Modifying a Toyota RAV4 Adventure for real Adventure

We recently received this wonderful review from one of our customers who bought a Toyota RAV4 Adventure model from the team at Bowater Toyota and enhanced it for real adventures with the team at the BMG Store. Continue on to enjoy their experience!

When it came time to replace our well-worn 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee, I wasn’t hunting for another big, burly, all-terrain beast. Our needs weren’t that serious. What we did need was something practical: a car with decent space, the ability to tow our teardrop caravan, and enough grit to handle rutted South Island shingle roads without shaking us to pieces. Oh, and it had to be reliable and not guzzle fuel like a thirsty rugby team after a match.

We would have loved to go fully electric, but when you’re towing, range anxiety quickly becomes range reality. So, enter the 2024 Toyota RAV4 Adventure - a capable allrounder that ticked every box, except perhaps for flying comfortably over endless gravel stretches at speed.

The moment I drove it off the lot, it went straight to the BMG Store, where I handed Oscar the brief: make sure this RAV4 is ready for long hauls down south, give it the toughness to handle adventure roads, but keep the ride smooth enough so we don’t feel like we’ve spent hours in bad turbulence while flying across the Tasman.

The BMG Work

Oscar and his team at BMG Store took the brief and ran with it. First up, they sourced springs from Germany designed specifically for late-model RAV4s. The result? An extra two inches of clearance - enough to glide over rutted shingle roads and even small river crossings like the Anatori, without worrying about scraping the underbelly or flooding.
But there was no point pairing those springs with the stock Toyota shocks - they’d be stretched beyond their limit and topping out the moment we hit a serious pothole. So the BMG crew swapped them out for heavy-duty Twin Tube Nitro-Gas shocks from Donalson’s. These shocks soak up big hits with ease and deliver far more control than the factory setup ever could.
The outcome is better than the sum of the parts. The RAV4 still rides as smoothly as stock on sealed roads, but now there’s a welcome firmness in the corners, whether you’re on asphalt or gravel. In fact, it arguably handles better than it did when it rolled out of the factory. On badly rutted roads, you can take on potholes and corrugations mid-corner, uphill, and at speed - and barely notice. Mission accomplished: the ride brief was well and truly nailed.

The Look & Practicalities

Of course, performance is only half the equation - the RAV4 needed to look the part too.
Out went the shiny factory alloys and low-profile tyres, replaced with tougher Black Rhino Boxer 17 x 8 rims wrapped in Cooper ATTs 225/65/17. The meatier tyres don’t just look right - they protect the wheels from rough knocks and take kerb kisses in stride, which is a nice bonus around town.
Next came the roof setup. A Rhino-Rack Pioneer Series 6 platform was fitted via the Rhino-Rack backbone system, turning the RAV4 into a proper adventure rig. It’s now ready to carry everything from storage boxes and bikes to the all-important surfboards.
Practical, tough, and adventure-ready - exactly what we wanted from the build.

Putting It to the Test

Of course, all the tweaks in the world don’t mean much until you put the car through its paces. And we did just that. The RAV4 has already been down to the Anatori with the teardrop in tow - not once, but twice - and it didn’t miss a beat. In fact, it managed to get the caravan into spots where I’d normally call on a proper 4WD. River crossings? No sweat. Some might worry about taking a hybrid through water, but with that extra two inches of lift, we weren’t concerned in the slightest.

The real test, though, came on a trip to a friend’s birthday in Ophir. The route took us from Nelson, down the West Coast, across to Queenstown to collect another mate flying in from Auckland, and then on to Ophir itself. Their driveway? A two-kilometre stretch carved straight out of Central Otago rock - the kind of track they usually reserve for their trusty old Land Rover. From there, we pushed on to St Bathans and back via the unsealed St Bathans Downs Road, and the Toyota held its composure the whole way and offered a ride quality that enabled one to get out of the car at the end of long day feeling refreshed and ready for the big birthday party.

The trip home wasn’t exactly a Sunday drive either: north over the Danseys Pass to Timaru and Christchurch, then up the Lewis Pass and back to Nelson. It was a proper endurance run - long days, mixed conditions, and more than enough opportunities for the car and its modifications to show whether it was really up to the job.
And here’s the thing: it didn’t just cope, it impressed. I’ve owned my fair share of cars over the years - from Jeeps to Audis and Porsches, Alfa’s and Lexus’s - and the RAV4 Adventure more than holds its own. For ride quality here in the South Island, with its unforgiving mix of winding passes, gravel detours, and dramatic roads capes, it might just be one of the most comfortable and confidence-inspiring vehicles I’ve driven.

Christopher Wilson
Happy Customer

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