I have a son turning 16 soon, so we wanted to upgrade her car, and my son will get hers.

I was seriously interested in a 4Runner, but this was for my wife, and I don't think she would like the size as a daily driver.

So we checked out the Highlander. Picked it up today, it is very nice. 3.5L V6, 8 speed auto, 295HP, and AWD.

We opted to lease, since we didn't have a trade in (kept her old car for my soon to be 16y/o), but the payments are about what we expected.


Didn't have time to upload pics, but it's the "Celestial Silver Metallic". In other words, it's a light covered silver. Rides extremely nice, and tons of safety features, whether I want them or not.

She's very happy. Eventually I'll get a new car. I have a 2009 Subaru Legacy I love, with 60k on the clock. I plan on keeping it awhile. Probably give it to my 12y/o son when he turns 16...

https://www.toyota.com/highlander/

Nice!

We got one ourselves, FWD, though in XLE trim less than 2 months ago. It's been a great vehicle so far. Ours is toasted walnut pearl, or as I call it, brown.

We're going to be keeping this one for a while.

Those are great cars. My mom really wanted one, but didn’t like the look of the front end/grill. I couldn’t talk her into it so she got a Ford Edge.

Congrats!

I considered one, when I needed to replace my 2006 4-Runner with 234K miles. They had made the 4-Runner much larger than I liked but they had also made the Highlander look like a minivan, so I'm now driving an Outback. Someone mentioned the front grill. My wife can't stand the Lexus front grills, that they are now trying to mimic with the Toyotas.

You all will enjoy it.
We have a 2012 Limited with 60k miles. It has been great. Only issues were that it has the intermediate steering shaft clunk many Toyota’s are plagued with.
I’ll get around to replacing that someday.
And the battery literally exploded and the cable terminals fused to the battery posts took me 3 days to get them unfused and another day cleaning the engine bay.

Great riding vehicle and an absolute beast in the snow. The AWD system is super smooth, not quite as controllable as Audi’s Quattro system but better than Ford and Chevy AWDs I have driven.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
And the battery literally exploded and the cable terminals fused to the battery posts took me 3 days to get them unfused and another day cleaning the engine bay.

Was that common or was that an isolated incident?

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
And the battery literally exploded and the cable terminals fused to the battery posts took me 3 days to get them unfused and another day cleaning the engine bay.

Was that common or was that an isolated incident?

I am hoping the issue I had was isolated. I did not look any further into it.
Though I do know that Toyota batteries from the states suck!
Battery in our Sienna went just barely after 3 years. We had a CPO model that included the extra 12 month/12k mike bumper to bumper warranty and guess the LONE thing the CPO warranty does not cover. Yup, the battery they won’t even stand behind them.
My father in law has a 2007 Tundra and is on his 5th battery.

From my reading 4 years on a stateside Toyota battery is pushing it.
Though models that ship from Japan with the battery have much better longevity.

I put NAPA Legend AGM batteries in both the Sienna and Highlander.

I replaced the Panasonic battery in my, made in Japan, 4-Runner, after 7 years, out of caution. It was still doing fine but I didn't want to get stuck on the side of the road somewhere. After such remarkable service, I decided to replace with a "factory" battery from the dealership. It had Toyota written on it. It died after three years.

My wife put 175,000 miles on a Highlander. She went with the Venza XLE awd back in 2014. Both great cars. Doesn’t get you blood pumping with sportiness, but plenty powerful and the awd is fantastic.

After we build our house, she will probably get another highlander, or maybe a Lexus RX 350L. That platform with the awd and safety features make them perfect mom cars.

We bought a brand new 2017 Highlander last fall. A great vehicle with no troubles.