We all know the guy. Right after graduation, he was the one who still called you at 1:30 in the morning to talk. At one point he quit his reasonably steady gig to go backpacking in the Andes. While you were toiling away at A Real Job, he was posting images of himself at Burning Man.
Time passes, and perhaps despite his best efforts not to, this same person lands in an actual career. Another few years down the road, and now the once-Burning Man is making good money – but the adventurous and fun-loving guy you used to know is now as dull as a box of rocks, and I mean rock-rocks, not cool geodes and crystals and stuff. Any non-work hours are devoted to “family time” with the kids, or falling asleep at 9:30 while watching the latest Bridget Jones thing his wife wants to see. What happened to him?
If there’s a car equivalent of our once fierce, now flabby friend, it has to be the Toyota RAV4.
For millennia (well, it felt like millennia), the battle for the title America’s Best-Selling Car was fought tooth and nail by the Ford Taurus, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord. Later, it came down to a clash between Ford and GM full-sized trucks. And today? Behold: the RAV4 has unseated the Ford F-150 as the nation’s best-selling car.
This actually makes sense; crossover SUVs are the default choice that sedans used to be for many buyers today, and the RAV4 is the Camry equivalent of the category. Undeniably, it’s a good product, and if you were pressed to recommend a CUV to someone who doesn’t know anything about cars and sees them merely as transportation appliances, you’d probably go straight to the RAV4. You know that they’ll be content and, more importantly, will never come back to blame you for recommending a piece of shit. As for a CUV you’d want to own yourself, I bet the RAV4 is much closer to the bottom of your list than the top. It’s just too boring, right?
This wasn’t always the case. When the RAV4 first appeared in US showrooms some thirty years ago (whoa – in my mind, a thirty-year-old Toyota is a woodgrain-clad Corona wagon), it was a rather cheeky little rascal; the four-door wagon and two-door enclosed “coupe” model had a rounded look with funky strakes molded into the flanks below the often-brightly-painted sheet metal. Toyota economy-utility could be fun. Sporty, even.
There was also a rare open-topped two-door RAV4 on offer that was so offbeat it seemed dramatically out of character for straight-laced Toyota. With a stubby wheelbase compared to the four-door model, lift-off roof over the front seat, and drop-down convertible top in the back, the RAV “cabrio” was like a Jeep Wrangler or Geo Tracker but with a smooth-riding car-based drivetrain.
Sales of the small RAV4 two-door in either open or closed form never set the world on fire in the US. When the second-generation model was introduced for the 2001 model year, the two-door version was no longer offered in America (and dropped entirely for the third generation worldwide). The four-door version soldiered on, climbing the sales charts to the pinnacle.
Concessions must be made in order to become a best-selling car, and that typically means losing any quirkiness or nail-that-stands-up character that might prevent the product from having total mass appeal. Sadly, the RAV4 seems to have made that deal with the devil over the years. As a thirtieth birthday gift to this unsung hero of Toyota’s model lineup, let’s imagine a rebirth of the Wrangler-style RAV4.
Goodbye Colorado Rockies, Hello Chuck E. Cheese
It’s rather hard to believe today, but up until the mid-eighties, your choices for four-door sport utilities were pretty limited. Shoppers looking for full-sizers could choose a big Chevy Suburban, the aging full-sized SJ Jeep Cherokee/Wagoneer, or the rugged (and rare) Land Cruiser wagon. But if you wanted a small- to mid-sized sport utility with four doors, you were outta luck: the S-10 Blazer and Bronco II were introduced as two-door models only. The Blazer didn’t receive back doors until 1991, and the Bronco II never got them.
Even the luxury Range Rover wasn’t available as a four-door until 1981, unless you made one yourself; conversions by outside coachbuilders like the one below once owned by Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi required large sums of cash earned by writing heavy songs about smoking pot.
But change was afoot. When Jeep debuted the XJ Cherokee in 1984 as a four-door SUV and legit substitute for the family station wagon, it forced the competition to scramble and add more doors to their Pathfinders, 4Runners, and the like. Of course every last groundbreaking innovation in off-road vehicles was going to be from Dick Teague at American Motors, right?
This opening of the floodgates to mainstream acceptance of SUVs was a double-edged sword. As more suburbanites flocked to SUVs and came to dominate daycare pickup lines and other Mommy-Daddy duties rather than sporty pursuits, the category slowly lost its cool factor. The shorter-wheelbase, two-door models that remained saw their sales dwindle, likely due to their compromised practicality and perhaps in part to their often-stubby proportions – consider the sawed-off Ford Explorer “Sport” model and the rather comical-looking two-door Isuzu Trooper, especially.
Brands that kept selling two-door utes often tried to market them as sporting propositions with standout looks. Notable examples included Isuzu’s fun-loving Amigo (with its bizarre roof-wing-CHMSL) and their bonkers what-the-hell-is-it VehiCross.
Niche products don’t last forever, and by the early 2000s the Jeep Wrangler was one of the few small SUVs left that still offered a two-door version; even then the four-door flavors of that icon were gaining more market share.
Today, any summer day in American will see people cruising in their two- or four-door Jeep JLs and Ford Broncos with the roof and doors removed, making them the convertible of choice for modern drivers despite the fact that will likely never take them off road. It’s a shame that the loyal followers of mega-brand Toyota don’t have a way to let the sun in; just because they religiously read Consumer Reports reliability charts doesn’t mean they don’t want to have fun, right? Let’s do them a solid and fix that inequity.
Open Up A Bit
For what I’m calling the RAV4/30 Anniversary Edition, I’ll start with the sporting-looking Hybrid Woodlands edition with arguably the most outdoorsy style and coolest wheels.
For my two-door version, the wheelbase is only very slightly reduced, and longer doors attempt to keep the look from getting too ill-proportioned. Notice at the front I’ve added fog lights into the grille with frames above the mock “push bar” Toyota has designed below the grille to look sort of like rugged add-on aftermarket lamps so popular in the Malaise era.
Like the original open RAV4 two-door we’ll have an opening roof section over the driver and front passenger but keep the door frames and cant rails in place; sure, that’s kind of Triumph Stag-like but the visual tradeoff for good weather sealing should be worth it. Unlike the 1996 car, the roof panel of the RAV4/30 will slide back electrically, and rear seat passengers will have power roll-down quarter windows (but it won’t be a pillarless hardtop).
In back, the soft top can be folded manually or removed entirely and dropped into the cargo area. The hatchback now needs to be a pivot-down tailgate; the bottom edge of the soft top above can lift up to ease with loading if needed. An optional, rigid rear cap would be available that includes lift-up rear glass. Note the slight recess in the rocker panel to pay homage to the original RAV4’s styling detail.
Here are animations to take you through the changes and options:
Side views also tell the story, starting with the original four-door:
Here’s the two-door enclosed and opened up for fun
And now, animation of the side views (four-door, then two door, then open to the sky):
No, you can’t remove the doors, but you couldn’t on the 1996 RAV4 either, and the owners still had more fun than anyone in a budget Toyota had a right to.
The Fewer The Doors, The Greater The Cool
Two-door SUVs making a comeback is about as likely as Detroit-built “personal luxury” coupes making a triumphant return, and that’s fine. The RAV4/30 would be a limited production special edition anyway; a Toyota twist on the Jeep or Ford approaches to open off-roading. If nothing else, as a sort of “halo” model, the RAV4/30 would add some interest and attitude to the highly successful but extremely staid line of Toyota best sellers. It’s a throwback to a time that few recall, the brief era when the RAV4 was quirky and cool; let’s jog some memories.
A Ford Maverick Could Be The Affordable, Practical Convertible The Market Is Missing – The Autopian
Subaru Needs To Bring The Weird Back With A New BRAT – The Autopian
You Asked For It: A Minivan Made Cooler And More Versatile At The Same Time – The Autopian
when i lived in brooklyn, there was a first gen 2-door on my dog walking route. seeing it the first time was a fun trip down the memory hole.
Can you do a version integrating the retro Chevy styling of the Mitsuoka Buddy?
I have long wondered why no one is making a softcore competitor to the Wrangler like this. There is a huge white space for something that would have all of the day-to-day fun of the Jeep without the compromises on-road.
I’m not sure it was ever cool, at least in my circles. Back in the mid/late ’90s, when it was still a “hey guys me too” to the Tracker, Amigo, and Samurai, my best friend was rolling his eyes and scoffing at his dad mulling over a RAV4 as a replacement for one of their other vehicles, which included a Plymouth Acclaim, GMC Safari, and Mitsubishi Rectangle Van. Ultimately, all three vehicles remained, though I think owing mostly to complacency and only a tiny bit to thrift.
That said, I fully support a revival of this form factor for the RAV4 (despite preferring the CR-V of that era, as it was the spiritual successor to the Civic Wagovan), but I think that’s because I’m also wistf– no, rueful for the days of coupes.
I sold my commuter prius and bought a new rav4 hybrid. now i don’t feel as scared of all the crazy SUV drivers on the freeway, and I still get decent mpg. it’s a bigger prius and it does it damn well. I don’t want or need an open top. Sure it’s not a fun car, but I’d rather toyota give it an extra 30 hp than give me an open top version.
My reaction:
“You maniacs!!! You blew it up! Ahhh, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
Yes. They will literally sell tens of these.
i’ll get one 3rd hand in 2037 –
I really want to pet that Trooper and call it a good boy/girl. It just looks adorable. We need an alternate to the wrangler/bronco. I’d totally be down for one. It’s one of those compromises that makes just enough sense to live with.
It’s so stupid. I want one! At first I was thinking that the hood was too long and making the proportions weird, but it grew on me. I love the relative small size and wheelbase.
All those 2 door SUVs and trucks were great. I didn’t know they made a 2 door trooper I always liked them as 4 door a 2 door would have been neat.
I wonder given that the Corolla cross is being used for the upcoming trucklet and it being a bit shorter it might be a better candidate for a 2 door.
They also made the 1st gen Trooper (81-91) in 2 door – you could get it in short or long wheelbase!
I have too disagree with Bishop on 2 vehicles. I have owned an Amigo for 6years and a Vehicross for 24 years they were both great rides.
Hey! I wasn’t criticizing them! I called the Amigo “fun-loving” and the Vehicross “bonkers”; anybody who thinks that those are bad things are on the wrong website.
I actually like the a way the current RAV4 looks, but this is even better.
Why is it that the strakes on the original RAV4 look so good, but when Pontiac tried it, it looked so bad??
I think they’re pretty restrained on the Toyotas, while the Pontiac are a bit too “exciting”.
2-doors aint happenin. But Toyota could up the fun on the RAV4 a little. Give it the 8AR-FTS from the Lexus maybe? Or finally producing that cool little unibody Compact Cruiser concept?