The Toyota Highlander is one of the best selling three-row crossovers on the market. I was always somewhat interested in driving one of these just to see what makes it so favorable. I always thought of the Highlander as somewhat of a dull, boring, floaty crossover, however after getting the chance to drive one, my opinion on it changed somewhat dramatically. It is definitely a plush and smooth ride, but I learned after spending some time with this car that it does many things really well, and it would make for an excellent daily driver. Below are some of my detailed impressions.
As you would expect, the Highlander drives and responds like many other Toyota products out there. If you’ve ever driven a Sienna or an Avalon, the Highlander will feel very familiar. It is a super refined and luxurious SUV to drive. Hushed road noise, silky smooth ride quality, peppy and refined 295 horsepower V6, and an intuitive 8-speed automatic. The dimensions of the Highlander feel perfect out on the road, it doesn’t feel too small but it doesn’t feel big and cumbersome to drive either.
First setting off, this SUV does feel a little heavy. You’ll notice that it doesn’t roll all that quickly when you put it in drive and leave your parking spot, and it is somewhat minivan-ish at first. However, once you’re up and moving, the Highlander feels surprisingly maneuverable. This SUV seems to shrink when you get it out on the road. Other three-row SUVs like the Pathfinder, Explorer, and GMC Acadia definitely feel like larger three-row crossovers, but the Highlander actually felt smaller from behind the wheel compared to how the overall dimensions look from the outside. There’s not much in terms of bounciness or wheel hop, the ride feels very settled and composed. You sit high up but you certainly don’t “tower” over everybody like a Yukon or a Grand Cherokee, but that’s alright. You still get a nice confidence-inspiring seating position that gives you really good visibility of the traffic in front of you. The front hood is a little blocky, but it stays flat and out of your line of sight. The windshield is nice and tall, and you just watch the pavement get eaten up as you glide down the road in this thing. The rearward visibility is excellent as well. The back window is large, and there’s nothing in terms of headrests or high belt lines that limit your view back there. It’s easy to see the road directly behind you and get a good sense of what is happening all around you. Side mirrors are also massive, providing you with excellent sideward visibility.
I mentioned that the Highlander feels similar to other Toyota products, particularly the Sienna and the Avalon. However, I think the Highlander has it’s own unique strengths that really separate it from the rest of the vehicles in Toyota’s lineup. For one, the ride and suspension in the Highlander both feel very structured and grounded. This SUV doesn’t bounce around, nor does it ever get really sloppy or lumbering. It’s a soft ride without feeling bouncy, lumbering, or floaty. Everything stays flat and controlled as you’re going down the road, while at the same time maintaining a very smooth and relaxing ride. The road noise also seemed to be more subdued compared to the Siennas and the Avalons that I’ve driven. The Highlander just feels a little more luxurious and isolated from the outside world. You don’t get much wind, tire, or braking noise at all. You mostly just hear the smooth sound of the Toyota V6 and nothing much else.
Most car enthusiasts don’t think of a Toyota Highlander when shopping for a new car. However, I have to say that I really enjoyed my time in the Highlander. The handling really isn’t that bad at all. The Highlander provides you with a very car-like experience, and the suspension has a nice blend of comfort and rigidity. You can take cloverleaf on-ramps pretty quickly, and you can zip through turns on your everyday errand runs just fine. For having such a soft driving experience, I thought this SUV felt pretty light and buttoned down when hitting some corners. I definitely prefer the handling of the Highlander compared to the Nissan Pathfinder and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Even the Ford Explorer, despite the fact that I liked the handling of that vehicle, feels heavier and a little more like a body-on-frame truck compared to the Highlander’s smooth, car-like handling dynamics.
Overall, the Highlander has a nice feeling of precision that you just don’t really find in many other crossovers in this segment. You won’t be flying around turns obviously, but this SUV has a good amount of pep to it for your everyday errand runs. Everything just kind of feels tuned to how you would want it, and you really don’t have to drive this SUV much differently compared to how you would drive your midsize sedan. Not a track car, but trying to make a speedy right turn before the light turns red? No problem. The Highlander will do it just fine, while retaining a good level of comfort and predictability.
The steering in the Highlander is also pretty nice. Compared to the Sienna, the Highlander’s steering feels slightly weightier, sharper, and more predictable. The Sienna’s steering somewhat lacks in consistency in the steering ratio and doesn’t have a very quick return to center. The Highlander’s steering ratio is very smooth and consistent, and the steering wheel has a nice smooth pull towards center when you’re rounding a corner. It is still very isolated and just a tick slower to react at initial turn in than I would like, but the Highlander still feels maneuverable and easy to steer. You get a decent sense of where the front tires are pointing, and the vehicle tracks around corners in a steady and calming manner. Unlike the Pathfinder, you just don’t really feel like you’re maneuvering a 3-row crossover. The Highlander points perfectly straight for long periods of time with minimal steering correction, which is something that I really like. Overall, a somewhat isolated steering feel, but still very competent and decently precise.
The engine in the Highlander works great with this SUV. Toyota’s 3.5 liter V6 is one of the smoothest naturally aspirated V6 engines on the market today. With 295 horsepower, the Highlander is one of the quickest three-row crossovers that I’ve driven. This engine has a very consistent and refined power delivery, and it’s a real screamer when you get it up and moving on the open highway. The engine always sounds really good and it never feels like it’s working too hard. Getting up to speed and keeping up with the rest of traffic is very easy, even with a light foot. The engine remains decently quiet in the cabin, although it could be a little quieter for a three-row crossover. However, the off-the-line torque is excellent, and passing power is plentiful. The engine gives you a good feeling of confidence, because you always know that you’ll get up to speed quickly and efficiently while all the other 4 cylinder crossovers on the road will be left gasping for air. The V6 provides the perfect amount of power for a larger 3-row SUV, and it jumps from stop light to stop light in a zippy and refined manner. Overall, this is one of the few midsize SUV’s that I’ve driven that really seems to get out of its own way when you ask it to. I think anybody who drives this car will be impressed by the engine performance.
I have some mixed feelings on the 8-speed automatic. I think this transmission makes a good first impression, because the shift quality is silky smooth, and each gear seems to work well with the engine power under normal acceleration. Under normal, consistent acceleration, the gearing is executed pretty well, and the 8-speed gets you up and moving quickly thanks to its snappy gear logic. Overall, it gives you all the gears that you want for the most part. It is somewhat focused on fuel efficiency, and it “short shifts” once in a while to keep you below a certain RPM, despite your foot being fairly deep into the throttle. That said, the gearing feels fine in most normal driving situations. I was also impressed that the transmission gets pretty playful and engaging when it senses that you want to drive more spiritedly. While I was hustling the Highlander on some backroads, the transmission delivered snappy downshifts and held the revs up high.
That said, I think this 8-speed automatic really loses some points when you start getting into some more complex driving scenarios. It seems like when they designed this transmission, they only considered how it would feel on straight, flat, wide open surface roads with no traffic, and didn’t think about things like hills, traffic congestion, or merging power. If I was in a situation where a car in front of me was slowing down to make a turn, the transmission would take about a full second to re-engage and get me up and moving again once the car in front of me completed the turn and I got back on the accelerator. If I was going up a hill, I noticed that the transmission was also quite hesitant to give me a lower gear to keep me moving at a consistent pace. Sometimes when you’re exiting a corner and going back onto a straightaway, the transmission doesn’t really know what to do with itself and seems to get confused when trying to select the right gear. Sometimes the transmission would end up giving me way too low of a gear and send the engine screaming, when all I needed was just a little extra oomph to get from 35 to 40 mph. I also noticed that the 1-2 shift felt a little bit jerky under harder acceleration. That said, under just normal everyday driving, this transmission does a really good job at selecting all the right gears, and delivering crisp and precise shifts. It adapts to your driving style quickly, it reads your throttle inputs, and it gives you power when you want it. Overall, this 8-speed feels like a smooth, competent, and modernized automatic transmission, but it has some unusual quirks to it.
Throttle response is excellent. It could be a little quicker to respond during the first half inch or so of the pedal travel, but once you get passed that, the Highlander takes off. Interestingly enough, the accelerator has a very short travel before it hits the floor, which is something I wasn’t expecting in a three-row crossover.
Braking response is really good as well. The pedal feels soft enough to apply the brakes with easy, and firm enough to inspire confidence. They have a pretty defined bite, and you can tell that the Highlander can stop on a dime when you need it to. They feel very powerful while at the same time feeling manageable. I could tell that they updated the brakes compared to the pre-refreshed 2014-2017 models, as the braking feedback feels identical to the latest generation Camry.
I did have one ergonomic issue with the interior. The infotainment screen is quite far away from the driver’s seat, requiring you to lean over a good amount of you need to flip through a menu or tune to a different station. Other than that, everything in the interior works well. It does feel a little bit dated, however I appreciated the various storage solutions located throughout the interior. The seats are very accommodating, and while they don’t really hug you in place through the turns, they are very big and plush to sit in. Rear seat legroom is excellent as well, as the Highlander reaches minivan levels of room and seat comfort.
And that about covers it. I didn’t think I was going to like the Highlander at all, but when I got it out on the road, I was quite impressed with it. Rather than feeling floaty and bouncy, the Highlander feels soft, settled, and composed. The steering is pretty isolated, but at the same time it feels decently precise and predictable. When you’re going around corners, you really don’t get much sense of weight shift or wheel hop either. The Highlander feels unexpectedly light and refined when rounding turns. The 295 horsepower V6 provides you with more than enough power, and it does it with amazing smoothness. Visibility is also amongst the very best compared to other midsize and full-size crossovers on the market. I would easily recommend the Highlander to anyone looking for a comfortable, practical, and manageable daily commuter. It’s not sporty, but I still think this car does so many things well without many sacrifices. Whether you want to take a road trip, or just make a quick run to the grocery store, the Highlander is perfect for whatever you decide to throw at it.