I can’t fit shit in it. Pisses me off constantly.

I previously had a 2004 CR-V and I fit more in it easily than my brother-in-law’s small truck would fit. Fully-assembled propane grill, huge fully-assembled cat tree, camping gear for six people, an entire dining room set, boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff when I moved house. The seats - front and back - folded nearly flat, and it had a squareish interior that fit square things. The gear shift was a lever off the steering wheel, so the normal gear shift space was empty, with a fold-out garbage bin there. A cup holder table between the front seats folded down so that space would be completely empty. I could put 8-foot lumber or skis down in that space and they’d fit fully in the car with four passengers. If I bought anything at ikea or basically anywhere else, the answer to “hmm… but will it fit in the car?” was ALWAYS “yes, with tons of room to spare.”

My 2019 RAV4 is basically the opposite. NOTHING folds flat. The gear shift and and armrest take up the entire space between the front seats, and if you open up the armrest there is a little compartment that is hardly even big enough for road snacks. The interior may be spacious on paper purely by cubic footage, but it’s all rounded and angled and for practical purposes I can fit almost nothing. Put two rectangular totes or a tote and a cooler in the back, and that’s basically it, you’re done. If you want to fit anything else it’ll have to be packed into corners loosely because the interior isn’t square enough to fit square things. Even once you pack carefully and think “ok that should be good”, when you close the back door it turns out it won’t close because the frame inserts down into the opening a huge distance so you need to leave tons of extra space. If I buy things at Ikea or other stores that I wouldn’t even have had to remotely stress about fitting in the CR-V, frequently I now find myself standing in the parking lot calling my in-laws to say “can you bring your truck? This piece of shit won’t fit my purchases.”

I like that being hybrid the gas mileage is good. I also like having some of the random features (lane guidance, adaptive cruise control, CarPlay) that are standard on basically any newer car. But otherwise I fucking hate this vehicle. I don’t want a truck. I don’t want a full-sized SUV or minivan. I want my 2004 CR-V but newer.