Everyday story of driving folk – Taking Toyota’s new RAV4 from Lake District to meet the Archers

17 Oct 2026

Ian Lamming is as happy as Eddie Grundy’s pigs

It’s an everyday story of country folk, you know, both the drive and journey’s end.

I’ve been a fan of The Archers since I worked in Hong Kong, felt homesick and wanted to hear from home.

Now, today, back in Blighty, here’s an opportunity to hear the cast, see how they do the sound effects and go behind the scenes of life in Ambridge.

To get there, and to get us in the mood, there’s an 80-mile cross country foray from the Lakes to Harrogate to complete, in a green SUV, while listening to a week’s-worth of The Archers courtesy of the BBC Radio 4 omnibus edition…da, da, da, da, da, da derrrr. Love it.

The SUV in question is the new Toyota RAV4, the latest iteration of a compact SUV first launched in 1994.

Back then SUVs weren’t that civilised and the SUV offered car-like ride and performance for the first time.

It was a great car and over the decades Toyota has honed and polished the model to great effect.

The new one is much more sizeable than the original and more rugged still.

Striking new design features a three-dimensional front hammerhead, contoured bonnet to give it a powerful stance.

There’s a redesigned rear logo, while Design grade introduces Europe’s first gloss black Toyota emblem. The range boasts five new colours and bi-tone options.

Over the years, RAV4 has attracted a loyal customer base and remains one of Toyota’s best-selling models worldwide with more than 15 million sales across 180 countries.

In Europe, RAV4 is a bastion of Toyota’s continued growth with more than 2.5 million sales to date, making it the brand’s top-selling import. In the UK, sales since launch have exceeded more than 273,000 units.

The all-new, sixth generation RAV4 is exclusively a plug-in hybrid in the UK and available with front and all-wheel drive.

They both get a 2.5 litre petrol engine coupled to an electric motor, former gets a slightly less powerful version. Both offer plenty of power for overtakes and RAV4 is a great cruiser.

The latest version debuts Toyota’s new-generation plug-in hybrid technology.

Apparently you can drive up to 85 miles on electric only, otherwise the units work together seamlessly offering smooth, quiet, impressive performance and good miles per gallon – just the ticket in these days of exorbitant fuel prices. Should you choose to plug it in it charges quicker too.

It’s a Toyota so guess what? Yep, it rides and handles brilliantly, is superbly comfortable and well controlled through the bends, just as any existing Toyota would know and expect.

Arriving in the North Yorkshire spa town, there are an awful lot of people from a certain demographic heading to watch The Archers and the streets are packed with cars. Thankfully, despite being on the larger side of SUVs, the RAV4 is good to manoeuvre and park in a tight urban situation.

The power back door has kick sensor feature too, just wave your leg around like a mad thing somewhere near the back bumper and up it goes – the hatch not your leg.

Inside is functional rather than plush but I love the symmetry of the switches – YES switches – and the dash is nicely laid out and supremely easy to operate. RAV4 is a stress-free car to live with.

There’s loads of tech but it is far from intimidating or intrusive.

There’s even a new drive recorder which, in the event of a collision, is automatically triggered, recording from 10 seconds prior to an impact to up to 30 seconds after, and saving the file for potential insurance purposes.

If you have had previous RAV4s then you are going to love it. If you haven’t had a RAV4 before you are going to love it.

If you don’t listen to The Archers, then you should as you’ll love it. And if you can combine the two, you’ll be as happy as one of Eddie Grundy’s pigs in muck.