TangoRed

Yeah I never felt those shifters to be particularly difficult.

LexBob2

Thinking back, I had a 2007 ES and a 2010 ES (much improved car BTW) and a Mazda 3 all with zig zag shifters and they were all pretty intuitive after using them just a few times. Especially going from reverse to drive. Just a quick pull straight back.

Stroock639

it just feels like you'd go flying if something hit you, and 'autobahn crushing stability' doesn't exactly come to mind lol

Stroock639

maybe i'm used to it but i think the zig zag shifter is easier since there's more feedback to let you know exactly what you just did

mmarshall

^^^^^^^ Just look at that idiotic shift-gate pattern....it doesn't even make sense by normal zig-zag shift-patterns (and I've sampled a LOT of them over the years). It looks almost like one big almost-square hole, with a large plastic tab jutting into it on the left side.


Below......Here is a more-or-less normal zig-zag shift pattern...although not ideal by any means compared to a (proper) fore/aft shifter, you can at least tell where the lever is going to go.

SW17LS

Thats exactly the same pattern all of my Lexus vehicles with gated shifters have had, and the pattern your IS had. Its exactly the same.

The one you posted below is from a RHD car, that pattern is backwards.

This is an LS430 for comparison:



And an IS300:



LS400:



And the 2016 Rav-4 again:



ES330:

mmarshall

Yes, I know it was a RHD pattern, but the general idea is still the same.

I'm well-familiar with the 1Gen IS300 pattern.....I owned one for 5 years.

Most of what you posted just proved my point.....that the 1Gen RAV4's pattern is more confusing than even most other (normal) zig-zag patterns, although, after a number of trips in her RAV-4, I'm getting a little more used to it now. Still, it's nice every time I get back inside my Buick to a normal fore/aft pattern.

Other than that, though, and the fact that Toyota really cost-cut with features for the money and the quality if the interior hardware, her 2016 RAV-4 drives very nicely....in a couple of ways as good or better than my Buick. Toyota has always done engines and transmissions that run and operate like clockwork....and the RAV-4's suspension gives a nice supple ride.

SW17LS

Uh no, what I posted showed the patterns from P-D are exactly the same. Every Toyota/Lexus gated shifter pattern is exactly the same. In later years they went to an up and down pattern at the end for manually selecting gears vs having a detent for each gear, but P-D are the same. You can have your own opinion but not your own facts. And a 2016 Rav 4 is not a gen 1 Rav 4.

If you are "familiar" with the pattern of the IS300 you owned for 5 years you would be familiar with the pattern of every other Toyota/Lexus gated shifter because they are exactly the same as I have demonstrated above.

Striker223

Agreed, I have a big thing for these and the early CRVs as well. I just won't drive them since they are too light and risky IMO in an impact.

Nice review, it's good to see the 1st gen get some attention.

mmarshall

[QUOTE=SW17LS;11363731]Uh no, what I posted showed the patterns from P-D are exactly the same. Every Toyota/Lexus gated shifter pattern is exactly the same. In later years they went to an up and down pattern at the end for manually selecting gears vs having a detent for each gear, but P-D are the same. You can have your own opinion but not your own facts. And a 2016 Rav 4 is not a gen 1 Rav 4.

One again, you aren't getting what I'm saying. Yes, the basic underlying shift pattern is the same , but IN THE CASE OF THAT GENERATION RAV-4, the grooves/cutouts in the shift-gate itself doesn't come anywhere even close to matching....it's like moving the lever in a pattern inside a roughly square background with few hints.

I'm not going to argue any more about this. I'm not making up my own facts...With all due respect, and I'm not trying to be being rude by saying this, I've been sampling different shift levers longer than you have been alive. My statement stands. Disagree with it if you will, but it stands.


And, for the second time.....we're getting off topic.

mmarshall

One again, you aren't getting what I'm saying. Yes, the basic underlying shift pattern is the same , but IN THE CASE OF THAT GENERATION RAV-4, the grooves/cutouts in the shift-gate itself doesn't come anywhere even close to matching....it's like moving the lever in a pattern inside a roughly square background with few hints.

I'm not going to argue any more about this. I'm not making up my own facts...With all due respect, and I'm not trying to be being rude by saying this, I've been sampling different shift levers longer than you have been alive. My statement stands. Disagree with it if you will, but it stands.


And, for the second time.....we're getting off topic.[/QUOTE]

mmarshall

Back to the original topic, anybody here have some ideas (or sources) on why the 2-door 1Gen RAV-4 was so rare here on the East Coast, and why the few that were sold were (supposedly) in California? I suspect they were part of the beach/surf-culture there....like the old woodie-wagons were back in the 1960s days of the Beach Boys.

SW17LS

The shape of the shifter and the movement of the shifter is exactly the same, I have also driven this generation Rav 4. The feel is chintzier on the cheaper cars, but the movements are the same. You just have a fixation on these shifters I just don’t understand.

Toys4RJill

That shifter is RHD. Very misleading by using LHD interior pics but then a close up of a RHD shifter

These shifter add superior to the button for/aft style Toyota now uses. And for more classier looking too

The problem with for and aft designs is that it’s so easy to miss the gear. So easy

SW17LS

I agree, I prefer the gated shifter too because it’s much harder to miss a gear.

I miss having gearshift’s in general…neither of my cars has one