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26 Posts
I test drove a Toyota Highlander today (I forget what trim, but it had leather and a sunroof, and an MSRP of about $41k).
Good:
I prefer the look of the interior on the Highlander.
The giant dash shelf seems great. It's deeper than the ascent and is also more recessed into the dash (doesn't protrude into the cabin). (also it looks better)
I think the exterior looks are good. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either.
It drove pretty well (powerful enough, fairly quiet, comfortable etc)
Bad:
Overall I liked it fairly well and it is on the list (along with Ascent and Sienna), but it didn't blow me away. I would say it seems fairly equal with the Ascent, but just with a different set of compromises.
Good:
I prefer the look of the interior on the Highlander.
The giant dash shelf seems great. It's deeper than the ascent and is also more recessed into the dash (doesn't protrude into the cabin). (also it looks better)
I think the exterior looks are good. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either.
It drove pretty well (powerful enough, fairly quiet, comfortable etc)
Bad:
- Even though I like the look of the interior better, I think the material quality was probably a notch below Subaru (hard to compare exactly, because I was in a higher trim level Highlander)
- Not as powerful in the low end compared to the Ascent.
- Back seat. I'm not sure how much smaller it is than Ascent, but I think the seat cushion to floor distance is shorter, so it's harder to sit in. May not be a big deal for kids, though.
- Instrumentation / LCD screen wasn't good (or wasn't intuitive to use). I find the one in our Outback to be WAY better, but that may be partly because I'm not used to the Toyota...but first impression wasn't good.
- Lane keeping assist didn't seem to work very well. To be fair the Subaru system has a hard time locking on to lane lines at times, but it's clearly displayed in front of you...with the Highlander I couldn't find a screen to show the status of the lane keeping assist...Fairly nit-picky...but it bugged me.
Overall I liked it fairly well and it is on the list (along with Ascent and Sienna), but it didn't blow me away. I would say it seems fairly equal with the Ascent, but just with a different set of compromises.