2026 Cadillac Vistiq Review: Luxuriously Normal
Is the Cadillac Vistiq a Good Electric SUV?
- The all-new 2026 Cadillac Vistiq is remarkable for being unremarkable — it drives, works and feels like a conventional luxury SUV, but it features the silence and speed that comes with an all-electric powertrain.
How Does the Cadillac Vistiq Compare With Other Electric Luxury SUVs?
- This is the rational, easy-to-use electric luxury SUV. Conventional controls make it simple to transition to from a gas SUV, without the oddities, peculiarities and spaceship controls common to other EVs.
The problem a lot of people have with luxury electric vehicles of all kinds is that they’re often more than just a familiar vehicle with an electric powertrain. Automakers have taken the opportunity to change up a lot more than just what moves the vehicle, with things like screen controls for changing air-vent positions, new interior panels, weird ways of selecting a gear and all kinds of spaceship-level stuff that turns off a lot of traditional vehicle buyers. Cadillac recognized this and decided it didn’t want to go that route.
2026 Cadillac Vistiq | Cars.com photo by Nick Carter
“Our research says that customers just don’t want that,” said one Cadillac marketing executive during my recent drive of the new 2026 Cadillac Vistiq three-row SUV. And so, for the brand’s latest entry in the electric luxury SUV market, Cadillac decided to keep things as normal as possible — and made a fantastic luxury SUV that anyone can get into and feel immediately at home in.
Related: 2026 Cadillac Vistiq: More Power Than a Lyriq, Rich Blend of Textures and Colors
How Much Does a 2026 Cadillac Vistiq Cost?
In Cadillac’s electric SUV lineup, the Tennessee-built Vistiq slots between the five-seat, two-row Lyriq and the flagship three-row Escalade IQ. It replaces the gas-powered XT6 in the lineup and offers three-row seating without the bulk and six-figure price tag of the Escalade IQ. It comes in a choice of four trim levels for now: Luxury, Sport, Premium Luxury and Platinum. There are very few packages and options for the Vistiq — content is separated by trim level instead. All prices include a destination fee of $1,695.
- Luxury: $79,090
- Sport: $79,590
- Premium Luxury: $93,590
- Platinum: $98,190
All Vistiqs come with a high level of standard equipment, things like dual-motor all-wheel drive, Super Cruise hands-free cruise control, a Google Built-In operating system with voice commands, and more. But to get some of the neater features like rear-wheel steering, night vision, an augmented reality head-up display, Brembo front brakes and optional 23-inch wheels, you have to step up to the Premium Luxury or Platinum trim.
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Conventional, Attractive Styling
If you told me that the Vistiq was the next-generation XT6, I wouldn’t have doubted you — its styling is a direct evolution of the XT6’s, with a healthy dose of the new Cadillac EV look thrown in. It works well, with a formal, upright roofline, smoothed features and just the right lines down the side to give it a super-slippery aerodynamic shape that results in almost no wind noise in the cabin at highway speeds. While it’s built off the same platform as the smaller Lyriq (and Chevrolet Blazer EV), it’s taller and wider than the Lyriq, allowing for better interior cargo room and the inclusion of a small but serviceable third row. What it doesn’t have is a frunk — or anything else up there, like plastic shrouds or covers. Pop the hood, and you’re greeted with an unruly mess of tubing, pumps, wires and fixtures. Your extra storage space is actually a deep well in the cargo area, so just leave that long, shapely nose closed. But the styling of the Vistiq should be your first clue that this SUV is meant to appeal to folks who don’t want the spaceship experience when buying a new EV and instead just want something familiar to ease the transition to an EV lifestyle.
1 / 102026 Cadillac Vistiq | Cars.com photo by Nick Carter
About the make
Cadillac
Cadillac is GM’s luxury brand. It offers some sedans but is overall SUV-heavy with a focus on advanced technology and driving performance.
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A Familiar, Luxurious Interior
Slip behind the wheel into the driver’s seat, which sits up higher than the one you’ll find in the almost wagonlike Lyriq, and nothing is all that unusual inside, either. There’s no stop-start button, just put your foot on the brake to power things up. Ahead of you is the 33-inch panoramic display that we’ve seen in the Lyriq and other Cadillacs that’s partly a touchscreen. To the lower right is an 8-inch touchscreen for the climate controls. It stinks that it’s all touchscreens in here, but at least the climate controls are on a dedicated panel and not in a menu in the main screen. We prefer buttons — most everyone prefers buttons — but I’ve seen worse touchscreen-only interfaces.
Materials quality is excellent and feels more substantial and solid than the Lyriq’s rather hollow-feeling interior. The seats are supportive and large, and there’s plenty of comfort to be had in the first two rows. The third row is tight for full-grown adults and is best left for kids or very brief trips. Cargo room is plentiful and includes a deep well below the floor for additional storage or loose items. The interior feels familiar, comfortable, easily usable and of a higher quality than the Lyriq — which it should given its commensurately higher price. My only complaint about it is a grille-style trim piece just behind the 33-inch panoramic display that is far, far too reflective on a bright and sunny day, and puts a glaring reflection on the windshield that you’ll find yourself looking under. I brought it up with the Cadillac designers on hand during my demonstration drive, and their concern makes me hope that a fix is being considered. Until then, make sure you drive the Vistiq on a sunny day to see if it’s something you can live with.
1 / 142026 Cadillac Vistiq | Cars.com photo by Nick Carter
Comfort and Power in Equal Measure
Put the column shifter in Drive, and off you go with surprising speed. Every Vistiq comes with standard dual-motor AWD, with the two electric motors combined making 615 horsepower and 650 pounds-feet of torque. That’s enough to push the Vistiq from 0-60 mph in just 3.7 seconds, according to Cadillac, if you’ve pushed the red “V” button on the steering wheel, which puts the Vistiq into Velocity Max mode and sharpens everything to allow for that kind of acceleration. But there are a couple of other drive modes, as well, that are accessible through the touchscreen. Tour mode is the everyday, luxury cruiser setting, with a softer tune for the computer-controlled shock absorbers and lazier accelerator response. I preferred to keep the Vistiq in Sport mode, which firms up things a little bit (it’s still a softly sprung, comfortable SUV first and foremost) and makes the accelerator response a lot more immediate, but not too jumpy. The brakes feel strong and progressive, or you can engage the one-pedal drive mode or decelerate using the paddle on the left side of the steering wheel to engage Regen on Demand. It’s a normal, easy-to-use, conventional-feeling driving experience that just happens to be electric. It’s even reasonably efficient, getting an observed 2.5 miles per kilowatt-hour in normal back-roads driving with the air conditioning running and three people on board. It makes me think that the advertised 305-mile driving range is easily doable.
The electric powertrain means that there’s tons of power and acceleration on tap whenever you want it. It feels like overkill for a three-row SUV to be able to accelerate this quickly, but it only comes into the picture when you call for it. It’s accompanied by an artificial spaceship noise that gets louder when you put it into Sport mode, but it’s not intrusive. In fact, it’s the only noise you hear in the Vistiq thanks to active road-noise cancellation software that ensures a quiet ride. Only some tire slap gets into the cabin, and that’s only on certain highway sections. It is a calm and serene driving experience, well damped but not floaty, quick when you want it to be or sedate when you don’t. The ride quality is better than in the Rivian R1S, and the brakes easily outshine those on the Mercedes-EQ EQS. It might be Cadillac’s best-tuned, best-balanced electric SUV experience yet.
Useful Tech
The test vehicle I drove was a Sport variant featuring blacked-out trim and a sportier-looking interior. But it’s also an entry-level model, so it didn’t have things like the augmented reality head-up display, rear-wheel steering, available air suspension or front Brembo brakes. What it did have, however, was some state-of-the-art technology that included the latest version of Super Cruise hands-free cruise control. Cadillac has changed the way you engage it now, though, and not for the better. In other GM cars, you’re notified if Super Cruise is available for the road you’re on, you push the button and bam — the system takes over at the speed you’re traveling. Now, however, pushing that little button on the steering wheel just activates the system; you have to then toggle the “Set” button above it to engage Super Cruise, if it’s available. It’s more confusing and less immediate than before, and I’m not a huge fan of this change. Super Cruise itself works great, however, and remains probably the most reliable, best performing hands-free driving system on the market.
As for other notable bits of technology, you get a standard 23-speaker AKG premium audio system featuring Dolby Atmos surround-sound technology. Provided you have a subscription to a streaming service like Amazon Music to play Atmos-enabled songs (you can’t stream them from your phone’s collection), the system sounds fantastic, with incredible spatial sound imaging. The Google operating system controls all functions and voice commands and requires a connectivity subscription for full utility, as is increasingly common in new vehicles these days.
Maybe the Best Electric Caddy SUV Yet
You can point to any number of reasons why EVs haven’t taken the country by storm, but one by one, many of those excuses are falling by the wayside as more vehicles enter the field. Cadillac just eliminated one big excuse for why people aren’t buying them — that they’re too different to operate. The Vistiq isn’t weird, isn’t a spaceship and isn’t all that different from conventional gas-powered luxury SUVs. It’s stylish, comfortable, luxurious, loaded with usable tech, enjoyable to drive and works as promised. And that’s why it could very well succeed where others have faltered — Cadillac makes it easy to love and use, with a very short learning curve. If folks can swallow the price, they’ll enjoy what they’ve purchased.
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Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
2025 BMW M5 Review: Tech. Heavy.
By Aaron Bragman
May 18, 2025
2025 BMW M5 | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
Is the BMW M5 a Good Car?
- The redesigned 2025 BMW M5 is an amazing technological tour de force capable of incredible feats of speed, but it might be too complicated for its own good.
How Does the BMW M5 Compare With Other Sports Sedans?
- Having an all-electric mode in addition to a gas-electric hybrid mode is useful for foreign cities with congestion charges, but in the U.S., it’s an unnecessary weight and tech complication that some competitors don’t have; it makes the M5 heavy, which in turn makes BMW amp up the tech to hide all that mass.
The BMW M5 might just be one of the world’s great iconic cars. It’s a performance legend that’s been a rock star on strip and screen, a nameplate firmly etched into the minds of performance car enthusiasts everywhere as an object of desire for what the thing can do.
Its mission hasn’t changed much over the years. Redesigned for 2025, it’s still an object of desire that commands a following of loyal customers — albeit ones with very, very deep pockets. But the M5 has changed from what it used to be. No longer a common sedan with a big engine and tuned suspension, the 2025 M5 is an animal unto itself: It’s been electrified with a full plug-in hybrid system, including a decent-sized lithium-ion battery that allows it to drive an EPA-estimated 27 miles on electricity alone. But it still has its twin-turbo V-8 engine, and this dual-powertrain strategy means the M5 tips the scales at nearly 5,400 pounds (almost as much as a base Chevrolet Tahoe SUV!) despite significant use of structural aluminum and carbon fiber.
Related: New Milestone, New Benchmark: 2025 BMW M5 Surpasses 700 Horsepower
So, the 2025 M5 is the most advanced, sophisticated one BMW has ever created — but does that make it the best one ever made? Or has the extra powertrain and suspension tech overloaded the M5, turning it from a hot and nimble sports sedan into a Porky Pig space capsule? I spent a week with the latest model and came away feeling that it’s now both of those things.
How Much Does a 2025 BMW M5 Cost?
The 2025 (and 2026) M5 comes in only one trim level, and the price is unchanged from ’25 to ’26; the starting price of the Dingolfing, Germany-built M5 is $120,675 (all prices include a $1,175 destination fee) for both model years. The price for my test vehicle, however, came to $144,825 thanks to a number of option packages, including a Driving Assistance Professional Package ($1,700), a Carbon Package ($3,100), M Carbon Ceramic Brakes ($8,500), an M Driver’s Package ($2,500), an Executive Package ($1,850), a $3,500 matte-finish paint job, $300 for carbon-fiber-thread seat trim — and an eye-popping $2,600 gas-guzzler tax. That’s right, this is a plug-in hybrid with a gas-guzzler penalty. How exactly does that happen? Read on.
1 / 102025 BMW M5 | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
Still Incredibly Capable
Despite the switch to a PHEV powertrain, the latest M5 is still one hell of a sports machine. Slip into the grippy seats, push the start button and … maybe you’ll be greeted by the rumble of that German V-8 and maybe you won’t. If there’s plenty of charge in the 14.8-kilowatt-hour (usable) lithium-ion battery pack, it might not; the M5 will keep itself in electric mode until you ask it not to, either by putting it in one of the car’s myriad sport modes or by driving more aggressively than the electric motor itself can manage. The V-8 engine alone makes 577 horsepower and 553 pounds-feet of torque, which are huge numbers by themselves. But if you’re being careful, or have the M5 in Electric mode, you’ll instead operate on just the electric motor’s output, which is a healthy 194 hp and 207 pounds-feet of torque. That’s not a lot for a 5,400-pound sedan, but it’s enough to get you through urban stop-and-go traffic with no problem whatsoever. The odd thing is that even in Electric mode, there’s still piped-in internal-combustion engine sounds, which made me raise an eyebrow and squint at the tachometer to make sure the engine was off. Crazy.
When you are ready to fire up that engine, just point the M5 at your favorite bit of twisty backcountry road, change a few settings … wait, no, better pull over and stop the car first. There are so many settings you can customize to your tastes, and doing so will require your undivided “transmission-in-Park” attention. These include settings for steering feel, transmission behavior, accelerator response, suspension firmness, engine noise (or lack thereof) and stability control. It’s a dizzying array of options to read through and choose from if you don’t want to just go with BMW’s preset adjustments. Once you’ve found a combination you like, you can save the various settings to the “M” buttons on the steering wheel for quick changes between modes. I like to set the left M1 button to the most comfortable settings I can program and the right M2 button to an aggressive sport mode (but not a track mode; if I’m not on a track, I keep stability control on). That way, if I find myself in a situation where immediate aggressive driving is required, a quick stab of the right-side M2 button will transform the M5 from a sedate electric sedan into a backyard brawler in seconds.
But then, “brawler” might not actually be the right descriptor. So much technology has been packed into the M5 to keep it quick and agile despite its mass that it ends up feeling remarkably unengaging to drive quickly. You will never, ever approach this car’s limits on the street — or even reasonably sample its true capabilities; you’ll need a closed-course track to really get the M5 to its limits safely. Out on my favorite twisty roads, the M5’s quietness and isolation mask the speed it’s delivering. The ease of its handling, the levelness of its body control and the ridiculously strong grip delivered by the carbon-ceramic brakes means you’re relaxed and calm even when barreling through curves and sweepers. It doesn’t require much attention, effort or even input to do extraordinary things.
Acceleration is just point and shoot. When braking, the gentlest press of the pedal generates massive reductions in speed. There’s no body roll thanks to the M5’s electronically controlled adaptive suspension, and the all-wheel-drive system and rear-wheel steering help generate astonishing grip and uncanny agility in all kinds of conditions. A sports sedan is supposed to be exciting and engaging — challenging, even — but the M5 is so overly competent, so electronically controlled, that it’s hard to get your pulse going when driving it … which is something I’ve never before said about any car with north of 700 hp, but there it is. The M5 is incredibly competent but almost anticlimactic in how it goes about doing things. It feels overengineered to the point that the connection with the driver has been largely designed out.
1 / 62025 BMW M5 | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
The Plastic-Fantastic Cabin
At least the interior colors are exciting, especially my test car’s extended Merino leather in red and black. That red is red, but I love it. It’s bold, it’s flashy, it’s everything the outside of the M5, which I drove in a matte-finish Frozen Deep Gray paint, is not. It’s a seriously cool pop of color that greets you when you open the door, getting you ready for an experience you expect will be extraordinary. Then you plant yourself in the seat and realize the rest of the interior materials are a letdown. That’s due to BMW’s latest design aesthetic, which uses clear crystal-faceted plastic trim on the dash and doors over color-changing LED strips. When the lights aren’t active, they just look like cheap clear plastic. They’re a bit more impressive when the car is on and it’s dark outside, but overall, the M5’s interior materials quality feels cheap. There are also thin plastic panels everywhere that don’t feel indicative of the car’s sticker price.
The enormous rectangular screen in front of you doesn’t help, either. For better or worse, the latest trend of plunking a massive touchscreen display atop a dashboard is present in the latest 5 Series, along with most BMWs (and competitor vehicles, it should be noted). It doesn’t feel any better here than it does in any competitor, sadly, with an acre of black plastic in front of you that lights up with BMW’s difficult-to-quickly-decipher control systems. The climate controls are entirely touch-sensitive, and they’re not all that intuitive to use. Changing other vehicle settings or finding an app you want to use means you get to scroll through sizable menus of icons before getting to what you need.
Owners likely won’t have too much problem with this, as repetition breeds familiarity; just set things as you want them and you won’t need to touch much again. And there’s always the voice controls as a last resort if you can’t find what you want.
So while the interior may be an assault on the eyes with its colors (in a good way) and a distraction to use (in a bad way), it is at least comfortable — at least up front. The driver and front-passenger seats aren’t too heavily bolstered; they’re comfortable and supportive. Visibility is decent (once you look past the IMAX screen on the dash), and I think I could last all day in there on the autobahns between Stuttgart and Munich. It’s less exciting on Interstate 94 between Detroit and Ann Arbor, but just as comfortable.
The backseat is surprisingly tight, however; legroom is at a premium thanks to the 5 Series’ rear-wheel-drive configuration and the packaging needs of its nearly 15-kWh lithium-ion battery. For families with kids, however, it’ll do just fine — and if more cargo space and better backseat headroom are required, BMW is bringing a wagon version of the M5 to the U.S. called the M5 Touring. When’s the last time an automaker decided to bring a wagon back to the U.S.? Answer: a couple of years ago, when Audi released the RS 6 Avant and found everyone wanted one. The M5 Touring is pretty much a direct answer to the Audi’s arrival here, and that’s amazing.
About the make
BMW
BMW is an independent German automaker that produces a full line of performance-oriented luxury cars and SUVs, including plug-in hybrids and EVs.
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1 / 132025 BMW M5 | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
Should You Get a 2025 BMW M5?
If you’ve owned a spate of M5s over the years, this latest one will not surprise you despite being the next step in the progression of the iconic model’s life. Bigger, porkier and more advanced than ever, it’s now uniquely attuned to the needs of European city dwellers who face urban congestion charges thanks to its significant electric-only range. It’s the “most” M5 BMW has ever offered, in so many ways: most power, most tech, most grip, most money. But in some ways, it’s also the “least” M5 that BMW has ever offered: least engaging, least visceral, least connected with the driver. As M5 owners age, many will enjoy that more isolated experience — but they’ll also experience the frustration of increasingly complicated onboard electronics. If you’re still of an age where you can learn new systems quickly and easily, and you can also afford something expensive, exclusive and exceptionally capable, a new M5 might be just what you need.
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Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid Review: Serious Support Vehicle
By Conner Golden
May 15, 2025
2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid XSE, front | Cars.com photo by Conner Golden
Is the Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid a Good SUV?
- With up to 42 miles of all-electric range, the 2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid remains one of the most impressive and versatile PHEV crossovers on the market. Just don’t expect it to come cheap: Prices start at just over $45,000.
How Does the Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid Compare With Other Compact SUVs?
- The RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid’s all-electric range is the best in its class — and among the best in the industry — making its pricey cost of entry a bit more palatable. Power and performance-wise, it’s a significant step up over PHEV compact crossovers like the Hyundai Tuscon Plug-in Hybrid, as well as standard gas-electric hybrids like the Honda CR-V hybrid and Subaru Forester Hybrid.
A 2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid and a 1981 Porsche 911 SC Targa walk into a Texas dive bar and — ah, never mind. You had to be there.
In early spring, my dad and I pointed the family 1981 911 Targa southbound to the rich, rolling Texas Hill Country bound for the appropriately named Texas Hill Country Rallye, a hands-on, athletic celebration of air-cooled Porsches that spurs three days of consistent use and abuse. Though the 1978-83 911 SC is an uncommonly robust classic, ours was fresh from a seven-year hibernation with only a few hundred shakedown miles under its wheels. We needed a support vehicle.
Related: Toyota Clarity: RAV4 Prime Renamed RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid
The criteria were simple: a reliable, no-nonsense, four-door vehicle that would be as happy hauling humans as it would be swallowing a whole lotta mechanical detritus and redundancies. If it could tow a 2,700-pound Porsche on a rented U-Haul trailer in a worst-case scenario, all the better. The 2025 RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid checked many of those boxes, but its 2,500-pound maximum towing capacity meant we’d have to call AAA in the event of a disaster. Still, I couldn’t imagine a better background companion to our wheezy, leaky 911.
2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid XSE, rear angle | Cars.com photo by Conner Golden
How Much Does the 2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid Cost?
The RAV4 Plug-in arrived in an evocatively named Wind Chill Pearl color with a contrast roof in Midnight Black Metallic, a combination exclusive to the range-topping XSE trim. That’s not saying much, though, as the 2025 RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid only comes in SE and XSE trim levels starting at $45,615 and $49,485, respectively (all prices include destination fee). That may be more than you thought you could even spend on a new RAV4 (both of my parents guessed the price tag of this glitzed Toyota to be somewhere in the high 30s — maybe low 40s).
Solid guesses, especially given they were fresh from researching and test-driving a 2025 Lexus NX, the RAV4’s luxe cousin. Even sticking with the base SE trim of the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid, you’ll still spend nearly $3,500 more than you would to get a base, front-wheel-drive NX 250. It’s not a fair comparison, but it does make clear that the plug-in RAV is positioned as a relatively premium product within the Toyota family.
Our test car’s extra-cost, two-tone color combo and optional Premium Package meant it was pricier still, coming in at just under $53,000 — a smidge more than the agreed insurance valuation of our Porsche. That’s right: For maximum cred at the country club valet stand, ditch the geezer 911 and roll up in a plug-in XSE.
While the RAV4’s appearance and interior presentation don’t quite match the buy-in, its amenities list is requisitely impressive, as are its PHEV functions. Our test car had heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, smartly stitched simulated leather upholstery, a panoramic moonroof, premium JBL audio and heated outer rear seats.
1 / 132025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid XSE, profile badge | Cars.com photo by Conner Golden
About the make
Toyota
Toyota is one of the world’s largest automakers. Its Prius helped popularize hybrids, and its diverse lineup includes many hybrid models today.
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What Powertrain Does the 2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid Have?
Regardless of trim, all RAV4 Plug-in Hybrids are mechanically identical. A naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine works with front and rear electric motors that are fed by an 18.1-kilowatt-hour battery. All-wheel drive is standard, and it boasts a combined system output of 302 horsepower.
With the battery and tank brimmed, we loaded the RAV4 with a pallet of spare parts and assorted tools for any roadside eventuality. When prepping for a long-distance classic rally, you must plan for the inevitable O.C.S. (Old Car, uh, Stuff) that occurs to even the glossiest of restorations. Our Targa was freshly reconditioned after seven years of pickling in a hot Texas garage, and though we trusted it for tens of miles at a time, we were unsure how it’d perform when the trip odometer rolled well into the hundreds — or even thousands — of miles in a four-day span.
Is the 2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid Quick?
Thus: In Toyota we trust. As fun as the Porsche is, six hours at the wheel through the wide, yawning expanse of Texas’ non-hill country had my dad enviously eyeing the serenity of the RAV4’s leatherette-wrapped cabin at every fuel-up. When it was still factory-fresh, the Porsche’s naturally aspirated 3.0-liter flat-six screamed out 180 hp, enough for a 0-60 mph time of around 7.5 seconds — if you pop the clutch, poke its eyes, yank its hair and kick its stomach.
Even our most rushed stoplight departures were far, far more leisurely than the smokey starts granted by Porsche’s Swabian engineers. Extended countryside meanders, however, meant we explored the mid-range of the Porsche speedometer, and the 302-hp RAV4 had no problem matching its pace. In fact, had I not been confined to the supporting tail-gunner role, the Targa would have been a Wine Red Metallic speed bump in the wake of the RAV4’s quoted 5.5-second 0-60 mph sprint.
Impressive, but you’ll have to plan ahead for these bursts. As far as I can tell, this scramble is only possible with a full battery, driving in the Sport drive mode and setting the gear selector to “S.” Even before we escaped the gravitational pull of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, the RAV4 Plug-In’s 42-mile electric range fell in a hurry, leaving its acceleration somewhere in the “peppy” range.
Everything else is right where you left it in the previous RAV4 Prime (unsurprising, as the change from 2024 RAV4 Prime to 2025 RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid is purely nomenclatural). The PHEV’s excellent drivetrain is still one of the smoothest in the mainstream class, featuring a near-seamless handoff between gas and electric propulsion. Brake blend between pure regenerative resistance and the physical brakes is well balanced, as is accelerator pedal response — regardless of the powertrain’s current operating mode.
The RAV4 Plug-In is reasonably quiet, rides well and is perfect day-to-day transportation. It’s a RAV4! You know how it drives, you know how it “lives.” What you might not expect is just how good the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA, or as I call it, “Tinga”) platform is to huck around country roads. It’s expressly not engineered for canyon thrills, but TNGA’s baseline capability means the RAV4 feels less like a crossover than a severely swollen Corolla Hatchback.
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2025 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid: The Perfect No-Nonsense PHEV
We rolled into Kerrville, Texas, toward early evening, the scrubby, tangled ranchland bathed in the low sun’s golden glow. First stop was the venue hotel (a booking we forewent in favor of an off-site Airbnb), where the Porsche slept amongst its kind in the parking lot. The next three days were a sunny, oil-drenched blur. The RAV4 was our bedrock, serving as our breakfast, dinner and 7-Eleven sled. With half a day to kill before event festivities started in earnest, we buzzed over to charming Fredericksburg for some appropriately German lunch and a military museum, the RAV4 saving us from the occasionally finicky and far less refined Porsche.
Returning to Dallas was more of the same, with the indefatigable Toyota counterbalancing the neurotic Porsche with wordless, anodyne reassurance. We rolled into Dallas with some 700 miles and a 37.5-mpg average on the trip computer, the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid having proved itself every bit the efficient, reliable and comfortable support vehicle we needed.
Till next year, in Kerrville.
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