Car enthusiasts find it hard to get excited about the idea of an all-new Toyota Highlander. It’s a perfectly good vehicle, but it’s definitely not the stuff of supercharged dreams. Vehicles like the Highlander have inherited the role of the classic station wagon, as minivans have become somewhat invisible. That doesn’t just mean it’s a cargo- and family-friendly hauler–it’s also saddled with a desperately uncool reputation. SUVs are at least action-oriented–suburbanized crossovers like the Highlander are their spayed and neutered cousins.
Still, it’s a big section of the market, cool or not. And, like the original family trucksters, there’s still plenty to like. Toyota has left the Highlander’s reliable, appliance-perfect mechanicals more or less alone, and focused on making it more luxurious and even better-equipped for the challenges of modern suburban life. There’s a lot of competition in the generic family crossover market these days, after all.
The first step in raising the Highlander’s profile is a new design, naturally. To date, the Highlander has been relentlessly frumpy, the rolling equivalent of dry white toast. The new model makes an effort to step away from that past. A new grille shape and high-mounted headlights hint at the 4Runner, and the Highlander benefits from a bit of association with that tough truck. The Highlander has taller shoulders and larger fender bulges. The grille is deeper, and black with chrome trim in some models. The hood is longer and more pronounced. It carries into a larger greenhouse, and the Limited gets chrome around the DLO. Roof rails are blended neatly into the car, and the mirrors have Toyota’s vortex generators.
The Highlander’s really about the people it’s got to carry, of course, and the new interior is the best thing about it. The re-drawn dash is broad and available in a variety of two-tone colors. A cool shelf that’s just the right size for a smartphone or similarly-sized item runs from the center console all the way to the passenger side, and is lined with no-slip material to keep coins and other small objects from flying out. Wood and satin-aluminum finish trim are available. The massive console has a rollaway top so it can serve as an armrest while open, and will hold up to 24.5 liters of stuff–this means a fifteen-inch laptop will fit. Or over fifty juice boxes, as Toyota pointed out.
Got a large family to haul? The Highlander is larger on the inside, thanks to the dash and front seats moving forward in the chassis. The cargo area is about six inches longer and will hold 34% more with all rows of seats up. The Highlander’s unibody was also lightened and strengthened; this improved NVH as well as crash protection. There’s seating for seven or eight. Comfy second-row captain’s chairs are available, and third-row seating is now standard. Rear-window sun shades are also offered. The redesigned rear suspension features much lower shock towers, providing additional room for third-row passengers and cargo. The interior is quiet and confortable, with soft-touch materials everywhere. The basic package is nice enough, but the Highlander Limited Platinum adds a number of top-flight luxury items, including heated and cooled front seats, a power tailgate, an eight-inch touchscreen for the Entune infotainment system with updated voice-recognition, a panoramic sunroof and a 12-speaker JBL system with a subwoofer. A cool new innovation is the Driver Easy Speak , which uses a microphone mounted in the front to project the driver’s voice to the back of the Highlander, making it easier for rear seat passengers to hear what Mom or Dad is saying.
To ensure a comfortable ride, the suspension has been retuned, with stronger struts up front featuring inverse wound springs and redesigned upper bearings for improved steering feel. The rear suspension now features independent trailing arms with double wishbones. It’s more complex, but provides better tracking as well as being a more compact design. A blind-spot warning and lane departure warning are available. Other driver aids include Dynamic Radar Cruise Control and a Pre-Collision system that will apply the brakes if it senses that the driver is not responding to an impeding crash.
As before, the Highlander rolls out with one of three powertrains. The base 2.7 liter four-cylinder produces 185 horsepower, while the upgraded V6 provides a healthy 270 horses and is well suited to the Highlander’s size and handling. A six-speed automatic transmission is now standard on all Highlanders, and features a snow mode. The new all-wheel drive system is only available with the V6, and is a full-time, on-demand system that helps to save fuel. Towing capacity is 5000 pounds in properly equipped Limited and XLE models. The Highlander Hybrid also returns, with a V6 and three electric motors for all-wheel drive. Combined fuel economy for the Highlander Hybrid is 28mpg.
As with the 2014 Corolla, Toyota’s performed a good, comprehensive update on the Highlander that addresses its weak spots without compromising the aspects that have made it popular. Pricing starts at $29,215. The well-equipped Highlander XLE comes in at $36,040, and the range-topping Hybrid Limited Platinum is $49,790.
