Faults:

In nearly 16 years it has had virtually no repairs, just regular maintenance: like drive belt, tires, battery, spark plugs, fluids, oil & air filters, brake pads, etc. Major components like engine, transmission, radiator, suspension, brake components ex-pads, steering, radiator, pumps, sensors, most electrical, etc are all original and still working just fine.

The only actual repairs I've done on it is to replace the brake lights, which had gone out after 13 years, and a fuse replacement; and I was easily able to those myself. Oh, and the cigarette lighter wore out after like 10 years of use, which I didn't bother replacing.

General Comments:

Top notch reliability! It is the most reliable car I've ever owned.

It has been well cared for though, carefully driven, and a bit below average miles per year with no off-roading or hauling, but still it's impressive for it to go 16 years without a single major repair of any kind. It's had one recall, for the O2 sensors, and that was in the first couple of years, about 2003.

The other most impressive quality is the handling. The handling is sedan like. It's a fun responsive car to drive.

Ride quality is good but not super-comfortable. You do feel the road a bit, which I actually like. It's just enough to give you good feedback, but not so much as to be annoying - a good balance.

I also like the fact that I can easily remove the rear seats completely, not just fold them down. This helps save on weight as well as space.

Negatives:

The engine is slightly under-powered for this vehicle - corrected in later models. You sense this especially when going over hills. Not a very serious issue at all, unless you're regularly carrying heavier loads, or 2-3 passengers, then it could be.

The only known major potential defect on this model is the resistor solder joints on the ECU, which can come apart and cause transmission malfunction. I've not had this problem though. If it does happen, you have to pull the ECU and resolder those joints.

There was some rattling from a door/power window when it was new. A couple of bolts were improperly tightened on assembly - a minor issue.

Faults:

All the cylinders went bad.

Check engine light stays on no matter what I do.

Automatic door locks stopped working eons ago.

The key entry to the driver's side went bad several years ago.

The coolant system sprang a leak and had to be repaired.

General Comments:

I bought this car because I believed that Toyotas were supposed to last well into 300K miles before causing any major problems -- boy was I wrong!

With less than 100K, the car literally started to fall apart for no apparent reason. I have been the only owner, I have never been in an accident, and I do not drive the Rav roughly.

It's almost as if they (they meaning Toyota) designed the car to fall apart right around the 100K mark. I have to open the car from the passenger side, and the check engine light stays on, so that is a major annoyance, I just failed emissions -- thanks for a piece of junk Toyota.