How do you make an already top selling Toyota RAV4 even better? All you have to do is add a plug in option. Having already driven the TRD Off-Road trim, we knew the RAV4 had a lot of great things that we would love in the Prime trim.

As you approach the Prime, the Supersonic Red stands out in a parking lot of grays and slivers. The black accents and roof also make for a great color combination. One of the biggest pet peeves I have about hybrids trims is the use of smaller wheels for the sake of efficiency. Thankfully Toyota was willing to loose a MPG or two and offer the Prime with nicely sized 19” wheels. After all, the goal is to convert to electric power so manufactures need to make them attractive. The wheels, color, and design definitely make this RAV4 attractive.

You get inside and you’re greeted with some different surprisingly sporty seats! The Premium Package that his was equipped with, had the SofTex-trimmed seats with red accents. When you think sporty seats, they’re typically not associated with comfort but these RAV4 seats were great for a long road trip. The added heat and cooling makes it great for those Texas days where the temperate ranges from 40 to 90 degrees. The unfortunate thing with the RAV4 Prime is that it’s still plagued with the extremely poor 360 and rear camera quality when you’re wanting to back up or avoid damaging the 19” wheels. We hope that Toyota can address this in future models.

Getting under the hood is where you’ll find the 2.5L 4-cylinder hybrid powertrain. It produces a combined 302 horsepower which is over 80 horsepower more than the non-plugin hybrid model. The Prime adds the option to plug into a charging station. We were unable to test plug in charging because we live in a third floor apartment. You’re still able to activate the EV charge mode from the gas engine but prepare for the obvious reduction in MPGs during the charging.

Where the smiles per gallon comes from is the surprisingly fast power delivery from the 302 horsepower. Even though that saying comes from justifying high horsepower/low MPG vehicles, the Prime is able to deliver fairly high horsepower but offer high MPGs. From a stop, the torque will get the front wheels spinning before the power gets transferred to the rear via Toyota’s AWD system. The ECVT did fine at delivering the simulated shifts and kept RPMs where they needed to be based on the drive mode selected. The one thing that I feel Toyota forgot to upgrade is the brakes. The added power will get you going a lot faster than the non Prime trims that offer 219 and 203 horsepower. That means that psychologically, you’re used to having a more aggressive right foot to get them going. With the Prime, a little throttle input will have you moving way faster and that means you’ll need to be more aggressive on the brakes.

What would make the ideal RAV4? I think for me, the Prime’s plugin powertrain and better camera system, all packaged in a TRD Off-Road would create a nicely powered and rugged little CUV.