If you are considering buying a used Toyota RAV4, there are several major reliability issues worth knowing about first. Our garage database tracks 2 known faults for this model, 2 of them rated high severity. Every one below is a repair bill a seller has good reason not to mention.
Are you about to buy a lemon?
Sellers rarely admit these faults outright. Our database tracks 7 specific phrases sellers use in adverts to soft-pedal these exact issues. Paste any Toyota RAV4 advert and we will check it in seconds.
Check an advert now (free) →An overdue cambelt is the most expensive thing a seller can fail to mention on a used RAV4. These are the figures UK specialists work to.
The 2.0 D-4D (1AD-FTV) is chain driven with no scheduled replacement, and the chain itself is rarely the failure point. This engine family's real reputation is head gasket failure and progressive oil consumption; Toyota ran piston-replacement campaigns that did not fully cure the oil burning. On an oil-burning example check the level religiously, because a low sump is exactly what starves the chain tensioner. Injector coking is also documented.
Always confirm against the vehicle handbook. Intervals vary by engine, and several manufacturers revised theirs after failures in service.
If you used to check the Honest John “Good & Bad” section before the site closed in 2026, this page is where that information now lives. We rebuilt the Toyota RAV4 owner-report history from the archived Honest John dataset, added our own research, specialist and owner-club sources and DVSA recall data, and we keep it free. Each fault above is badged with its source. The same data feeds our free advert check, which reads a listing against every known fault for the exact engine and year.
CarAdCheck is not affiliated with Honest John or Volkswagen Financial Services. What happened to Honest John, and where each feature lives now.
Knowing what a Toyota RAV4 goes wrong with is half of it. The rest is reading the advert and checking the car's history before you hand any money over.