Economical Toyota RAV4 has ample pulling power

INSPIRED by a motoring travel book depicting various drives on the back roads of Great Britain, I took this week’s drive — a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid — on a 60-mile round trip through the Cotswold countryside.

The area has always been good for testing cars, with its variety of types of roads. Over the years I have attended a lot of new car launches here, which was the beginning of my interest in the area.

Actually, although this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers some 800 square miles, from where I live in Cirencester you can soon stray into places off the edge of the Cotswold map.

That is partly due to the fact that I live in the south of the area and this trip took us towards the Berkshire Downs (part of North Wessex Downs), final destination Wantage.

It is a trip for family reasons we have done many times and takes in some interesting “asides” including Kelmscott Manor, a limestone manor house in the village of Kelmscott, in West Oxfordshire and Buscot Park.

The house and estate at Buscot Park was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1956. The contents of the house include works of art by Rembrandt.

The house is occupied and managed by the present Lord Faringdon. (Both of these places you can visit, but it is wise to check opening times.)

Along the way in the comfortable and economical — being a hybrid — Toyota RAV4 in a stunning livery of Obsidian Blue Bi tone — we passed through Lechlade, one of our favourite stops for morning coffee. I always believed Lechlade was the source of the River Thames, which of course passes majestically through Henley, but Lechlade is merely the highest point at which the Thames is navigable.

The official source of the Thames lies in a remote Gloucestershire meadow near Kemble, an area officially known as Trewsbury Mead.

But Lechlade is nevertheless very popular with folk who like messing about in boats and those wishing to enjoy pub lunches at weekends. It is reached from where we begin in Cirencester, on the A417. On this easy country road, you pass through Poulton — also good for brunch at Priory Court — and Fairford.

Some of you — if you like aircraft — will be familiar with Fairford because each summer RAF Fairford is the venue for the Royal International Air Tattoo, the world’s largest military air display.

I have not been but have witnessed Red Arrows and assorted interesting planes flying overhead during the show weekend — this year from July 14 to 16. The RAV4 Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid adopt new multimedia systems so you can easily follow the Satnav system — clearly displayed on a 12.3in screen, which will indicate, for example, how you can divert into Fairford village and find the ancient ox pens.

You need never be disconnected in this ancient area, as smartphone integration with Android Auto is available and wireless smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay is featured as standard.

A new on-board voice agent responds to spoken requests to adjust the climate control, choose multimedia options, make a phone call, or open and close the windows.

“Hey Toyota” is designed to understand conversational speech, so if you say, “I’m cold” it will respond by closing the windows or raising the air conditioning temperature.

The RAV4 Dynamic 2.5 Hybrid is nice and easy to drive, with its quietly efficient and pacy petrol engine supported by an electric motor.

The EV side of this car is handy for sightseeing because you can glide noiselessly around the place you are visiting on minimal use of energy.

This new 2.5-litre self-charging hybrid powertrain is my preferred choice within the hybrid range because there is no fuss.

I often think with new cars, that old adage might apply (with some modification) that they should certainly be seen (and the RAV4 I have been driving was certainly handsomely turned out) and not heard.

With its EV take off the RAV4 pulls quickly away and settles into a steady rhythm once the petrol engine takes over.

Comfort on a journey like this — variable types of road, including a small stretch on the busy A420 to Oxford — is imperative and the seats delivered well.

Returning on an early summer’s evening, you can enjoy countryside scenery already in full leaf — a line of sycamore trees between Buscot and Lechlade, an outstanding feature of this day’s drive on some of Britain’s back roads.

The Toyota RAV4 Hybrid has a range price of between £36,080 to £47,125.