About 10 years ago, the 3rd generation Highlander debuted for the 2014 model year. By then, 3-row crossovers were really starting to heat up to push minivans out of the family hauling business. While the third row in that Highlander was relatively tiny, even against its competitors, Toyota‘s strong reputation and ease of parking and garageability helped propel the model to new heights in terms of sales, even cresting 200,000 units a year. Heck, there are brands that wish they could sell that many in total, let alone a single model line.
Flash forward to the arrival of the 4th generation Highlander for 2020. Despite the successful arrival of third row giants like the Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, Subaru Ascent and VW Atlas, Toyota’s Highlander was once again on the small end of the spectrum. Not to fear though, Toyota buyers are an extremely faithful bunch. But still, I’m sure the execs at Toyota would see that yes, Palisade and Telluride combined still don’t match Highlander sales, but there must be something being left on the table.
In come the Toyota product planners and their uncanny ability to check off boxes with the Grand Highlander. It is a little odd that they chose a naming convention that sounds so Jeep-ish. While it shares many of the same bones of the unGrand Highlander, it has its own design, kind of. To my eyes, it brings a more rugged and chiseled, angular look that is very much an enlarged RAV4, not necessarily bad, but still a bit curious. The Grand Highlander stretches the wheelbase vs the unGrand by about 4″ and is about 6″ longer overall. I highly doubt that anyone shopping for a 3-row vehicle will be put off by the added size.
Luckily, most of that space goes to building a (FINALLY!) adult/teenager serviceable third row while still maintaining cargo space behind the seat. That third row leg room expands nearly 20% from 28.0 inches in the unGrand to 33.5 inches. And there’s also plenty of sliding of the 2nd row that can be done to help share legroom if desired. It also measures out bigger than most competitors including the new Honda Pilot which comes in at 32.5 inches. Cargo space similarly sees a jump from just 16 cubic behind the third row to 20 cubic feet. Telluride still slightly edges it there with its 21 cubes of space. All that to say, the Toyota is no longer the runt of the litter and finally comes into its own. If you need more space you likely need a full-sizer like a Chevrolet Suburban or just do the right family thing and get a, you know what I’m about to say, minivan like the Sienna.
It was a bit of a bummer that for family hauling duties, the Grand Highlander’s second row seats can’t maintain their shape and pivot/move while allowing for a child seat to remain installed. So that does make accessing the nicely proportioned third row challenging if you have more than one car seat that needs to go in the second row. Even with my older daughter’s high back booster type seat, it’s difficult to engage the tilt and slide function. You’d have to end up scrambling over the seat and through the pass through of the captain’s chairs to get in the back. Not exactly something you’d want older family members or guests to have to do. Rear facing seat? Forget about it. Would love to see a lateral slide of captain’s chairs like in our old Honda Odyssey find its way into an SUV.
Once you do get back there, you’ll find plenty of space and good accommodations with USB-C ports, cup and device holders etc. These are all things that are good on paper and metrics, but you’ll find that the cupholders lack any tensioners or rubber liners. Maybe that’s expecting too much, but given the $60,000 price point, it should strive to wow. Overall, the materials in the cabin were just okay. There’s an odd scratchy/grainy surface that covers much of the center console up front that is prone to light scratching. Less smudgy than piano black, but I think it’ll still look pretty worn after a short time. I didn’t particularly care for the plastic geometrically patterned trim. It doesn’t look premium and seems out of place, not sure why Toyota seems to be purposefully avoiding a wood type trim here. And where is an adjustable lumbar control for the front passenger or a power adjustable steering column? Are those Lexus parts bin only?
Powering this Grandest of Highlanders are three available engine combinations. Standard is a 2.4-liter turbo 4-cylinder mill cranking out 265 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. That’s hooked up to an 8-speed automatic transmission and can be had with front wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Fuel economy in this guise is rated at 21 miles per gallon city, 27 highway and 23 combined. A hybrid is available for a fairly modest premium, dropping power a bit to 245 horses and 175 pound-feet from a 4-cylinder unit, but economy jumps to 36 city / 32 highway / 34 combined, undoubtedly impressive figures for a three-row family hauler.
Perhaps the most intriguing is the promise of unmatched blend of power and efficiency in the segment in the Hybrid MAX, pairing a 2.4-liter turbo 4-cylinder with Toyota hybrid goodies to provide a whopping 362 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. This was definitely good on power but a bit disappointing in economy versus its ratings, similar to our experience with the other “power” hybrid units in the Tundra and Sequoia. While rated at 26 city / 27 highway / 27 combined, we saw a bit closer to 23 combined, not bad given the power relative to most of the compeition. It was also nice to have 6-speed automatic here so there was a less rubber bandy drive feel and sound versus the eCVT Toyota hybrids typically have. Ride quality and handling are also nicely neutral, not too floppy and not too harsh, it handled parts of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park well.
Other parts of the Grand Highlander are nothing new for current Toyota owners and shoppers. Yes it has the latest of Toyota’s infotainment system, so a nice big screen, wireless phone mirroring is present and a wireless charging pad. Plenty of USB-C’s littered throughout the cabin. Ventilation controls are thankfully controlled directly via buttons, toggles and knobs. Toyota does have the digital camera mirror on offer here, always appreciated in these long and high 3-row vehicles.
Also standard is Toyota’s suite of driver assistance and safety technologies. One newer one is called PDA, or proactive driving assist. This one was a bit odd, it can dial up assistive braking, almost like if you were using adaptive cruise control, or like an EV has regenerative braking. It can help slow you down if the car ahead of you slows down and/or if you are approaching curves in the road and the car thinks you’re going faster than you should be it’ll pare your speed. Even as a big fan of adaptive cruise in cars and I’m used to regenerative type braking, this felt a bit intrusive. Luckily you can turn it off. If you have a newer Toyota and have experienced this system, let me know what you think. Toyota also now has brake light indicators in the main digital cluster to let you know when your brake lights are illuminating.
Toyota finally has a great sized 3-row crossover. It checks off a lot of boxes, even better than the Sequoia we tested. Seriously, everything the Sequoia kind of stumbles on as a 3-row family hauler, the Grand Highlander handles with ease. One check box to track, how does Toyota respond to the less than top performance on the latest IIHS crash tests of their new family targeted hauler? While Grand Highlander doesn’t bring anything earth shattering to the segment, it didn’t need to. Toyota is already a top seller in the segment and the Grand Highlander will only help keep them there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Grand Highlander ends up simply ousting the existing Highlander. I doubt anyone in a current Highlander would be put off by the additional size of the Grand, especially with the fairly nominal price jump, and then the upcoming Crown Signia would have some space in the lineup as a 2-row midsize crossover.
