Thom Blackett’s Opinion of the 2006 Toyota RAV4’s Comfort:
Something about driving the 2006 Toyota RAV4 makes me feel small. It must be the bounty of front head room, nearly equaled by the generous amounts of foot and leg room. The driver gets a tilt and telescoping, leather-wrapped steering wheel with a good range of adjustment, but the column is set at too steep an angle with the result being a wheel that never gets as vertical as I’d like. Radio controls mounted on the left spoke are a welcome touch, as is the cruise control stalk on the lower right side of the column. Durable cloth upholstery covers the seats and coordinates with the fabric used on the door inserts. However, if you’re looking for a soft place to rest your arm or elbow, that’d have to be the center armrest because the door sills are hard plastic and the door armrests are stiff. The front bucket seats are ample in size, feature moderate bolsters, and are firm but comfortable for long drives.

Rear seat passengers are treated similarly to those up front, with a fairly flat yet supportive sliding and reclining bench, hard door armrests and sills, and a padded fold-down center armrest. To its discredit, that center armrest is a pain to lower, requiring one hand to pull a tight strap and another to pull the armrest down. Plus, it extends past 90 degrees and doesn’t lay flat. A better setup is employed to lower the split rear bench – quick-release handles are just inside the tailgate and drop the seatbacks with a simple pull.

Ron Perry’s Opinion of the 2006 Toyota RAV4’s Comfort:
The cloth seats in our 2006 Toyota RAV4 Sport were supportive and comfortable. Adjustments are performed manually, and while I thought the range of possibilities was minimal, I found a combination that worked for me. There’s lots of headroom and the seating positions weren’t awkwardly high. A padded center console and lightly padded cloth inserts in the door panels aided comfort for weary arms, while a large dead pedal makes for a great resting place for a left foot.

Stepping into the back seat also reveals easy-in and -out access with lots of interior space. There’s plenty of knee, foot, and head room in the back seat, and the RAV4 is equipped with assist handles at every door that help with entering and exiting. I found the rear seat to be too flat and hard for comfort on a long trip, but at least there’s room to move around and shift seating positions if you get weary. The rear seats are on tracks that allow you to slide them fore and aft for more comfort, and there is a small fold-down console with cupholders just large enough for a can of soda and not much more. Water bottles can be stored in convenient door panel recesses. The poor chap stuck seated in the center of the rear bench seat is certainly going to find himself uncomfortable.

Christian Wardlaw’s Opinion of the 2006 Toyota RAV4’s Comfort:
For me, comfort was the main problem with the 2006 Toyota RAV4. During my New England road trip, I was always fidgeting in the small driver’s seat, which sat too low and offered little thigh support. Also, there’s not enough seat track travel, and I had lots of difficulty managing the recline lever while sitting in the seat. As a result, I was splayed behind the wheel, uncomfortable almost all of the time, making my 600-mile driving stint a chore rather than a pleasure. Adding to my discomfort was the hard plastic lining the upper door panel – ugh. And the steering wheel is so small that you cannot reasonably rest your arms on the center and door panel armrests and still reach the rim. At least the steering wheel is nice to hold, with thumb cutouts just above the spokes.

Personally, I’d rather let someone else drive and ride in the back seat, which, if you’re familiar with the two previous-generation RAV4s, sounds like torture. Now though, with 14 extra inches of length and additional width, the rear seat is actually hospitable for adults. Still, the RAV4 lacks perfection – thigh support is inadequate for the longer limbed, and the center fold-down armrest is a wasted effort.

At least Toyota makes it easy to get into and out of the redesigned RAV4, and with an ultra-low rear liftover height, loading cargo is a snap as long as you’re not parallel parked. The main glitch here is the side-swinging tailgate design, which arcs curbside and makes life in the city, where parallel parking is the norm, more difficult and dangerous than it needs to be. Who wants to unload groceries from the left side and risk getting mowed down by a cab because Toyota can’t make the gate swing from right to left? Not me.