The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Is A Supersized Family Friendly Electrified SUV

when it comes to three row mainstream family SUVs the Toyota Highlander is America's favorite just looking at the sales figures Toyota managed to move around 225 000 units last year making it the best-selling vehicle in its segment now one of the biggest problems about the current Highlander was its cram third row and small trunk a problem that Toyota hopes to rectify with this model this is the all-new 2024 Grand Highlander and just like its name implies it's around six and a half inches longer than the regular Highlander finally giving it an adult friendly third row now to test out this all new grand Highlander we're actually out here on the big island in beautiful Kona Hawaii to drive this model here and the two electrified options and the big question I went answered if you guys are seeking an SUV with an adult friendly third row has Toyota finally managed to create it with the all-new Grand Highlander stay tuned to find out so I know the beautiful ocean in the background here in Hawaii is probably really distracting but we are here of course to talk about the all-new 2024 Grand Highlander before we start talking about the exterior styling I'm going to show you guys what's underneath the hood now this model here is the volume powertrain later on in the video we're going to show you guys separate Clips on the hybrid and the hybrid Max but Toyota expects about 75 percent of grand Highlander buyers to choose this 2.4 liter gasoline direct injection turbocharged four-cylinder remember Toyota introduced this engine on the Lexus NX and the Lexus RX a couple of years ago and this is essentially a replacement for the V6 it makes 265 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque it all goes out through of course an 8-speed automatic transmission and you can take your pick between either front wheel drive or the company's Dynamic torque split all-wheel drive system which most of you are probably going to end up choosing now in terms of the fuel efficiency Toyota says you can get up to 22 28 depending on the trim configuration this model here with the 20 inch wheels on the Platinum it gets around 20 in the city and 26 on the highway that is designed to run of course on regular grade gasoline Toyota claims 0-60 is around 7.5 seconds we'll test it out when we get this vehicle and its hybrid options out on the road later on and towing capacity for this model here sits at around 5000 pounds the curb weight for this Grand Highlander is around 4 500 pounds so it's only about a couple hundred pounds heavier which is actually a pretty incredible feat considering just how large this Grand Highlander is but let's go ahead and close up the hood which as you can see is supported by a prop Rod as opposed to struts but the styling of this vehicle when Toyota first showed it at the Chicago Auto Show I was really impressed because what the company essentially did is they fixed a lot of my issues with the standard Highlander which I thought just didn't look really great in fact now that you see the grand Highlander out here painted painted in this Ruby flare metallic exterior color with the Chrome accents this is the fully loaded Platinum grade Toyota is going to offer it in XLE Limited and platinum the Platinum you can get in the turbo and in the hybrid Max I love the front-end styling where it has kind of this big interpretation of Toyota's corporate Grille the Chrome here is a little much for me I kind of wish Toyota would offer like a blacked out package which I suspect they may do when they eventually offer an XLE xse of at a later date you can see the headlights they're pretty slim they kind of look like the current Highlander but it's a little more blocky this to me reminds me a lot of the RAV4 you can see it's a full LED headlight LED daytime running light turn signal LED low and high beams you also have led fog lights keep in mind the front end is going to be a little bit different on some of the other trim levels of this vehicle but this model here let me let me know in the comment section what you guys think of the overall look I think Toyota did a great job with the overall design now moving around the side profile this is still built on the TNG AK architecture although Toyota says they've made a lot of improvements to this vehicle to again make it a grand Highlander its overall length is just over 201 inches long about six and a half inches longer than the current Highlander it's wheelbase with stretched around four inches at 116 inches long this is still a little bit shorter in wheelbase versus something like the Mazda cx-90 but its overall length is pretty much the same as a cx90 and the new Honda Pilot you can see the wheels on this Platinum grade are 20 inch wheel I don't love the wheels this is a chrome clad wheel that you get with the gas Platinum the hybrid and hybrid Max is going to have a slightly different finish to them the wheels or the tires are 255 by 55 or 20 inch tire Toyota offers either 18 or a 20 inch wheel the limiteds will come with a 20 inch wheel which technically lowers the fuel economy a little bit this is an SUV so you have some of the non-painted gray cladding around the actual lower portion of the vehicle and all Grand Highlanders have around eight inches of ground clearance which is a fairly good amount for most family SUVs now you can see the side mirrors are body colored they have an integrated turn signal there's a full 360 camera on this vehicle and then you can see a lot of additional Chrome there's Chrome for the roof rails which are the Slimmer aerodynamic kind then there's also a standard panoramic roof when you guys go for the Platinum trim that feature is available I believe unlimited grade and then the X the base XLE most likely won't get that option now moving around this angle here you can really see the increase in the overall length I mean this larger rear window here is going to give third row passengers more visibility and the back end of this car really reminds me a lot of the current generation RAV4 which I think is a great thing the RAV4 has always been a handsome looking vehicle this looks a lot better versus the current generation Highlander I suspect Toyota will eventually refresh the Highlander to kind of give it this look you can see the tail light designs themselves are actually a full LED so you have an LED turn signal LED brake lights LED reverse lights you can see it says Grand Highlander in the back that's pretty boldly spelled out there's also an all-wheel drive Platinum badge keep in mind if you guys go for the hybrid or hybrid Max you'll have a different badge which I'll show you guys later on in the video and then surprisingly you can see here no visible exhaust tips now this is the turbo engine however if you guys look at the Hybrid versions which I'll show you later Tony decided to go with a slightly different rear end but let's go ahead and show you guys the cargo area because this is an area where Toyota again needed to fix the issues from the regular Highlander and as you can see third row seating is going to be standard on every version of the grand Highlander and you get just under 21 cubic feet of storage space back here you can see there is a Plenty or plenty amount of space Toyota says you can actually fit seven carry-on suitcases in here so it's those 21 inch roller bags seven of them will fit in here and you'll be able to close the third row or close the tailgate with the third row up that basically means you have enough space for each person's carry-on if you guys have seven people in this vehicle if you fold down the third row here it actually will expand the cargo to just under 60 cubic feet which is again a huge amount it's around 10 cubic feet more versus the standard Highlander if you fold down everything and Toyota says you get just under 98 cubic feet of space now if you're keeping score 98 cubic feet of space is around 12 more than the regular Highlander and it also has around 10 more cubic feet of space versus Toyota's own Sequoia that's the new Sequoia so if you want the biggest SUV that offers the most interior space this is now that model in the Toyota lineup now if you guys must do an electrified option of the new Grand Highlander Toyota expects about 25 percent of buyers to go for either the hybrid or the hybrid Max option let's go ahead and start with the hybrid this is actually a base XLE hybrid with all-wheel drive it combines basically the powertrain that you get from the standard Highlander which means you have a 2.5 liter Dynamic Force naturally aspirated gas four-cylinder paired up with up to three electric motors two if you go for a front drive model there's a third separate electric motor on the rear end if you guys go for all-wheel drive the combined output here is 243 horsepower and Toyota doesn't claim a combined torque but the gas engine on its own makes around 175 pound-feed torque that horsepower figure is about 22 horsepower less versus the gas turbo this trans or this car is paired with an ecvt so it continuously variable transmission and this is also the Highlander to get that gets the best gas mileage Toyota claims up to 36 mpg combined for the front wheel drive model this model here drops that down to about 34 MPG combined because of the all-wheel drive system if you you guys go with a limited with the 20 inch wheels it'll drop your combined MPG down to 33 which is still among the best in the segment so for those of you who want efficiency with your three Euro SUV this is going to get the best gas mileage out there in terms of Performance Toyota claims 0-60 in 8.6 seconds which is perfectly acceptable about a second slower than the gas turbo this will also tow a maximum of 3 500 pounds and as it sits it weighs in at around 4 700 pounds so I suspect this is going to be the powertrain most people buy now for you enthusiasts out there you're going to want to take a look at the Hybrid Max option which this powertrain here is the same powertrain that we see under the hood of the Lexus RX 500hf sport performance or a Toyota Crown as well this pairs the turbocharged 2.4 liter gasoline or gasoline four-cylinder but without the direct injection technology so it's been detuned slightly but with the electric motor you get one electric motor at the front and then a much much more powerful e-axle at the back it's technically an 80 kilowatt e-axle kind of similar to what you find in the bz4x you get a combined output of 362 horsepower power and 400 pound-feet of torque this here makes this the most powerful mid-size SUV that Toyota has ever offered and they claim a 0-60 time of around 6.2 seconds now the difference between this and the regular hybrid this actually uses a six-speed conventional acin built automatic transmission so not a CVT here a six-speed Auto and Toyota claims 6.2 seconds is 0-60 time you can get the hybrid Max powertrain in either the limited or this Platinum grade not in the base XLE and fuel economy is rated up to 27 MPG combined so around 27 26 MPG it's going to be the same whether you go for the limited or for the Platinum because they all have the 20 inch wheels so the gas mileage is still better versus the gas turbo but it's not quite as good obviously as the standard hybrid in terms of the towing capacity this hotel maximum around 5000 pounds so it's the same as the gas turbo more than the regular hybrid and as this one sits this is going to be the heaviest model because it's the hybrid platinum and it weighs in at just over 4 900 pounds which is around 400 pounds heavier than a fully loaded regular Highlander but let's go ahead and close up this hood here I want to show you guys a couple of quick details between these two different trims first of all this is the 18 inch wheel that you get with The XLE you can see it's a much thicker sidewall I don't particularly love the way the wheel looks it's riding on a 255 65 r18 this is what's going to get you the best gas mileage and the best ride quality this hybrid Max and platinum you can see has a different finish on the wheel I much prefer these over the Chrome clad wheels that you got on the gas Platinum you can see it's also riding on a 255 55 R20 inch tire and then I also want to show you guys the rear of the hybrid Max because this model here is the only trim level to get dual chrome exhaust tips love the way that looks definitely gives it a sportier more premium vibe to it and then you also have the hybrid Max badge here with their new Beyond zero badge the regular hybrid has a hybrid HEV badge along with an all-wheel drive badge all-wheel drive by the way is going to be standard on this trim it's optional if you guys go for the regular hybrid and I also want to show you guys the trunk because earlier we didn't fold down the seats um but you can see the trunk space is unaffected by the battery pack and you can see with all the seats folded that's where you have a completely almost flat load floor and you have a total of nearly 98 cubic feet of space which is going to be among the best in the segment so this is a family vehicle so let's go ahead and move on to the interior of the all-new Grand Highlander now this model that we're showing you is the Platinum grade in the gas configuration so we have the full softex leather interior this is the gray interior it's technically a faux leather the hybrid versions will have actually a an ultra suede option if you have the hybrid Max you'll have like an ultra suede center with bronze accents but you can see this this leather material this faux leather is really soft it also feels pretty high quality the seats themselves have good bolstering and it just feels really plush you have a 10-way power driver seat over here and an eight-way power passenger seat over there with two person memory the front seats are also heated and ventilated the rear is also heated and ventilated only on the Platinum grade but once you get it and shut the door the door has a relatively solid sounding thunk remember this is built on the TNG AK architecture and then here's the key fob for the vehicle you guys have seen this key before it's Toyota's current fob it has the usual lock unlock a power lift gate panic and then it has the grand Highlander badge on the back of the fob you guys can also use your phone as a key um which you can do through Toyota's digital key to I believe software but we don't have access to that because this is our very first drive now the start stop button is right here uh started up like every other vehicle and this model here is the gas turbo so it has that traditional startup noise which you guys know the hybrids will have to kind of just like a power up whirring noise now looking at the interior you can see the grand Highlander is designed to be a step above the standard Highlander which means this trim begins at The XLE grade and the 12.3 inch screen that you see here is going to be standard across the board if you guys go for an XLE trim you won't have a digital fully digital instrument cluster you'll have a seven inch display with traditional analog dials limited and up trims you'll get their full customizable digital display where you can change the look of the gauges you can also put your maps in there it's a nice looking display that Toyota first started introducing about a year ago on certain models now let's talk about the interior materials because this is the fully loaded Platinum grade and it definitely has a much more upscale touch versus the lower grade you can see starting with the door panels there is a soft touch injection molded plastic here this wood looks really good and it looks real but when you touch it you can clearly tell it's an imitation wood the door handle has a silver painted plastic material the windows all of them are actually one touch up and down they feel really high quality and tactile you have power folding mirrors which you can push a button here and the mirrors will will fold in and then over here you can see padded Center or arm rest over here with more of that stitching and then there's some storage down here at the lower pockets in terms of the dashboard you can see this upper portion here is a hard touch plastic but this area here is soft touch with some of that faux stitching with more of that wood I like the Shelf over here this is some great storage option here for your smartphone or whatever loose items you want to put or put away way the steering wheel you can see is a slightly different steering wheel from the current Highlander you can see I like the Toyota emblem in here where instead of a shiny chrome finish it kind of has like a metallic uh silvery finish to it the wheel itself is a manual tilt and telescoping which I was kind of hoping it would be power but Toyota has to save something obviously for Lexus there's paddles on the Wheel to control the 8-speed Auto you have uh controls over here for your Toyota safety Sense 3.0 which comes standard on every Highlander and then this right here is to where you can change the way the gauge display looks you can kind of customize the settings change the way that looks the horn sounds nondescript it doesn't sound puny at least it sounds appropriate given the size of this vehicle and you can see here this is also the first Toyota vehicle to include their driver monitoring function that's part of the safety Sense 3.0 that essentially watches your face where you can load up your own customizable driver profiles and the car will notice if you're driving and you're not paying attention to the road it'll actually sound a warning to tell you to look back on the road there's also a heads up display that's included only on the Platinum grades remember this model here has basically everything and then over here you can see there's tries on automatic climate control I like the fact that Toyota still gives us a volume knob you have knobs for your climate controls you have heated and cooled seats which you can see are three level heated and cooled seats a heated windscreen and you also have a heated steering wheel which is nice the vents pretty traditional looking you have a USBC charging port there two of them actually and then if you push this button here you can see full 360 camera which is standard I believe if you guys go for the Platinum grade so it might be an option on the limited but I'm still not sure on the limited option features but you can see when you push that button it does a full 360 scan which it's kind of a useless view I wish Toyota would do a different look versus like some of the European competitors when I put the vehicle into a reverse you can see there is a more useful view the graphics and resolution have gotten better over the years you have a top down view you have full parking sensors front and rear you have trajectory so this is pretty nice but the full 360 view where I would like to kind of scan around the vehicle that's something that I kind of hope Toyota will eventually offer in the future now you can see there's my wireless Apple carplay and Android auto this is running the a new system that Toyota connected Services did a couple years ago you can see that's standard across the board when you go back to the home system you can see there's the embedded GPS which runs on the cloud system so if you don't have service this won't work so can I keep that in mind most of you are going to use your smartphone anyways go back to the Apple carplay or Android auto which is wireless and you have over-the-air updates you can kind of go into the car settings here the settings icon there where you can change your driver profile adjust all kinds of different things here your audio information is over there so this system is very easy to use I'm not going to go too much into detail there but I think the screen size is also pretty good now down here you can see pretty good amount of storage this is a family vehicle so you have a wireless smart phone charger here but I have to say Toyota system doesn't always work very reliably it kind of if you drive around your phone will slide around it'll stop charging wirelessly which is kind of annoying but you have big cup holders here nice big storage area here where you can put your wallet smartphone sunglasses you can see electronic parking brake surprised to see there's a traditional shifter here this would have taken up less space if they went electronic shifter but for those of you who prefer a mechanical linkage feel that's definitely very satisfying your drive mode selector is here you can see there's three different modes there's an Eco a normal and then a sport setting and then part of the train torque dynamic system you have a mud and sand setting and you also have a rock and dirt setting so that's kind of if you guys plan to go off-roading there's also a snow mode and there's also downhill assist control which is nice you can see this is a nice padded center console area with faux stitching I also like instead of completely flipping up you just slide that back you can see there's a pretty deep storage area down there which no additional power outlets the two are actually over here Toyota says there's a total of seven different power outlets including one over there on the passenger side which is definitely a nice touch you can see the glove box is damped but not lined with felt it's a traditional bin style and then my tester if you guys go for the limited enough trims we'll have the 11 speaker JBL premium sound system which sounds pretty good it's nothing super crazy fancy like you might find in some of the more premium Brands but it definitely gets the job done there's also LED lighting map Lighting in here some ambient lighting which I can't show you right now and then you can see here the upper trims will include this digital camera review mirror which you can also go to a traditional one you can adjust the views and whatnot but this is definitely important for if you guys regularly carry seven or eight people or you can still see out of the back the panoramic glass roof you can see also lets in a ton of light it goes into the second row and it also gives you the ability to tilt it up and completely slide it open now when you slide it open it only goes over the two front seats but you can see here that's actually a pretty good amount that you can open it up as well then if you don't like the sun basically beating down on you here in Hawaii you can also close this retractable shade which as you can see just push this button and the shade will automatically close for you which is definitely a nice touch but overall the interior definitely feels more spacious versus a regular Highlander you can feel the additional two inches of width in here it's got great amount of tech it's got comfortable seats and I think it's going to really radiate well with families who need you know a vehicle like this now the whole point of a grand Highlander is to have more space in the back seat and in the third row so let's go ahead and take a look at what Toyota offers on this Platinum grade now you can see here the Platinum comes standard with these captains chairs which some of you like however if you guys want an eight passenger configuration you have to step down to a lower trim that's something that Honda offers on the pilot for example if you guys go for the elite where they offer uh the option of a captain's chairs or a bench seat for the other removable seat in the middle Toyota doesn't give you that feature but what you do get back here is a ton of features and a ton of space now getting back here and show you the door you can hear the door has a nice solid sounding thunk and compared to the standard Highlander the second row here has about an inch more leg room so you're looking at around 39 and a half inches of legroom you can see for somebody like me I can basically have a ton of space here there's a good amount of foot space there's almost a flat floor here which is nice you have an actual power outlet you have two more USB ports here for each seat back here you have your own climate controls and then if you guys go for the Platinum grades and up you'll get heated and ventilated second row seats you can't even get that feature in the new Honda Pilot it was technically the Koreans that first did it in terms of the materials you can see this is a soft touch injection molded plastic which is nice padded area over here there's additional storage here where you could put like a soda can over here which is nice you also have these manual rear window shades you have vents that are actually in the ceiling of the vehicle which is nice and then you can see here center console there's like another storage area with cup holders you can actually take this out completely and leave this in the trunk where you can kind of create a more accessible area to get into the third row I also love how easily this kind of pops in and out which is a great feature the seats themselves they also recline they fold down and you can also slide them forward and back to give more space into the actual third row but let's go ahead and hop into the third row which Toyota makes pretty easy to get back here you basically just pull this lever over here which Rob also will show you and then you can see the seat kind of catapults forward to give you a nice access point into the third row now this is where Toyota again focused heavily a lot on for the grand Highlander because the regular Highlander literally had around 28 inches of legroom back here this Grand Highlander this is with the seat all the way back has an additional five and a half inches of legroom space which means you have around 33 and a half inches of total legroom which you can see this seat is now all the way back this is its most rearward position I'm five foot seven and there's actually a really good amount of space you can see there's good foot space the floor is nice and low where I can get comfortable back here my knees aren't touching the seat back itself and then in terms of the Headroom space you can see my head's getting a little close to it but you know what if you were over six feet you might run into some Headroom issues but for an average size adult this is finally an adult friendly third row which is definitely nice and then in terms of features you have a nice uh not padded but it almost looks like it should be padded where you'd rest your elbows there's big cup holder storage there's another USB port over here there's the same one on the other side and then you also have led map lighting rear seat air vents their vehicle is two inches wider so now you can actually accommodate another passenger here although if you kind of have three wider set people this is probably going to be a little bit tight but overall this is the area where the current generation Highlander was such a disappointment especially when the new one came out in 2020 so for those of you who are looking to replace that vehicle or you're just looking in this space in general Toyota finally has an option for you and this is for me probably among the biggest for third row seat space even though in terms of legroom it's not the most but in actual real world usage this is definitely very comfortable I could sit back here on a longer road trip so here we are in beautiful Hawaii to drive the biggest version of the Highlander ever and we're starting off the drive in the 2.4 liter turbo gas engine Toyota claims that this is going to account for 75 percent of total sales so we figured we'll grab the gas engine first we'll swap into the hybrid and the hybrid Max later on Toyota claims this model will do 0-60 in 7.5 seconds let's go ahead and test that out it's got an 8-speed Auto we've got all-wheel drive 265 horsepower we'll break torque it and no wheel spin whatsoever it's got that smooth shifting eight-speed Auto [Music] all right 0 to 60 and 7.7 seconds and this is actually a slightly level Road actually I'm surprised because we're technically going up a mountain now Toyota claims 7.5 uh but nobody really cares in terms of 0-60 performance for a vehicle like this but we'll test out the hybrid and the hybrid Max later because the hybrid Max is going to be the one that'll do it in 6.3 seconds according to Toyota so I'm going to try my best to not get distracted by the beautiful scenery around here but the car's driver monitoring system literally looks at my face and it yells at me every time I look over to the right or the left to look at the beautiful Coastline so it is definitely a great safety feature to have for parents who are distracted by the kids or distracted by scenery but driving the grand Highlander is basically like driving the regular Highlander do I feel a noticeable difference in the size of this vehicle I definitely feel the two inches of additional width it's around a couple hundred pounds heavier and it's around six and a half inches longer and you definitely notice that now does this vehicle feel cumbersome to drive no know it feels a lot like the current generation pilot or a Telluride or Hyundai Palisade or a Volkswagen Atlas it's not a sporty driving vehicle you're going to be looking at the Mazda cx-90 or even the Subaru Ascent feels a little bit sportier than this but it's not a difficult vehicle to drive it's got the Toyota safety Sense 3.0 so it keeps you in the lane it has the new driver monitoring feature it has full speed range adaptive cruise control Lane keep assist automatic emergency braking all that good stuff and it's standard you don't have to pay extra for it which is definitely nice and then the seats are also comfortable and supportive they have decent lateral bolstering but again this vehicle is not a sporty vehicle although I kind of wish the Toyota would do an xse version like they do on the regular Highlander or even like an adventure version an off-roady version it certainly has more of that boxy look that it could justify a more off-road capable version of this vehicle but the turbo engine as you guys know replaces the V6 in the regular Highlander and so many other vehicles in Toyota's lineup and even though it doesn't have that sound of the V6 which the naturally aspirated V6 made a great noise this engine has a lot of torque 310 pound-feet of torque and it's just available right in the mid-range it's got a smooth shifting eight speed which is well matched to the engine's power or power band and when I start using the paddles for example you can see it's pretty good about downshift rev matching does the engine sound bad no does it sound good no it's just very nondescript I mean I suspect most Highlander or grand Highlander buyers are probably going to even not even notice the Toyota has swapped out the V6 but what you will feel is the increase in mid-range torque I don't have to rev the crap out of the engine to get it to to pass people on the highway that's something that I noticed in vehicles like the new Honda Pilot with its naturally aspirated V6 it just had a lot of power but not very much torque where you constantly are making the engine scream past 6000 RPM you don't need to do that in the grand Highlander which should make it feel more powerful and quicker in day-to-day driving now in terms of visibility I can see out of the front really well the side visibility is good the rear when I don't have the digital camera rear view mirror The View actually is fine although those third row headrests will block it a little bit but when you have this option It's a Wonderful feature where you can see everything really well so Toyota did a great job with the visibility in terms of comfort and quietness the ride quality is definitely comfortable although the 20s transmit a little bit more bumpiness this vehicle does not have adaptive dampers but it does have a unique rear suspension tuned specifically for the grand Highlander is it the most comfortable around this segment I'd say no but it's probably right up there with the class average it's competent but not super standoutish the cooled seat also works pretty pretty well I like how it uh is also standard when you guys go for the limited Trims and up and overall the noise levels of this vehicle are fine this is a very early pre-production model that we're driving and I don't hear any squeaks and rattles which is nice but overall the turbo engine is certainly a competent driving vehicle it's going to suffice for many buyers who are looking in this class but for those of you who want better fuel efficiency I suspect you're going to be looking at the Hybrid and the hybrid Max so let's go ahead and jump into those models and see how they compare to the turbo engine so now we've switched into a much more basic version of the Highlander this one here is The XLE with all-wheel drive it is the conventional hybrid in fact I actually think that this is the powertrain combination that most owners or most potential buyers are going to want because it's the same powertrain that you get in the regular Highlander which means you have a 2.5 liter gas engine paired up with up to three electric motors to give us 243 horsepower which is the same power as what you get in the Highlander and the Sienna the torque figure is 175 although that's just the gas engine we don't know what the actual figure is combined with the electric motor powertrain as well but Toyota says you'll get a 0-60 time around 8.6 seconds with this powertrain which sounds a little slow on paper it's about a second and a half slower versus the gas turbo engine but let's go ahead and see what we can get we got 7.7 remember in the gas Turbo non-hybrid so even with all-wheel drive this thing still spins out its front tire slightly but we got up to 60 and 7.9 seconds that's actually not bad and that's only 0.2 seconds slower versus the turbo engine remember this powertrain does have around 22 less horsepower than the 2.4 turbo non-hybrid but we don't know how much less torque it actually has but that's the one thing about this powertrain is in the conventional Highlander the speed is actually pretty similar as well however the fuel efficiency is really where this powertrain shines because it's rated to get up to 36 mpg which is the best in the class and obviously I can't talk about fuel efficiency on this very very short drive in these very early pre-production models but earlier today when I got into this vehicle it was showing without even trying 33 MPG and then I had another journalist drive the car before me and it was it was showing almost 80 MPG now that's take it with a grain of salt because a lot of these vehicles to get that kind of MPG you're probably going downhill or you're kind of coasting behind a semi truck or something like that but overall the efficiency is very strong about this powertrain and also the smoothness because Toyota's current generation hybrid system is one of the best in the segment we've got that ecvt which is very responsive about putting the engine in the mean of its power band I put my foot down here you can feel the electric motor kind of just pushes you back into the seat for all that instant torque and then at the higher end the horsepower from the gas engine comes in to give you even more acceleration now the sound of it is not pleasant the 24 sounds a lot better we'll hop into the hybrid Max and see how that sounds this is very much that traditional Toyota hybrid noise that it makes with the droning however because of the instantaneous torque you don't have to necessarily push the engine so hard which is nice I'm also driving The XLE model with the 18 inch wheels this is going to give you the better ride quality and I definitely feel that here with that additional protection in terms of the thicker side walls on the tires you don't really feel the bumps as much on the 20 inch wheels that you get in the Platinum grades the seats these are the XLE specific soft Tech seats which are also comfortable supportive you don't get the ventilated seats and you can see here that is the seven inch instrument cluster there so it's not the full 12.3 inch display which is customizable but it still looks fine uh luckily you still get the bigger 12.3 inch display here so that's definitely going to make you feel like you didn't necessarily buy a base model but overall this is the powertrain that I think is going to strike the best balance but let's go ahead and hop into that hybrid Max because it does have around 120 more horsepower than this model and let's see how fast that car is so if the gas 2.4 non-hybrid and the conventional hybrid aren't fast enough for you and you really don't care about MPG as much Toyota also offers this the hybrid Max which is the same power chain that we've tested in the RX 500hf sport performance it has been detuned slightly here to 362 horsepower about 4 horsepower less and 400 pound feeds for about six pound field torque less this car is about 4 900 pounds so it's around 200 pounds heavier versus the Lexus so it's not that much heavier and it's not that much less powerful but let's go ahead and see we can get Toyota claims 6.2 seconds um I suspect it's going to be pretty close to that number but basically the car is in sport mode will break torque it and then let go just like the Lexus it kind of spins out the front tires a little bit wow that's actually uh pretty impressive 0-60 in 6.03 seconds and the surface was pretty level so that's a pretty satisfying time I think when I tested the the Lexus back home I got 5.7 seconds so 0.3 seconds slower sounds about right for a car that's about 300 pounds heavier remember this is significantly bigger about a foot longer than the Lexus so Toyota's done a really good job with the powertrain on this hybrid Max it certainly lives up to the max portion of it and what the beauty about the hybrid Max is when you drive the vehicle Just Around Town it functions like a full hybrid system so that means this vehicle can accelerate the car on electric power alone although not for long distances remember this is not a plug-in hybrid it's just a conventional hybrid it's got a really small 1.4 kilowatt hour battery pack so the car is self-charging it recharges every time I hit the brakes or every time the gas engine comes on it charges but right now the gas engine is off and we're just kind of cruising along in electric only and instead of that CBT we have a six-speed automatic so it has actual gears and when you put your foot down you'll feel the gear shifts in this vehicle it's definitely noticeable but I'm surprised that Toyota is not using an eight-speed uh transmission or a 10. the six-speed is definitely down on Gears in fact the new Toyota Tacoma which was just revealed with this powertrain uh has an 8-speed Auto so I'm wondering if Toyota is going to eventually upgrade the powertrain the transmission to give us that now I'm going to put my foot down here and we're going to pass this Tacoma and see if I can get in front of here and you definitely notice this thing is quick it has the necessary pull that you're looking for and it's kind of begging for a sportier version I'd love to see Toyota do an xse variant uh with big with 21 inch wheels a sportier tuned suspension I mean that's not necessarily the target for this audience but if you guys require maximum power maximum acceleration you know the towing capability and fuel efficiency I mean right now the car says it's averaging 23 MPG which is about four less than what it should be getting I think I got around 25 in the RX so keep that in mind the max portion isn't necessarily about maximum efficiency it's about maximum power but hey that's the reason why there's the regular hybrid which should easily do around 10 MBG better versus this car so in all my years of traveling I actually hadn't had the opportunity until now to visit Hawaii and I have to say this right here what you're looking at is all hardened volcanic lava which turns into these jaggedy pieces of rock which kind of look like broken up pieces of burnt up concrete but anyways you're gonna find this all around the state which is a pretty interesting thing to see however we're not really here to talk about the Rocks but I had to mention them we're here to talk about the 2024 Grand Highlander because this right here is a very important SUV for Toyota for years the company literally didn't have an SUV option for people who needed a three-row vehicle that could actually fit adults and after spending the day driving all three power trains of the new Grand Highlander Toyota finally has that vehicle obviously between the three powertrains my actual favorite is the hybrid Max it's the quickest offering it's going to give you the best compromise between efficiency and performance however I suspect most people are actually going to end up buying the mid-level option which is the hybrid because that's the one that gets the mid 30 m pgs it's going to have decent acceleration for most situations so really you only want the turbo or you want the hybrid max if you want the max towing or you just want the most performance really in terms of gripes with the grand Highlander I do wish the Toyota offered a little bit more in terms of variety in the trims I would like to see them offer an xse trim I'd like to see them offer a more off-road trim I also would like to see them offer a prime option a plug-in hybrid this hybrid Max begs for some electric only range but again the battery is a little bit too small for that so I suspect Toyota is going to be working that on that at some point and I also think that the company is seriously underestimating the take rate with the hybrid powertrains because like I said earlier 25 is going to be the hybrid and the hybrid Max 75 is going to be the turbo engine but most people I think are actually going to end up choosing the electrified option now if you guys are looking to get your hands on the all-new Grand Highlander the gas turbo engine is going to be going on sale at your local Toyota dealership in the July in July so you're gonna have to wait about two months to get your hands on this video Toyota says that the hybrid Max option is going to have to wait until early 2024 which kind of makes sense this is a 2024 model the company is going to be ramping up production at their Planet Indiana to try to get these out they're anticipating in the first year which is model year 2023 as a 2024. they're estimating they should be able to sell around 40 000 units they should be able to literally triple those numbers to around 120 000 units by 2024. and if you guys want this vehicle it starts at just over forty three thousand dollars for the base XLE with front-wheel drive two thousand dollars extra if you guys want all-wheel drive that sounds like a very pricey seven thousand dollars more versus the regular Highlander however keep in mind Toyota doesn't offer an L or an Le base trim on the grand Highlander at least for now which is why the price difference is so great it's really about a thousand dollars more versus the standard Highlander XLE so kind of keep that in mind if you guys want the hybrid that's only sixteen hundred dollars extra so forty four thousand six hundred bucks for an XLE with front wheel drive in the hybrid option again add 2 bucks if you guys want all-wheel drive this model here the hybrid Max is the most expensive if you guys want this powertrain it's going to start at around 54 grand for the base or for the limited trim this Platinum is around 58 000 plus 1330 destination and you're looking at a grand total of just under 60 grand 59.5 for this model with the destination charge which sounds like a lot this is about five grand more versus a regular Highlander Hybrid Platinum trim the non-grand version but I'd say it's probably worth that amount especially if you guys need the additional space and the additional capability you can't really beat the offering the Toyota has here especially if you want the best fuel efficiency because the regular hybrid like I said earlier does mid 30 mpg but all that said I hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the brand new 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander if you're also looking to see the latest cars I'm testing be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline underscore reviews like us on Facebook and as always guys please keep subscribing to the redline reviews YouTube channel for all the latest reviews thank you so much for watching I'll catch you all in the next video [Music] thank you

Channel: Redline Reviews

Views: 382,914

Keywords: redline reviews, redline review, review, 2024 toyota grand highlander, 2024 toyota grand highlander hybrid, 2024 toyota grand highlander platinum, 2024 toyota grand highlander hybrid max, toyota grand highlander, toyota grand highlander 2024, toyota grand highlander 2023 price, grand highlander, grand highlander 2024, grand highlander toyota, toyota grand highlander specs, 2024 toyota grand highlander review, grand highlander suv, toyota highlander 2024, grand highlander teaser

Id: VdjPXOet-lA

Length: 38min 10sec (2290 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2023