Hi,

I'm very much car ignorant and have never looked into the specifics before buying a car...always just took what seemed like a good deal on whatever when something happened to come along. But now I'm trying to learn some specifics on what seems like a really good type of vehicle overall, the RAV4.

My general impression was that the 2010-2012 models moved up to a v6 instead of a v4 and a 5 speed transmission instead of a 4 speed and that all RAV4's always have 4 wheel drive. It's right there in the name. So my idea was to get one of those years thinking it would have more power and a more dependable engine than most of the previous years, and that the 5th gear in the transmission would sort of balance out on fuel use on the highway even though it had a larger engine the 5th gear would make the difference.

But then I saw something that led me to believe some RAV4's from those years still have a v4 and 4 speed transmission and that some RAV4's have all wheel drive and some only front wheel drive. Is that true, and if so how to know which is which when looking for one to buy? And where to buy? Right now the best place to look seems to be Facebook Marketplace but I don't know this stuff. I'm trying to keep it down to $8K or less if possible. I've never paid over $1.5K for a vehicle before so for me this is huge.

Thank you for any help trying to learn the basics here!
David
Maine, USA

 

There were a few options on drive train. And yes, some are 2wd. no v4 in these (most) cars, its an I4

Wikipedia is always a great resource for car generations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4