The Highlander in some way escaped Toyota’s ever-growing want to make its grilles as massive as potential.
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It’s onerous to get excited a couple of midsize, three-row SUV, except you might have a bunch of children and much more cargo, at which level this section will really feel like a saving grace. Practicality on this area lengthy meant foregoing a number of the trade’s niceties, however the newest crop of crossovers has eschewed that notion. The new-for-2020 Toyota Highlander embodies that concept, tacking some posh silver linings onto an in any other case simple household machine to nice impact.

LikeEasier on the eyesComposed and comfortableGood commonplace tech

Don’t LikeWeird heart armrest storageTokyo-subway third row house

The 2020 Toyota Highlander’s updates cowl nearly each nook of the automotive, from aesthetics to operate. Nobody essentially places beauty on the entrance burner on this section, however the Joneses have to be stored up with, and the Highlander adopts a contemporary look that genuinely impresses. It seems to be… cool, really, with surprisingly robust fenders, en-vogue slim lights and a grille that bucks Toyota’s pattern of ever-growing maws.Having taken a couple of prolonged street journeys in previous-generation Highlanders, I’d need to say that my absolute favourite a part of the 2020 mannequin’s replace is its new inside. It’s impressively fashionable, particularly on my tester’s $51,000 Platinum trim (extra on that eye-watering sticker later). The dashboard’s layering takes on a lifetime of its personal, with a powerful aluminum-look trim piece transferring from the infotainment display screen to the passenger-side door body. Since that is the Highlander’s highest trim, there’s loads of stitched leather-based, leaving just a few onerous plastics for areas which can be principally out of sight or require some further sturdiness, like close to the carpet.

The Highlander’s new sprint design additionally brings one thing that each household crossover sorely wants: storage. There’s a passenger cubby above the glove field, one other one beneath the infotainment display screen (with a second hidey-hole beneath that one), along with your commonplace door pockets and heart console armrest. That latter one is a sticking level for me: The rolling-style opener is surprisingly small, and there is a large wi-fi charger it’s essential to rotate upward (?) to entry the purse-ish-sized cave inside. Other questionable frippery consists of the wire opening between the 2 centrally mounted cubbies, which is fully pointless since I can simply go away my telephone within the decrease one.Head a bit of additional again within the ‘Yota and you do not lose any inch of near-luxe appointment. The second- and third-row seats are wrapped in the identical plush leather-based because the fronts, and so they supply the right combination of consolation and assist. It’s price noting, although, that the third row ought to solely be used for toddlers and emergencies; with barely any top delta between the ground and the seat cushion, adults will mainly sit within the fetal place for the size of the trip, particularly if the second-row occupants do not scooch up. At 6-feet tall, I’d be comfy again there for 5 minutes, tops. The third row’s finest use is in its flattened kind, which expands cargo house in a giant method.

Just as the inside is a beautiful factor with a couple of barely-there missteps thrown in, the identical could be stated for the way in which the 2020 Highlander drives. While earlier Highlanders have felt a bit of flimsy to me, the 2020 mannequin feels stable as a rock. It’s practically Lexus ranges of quiet inside, hushing the din of the more and more messed-up world round us and giving households a bit of separation time. That isolation is additional strengthened by ample suspension journey and, on my Platinum trim, suitably thick Goodyear Eagle Touring all-season tires.

Propulsion for all non-hybrid Highlanders comes from the identical engine: a 3.5-liter V6 producing 295 horsepower and 263 pound-feet of torque. I would not name its output sprightly, nevertheless it’s greater than sufficient to get the entire shebang up to the mark on the freeway or in site visitors, although the automotive has grown between generations whereas output has not. Toyota blissfully omitted its standard constantly variable transmission in favor of an eight-speed computerized, which is content material to knock off shifts within the background with little drama.The steering is as numb as every other trendy Toyota, nevertheless it turns the wheels, so I’m not complaining. The brakes and throttle are each lifeless easy to modulate with smoothness, protecting youngsters’ heads from unnecessarily bobbing about (greater than standard, not less than, in the event you let ’em have a soda or two).While the EPA estimates the all-wheel-drive Highlander Platinum will obtain 20 miles per gallon metropolis and 27 mpg freeway, my proper foot can not match these numbers, falling nearer to 22 or 23 mpg on the freeway and mid-to-late teenagers in city driving. I’m actually making an attempt, too, I promise. If gasoline thrift is excessive in your must-have listing, I might doubtless level you within the route of the electrified Highlander Hybrid.The Highlander’s residence display screen can get a bit of busy if you do not know the place to look — or arrange the tiles for max distraction mitigation.
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While even some latest Toyotas have not been probably the most technologically superior automobiles on the block, there is no denying the ever-increasing deal with in-car tech, and the 2020 Highlander is poised to ship. It all begins with the standard method of interfacing with the telematics: the infotainment display screen. An 8-inch show is commonplace on decrease trims, however my Platinum mannequin comes toting a 12-incher that fills the dashboard properly. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are each commonplace throughout the board, which is implausible, as a result of they continue to be my favourite methods to make use of Toyota’s Entune system (learn: ignoring it).Now, there’s not something incorrect with the system. In this iteration, it is responsive sufficient and its measurement means it is able to displaying a complete lot of knowledge without delay. Yet, the sunshine colorway and barely awkward jumble of tiles would possibly current a busier look than distraction-mitigation efforts would recognize. It would not take lengthy to get used to, although, and I recognize that the bigger display screen has a particular space devoted to providing further details about the local weather management, music or gasoline economic system. Alexa integration is a pleasant contact for related households, as is a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot. Fans of conventional buttons will breathe a sigh of aid on the 4 (admittedly small) switches beneath the display screen that supply fast hops to particular elements, whether or not it is the map or music.It’s a Toyota, so it is nearly a on condition that the 2020 Highlander would pack security programs out the wazoo. Toyota Safety Sense 2.0, the automaker’s suite of energetic and passive safety tech, is commonplace on each Highlander. It consists of stuff you hope you by no means want, like lane-departure mitigation and computerized emergency braking with pedestrian detection, along with effort-savers like full-speed adaptive cruise management and computerized excessive beams. Blind-spot monitoring and a surround-view digital camera are additionally commonplace on greater trims, the latter of which is obtainable in a suitably excessive decision for simple curb-rash avoidance.The third row is finest left as an extension of the cargo space, except you are in a pinch.
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The 2020 Highlander could begin out a shade underneath $35,000, however my top-tier Limited AWD tester rings in at an almost uncomfortable $51,000 and alter. Sticking with fuel fashions for higher factors of comparability, I’d go for the $40,000-ish XLE FWD trim, which nonetheless has a great deal of security programs, heated seats and wi-fi system charging. If you do not thoughts a smaller display screen, leatherette and a non-panoramic moonroof, there’s some huge cash to be saved.The 2020 Toyota Highlander is in the midst of the goddamn Thunderdome. The 2020 Honda Pilot is getting a bit of previous, particularly within the infotainment division, however its beginning worth is decrease and it is nice to drive. The 2021 VW Atlas was simply given a stable visible refresh, and I want its inside design to Toyota’s. The greatest threats to the Highlander, although, are the 2020 Kia Telluride and 2020 Hyundai Palisade. Frankly talking, these Korean fraternal twins rock, lifting mass-market transportation nearly to the extent of artwork.But generally you simply need one thing that is acquainted, and regardless of being utterly redesigned for the 2020 mannequin 12 months, the Highlander is exactly that. Its on-road demeanor is as predictable because the sundown, the right trims can flip it into 90% of a Lexus and it is loaded with the technological doodads all people’s after in 2020. I’d be doing you beautiful readers a disservice by not recommending this get put at or close to the highest of your three-row-SUV buying listing.