Tweaked RAV4 hot on heels of last one
Toyota has moved quickly to upgrade its RAV4 range, however prices have also risen across the board for the popular mid-sized SUV.
While changes to line-ups are certainly common at this time of year, the move is something of an eyebrow-raiser given the current-generation model was launched in Australia less than a year ago.
Poor sales have seen four of the range's manual-transmission variants dumped, with only the two-wheel-drive petrol and diesel all-wheel-drive having the option of a stick.
Prices have risen between $200 and $1800 across the line-up, but there is some new technology to justify the price hikes even in if it is mainly confined to the top-end Cruiser variant.
The 2014 RAV4 Cruiser will be the first Toyota to have Reverse Cross Traffic Alert, which is a refinement of the company's blind-spot monitoring system and lets the driver know when vehicles are approaching and aren't visible in the rear or side mirrors.
It also has lane departure warning which will sound an alert when it senses the vehicle drifting out of its lane, plus automatic high-beams which dim when the car spots oncoming traffic.
A new, 11-speaker sound system with digital radio has also been included in the Cruiser.
For the rest of the RAV4 line-up, a reversing camera and 6.1-inch colour display are now among the standard features on all variants.
2WD PETROL
GX manual: $28,690
GXL manual: $32,690
AWD PETROL
GX auto: $34,690
GXL auto: $38,190
Cruiser auto: $47,290
AWD DIESEL
GX manual: $35,690
GXL manual: $39,190
Cruiser auto: $50,790
