Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (2013-2019) running costs

The RAV4 Hybrid costs around £1,700 more, spec-for-spec, than the petrol version, and it may take some drivers a while to recoup that extra money in fuel savings.

On the face of it, 56.4mpg claimed economy should put money in your pocket compared to the petrol-engined model, but that really depends on your driving routine making full use of the car's ability to travel on electric power alone. Those who generally make long, fast journeys may find the RAV4 petrol little more expensive to fuel.

If you're a company-car driver, though, you'll certainly save on Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax. Official CO2 emissions of 116g/km (118g/km for the four-wheel-drive version) place the Hybrid in the 24% BiK bracket. That compares to a 31% rating for the petrol model.

Owners must still pay the London Congestion Charge when driving in the capital, but you do get a £10 annual discount on your road tax, reducing it from £140 to £130. Other running costs are likely to be very similar as those for the petrol.

Toyota RAV4 hybrid insurance group

The RAV4 Hybrid starts in insurance group 26 for the entry-level Icon with front-wheel drive. Moving up to Design takes the insurance rating up to group 27. Adding four-wheel drive places it in group 28, which is the highest RAV4 Hybrid insurance rating.

With so few compact SUVs offering hybrid power, direct rivals for the RAV4 are hard to find, but the Kia Niro is designed along similar lines, albeit rather smaller and with front-wheel-drive only. It's likely to cost considerably less to insure, though, as it starts in insurance group 12.  

Non-hybrid RAV4s start in insurance group 23. That compares to the similarly sized Honda CR-V s 1.6-litre petrol, which occupies insurance 24 with front-wheel drive, rising to group 25 for the better equipped EX with four-wheel drive.

Warranty

Every Toyota sold in the UK comes with a five-year/100,000-mile warranty. It's a solid warranty that beats those offered by European brands and comes close to matching the five-year/unlimited-mileage warranty offered by Hyundai, but fall some way short of Kia's seven-year/100,000-mile guarantee.
There's also a 12-year anti-corrosion and perforation warranty, as well as a three-year paintwork and surface-rust warranty, both of which provide cover against manufacturing faults.

You can extend the mechanical warranty of your RAV4 by 12 or 24 months and 15 or 30,000 miles, as long as your car has a Toyota service history, however it must be under 12 years old have covered under 100,000 miles at the point of warranty extension.

Servicing

Every RAV4 Hybrid is due a routine service visit every year or 10,000 miles – whichever comes first. Services fall into three categories and are menu-priced across the Toyota service network, which means there should be no reason to shop between workshops. Just choose which is the most convenient of Toyota's 177 dealers to you.

The most frequent service, the 'intermediate' costs £185 and is due every 10,000 miles. The 'Full' service is due every 20,000 miles at a cost of £335. The most expensive service is the £395 'Full+' which comes up every 60,000 miles. While services cover all routine work according to the car's maintenance schedule, remedial and repair jobs may be found during the service that could lead to extra work being necessary, at additional cost.
 
Your Toyota dealer can organise a service contract to suit your requirements and make it easier to budget for routine maintenance.

Road tax

After the initial registration fee and first year's Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), which is usually part of the list price of a new car, RAV4 Hybrid owners pay annual road tax of £130 – the same rate as all other hybrid cars.

Depreciation

Industry experts at CAP suggest a two-wheel-drive RAV4 Hybrid, in Icon Tech trim, will be worth around 40% of its original purchase price after three years/36,000 miles on the road. Four-wheel-drive versions are a little less sought-after, as reflected by their lower 36% residual value.

Hybrid RAV4s actually rate slightly better than petrol versions, but don't compare as well against the conventionally powered Honda CR-V, which has a residual figure or around 45% depending on spec.

A look at used examples from both within and outside Toyota's dealer network show residual values aren't necessarily representative of used-car prices, though, and it's rare to find a RAV4 around 36,000 miles and three years of age that isn't marked up at well over half of its original retail price.