• By STEVE WHEELER
• Advocate WHEELS editor
• Published: Jan 30, 2009 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Toyota’s RAV4 compact sport utility vehicle sees some significant changes for 2009, including a new and more powerful four-cylinder engine that gets slightly better mileage than the engine it replaces.

And RAV4 models have more interior upgrades for 2009, including active headrests, and an engine immobilizer.

RAV4 comes in three grades for 2009: base, sport and limited. Buyers get the choice of the standard 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine or a 3.5-liter V-6 as well as a choice between front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. My limited test RAV4 had the four-cylinder engine in front-wheel drive and stickered at $29,863.

And for my money, the RAV4 presents a pretty good bargain.

About the only thing my RAV4 test vehicle didn’t have that I wanted was a navigation system that would have added about $1,500 to the bottom line. But the test car did have one of my all time favorite features: a standard SmartKey entry system that allows the driver to open and start the car by simply having the key fob nearby.

Standard interior features across all three grades include air conditioning, tilt/telescoping wheel, AM/FM stereo with six speakers, a universal mini-jack, MP3 capability, outside temperature gauge, power windows and doors and mirrors, rear privacy glass and three 12-volt auxiliary power outlets.

The sport and limited grades add an available backup camera and the navigation system. The base and limited grades feature new 17-inch alloy wheels, the Limited gets new turn signal side mirrors and the sport grade gets a rear spoiler.

On the outside, the RAV4 gets new front and rear styling with a new bumper and grille, improved fog light trims and redesigned tail lamps.

The standard 4-cylinder engine produces 179 horsepower and 172 lb.-ft. of torque, which compares with 166 horsepower and 165 lb.-ft. of torque in the previous engine. The new engine on the front-wheel drive RAV4 is EPA rated at 22 miles per gallon in city traffic and 28 mpg on the highway. Those figures are one mpg higher than the figures for last year.

The available 3.5-liter V-6 produces 269 horsepower and 246 lb.-ft. of torque, and is rated at 19 mpg in the city and 27 mpg on the highway for two-wheel drive models.

I don’t think I’d say the RAV4 was a highway rocket, but I’d say it has plenty of get-up-and-go for the busy parent who needs to scoot around town with kids in the back. The vehicle is built to carry five people, but when equipped with the fold-flat third row, the RAV4 can carry up to seven.

With all rear seats folded down, the RAV4 has a generous 73-cubic feet of cargo space. The 60/40 split second row seats slide fore and aft to make more room for passengers or cargo.

Parents will also like the five star safety rating in frontal crashes for the driver, and four stars for the passenger. Everybody in the front two rows gets five stars of protection in side crashes. The rollover rating is four stars.