Gadgetory

the Highlander a mainstay of the busy crossover segment of the car business but more than that a lesson in how just fine can be just fine let's drive the 2011 Highlander Limited and check the tack now if Toyota is anything it's a conservative company with the possible exception of the FJ Cruiser these guys just don't take chances with anything the Celica the mr2 the Supra long gone so it's hard to characterize the Highlander as much of anything in particular but it was the first mid-sized crossover and it maintains its role as a vehicle you won't have to explain why you bought now inside you're gonna find a lot of familiar Toyota DNA this steering wheel those gauges which are very good-looking by the way and that head unit this by the way is top-of-the-line we've loaded this car up with the full JBL plus navigation option there's very little about this system that would wow you on paper but using it is just absolutely Pleasant I never once went back at the damn thing you know for me that's kind of rare this is DVD bass but notice how smoothly and quickly I can get around with touchscreen inputs now the resolutions not great this is not like you'd find on a higher trim Toyota or a lexus where you'd have a much finer dot pitch but that cost-cutting move doesn't bother me when the underlying performance is good entering an address is easy the screen is properly responsive and I found the voice command was also very solid now once you're under guidance you've got some very interesting map views useful ones you have full screen or you can go dual map that's gonna give you a split you can also go to this compass mode if you're one of those who never knows what direction you're pointing and you find that fascinating it's got your Latin your long of where you're going and where you are and when you're underway you can also say show me my next turn in detail or show me my turn list like a list from a MapQuest thing about the only thing missing here as I mentioned is hard drive based or flash based this guy requires an annual DVD upgrade to keep your data up to date by the way the discs live in here for audio discs can play on this guy because we have nap if we just had an audio system without nav you'd have a six disc changer your audio choices are am/fm no HD radio and now into the disc aux button you see some more fun stuff here's our aux Jack right here by the shifter next to that is our USB connector for a thumb drive or for an iPod connector this is not a great place for a USB or aux Jack you're gonna either break your thumb drive or break your thumb you can also get to your sources via these tabs we do have bluetooth streaming on this upgraded JBL head unit with or without navigation there's our aux and here's what my USB looks like when I want to go through artists there it's surprisingly slow to go through things on this guy I wasn't crazy about the data read rate across here so you've got all the basics all the greatest hits of modern day media you're missing kind of the oddball ones internal hard drive HD radio - that haven't really caught on that well in terms of sound again it's GVL audio but it's nothing to fancy when it goes to DSP it's not surround or anything it's just an automatic sound level or like every cars had for the last 15 years and the JBL sound is eight speakers plus a sub if you don't go JBL you get a little more hollow sounding system with six speakers and that's about it now right above the big screen is the little screen and all of these guys are going to have one of those for example my rear view camera which shows up on the big LCD here would be shown on the little LCD in a limited if I didn't get the navigation option so you're never left without this display button here on the wheel moves you through a few things and includes your climate control you can keep that separate and on all the time which I kind of like interesting choice no sacrifice in terms of transmission we've got a v6 the top motor in this guy but we have a 5-speed automatic if I had a four-cylinder lower trim Highlander I'd have a 6-speed automatic that doesn't seem fair little Sport shifting gate over here and a sport mode if you just leave it on that side no paddles you do have a snow mode on this vehicle right here all wheel drive on a limited that's how they come and there's also a downhill ascent control right there to crawl down the steep stuff okay up here in the engine bay we've got a three and a half liter v6 270 horsepower 248 foot-pounds of torque gets this big boy up to 16 about 7.2 quite respectable and the mpg respectable 1722 this is no econo box and what doesn't help that number is the fact that all Limited's are all wheel drives as I mentioned also 5-speed automatic is your only choice on this okay so if you're into spotting generations of Highlanders I mean it's not quite as big a hobby of spotting vintage Ferrari but I'm sure there's some of you who do it the face is where you go our car tech video producer Mitch Chang has one of these guys and he says compared to his earlier edition this one looks more like a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger I can't disagree now let's check out the volume the packaging in the back here you've got a third row these kind of thin very small seats ideal for your kids Brian tongue and they fold flat really easily I like that this is interesting Toyota has just about the most ambitious emergency kit ever seen here's a hose clamp this is one of those things that those bike people wear here's a survival rap an air gage a flashlight hose repair tape Oh a little heat resistant glove no this two of them I'm not sure it's safe for family television it's a whistle the compass on the end you think they got kind of worried about safety after the last couple of years or so shabby knockoff Leatherman tool this is a wonder box I'm gonna buy one of these I mean the car by the way a number of you wrote in asking for a quick comparison of a Highlander Hybrid this v6 gas engine version well they stack up like this comparably equipped the hybrid cost sixty six hundred and fifty bucks more than the gas engine v6 the hybrids rated in twenty eight City twenty eight highway 28 average mpg compare that to the 17 city 22 highway 19 average of the gas engine v6 and that in spite of the hybrid weighing 300 pounds more assuming you drive 15,000 miles a year and keep paying 325 a gallon for gas you would earn back the extra cost of the hybrid Highlander in 12.7 years in other words you wouldn't you need to drive more like 20,000 miles a year and expect to be paying five dollars a gallon for gas to earn back the price premium in a more realistic 3.9 years but even then you're not exactly getting free money every time you go to the pump and we just had the new 2011 Ford Explorer in right before the Highlander so it gave me a chance to compare them while they're both fresh in my mind the Highlander has more spirited throttle response from a same sized v6 a little less listing in corners a little less Rocking back and forth but not a big difference the Explorer just felt more heavy and present neither was extremely this or that in its driving dynamics more a matter of your text okay I know you guys like it best when I smell blood in the water and go nuts on these cars but I can't lead ooh that with the highlander it's sort of the official flagship of the good enough is good enough crowd when it comes to crossover SUVs it does a good job let's price it 37 1 is your base that's for the limited which is the highest trim of the gas engine car and it's all-wheel drive as well lots of niceties on top of that you have three choices to go CNET style 650 gets you JBL audio mostly better sound 26:50 gets you that plus the DVD GPS navigation system 1750 for rear seat entertainment that 9 inch single screen right in the way of your rear view mirror I'll skip that one thank you