I'm buying a Toyota Highlander

[lcbjr77]

It's been great having this forum for talking 4runners, knowledge and the "how to's".... I'm buying a 2016 Highlander and trading in my 4runner. The 4runner has been a great vehicle but it's time to move on and get something a little bit more family friendly.

Anybody else own a Highlander, how's your experience been with the 2014+ generation?

I'm still participating in the Secret Santa so won't be getting rid of me that quickly... Take care Larry

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Why? Third row?

 

[wcjeep]

We test drove a then new 2015 Highlander Platinum. We liked the middle seat comfort (captains chairs). Did not like the front seat comfort. Be sure you take a good test drive. Maybe rent one for a day. Rental is cheaper than buyers remorse. My wife could not reach any controls on the dash. The Highlander works better with taller people. On the NHTSA, people complain about some sort of audible electronic fan or electronic noise when the vehicle is on. We didn't notice the noise on our test drive.

Middle captain seats were nice. However, it makes loading cargo different. Big gap between the seats could allow rear cargo to surge forward.

 

[Thai]

Buy Sienna...i love mine. But Highlander is very nice IF you have 2 kids or less.

 

[Yukon4Runner]

I'm offsetting the carbon footprint of my 4Runner by having fewer children than I was aloted.

 

[lcbjr77]

I love the 4runner, just going in a different direction, looking for more of a car ride but with some space where I can have two cars seats or in a jam I periodically have to delivery items to customers homes.

I do plan on buying some sort of roof storage box for a trip that may require somebody seating in the third row.

 

[Thai]

I love the 4runner, just going in a different direction, looking for more of a car ride but with some space where I can have two cars seats or in a jam I periodically have to delivery items to customers homes.

I do plan on buying some sort of roof storage box for a trip that may require somebody seating in the third row.

Sounds like you need minivan...where 3rd row and cargo are not mutually exclusive....

 

[philsey]

I saw a Highlander in the showroom last time I was in ... AWD, Hybrid ... I'm sure it was top-of-the-line ... nice ... price was astounding!

 

[Thai]

I saw a Highlander in the showroom last time I was in ... AWD, Hybrid ... I'm sure it was top-of-the-line ... nice ... price was astounding!

Near if not at $60k....

 

[lcbjr77]

WOW... Saw one of these in the dealership last night, I could take a nice nap in that 2nd row... looks comfy

Buy Sienna...i love mine. But Highlander is very nice IF you have 2 kids or less.

 

[Thai]

WOW... Saw one of these in the dealership last night, I could take a nice nap in that 2nd row... looks comfy

To be honest, i am very jealous of my kids because their seat is more comfy than driver's seat!

I have 3 kids (9, 7, and 4 years old). My two older take the 2nd row. My youngest seats in the middle of the 3rd row. So, the 2nd row captain chairs slide all the way to the back...thus, tons of legroom and leg support. All 3 kids then either play together on iPads or watch a movie with minivan's DVD/Blu-ray player. They freaking love this arrangement!

But, if you have just two kids, then i would go with Highlander. But if you use the 3rd row often AND need to carry baggage/stuff, then minivan is the only way short of a Suburban.

 

[gm350reratliff]

I had a fully loaded highlander for about 1/2 a day while the dealer was repairing the rear seat on my 5th gen a couple months ago. The things I noticed were; drives like a car/minivan (not my taste but some would love it), the 3.5 v6 actually had some scoot to it, audio system sounded good, AC seemed to work good, smooth riding but had some typical unibody road noise (not as much as my mom's Pilot though), seemed to have more interior room than my 4runners, fuel usage seemed decent considering I was driving it like a rental in the city.

In 2008 we almost bought a new highlander but the dealer started playing games so we backed out. We then drove a couple used 4runners and were instantly hooked. I went back to the dealer to give them one last chance but they wouldn't budge on them so we left empty handed again. We ended up finding my 2008 at a honda dealer for an incredible deal.

If we ever end up needing more seating room than the 4runner offers, we will be driving a Sequoia or suburban. Just can't do the minivan thing.

 

[n2advnture]

I've owned 2 Highlanders and they were very good cars.

The last one had (2013?) a weird tire size that cost a small fortune to replace (very few carried / made that specific size tire).

I like the looks of the new ones and will try to steer my wife towards it when she decides she doesn't want this POS Infiniti SUV we have (more recalls than all the vehicles I've owned combined).

 

[techno]

I came perilously close to buying a 2nd gen Highlander last year, really liked them a lot, but for some reason I felt sort of naked and vulnerable without a low-range transfer case option. I got a 3rd row equipped 4th gen instead and do not regret it one bit.

Do the AWD Highlanders have a lockable center diff?

 

[lcbjr77]

Thanks for the input folks.

I do like the HL so far, feels so much different than my 07 4runner.

The reason why I wanted the HL, got a decent lease price, wanted a smoother ride and wanted 3rd row oh and wanted no more mechanical headaches.

I took care of the 4runner but somebody before didn't. First at around 120k miles I changed the plugs they were the originals, then had to replace the front wheel bearing, cv axles twice, and just before I traded it in started to have issues with the transmission... I loved the 4runner but I needed to dump it. (got a good trade in for it too)

 

[E30F34R]

The HL looks good, should serve you very well.