Used 2016 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Consumer Reviews

Hybrid, Power, Reliability, and Comfort

We have owned the Toyota brand Hybrid technology in our 2007 Prius for 190k miles now...and are quite familiar with it from a consumer's aspect. We LOVE it! So when it came time to replace our Ford Explorer (which was one repair after another for 15 years), I did a LOT of research into a replacement vehicle with AWD for our steep driveway, towing capacity for my occasional trips to the lawnmower repair shop and dump, and also possessing a few bells and whistles, and throw in some "Hybridness" to boot! The "Limited" trim package in the 2014 Highlander is absolutely luxurious with leather upholstery, fanny warmers, moon roof, captain style middle row seats, and premium JBL sound system. Having Toyota's hybrid package on-board is just gravy....thus far averaging 27.5 mpg with my driving, yet having the power and response of the V-6 3.5 l engine to utilize at my whim and when it snows......very Powerful! The Certified Pre-Owned comprehensive warranty package we purchased make this thing good to go for the next 125k miles! Peace of mind. Joy of driving. Update: August, 2018: Still rides very smooth, quiet, and comfortable. It is an absolute pleasure to drive. Would highly recommend this vehicle to everyone. It is proving better than all my research on it ahead of purchase. Five stars are not enough to rate this vehicle!

Overpriced & Misleading

This car would be a great value below $40k, but when priced at or above $50k, get something else. Many of the premium features are misleading and the car does not get the reported gas mileage in city/stop go driving. For example, the heated steering wheel should say partially heated steering wheel. The premium audio system is not very good. It's a big vehicle and the camera views and parking sensors are subpar, nothing helping you in the front of the vehicle. The paint also shows scuffs very easy. I don't recall anything ever even touching the vehicle, however the black trim around the wheelwells and the bumper are very prone to marks. The bluetooth audio system never pairs with my iphone. If you don't factor in the price of the car, any of these things would be overlooked. It's a comfortable car with reasonable features, but I find myself asking why didn't I buy an MDX, the Volvo XC90. I also feel the Explorer Limited/Platimum or the Honda Pilot are more bang for the buck. City gas mileage wouldn't be that much different in the items mentioned above either.

My new hybrid

Impeccable quality + MPG beyond expectation

As I read everywhere before owning my Highlander Hybrid (Limited Platinum), the quality and the reliability are so far so good (2 months ownership). MPG for last 3 fueling averages 30.5MPG by actual tank filling - meter reading method. Considering expected depreciation and gas saving, my calculation said 5 yr or more ownership will be break-even when compared with gas only version. If I learn more gas saving tricks, I will get some saving. Super quiet operation when the engine is completely stopped is one of my favorite factors of hybrids. Update on 2017-11-23: I am keeping records of MPG. Since I purchased this car, I have fueled 120 times according to the record. The average of in-dash display numbers: 28.86MPG, the average of filling - meter reading method: 28.42MPG. They are reasonably close. At filling - meter method, best one-tank record: 32.81MPG. Summer average: 27.0MPG, winter average: 31.5MPG. A/C usage at Phoenix, AZ is the cause. Now my ownership length is more than two years. I am as happy as I was when I purchased this car.

Comfortable, but electronics are a letdown

2018 05-05, 44.5K mile update: Having re-read the review below, I'll stand by the cons, but add that the outstanding mileage I noted early on has ebbed. Where I used to average 28+ mpg combined, I am now seeing 25.6 mpg. My dealership claims this is due to summer gasoline formulation. I'm dubious, since the averages are consistent year round. Granted, I'm not babying the car in city driving anymore trying to maximize the mileage, but I'm also not a lead-foot. Highway mileage has slipped by 2 mpg whilst my highway driving habits haven't changed. The payback on the Hybrid will take longer than the 7 years I initially calculated. On the plus side, I added rain deflectors around the windows, and while they add to the wind noise at higher driving speeds, they do allow you to drive with all four windows cracked while keeping the rain out of the car. I enjoy boulevard cruising with all the windows and the sun-roof wide open. It's a slightly nicer "top down" experience than that of my convertible - there being no wind coming at your head from behind. If you have a convertible, you'll know what I'm talking about. My wife doesn't get her hair-do ruffled in the Highlander - not so for my roadster. Forget third row seating, but cargo room and storage are outstanding. I've taken the car on long road trips - 1500 & 3000 miles. By and large, the car is comfortable. Adaptive cruise control is a must have for such excursions. Wind noise at speed remains a minus... as do Nanny State restrictions and slow response on touch screen control. I wish there was an upgrade option for better seats - think BMW... Original Review: The Highlander is generally a very nice vehicle but it has some infuriating flaws. It handles fairly well, gets good gas mileage (thought the Hybrid premium will take years to pay for itself), is relatively comfortable over the short haul and has an audio system that handles my Apple iPod classic better than most vehicles I looked at during my search last Spring. That last item was a deal breaker with several of the cars I considered buying. The adaptive cruise control is pretty slick (when it’s not raining – see below). Now for the bad news… I ABSOLUTELY HATE HATE HATE the voice command system, the touch screen AND the Nanny State controls on the Navigation System and Phone controls. The touch screen is painfully slow and non-responsive. And while the Navigation System itself isn’t half bad, if you preprogram everything before you start rolling, using voice commands to try find a POI while driving (or do much of anything else) invariably results in a full blown case of road rage with me swearing I’m going to dump the Highlander at the first opportunity. Any salesman who touts voice command as the solution to Nanny State restrictions on the electronics while driving, should be called out as a liar. I started making a list of all the failed attempts to have the voice command system do what I ask it to do but, to be honest, given my overall dissatisfaction with the system, I’m leaning very heavily towards replacing the Toyota with something else with dial controls (Equus or BMW X5. Because the Touch Screen controls are so slow, you must take your eyes off the road longer than necessary to do some tasks. The Nanny State restrictions are beyond belief. Really? you can’t display more than a page or two of previous destinations? You can't even display your Contacts while driving? If you’re using the Blue Tooth hands free telephone, but need to key in a number to work your way through an automated attendant, you have to handle your cell phone to get to the number pad because your vehicle’s system doesn’t won't let you. Try calling your Toyota dealer from a Highlander while driving sometime for a real lesson in frustration and futility. Smaller annoyances with the Toyota are the manually operated and less than optimal steering wheel controls and steering wheel heater that fails to heat to my expectations – the wheel doesn’t warm well enough, quickly enough or cover enough steering wheel territory. For shorter outings the car is comfortable enough but for long highway stretches the cabin isn’t as quiet as it could be, the seats don’t adjust as well as I’d like (granted I came from first a BMW 7 Series and then an Equus, so, I could be a little spoiled) and the windshield wipers cancelling cruise control, when wipers are set to fast, render the Highlander less than optimal. The third row seating isn’t comfortable even for smaller kids. They have to ride with their knees pulled up to their chests and the seatbacks don’t recline at all – meaning the kids have to sit bolt upright. As a result of this shortcoming, my wife will not take the Highlander off my hands when she retires her Sienna. You cannot comfortably seat more than 4 in this car. So, another reason to find a buyer while I still have relatively low miles on it. Good luck,