Among the few true trailblazers in the SUV world is the Toyota RAV4, which was the first compact crossover SUV and made its debut in North America in 1996. Remarkably, over the next quarter-century or so, RAV4 not only has stayed relevant to the ever-changing SUV market but also continues to rank as one of Toyota’s best sellers — and as one of the best sellers in the category on the U.S. market.

The brand’s latest attempt to keep RAV4 relevant has paid off in spades with the 2023 Toyota RAV4, which continues to fulfill and exceed most of the important requirements for leadership in this category: fuel efficiency, serious drivability, a bit of spaciousness, reliability, and solid safety features.

Adding high-tech touches also helps. So for 2023, Toyota updated RAV4’s infotainment system with larger touchscreens and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as with an available 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster. For the newest infotainment system, Toyota also introduced better graphics, more intuitive menus and over-the-air software updates. Other updates include wireless phone integration and a new digital instrument panel.

RAV4 presents rather utilitarian styling, but striking design isn’t why millions of Americans have bought one over the decades. Rather, RAV4 leads with practicality.

That attribute includes reasonable power delivery by the 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine with 203 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and standard front-wheel drive. But don’t rely on RAV4 for energetic acceleration in more demanding maneuvers; also, the engine demonstrates some raspiness when being pushed hard.

Mileage figures show that RAV4 is one of the most fuel-efficient SUVs in its class. At its best configuration, LE, the vehicle provides an EPA-rated 27 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on the highway, which drops to 34 mpg on the highway in the available all-wheel-drive version.

Interior is pretty basic for the class, but that’s what RAV4 buyers expect. The interior is clean and put together well, with materials that change little from base to pricier models. The infotainment bears a standard eight-inch touchscreen as standard, but a 10.5-inch version is available, and both provide crisp graphics and intuitive menus. This was an important enhancement for the latest RAV4, with other improvements including easy access to most features by shortcut icons on the left side of the screen, and even a voice command to adjust settings.

Importantly for a practically positioned SUV, RAV4 sports one of the largest cargo areas of any compact SUV, with 37.6 cubic feet of space behind its rear seats and 69.9 cubic feet with these seats folded.

Toyota reliability scores again and again as one of the biggest reasons American consumers keep buying RAV4, and it remains a crucial part of the vehicle’s continuingly popular proposition.

Base prices for RAV4 are around $27,000, average for its class, but the price climes to $32,000 for the midrange XLE Premium trim, while top-of-the-line Limited trim starts at a price of nearly $36,000.