Haval H6GT vs RAV4 Toyota

Can the Toyota rav four, maintain it's status, as the bestselling car in Australia? Not anymore. The market leader, has become the laggard, in terms of performance, efficiency as well as the sheer value for money.

On top of that, Toyota continues to delay the introduction, of the plug-in hybrid model in Australia. It is grossly outclassed, in every parameter, by the Haval. First, is the performance. Forget the rav four, the haval can out-drag a Porsche Boxster, without batting an eyelid!

It has a sizeable battery for a plug-in, giving it a pure EV range of one eighty kilometers. That is more than enough, to take care of 90 percent of your driving, on pure electricity, sourced from your home charger.

That's a straight saving of around thousand dollars, spent on petrol, every year, powering the rav four. In exchange for that saving, you do have to compromise on boot-space a bit, in the Haval.

But the Haval, makes up for it, with a feature rich cabin, and certainly more upmarket ambience, compared to the middle-class feel, of the rav four's interiors. Ventilated Seats, Panoramic Sunroof, three sixty degree camera system and a Powered tailgate, are all present in the plugin H6 GT.

For a detailed comparison of tech and equipment, check out the pinned comment. At fifty four thousand Aussie Dollars, the Haval undercuts, half the variants of the rav four. But what about the lower variants of the rav four?

Should you go for the non hybrid variant of the Haval, if you can't stretch you budget beyond forty two grand. The answer is no. The big daddy of Chinese brands, Mr. BYD, will happily offer you a plug-in hybrid, for about the same price, as the entry level Rav four.

It is called the Sea-lion 6 DM-i. It still has a decent, 90 kilometers of pure EV range, and a long list of features as an added bonus. A 13 inch infotainment display, a panoramic sunroof, heated mirrors and electrically adjustable driver's seat are standard on the Sea-lion six.

The base rav four does not even get hygiene features like a smart key, and electrically folding mirrors, plus the touch-screen, is a piddly little 8 inch unit. This is downright shameful for a car costing upwards of forty thousand bucks. Toyota, are you listening?

Agreed that the Rav four, might hold better residual value, seven years down the line, when to eventually sell it off. But is it worth suffering through the Rav four's austerity for all those years?

If better dynamics and handling are your priorities, then you are better off buying an Elantra N anyways. At least you will thoroughly enjoy, the last of your petrol burning years, with the effervescent Hyundai!


H6GT Lux comes standard with the following equipment:
Power tailgate
19-inch alloy wheels
Automatic LED headlights
LED front fog lights
Rain-sensing wipers
Keyless entry and start
Rear privacy glass
10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system
Wired Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
Eight-speaker sound system
Leatherette-wrapped steering wheel
Paddle shifters (not in PHEV)
Heated front seats
Eight-way power driver’s seat with two-way lumbar support
Suede and leatherette upholstery
Dual-zone climate control
1 x front 12V outlet

H6GT Ultra adds:
Ventilated front seats
Panoramic sunroof
360-degree Camera System
Heads-up display
12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system
Wireless phone charger
Hands-free power tailgate
Semi-automatic parking assist
Heated steering wheel
Four-way power passenger seat
Single-colour ambient lighting
1 x cargo bay 12V outlet