that it's comfortable for you. In this XSE, these seats are actually quite good. I got nice support, got some good bolstering there. Plus, of course, I got lots of power adjustments, including a power lumbar. And I even get memory position here on the side. Now, in terms of safety, we have a lot of stuff here. Obviously, we have a surround view camera system. Can I turn on any view cameras while driving? No, it doesn't let me. But I can turn on the viewing screen on the mirror. Yes, it's actually a camera. And the benefit of that is if you've loaded up your cargo area, you can still see out because the camera is in the back. So this gives me safety on the road as I look all the way through and get good visibility back there, which is cool. I have one of these on my Land Cruiser. Really like it, actually. It's not something that I drive all the time with on. I only use it when I need it. But when you need it, it's actually really helpful. Let's try the adaptive cruise control system. I'm going to turn it on with hitting that button there. I'm going to hit set. It's now targeted my speed. Let me make sure that my lane tracing is on. So now that I have lane trace assist on and I hit set, now it will keep me centered in the lanes with no bouncing. OK, there we go. That's what I was expecting. Doesn't sound great under throttle. It's a little whiny, but this is not. I mean, how often does anybody go full throttle on a RAV4? I'm guessing not that often. Overall, on the street, this car is very pleasant to drive. It's nice. It has plenty of power. The tech is really good. The economy is amazing. The interior I also rather like. The one thing I don't particularly care for is the wrap on the steering wheel. It just feels kind of slippery and cheap. Also, the fact that the heat is only in two positions, not top and bottom. I think that's a little bit of a mess. So it's great out here, but how is it when the road ends and the trail begins? We're going to find out by taking it through a few of our easy trails over at our Peninsula Proving Grounds. Let's do this. Now going in here, we do have a dirt road. How does this handle? Pretty good. I mean, it's going to kick that power in almost instantaneously. It's kind of a non-detectable power transfer. So, right. Works fine on gravel roads. Now we're going to line up for the fun forest and do our very first test. Let's see how this goes. Step number one, get into the trail. We have a little bit of a bump at the beginning here. This will really test out whether or not this has slightly more than eight inches of ground clearance that Toyota claims, or if it's at least a usable over eight inches. Listen for grinding. Oh, there's full surround view camera on this. So let's go ahead and turn that on. Now they don't have a trail cam style function. You can toggle steering lines on and off, but it's not great for trail cam use actually. And that's kind of a rough camera up front there. Oh, that chunking sound, that's not grinding. That's the power distribution system. I haven't even engaged trail mode yet. Well, let's go ahead and engage trail mode. It's definitely trying to do something. So at this point it should really kick in. Come on, you're going to get in, you're going to get into the course. There we go. Wow. That's the loudest grinding sound I've heard in a compact crossover. And the grinding of course is the brakes pulsating to try to shift power around the system. Now we're going to go into a dip here where we're going to start lifting wheels again actually. And that will really force it to shift power around, especially as we climb out here. Here we're going to lift that back tire. This is where we need power to go to the back to push us forward. I'm just going to add more throttle. It's actually showing on the graph that it's putting more power there, more power there, and less power to those two. That's interesting. Typically on these gauges, they only show you front back. They don't show you left, right. But this one is solidly showing me left, right action. That's cool. Dip this down. I'm actually going to hit that mirror. Can I flip my mirrors in? No, I cannot. I'm a little too close to the sapling over there. So let's reposition. Now we'll dip down. You can see the stump right there, kind of. Yeah, it's that piece of gray that's next to that other piece of gray there. Yeah, that's totally, totally a stump. Parking sensor is finally going off. Now here we're going to try to climb out. Look at that front driver's side wheel. So I'm just going to add more throttle, tipping it in. I started at about 5% and then went all the way up to probably around a quarter throttle. Add enough power and out we go. Cool. Well, it did fine there. I think we're going to kick things up a notch now. Let's try some moguls. So this particular test was a real challenge for the Chevy Equinox Active. It had trouble pushing power to the back. Now, the Equinox Active definitely had something up on this vehicle in that it was equipped with General Grabber all-terrain tires, which are better for muddy conditions like this. They're not full on mud terrains, but they definitely are going to be better than the All Seasons that we're rolling on right now. These are going to be like driving on slicks in the mud. It's definitely pushing power to the back. Can I get through this? Let's see. I'm not going to run through this. I'm just going to crawl through it because I want the all-wheel drive system to do the work. I don't want just gravity and momentum to pull us through. You seeing power in the back there? I mean, that's slippery. I'm sliding all over the place. Just walk right through it. That's what it's supposed to do, Chevy. Now, let's check clearances on the moguls here as we go in. Now, we're going to be definitely lifting more wheel than we did before. Vehicles like this, these unibody crossovers, don't have a lot of articulation, so they're going to lift wheels. That is counterproductive to crawling through difficult objects. This is where I'm going to listen for the front, make sure we're not grinding. Add throttle. I'm going to increase throttle as I go, so I have a controlled crawl through here. I'm trying not to go too fast because I don't want to crash down on the nose during the teeter-totter. Did good. Then let it down. Man, the RAV4, it is impressive, especially for a hybrid, a highly efficient hybrid, yet it can get through stuff like this with the wrong tires. I mean, yeah, got to give it props. That's pretty good. Okay, now we're going to do the sand slide. I'm going to take the easy line to the left, though. Come on, wheel. You're going to let us climb this? Come on, you got this. It's slow and steady, but it gets the job done. Man, you know, I wouldn't have guessed that this would have done this well. So yeah, overall, this RAV4, I mean, whether you get the XSE or one of the many other trims, the RAV4 is going to have the same powertrain. It's going to have that electric motor in the back, and it provides enough kick when you need it. Is it a performance off-roader? Clearly not. I mean, I wouldn't even call it an off-roader. This is a street vehicle that can actually conquer some trails that are easy trails. You're not going to be stuck down a road because you can't get down it if there's a little bit of mud on it or something. Overall, I'm very impressed with this RAV4. I'm looking forward to the new one, which is just around the corner. For Driving Sports TV, I'm Ryan Douthit. Thanks for watching. Be sure to like, subscribe, share videos. We make them for you. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you enjoy this look, maybe our last look at this generation of RAV4.