Agree.
The hybrid Rav uses a naturally aspirated 2.5L engine. No turbos. They also use both direct injection and port injection which keeps the valves from collecting the carbon build up common with direct injection engines. It's a very proven power plant with great reliability.
Now if they could just design something that doesn't look so spartan and aged for the interior.
Now that I did not know. I know the engine itself uses the adkinson cycle rather than the standard 4 stroke -- whihc is part of the reason it makes so efficient. At the cost of complexity but to be honest, I haven't hearof any complains.
GDI is a bad deal -- the build op on the valves is horrible. Friend of mine is a master tech, and he loves them...they make him a lot of money.
INITIAL quality. Honstly, thats a fine metric. What about long term. Sewing machine engines with turbos and spinning at thousands of RPM's higher than a V6/V8 pulling a trailer is a whole other question. We'll see.
The mid 2010's ecoboost was probably their best swing and a good mix between efficiency and economy. Except for the fact its a GDI which gunks up...I loved driving it, though it had less than 50k miles. I don't know what they are like at 225k.
I am not a automotive tech -- I do some of my own repairs, at least I'll take a swing at them. The ariculating joint between my elbow and wrist hasn't been installed yet - many thing are just too hard to do without a lift. I know enough to ask hard questions and work with a trusted mechanic.
Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Ram — CDJR — has been passed around since 1998. Daimler, then Cerberus Capital, then Fiat, now Stellantis. Each new owner arriving with fresh ideas about what American truck buyers want. The problem is, they keep being European ideas.
I worked with a guy named Georg. Smart IT guy, proud European, and always thought Americans are doing things wrong. When he visited Indianapolis, he wanted to see Chicago. I told him it was just up the road. He drove it. There and back in a weekend.
Later I showed him my South Dakota photos — big blue skies, rolling open land, and a Wall Drug sign every 10 miles or so. Each pictures indistinguisahble from the rest. Wide open sky, only a gas station over hundred miles or so. Georg started to realize the euro way isn't always the best way.
When European ownership settled into CDJR, European design philosophy came with it. Small turbocharged engines work great in Frankfurt. They're miserable for the guy in rural Oklahoma towing a trailer. a $3,000 turbo failure four years, the mightly last them 8 since they don't have to drive as far. Georg figured out that Stellantis hasn't.
www.motortrend.com
