Toyota ups RAV4 diesel tow capacity

Toyota Australia will increase the towing capacity of its torquey new 2.2-litre RAV4 turbo-diesel from July production following criticism of its meagre 550kg rating.

However, the first diesel RAV4’s tow capacity will rise only to 1000kg, falling short of popular mid-size diesel SUVs like the Mazda CX-5, all versions of which can tow up to 1800kg with a braked trailer.

Ford’s new Kuga can tow up to 1500kg in both AWD diesel and 2WD petrol manual form, while some versions of the Nissan X-Trail and Mitsubishi Outlander can tow up to 2000kg.

Despite the increase, the diesel RAV will still be unable to tow anything much bigger than a lightweight camper trailer or the smallest caravan.

At the time, Toyota said Australia’s categorisation as a hot-climate market saw the RAV4 diesel’s towing capacity limited here. The RAV4 diesel is rated to tow up to 2000kg in Europe, but in Australia its official towing capacity is less than that of both the 2.0- and 2.5-litre petrol models sold here (up to 1500kg ).

Now Toyota says it has rectified that in response to customer demand – despite the fact that sales of the new RAV have exceeded the company’s expectations.

The RAV4 was Australia’s second best selling sub-$60,000 medium SUV last month and so far this year has attracted 4595 customers – up 1.4 per cent on 2012 figures.

In spite of its low towing capacity, Toyota says diesel variants have accounted for almost 30 per cent of the new RAV4’s total sales.

Toyota is yet to advise what changes were made to Australian-spec RAV4 diesels to allow the increased tow capacity, only offering the following in a statement:

“Our engineers here in Australia have worked closely with their counterparts in Japan to secure this increase. This change can only broaden the RAV4's overall appeal.”