1997 Toyota RAV4 AWD, five door, manual
The first crossover, in the specification nobody kept: all wheel drive and three pedals
Overview
Compiled by Kept from the seller's intake answers, the documents supplied and published records for the model. The seller does not write or edit this section, and nobody from Kept has inspected the car.
This 1997 Toyota RAV4 is finished in blue over grey cloth and is offered from Howick by , its second owner, who bought it from the original owner in 2008 and has kept it for seventeen years. It is the five door with all wheel drive and the five speed manual, and it shows 196,300km.
That combination is the whole reason it is here. The RAV4 sold in large numbers and almost all of the survivors are front wheel drive automatics; an all wheel drive manual that has not been used up is now a genuinely uncommon thing, and the seller has the file to prove what this one has been through.
The file runs from 2008 and every invoice is photographed. Cam belts at 148,500km in 2017 and again at 196,300km in August this year, both with tensioner and water pump. A clutch in 2023 with the rear main seal checked and reported dry. Sunroof drains cleared in 2020 after damp was found in the passenger footwell, with the carpets lifted and the floor inspected and photographed at the time.
Every question put at intake was answered and nothing was declined. The flaws stated are treated corrosion on both rear arch lips and the tailgate lower edge that was not cut out, air conditioning converted to R134a in 2013 that cools adequately rather than well, a collapsed driver's bolster, a dead rear wiper motor, and all terrain tyres fitted in place of the road pattern with the original wheels not included.
Model background
The RAV4 invented the category everybody now sells. Toyota put a car platform under a short, tall, four wheel drive body in 1994, and instead of a ladder frame and a low range it offered a viscous coupled centre differential and a ride that did not punish anybody. Every crossover since is a footnote to it.
The early cars were more capable than the badge later became. Independent suspension at all four corners, a genuinely short overhang at each end, and a kerb weight around 1,200kg meant the all wheel drive versions went further up a farm track than they had any right to.
In South Africa they sold well and were used hard, and the ones left are mostly automatics with tired viscous couplings and rusty arches. A manual all wheel drive five door with a stamped book, a documented belt history and photographs of the corrosion it does have is the version worth buying, and it is worth a great deal less than the money most people spend on far worse vehicles.
Essentials
- Lot
- KPT-103
- Year
- 1997
- Model
- RAV4 AWD, five door, manual
- Mileage
- 196,300 km
- Transmission
- 5-speed manual
- VIN
- JT3HP10V9V0087412
- Location
- Howick, KwaZulu-Natal
- Seller
- howick_rav
- Seller is
- Private, second owner, 17 years
- Watchers
- 168
Seller interview
Before the car went live, the seller answered a standard set of questions plus a set our tools generated for this model from its documented failure modes. The full transcript is public, including anything they declined.
10 of 10 answered. A high score means the seller told you more, not that the car is better.
Inferred from the seller's answers and this model's known failure points. Nobody from Kept has inspected this car.
Known flaws
The seller's own list of what this car needs money spent on.
- 01Surface corrosion on both rear arch lips and the tailgate lower edge, treated in 2021, not cut out
- 02Sunroof drains were cleared in 2020 after damp was found in the passenger footwell, headlining dried and refitted
- 03Air conditioning was converted to R134a in 2013 and cools adequately rather than well
- 04Driver's seat base foam has collapsed on the outer bolster
- 05Rear wiper motor is inoperative
- 06Tyres are all terrain and not the original road pattern, the original wheels and tyres are not included
Service record
Documents & what's included
What physically comes with the car.
- 01NATIS registration certificate, in howick_rav's name
- 02Original service book with the supplying dealer stamp and 9 stamps in total
- 03Every invoice from 2008 to 2025, filed in date order and photographed in full
- 04Photographs of the treated arch lips, the tailgate edge and the underbody, published
- 05Original owner's manual and the tool kit
- 06Two keys
- 07Roadworthy certificate issued within the last six months
Note from the seller
The seller's own words, published as written. The only copy on this page they control.
I bought this from the first owner in 2008 with 89,400km and it has been the farm and school run vehicle in Howick since. Every invoice from that day to this is in a folder and photographed.
What I would want to know: the rear arch lips and the tailgate edge have surface rust that I treated in 2021 and did not cut out, the sunroof leaked into the passenger footwell in 2020 and was fixed properly, the air conditioning was converted to R134a in 2013 and it is not cold, and the rear wiper does not work. It is on all terrain tyres and I do not have the original wheels.
There was nothing they asked at intake that I could not answer. Seventeen years and a folder is why, and I would not have been able to do this if I had bought it last year.
Comments & offers
6 comments · 2 offers
Cheapest lot on the site and the folder is better than half the seven figure cars on here. Nothing declined, belts dated, rust photographed. There is no argument to make against it.
Treated and not cut on the arches is the right disclosure, and on a KwaZulu-Natal vehicle it is the first thing I would put a torch on at a viewing.
It was checked at the August service with the vehicle on a lift and the technician's note is on that invoice: no binding on lock, no noise, drive to all four. I use it on gravel most weeks, which is probably why it still works.
Worth asking about the viscous coupling on a vehicle this age. They seize quietly and you only find out when it binds on a tight turn on tar.
Belt twice with invoices on a 3S-FE at 196,000km is the whole mechanical question answered. The rest of this is trim and a wiper motor.
All wheel drive and a manual. I have been looking for one of these for two years and every single one has turned out to be a front wheel drive automatic with a repainted tailgate.
Comments & bids
6 comments · 2 offersThe crowd checks the report. Offers post inline, and the seller answers directly. Most recent first.
Cheapest lot on the site and the folder is better than half the seven figure cars on here. Nothing declined, belts dated, rust photographed. There is no argument to make against it.
Treated and not cut on the arches is the right disclosure, and on a KwaZulu-Natal vehicle it is the first thing I would put a torch on at a viewing.
It was checked at the August service with the vehicle on a lift and the technician's note is on that invoice: no binding on lock, no noise, drive to all four. I use it on gravel most weeks, which is probably why it still works.
Worth asking about the viscous coupling on a vehicle this age. They seize quietly and you only find out when it binds on a tight turn on tar.
Belt twice with invoices on a 3S-FE at 196,000km is the whole mechanical question answered. The rest of this is trim and a wiper motor.
All wheel drive and a manual. I have been looking for one of these for two years and every single one has turned out to be a front wheel drive automatic with a repainted tailgate.