I just bought a '98 2wd 4-dr RAV4, and here are some of my impressions of the RAV4 in general:
Nice little vehicle, but you have to be on good terms with whoever's riding with you, because they'll be sitting DAMN close (my last vehicle was a 98 Silverado).
Being a 2wd, it's more of a station wagon than anything else, but at least it it doesn't
look like one.
The whole interior is larger than you would think, looking at it from the outside, and if you need more, ALL of the seats will fold one way or another.
It's probably ok for light-duty offroad driving, but it is definitely NOT for anything serious, nor is it meant to be.
Everything in the engine compartment that needs to be gotten to for maintenence, is easily gotten to.
It has a
very tight turning circle.
Mine had 167,000 miles on it when I got it, and the whole thing's still as tight as it must have been when it was new--evidently, whoever had it before me was pretty good about maintenence. I have no doubt that this thing will make it to 300,000 miles, as long as I continue to keep it up.
The more I drive this little thing, the better I like it.
Here's a link with pretty good info:
www.rav4world.com/