"Erm, I know, the kids are going to things called raves," you can almost imaging the marketing men saying when the car first emerged circa 1990. "Let's cash-in buy flogging cars to the eternally-young middle aged folk who borrow their sons. Technotronic records and wear bandanas. Top one, nice one, sort it out will you please, engineers!"
Worse still, if you subscribe to the green agenda, the Rav was the vehicle which first planted the bright idea that off-roaders didn't have to lug hay bales.
By coupling soft and shiny lines with comfortable seats and suburban paint jobs, Toyota felt they could sell gently rugged road-goers to people who drove into town centres like sheep rather than plucked lambs to safety.
And I particularly disliked the early 3-door models - a concept not dissimilar to hacking the panels off a sports coupe and replacing them with truck parts.
Even so, it hardly takes Ken Livingstone to tell you that Toyota's hunch paid off.
Soft-roader
Since the soft-roader concept was first unveiled by Toyota in 1989 (going on sale in 1994), dealers across the world have sold 1.8m Rav4s across the world - 650,000 of them in Europe.
Not only that, but loads of Toyota's competitors have followed suit by bolting a comfortable cab to a chassis quite capable of passing through a muddy ditch. From the Mercedes M Class to the Hyundai Santa Fe, there's now an option to suit the pocket of mums on the school run throughout the country.
Now that there's a third generation Rav4 on the block (one with a part-time 4x4 system which works when you need it), I'm delighted to report that the Rav has matured well.
With acid house a distant memory, it's finally possible to think of Toyota's new baby as a `Rav4' rather than a `RavE'.
I'm also happy to report that Toyota has abandoned the silly 3-door option in favour of five doors across the range.
Unfortunate, then, that I didn't find the Rav to be overly interesting.
Like most soft-roaders, the Rav4 is like an inverted Tardis - loads of space taken up outside, only moderately more room than an estate on the inside.
Plush
But this is much more plush than Dr Who's police box, lined in leather and boasting a handsome dash arrangement which now means that the Toyota is very nearly as smart as its upper-crust Lexus cousin.
There are four trim levels and three choices of engine - the 140bhp 2.2litre diesel tested here, a 2.0litre petrol and a special 180 bhp version of the diesel only available in the range topping T180.
I've got to admit that I found it a bit of a bland beast to drive, but absolutely loved the illogical straight-line performance of something so big.
The mid-market Rav4 will never be as exciting as a warehouse all-nighter, but it will be damn reliable and boasts lots of clever gizmos to keep you out of trouble.
Now if Toyota can only convince the green lobby that it's finally good to crush kerbs, then they really will be onto a winner.
© Copyright 2008 Manchester Evening News. If you wish to use this article for commercial purposes please contact our syndication department.
