Page 42 - MotorTrend (March 2020)

With the base four-cylinder engine that can better handle your people and smartphone-mirroring systems display
gone, the Highlander now carries a base things. (It rhymes with Vienna.) Without on most of the wide screen’s real estate.
price of $35,720. That’s probably more sliding doors to ease entry and exit to the The smaller portion can display other
than you expected, but a base Highlander second and third rows, maneuvering to the info, and a quick swipe or button press
L now includes V-6 power, LED headlights, Highlander’s cheap seats requires a pull of switches the locations of the larger and
automatic emergency braking, an 8.0-inch a lever to fold the second-row backrest out smaller displays.
touchscreen with baked-in Apple CarPlay of the way and a quick shove of the seats Infotainment downsides? Although the
and Android Auto, five USB ports, and a forward. Pretty standard. As is the navigation system worked well during our
wheelbase stretched just over 2 inches. Highlander’s small third row—children drive, the graphics will either look familiar
Highlander customers demanded more won’t mind how high the floor is, but or dated, depending on your perspective.
cargo space behind the third-row seats, adults might. Toyota points out the second The same is true of the hybrid’s power-
and the new model can carry 16.0 cubic row now tracks 1.2 inches farther forward, train display. We’d like to see more hybrid
feet of gear, up 2.2 cubic feet from the SUV but there’s no disguising this seven- or data details for drivers who like to gamify
it replaces. There’s more space behind the eight-passenger SUV’s space constraints; hybrid driving.
second-row seats, too—with 48.4 cubic some competitors have more room, but There are a few other shortcomings you
feet. Those numbers place the Highlander few can be described as spacious. might not notice on a test drive, but will
a bit behind the Explorer, Telluride, and Surprisingly, after years of trailing after owning the car for a few months:
Honda Pilot with the third-row seats up, the competition, the Toyota excels with More ways of adjustment for the four-way
but a bit ahead of those competitors with infotainment. One big caveat is that power passenger seat (standard on XLE
the third row down. Small bonus: As you the 12.3-inch touchscreen is an option and above) would be appreciated. The
shop for ever-larger three-row SUVs that on the Limited, standard on the fancy- two temperature-adjustment knobs on
will barely fit in your garage, keep in mind schmancy Platinum, but not available the lower trims lack the awesome grippy
the Highlander is still slightly narrower for buyers of the more price-conscious L, material and enormous size we love in
and shorter than those competitors. LE, and XLE trims who get the standard the smaller RAV4. The drive mode toggle
We know you don’t want to hear it, so we 8.0-inch screen. Now that Toyotas provide could be a bit bigger, even though most
won’t tell you about the three-row Toyota Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the owners will set it and forget it.

42 MOTORTREND.COM MARCH 2020