2025 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid XSE vs SE: I Compare & You Decide!

The best-selling vehicle in the entire country, Toyota RAV4. That's right, for the first time in decades, a vehicle has beaten Ford F-150 and it's Toyota RAV4 for 2024. And a lot of people don't know this, but famous poet Tina Turner once famously said, "'You're simply the best, better than all the rest.'" And she was talking about 2025 RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid when she said that. Today we're gonna be comparing two of the most popular trim levels for RAV4. These are RAV4 Hybrids. We've got the RAV4 Hybrid SE and we've got this one right here, this monster, the RAV4 Hybrid XSE. Both in Silver Sky Metallic. We'll walk around the XSE and we'll finish up around the SE so you can get an idea of what they look like. You're gonna see noticeable physical differences on the outside. And also you're gonna see styling differences, feature differences on the inside as well. We're gonna try to figure out if the price difference leads you one way or another. Could it be the SE? Could it be the XSE? I guess time will tell. Today's video has a sponsor, Sun Heist Sunglasses. If you're not familiar with them and you like outdoors, adventure, this is for you. Look at this, sunheist.com, 100% UV protection, ultra lightweight, shatter resistant, Swiss technology. What I like, so many different styles, they're all named after trees. As a matter of fact, with each pair that's sold, they will plant a tree. This one right here, hazel. Look at that, strong, flexible material, great optics. You can also get them polarized, non-polarized. I've got one pair that are reader glasses. These ones are spruce. I wore these in Steamboat Springs when I was reviewing GR Corolla on the ice. To get your discount, go to sunheist.com and then type in the code once you pick out one you like, Toyota Jeff 20, to get your discount. Thanks. Do you think there are gonna be some differences on the inside? This is the SE. Yeah, absolutely. They're both gonna be black with blue, but how are they gonna be different? I see sport fabric seats, nice solid bolstering here. It looks great. RAV4 is tastefully modern. In other words, look at it. No overly ostentatious, showy, gaudy features. Just a lot of capability. We're gonna talk about the power differences. We're definitely gonna show the window stickers at the end so that you can see how they're the same and how they're differentiated. I tweaked that one a little bit, differentiated. See, I can say it. Now, the XSE. Oh, this is interesting. You see, it's soft Texan fabric with a different pattern here. We'll look and see if there are any factory upgrades as far as option packages. Any upgrades maybe from the regional assembly port to add features? Yes, we'll do it all. Easy part here. They both have the same powertrain. Look for a 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine on the SE and the XSE, electronically controlled CVT. So that means it has eCVT, one step up from CVT. You'll like it. And it has electric motor power. So 219 total horsepower. Yes, I'm over at the XSE now. They're both service SkyMetallic. I know it's tough. Now, if you get the gasoline version, that's gonna be 203 horsepower, 184 pound feet of torque. Toyota doesn't release torque numbers on its hybrid. This also has electronically controlled on-demand all-wheel drive. So that means both vehicles operate on on-demand all-wheel drive. That means that they're gonna have front-wheel drive, powering the vehicle in dry conditions, sunny and 70 today. I hope it's nice where you guys are. But if it gets slippery, if it gets treacherous, we lose grip, we get more slip, then it's gonna send torque to the back wheels as well. And it does it on its own. You don't have to do a thing. They both have 14.5 gallon fuel tank. Yeah, we're talking gas mileage here. They both have 41 in the city, 38 on the highway, 39 combined. Let's compare front ends here because we will see some differences. SE, XSE, do you see any differences? Let's get started here. We've got gloss black, of course, on the grill, the side fake vents, and down below as well with a silver bumper accent. We'll see if that's the same or different on the XSE. Toyota Safety Sense 2.5. And then we've got LED headlights right here, daytime running lights. There's the turn signal. Take a look at that. Do we see any accent lights on this one? Look at the side mirror. SE does not have, ooh, does not have gloss black. The XSE does. They both have turn signal indicators and blind spot monitor. Okay, here we go. LED accent lights. Nice. Right there, that's very cool. You'll see that on the RAV4 Prime or plug-in hybrids as well. Has gloss black. The rest of it's gonna be, I believe, looks like the same. So it's got the silver down below. Gloss black, gloss black, gloss black housing. And who has the better profile here? SE in the back, XSE, of course, in the front. 18-inch gloss black wheels. Let's look around the fenders, the side rockers. 18-inch sport alloy wheels, 225-60R18 tires. So gloss black, gloss black. Cut out right here. I like that with, look at this, chrome around the edges of the windows. And then two-tone up here with gloss black roof rails. Has smart key auto lock and unlock on the front doors. So the two-tone look, all two-tone look. Now compare this one. Whoa, got chrome around the windows. I see that. Gloss black roof rails, 18-inch right here. 225-60R18, so they're identical. The panels down below are the same, but the mirror's different. And then up top here, it's not two-tone. You won't see a moonroof up here either. Auto lock on the front doors. Who has the better profile? Time to decide in the comments. A lot of similarities here. Maybe the biggest difference, XSE, SE. Could it be just the badging? No, there's something else here, but gloss black, silver bumper accent down below. Two exhaust ports on all RAV4s, so that's nice. Exposed wiper here, backup camera, backup camera, so you can tell they're just about the same. But actually, look here. The XSE has that back panel, and spoiler, that's gonna be gloss black, fitting the rest of the ambiance and vibe here. And then this one has the color keyed, so whatever color that one is for the SE, that's what it's gonna be. I found another difference. No power back hatch. Yeah, that's right, this one has it. You knew what I was gonna say already. Let's compare the back ends. We're gonna see in the SE, fabric seats. It's all fabric seats. Good headroom back here. It'll have the same thing the XSE has, a storage pocket here, 12-volt circular lights, tie-down, there'll be a tie-down there. Isn't that cool? So, good amount of room here. You might also choose to have your second row up. That could definitely be an option here. And remember that we've got extra storage underneath here, just on the sides, and that's where you could put your tonneau cover in that slot there, just take the panel off. Ooh, there's a net. The legroom space is gonna be the same in both of these. I've got the seat all the way back here. Good amount of room, also good amount of room. The other thing I like is the fact that you can put this seat forward, and you can recline it just a little bit, so that makes it extra comfortable. Little bit of a hump here. Nice, squishy seat, actually, with the fabric seats. I like that. That's good, a seat pocket. There are not two seat pockets, just one. Let's look at the interior of the SE a little bit closer here. We've got a soft-touch panel, a bottle opening, and USB-C, USB-C, rear air, and here's this dash. That has an eight-inch Toyota Audio Multimedia screen. We're gonna see it's bigger on our friend XSE. We're gonna see that, all right? Look here, the pattern is gonna be a grayish-black, but it offers a contrast, even though it's really close to the black interior. Nice cup holders right here. RAV4, I see that in the panel there. It's got the O-Bleep handles. Is that appropriate to say? I think it is. O-Bleep. I might have to censor myself. We've got latches for child safety seats. Overall, a very, very respectable and good back seat. We're in the XSE now, and you'll see it has really the same features. 10.5-inch Toyota Audio Multimedia screen, so we went up two and a half inches. That might be important. Here we go. Look at this, soft-touch on this panel. Same USBs, same rear air, same one pocket on one side, but look at the pattern here. You can tell the difference. Let's put it in .5 mode so we can get the big, big picture. What about the front of the XSE? Silver accents here on the door handle, the accent piece. This is soft-touch here. The rest is not, and yes, more RAV4. We see the bottle opening there. A nice storage shelf, and you'll see the blue accent stitching here. Pay attention to how that's different or the same in XSE when we get over there. It has dual temperature controls. That's very nice. I appreciate that, and it does not have a wireless charging pad standard. It has USB connectivity. It has 12-volt circular port. Trail mode, so you can drive it on maybe grass or sand, that kind of thing. Electronic parking brake and brake hold. Deep, deep cup holders here. Back, back, back, back, back. Reminds me of Chris Berman here. So it has the slide right here, so we go forward and backward. Does not raise up. Good bolstering on the sides here. That should be very comfortable for passengers, and I do not see a moonroof there. Going on in here, what do we see? Soft-touch panel for the driver's side on the SE. More. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Meep, meep. All right, look, it does have this power driver seat that twists, turn. Very nice, very nice. It goes in. It goes out. Are we gonna like this better or worse than the XSE? And remember, we gotta match that up with price and value. This one right here has the ability to customize and switch on the middle portion, one-quarter portion. So we can go across here, see different pieces of information. Tells when it's using electric, when it uses gasoline, tire pressure. All-wheel drive, when is torque going to the front wheels? When is it going to the back wheels? And we've got lots of setup for safety features. That's very cool. Eight-inch screen here, hola. I like having the physical buttons here. I like having the volume. Rosanna, Rosanna. So you can do wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto. Also lots and lots of voice commands and we can check the personal settings, change our sound and media, customize the lights, the doors, all that jazz. Does not have an auto-dimming rear view mirror. It has the manually adjusted one that dims it if you click that lever. Sunglass holder, yes. Does that push? No. Does this push? Yes. It's trial and error. SOS button and ho, got a light and a slider function. And how is the XSE different? Well, for one thing, remember we had a little panel here. The whole thing right here is soft touch. So a little bit more premium look and feel. Bottle opening, the same silver accents, same blue accents, same shelf. 10.5-inch screen versus eight-inch screen. It has the bar on this one. Again, good bolstering here. Toyota did a good job with their seats, I think. If you own one, let me know in the comment section what you think. It has a moonroof. That's standard. Very nice. So do we have wireless charging? No, not on this one. You can upgrade to different pieces of technology. USB, 12-volt circular. Has the same functions right here for the different modes. Cup holders, yes. Two USBs. And this is soft touch. XSE driver's side. Oh, very nice. I want Balboa. Oh, Mr. T was so good as Clubber Lang. What a great name for an arch enemy of Rocky. Clubber Lang. He's gonna retire. Look at that. Up, down. Now you'll see soft touch. Soft text. Soft touch, I said. Soft text. Say it right, Jeff. Let's keep going. So this is the fabric insert. Just this portion of it. Comfortable rest there. And then leather-wrapped steering wheel. XSE has the same interior function. Like that, we can go across. Look up different pieces of information. Now, I'm burning fuel. Pay no attention to that because it's not 19, obviously. Okay, let's go to sport mode. Let's go to eco mode. Let's go to regular mode. You can do trail mode. See on the bottom there? A lot of different things you can do. It has heated seats here. Excellent. Not cool, but it has heated seats. 10.5-inch screen, so we just see everything super-sized. Like we're going to McDonald's, but you want that large fry. You want that large Coke because McDonald's, frankly, has the best carbonated Coca-Cola. Disagree? Agree? You tell me. Has auto-dimming rear-view mirror with HomeLink. Sunglass holder. We can open the moonroof, I think, all the way. That's one click. Second click opens it all the way. So remember that. Two clicks. And it has the same light width slider function as well. So let's look at the visibility in a RAV4 real quick. We'll put it in 0.5 mode so we can see all the way to the back. The bigger picture. Visibility's very good. Remember, RAV4 is the best-selling vehicle now in the whole entire United States. It's amazing. That was a look at the outside. That was a look at the inside. What are you going to be paying? Let's look at the window stickers. SE. Silver Sky Metallic. Made in Japan. It has a J there. Here's the safety ratings. Here's the great gas mileage. It's like the great Gatsby, but with gas mileage. Standard features here. Toyota Safety Sense 2.5. LED projector headlights. Daytime running lights. The wheels. Eight-inch screen. Keep that in mind. $34,995. Remember I said this one for XSE is going to be about $3,000 more. We'll see if I'm right. I probably wouldn't have said that if I wasn't right. It's got some options added to it at the regional assembly port, including the mats. This one's $37,837. It's at Fred Anderson Toyota. Go to fredandersontoyota.com. And the XSE. What are we looking at here? Made in Japan. Very interesting. 2025 in the house. Is this the last year before the redesign? Is there another one? Most of us know. Look at this. It has the vertical LED accent lights. Height adjustable power lift gate. Then it's got the 10.5-inch screen. Soft tech seats, heated seats. Power driver's seat with the auto-dimming rear view mirror with HomeLink. Just trying to show some value in this window sticker. $37,960 versus $34,995. So just about $3,000. Good job, Jeff. You looked at the window stickers before. Here we go. Extra options at the regional assembly port. This one's $40,802. And it's at Fred Anderson Toyota. Go to fredandersontoyota.com. Thanks for watching, everybody. Baskin-Robbins 31 flavors. We got two here. What's your flavor? Do you like the SE or the XSE? Let me know in the comment section. And remember to go to sunheist.com. Type in the code TOYOTAJEFF20 to get your discount. They've got great adventure-ready outdoorsy glasses. I've been just wearing them in the car. And they're fantastic. So many different styles. You can get polarized. You can get reading prescriptions. Just give them your reading prescription. They'll put it in. It's really cool. Thanks, guys, so much. I'm at toyotajeffreviews, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Threads. And my second channel is autojeffreviews. It's over 30,000 followers. Woo! 30,600 right now. It's growing pretty fast. So if you want to look at other brands, maybe compare a CR-V against these. Maybe compare a Rogue against these. That kind of stuff. I've got all brands, all models. I just did a couple videos on the 26 Honda Passport. 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