Took a base LX CRV out on the weekend:
Drove nice, seemingly lower and wider than our old one. Seats seemed comfortable, interior well done, huge amount of room, espcially noticeable in the back seat, which has basketball player type legroom. Seemed to have plenty of power, and quiet. Tons of clever features, and amazing what is included in a base model: Not only heated seats and a rear view camera but a remote starter in the fob, proximity key, heated wiper area, hill holding, etc. Big display screen to one side which will apparently mirror your iphone or Android, which would be the best GPS of all. Another decent sized screen in the instrument panel. And all the safeties, ie radar cruise, lane departure, etc all standard, all except blind spot.
Biggest criticism the wife has was the fussy radio/display. One knob for volume but the rest is all touch screen.
View out the rear corners not great, but not too bad. Definitely worse than her 2002. Seemed to hammer a bit over potholes.
Missing a lumbar adjuster, hard to tell if a problem without taking a long trip
Sat in a friends base model 2017 Rav4 yesterday and it seemed very similar, power everything, lots of goodies. Screens a bit smaller, but more regular type control knobs. Visibility about the same, great to the front, somewhat compromised out the back. He's Russian, and said, 'like a tank, what you need to see and nothing more'.
Both seem like a hell of a deal for low 30,000's.
Going to try some more used Lexi RX350's tonight, and maybe a Rav4 hybrid. Trying unhaggle to see if that helps anything.
