2024 Dodge Hornet R/T vs 2023 Toyota Rav4 Prime XSE: Can A Plug-In Compact SUV Be Fun?

MotorTrend

Who knew there could be a fun to drive

Transcript

00:00 Hi there, welcome to another comparison test by Motor Trend.

00:06 Today we're talking about compact crossover plug-in hybrid.

00:11 (upbeat music)

00:13 Admittedly, it's not the most exciting segment

00:22 in the automotive kingdom,

00:23 but at least these two are trying.

00:26 Let's meet the contenders.

00:27 To my right, we have a Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE,

00:32 and the XSE is important because that's Toyota speak

00:35 for sorta sporty.

00:36 On my left, the all new Dodge Hornet RT,

00:41 and what Alfa Romeo doesn't want you to know is

00:43 it's basically an Alfa Romeo Tonali with a Dodge badge.

00:48 These cars are much more powerful than you might think.

00:51 This one makes over 300 horsepower,

00:53 and this little guy almost makes 400 pound feet of torque.

00:58 Since they're plug-in hybrids,

01:00 you can drive quite a while on battery power alone.

01:03 When that's gone, boom, the engine kicks on,

01:05 and you're good to go.

01:07 Here's the downside though, they ain't cheap.

01:10 Each of these cost over $52,000.

01:15 So if you're in the market for one, which should you buy?

01:19 Let's find out.

01:21 The RAV4 is a tricky design to talk about.

01:23 Yeah, it's got the angry eyes and the big mouth

01:25 that all Toyotas seem to have for some reason,

01:27 but it's almost like they're ashamed

01:30 of what's going on on the side.

01:31 Here's what I mean.

01:32 There is so much black masking parts of this car.

01:36 Like, yeah, okay, SUVs gotta have fenders,

01:38 but look at the size of that sill.

01:40 Lots of cars do that.

01:42 Black makes things look smaller than they are,

01:44 hence my T-shirt, but look what they do to the roof.

01:47 The paint stops here.

01:48 It's like you're paying for a white car

01:51 and they're only selling you 2/3 of one.

01:53 And then the design is super busy on top of that.

01:55 There's a line there, a line there.

01:57 This line does this.

01:58 The taillights stick out furthest.

02:00 I don't know.

02:01 It's weird that such a busy, kind of extroverted design

02:04 somehow manages to remain so anonymous.

02:08 The Hornet is a much more successful design,

02:13 primarily because you can see the family resemblance

02:16 to other desirable products, like the Dodge Charger.

02:20 Who doesn't want one of them?

02:21 Plus, look at that badge.

02:23 No one does badges as cool as Dodge.

02:25 From the Hellcat to the Demon to the Rumblebee

02:28 and now the Hornet, that's just cool.

02:31 As for the rest of the side goes,

02:33 hey, that's a beautiful Alfa Romeo.

02:34 No, really, it's a shrunken Stelvio,

02:36 but for the price of a Dodge.

02:38 They went ahead and incorporated the tailpipes.

02:41 They've got a beautiful wraparound taillight

02:43 and Acapulco gold covering almost every inch of the vehicle.

02:48 Based on nothing but looks alone,

02:51 I much prefer the Hornet here to the RAV4.

02:54 (upbeat music)

02:57 My big question about the interior

03:07 of the Toyota RAV4 Prime is,

03:09 am I sitting inside of a $53,000 automobile

03:14 from a quality standpoint?

03:17 To me, the answer is no.

03:18 I'm looking around, touching things.

03:20 This is $38,000, tops.

03:23 Toyota's always gonna have this problem.

03:25 They can't just start using nicer material in here

03:28 because then you're stepping on the toes of Lexus.

03:31 As far as Prime-specific technology goes,

03:35 I've got a few buttons down here

03:36 that'll cycle me through my various driving modes,

03:39 hybrid, EV only, preserve the state of battery charge,

03:42 and there's a sport mode.

03:44 So are there any good things

03:46 about the inside of the Toyota RAV4?

03:49 Yeah, I mean, the screen is pretty big,

03:51 little tacked on, but pretty big,

03:53 and the seats are fairly comfortable.

03:55 I have the same question about the $52,405 Dodge Hornet

04:05 that I do about the RAV4.

04:07 Is this interior worth the money?

04:10 Well, hey, it's way better.

04:12 If you look at the quality of the materials,

04:14 and I'm talking about stuff like the vents,

04:16 the switch gear, the stitching, the leather,

04:19 it's much nicer than what you find in the RAV4.

04:22 In fact, you might say,

04:23 hey, that looks like Alfa Romeo quality.

04:25 In fact, if you happen to own an Alfa Romeo,

04:28 you might say, those are my shift paddles,

04:30 this is my steering wheel,

04:31 this is where the start button would be on my Giulia,

04:34 this is the door handle, these are the lock switches.

04:36 You get the idea.

04:38 It's a lot of tonali in this thing.

04:40 Like these seats, they're here,

04:42 they're covered in fabric instead of leather

04:44 like you get in the Alfa,

04:44 but they do a much better job of holding you in place

04:47 during sporty driving than the seats in the RAV4 do.

04:50 That said, RAV4 has air conditioning seats,

04:53 this does not, and it should.

04:56 Listen, Dodge, you know the American market.

04:58 We sweat a lot, give us AC seats over in Italy, whatever,

05:02 but come on, despite that, despite not having cooled seats,

05:05 I much prefer the slightly more cramped interior

05:08 of the Hornet to that of the more spacious,

05:10 but give me a break, RAV4 Prime.

05:13 What surprised me the most about the Toyota RAV4 Prime

05:21 is that in a straight line, this is faster than the Hornet.

05:25 I would have thought that the Dodge,

05:26 since it weighed less and it makes more torque

05:28 and it has almost the same horsepower,

05:30 it would have been quicker, but no.

05:33 5.5 seconds to 60 miles an hour,

05:35 whereas the Hornet takes 5.6

05:37 and that gap, it lasts through the quarter mile.

05:40 Now, every other performance metric there is,

05:43 both observable and subjective, the Hornet smokes it.

05:47 It has better brakes than this does,

05:49 it likes to go through corners,

05:51 it has way better tires that don't squeal

05:53 for their lives constantly,

05:55 and the Dodge has a six-speed automatic,

05:58 whereas this has a CVT,

06:01 meaning if you just touch the throttle,

06:04 (screams)

06:05 it's screaming as if it's about to just keel over and die.

06:08 So, you know, pretty quick for a hybrid,

06:12 seems to be built pretty well,

06:15 but for $53,000,

06:19 there's many more sporty vehicles out there for you to buy.

06:22 Please believe me, as far as going around corners

06:28 on a windy road, the Hornet eats the RAV4 alive.

06:33 This thing is great to drive.

06:34 However, I wanna talk to you about its plug-in hybridness,

06:38 actually both vehicles.

06:39 Right now I'm in full EV mode,

06:41 this is fully charged, I can go 31 miles on the battery.

06:45 Toyota's got a bigger battery,

06:46 weighs a little more, goes 42 miles, not bad.

06:49 If this has a full tank of gas,

06:51 the range is like 200, 203,

06:53 depending on how you're driving.

06:54 Add it up, you're under 250 miles of range on a single tank.

06:58 So, you're gonna be able to drive

07:00 at a pretty good speed,

07:01 but you're not gonna be able to drive at a full charge.

07:04 Toyota though, tells you fully fueled, fully charged,

07:07 500 miles of range.

07:08 So if you need to, you know,

07:10 commute and never stop for gas,

07:12 that's a consideration on the Toyota.

07:13 However, let's say you're driving sporty.

07:16 I put this in sport mode,

07:17 and it's gonna activate the engine,

07:19 and when I'm done, I'll have a fully charged battery.

07:22 Whereas in the RAV4, in the same mode,

07:24 my battery will be at zero,

07:26 which is something to think about

07:28 before we get to the actual conclusion.

07:29 I wanna say that both cars are flawed in the same way,

07:32 and that's, they're kind of gutless,

07:34 pointless gasoline engines.

07:36 If these were full EVs,

07:38 they would be so much better.

07:39 They compete with like the Hyundai Ioniq 5,

07:41 or the Tesla Model Y.

07:44 Not everyone's ready for that.

07:45 I know, I digress.

07:47 Blame Toyota in this case.

07:48 They're the ones who stuck the XSE badge

07:51 onto their $53,000 plugin,

07:54 and said it's supposed to be sporty.

07:56 Yet, I just got out of the car 15 minutes ago,

07:59 and I can barely remember driving it.

08:01 Hats off to Dodge,

08:02 and a little bit of a hat tip to Alfa Romeo

08:04 for finding some white space in this segment

08:06 and carving out something totally new.

08:08 Who knew there could be a fun-to-drive

08:12 plug-in hybrid family small compact crossover thingy-bopper?

08:16 And that's why the winner of this comparison test

08:19 is the 2024 Dodge Hornet RT.

08:24 (dramatic music)

08:27 (wind whooshing)

08:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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