I saw a pristine first-generation five-door Toyoya RAV4 not too long ago, and realized how tiny it looks next to modern compact SUVs. This got me curious: How small is Toyota’s ’90s cute ute?
For this comparo, we’ll be doing something a bit different. We’ll be pitting the 1998 RAV4 five-door against Toyota’s current entry-level subcompact crossover, the Raize.
The 1998 RAV4 measures 4,125mm long, 1,695mm wide, and 1,660mm tall, making it 95mm longer, 15mm narrower, and 55mm taller than the Raize. Since Toyota built an electric variant of the ’90s RAV4 five-door with no external spare tire, we know that this generation is 3,980mm long from bumper to bumper, or 50mm than Toyota’s current baby crossover SUV. The 1998 RAV4 rides on a 2,410mm wheelbase, which is 115mm shorter between the axles than the Raize. It also has a 205mm ground clearance, or 5mm greater compared with the Raize.
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The classic RAV4 came equipped with 27.9-inch-diameter 215/70 R16 tires. These are 1.2 inches larger than the Raize Turbo’s 26.7-inch-diameter 205/60 R17 rubber. Looking at the proportions, the ’90s RAV4 appears to have a slimmer body and a larger glass area than the modern Raize.
1998 Toyota RAV4 vs 2024 Toyota RAV4
Here’s a little bonus: Let’s compare the baby first-gen RAV4 five-door to the latest RAV4. The ’90s soft-roader is 475mm shorter, 160mm narrower, 25mm lower than its 2024 counterpart. Excluding the external spare tire, the gap in length increases to a whopping 620mm. The old model’s wheelbase is 280mm shorter than that of the new one. Interestingly, the diameter of the first-gen RAV4’s tires is only 0.4 inch smaller than the 2024 RAV4’s 28.6-inch-diameter 225/60 R18 rollers.
The RAV4 has grown larger over the decades. This increase in size has also opened up a lot of room for a range of small crossovers in Toyota’s lineup—the Raize, the Yaris Cross, and the Corolla Cross, to name a few.
A little refresher on our two main featured vehicles: The first-gen RAV4 made its global debut in 1994. It was initially offered only as a short-wheelbase three-door model. The five-door followed a year later. This more practical variant was introduced locally after it received its mid-cycle refresh.
The first-gen RAV4 came with a transversely mounted 126hp 2.0-liter 3S-FE engine and standard all-wheel drive. It could be ordered with either a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic transmission. Meanwhile, the Raize was introduced in 2019. It’s a twin of the Daihatsu Rocky and rides on Daihatsu’s DNGA platform. The Raize is offered here with two powerplants: an 87hp 1.2-liter naturally aspirated in-line-three and a 97hp 1.0-liter turbo-three. All Philippine-spec Raize variants get a front-wheel drivetrain.
How many of you didn’t realize how small the first gen RAV4 was even in its longer five-door form? Would you consider the current entry-level subcompact Raize as a spiritual successor to the original RAV4? Let us know in the comments.
