Jonathan: While these two little rigs might not set blistering lap times, raise the bar for torque or towing, travel hundreds of kilometres on free electrons, or even get hearts racing, they are the true giants of the Canadian auto industry. Coming from the incredibly popular compact crossover segment that they created, we are here to pit the Toyota RAV4 against its archival and longtime nemesis, the Honda CR-V. The RAV4 is fresh from a complete redesign for the 2019 model year, so the CR-V, a couple of years into its generational cycle, has its work cut out for it to claim superiority over a rival with all the latest tech and gadgets. And as these things go, both are indeed loaded to the roof rails with every gadget and feature available to each model line, the CR-V showing up in Touring trim at $39,090 plus a $1,795 freight and PDI charge. The Toyota RAV4 is a Limited AWD model, ringing in at $40,690 with $1,815 for freight PDI, and while it is fully loaded, there is a more expensive RAV4 out there if you opt for the same trim with a hybrid powertrain ($42,090 + PDI). Those prices are practically a dead heat, so each will prove its value through merit, showing its practicality, feature content and engineering excellence.Peter: Indeed, these two Ontario-built sales champs have a lot in common near identical exterior and interior dimensions and power ratings but they sure feel different on the road. By the numbers, the Toyotas 2.5L naturally aspirated four cylinder outmuscles the Hondas 1.5L turbo four 203 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque vs 190 horsepower and 179 lb-ft of torque. So the Toyota RAV4 is more fleet of foot, right? Uh, no.The Toyotas engine doesnt find that torque peak until a rather thrashy 5,000 rpm, whereas the Hondas shove comes on board at a more usable 2,000 rpm. In the cut and thrust of day-to-day driving, the Honda is the more relaxed and quiet crossover, moving forward on a nice easy shove of mid-range torque. The Toyota always feels and sounds like its working hard, and youre going to want to plan your highway merging. I got caught flat-footed, with my foot flat to the floor.That said, the RAV4 settles down into a quiet, stable and comfortable cruiser, and the eight-speed auto works well when not pushing hard, shifting smoothly and making the most to the engines power. The Honda CR-V is fitted with CVT (continuously variable transmission), but under most circumstances youd never know it. Again, its the little 1.5L turbo-fours low-end torque that keeps things moving along with little drama.JY: Actually, after spending a bit more time behind the wheel of the RAV4 after filming, there were occasions when that lack of low-end torque and the efficiency goals of the transmission led to some rough downshifts under hard acceleration. The 8-speed went looking for a lower gear to deliver the kind of urgency my foot was calling for, but it couldnt get out of its own way. Despite the Sport button on the console, the RAV4 simply does not like being driven quickly. Eventually I learned to accept its limitations, but it required resetting my more sporting style of driving to something far more patient, and I equally doubt that the extra AWD settings (Rock and Mud Sand) will get any use at all from the typical RAV4 owners. Save it for the 4Runner, Toyota. Once I started driving the RAV4 within its comfort zone, it shone. It is plenty comfortable around town and settles in nicely at highway speeds, and has excellent visibility and good steering response making it easy to maneuver around town. You could say the same of the CR-V, which might have a touch better steering response and comfort, but both are respectable and dialled in nicely for a compact crossover. Both cruise quietly and with great stability on the highway, with adaptive cruise and other driver aids to help alert you to dangers around you and take action if necessary.It should be noted for value shoppers that adaptive cruise, lane departure alert, lane keep assist, forward emergency braking, plus blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert are standard equipment on the base $27,990 RAV4, but those features dont come into play until the $31,686 LX AWD model on the CR-V. At the top of the lineup, the one big edge I gave to the RAV4 is the 360-degree parking camera (the CR-V has just a multi-view rear camera) that makes parking a breeze in any situation, especially crowded mall parking lots or tight underground garages. <img
Origin: SUV Comparison: 2019 Honda CR-V vs 2019 Toyota RAV4