2009 Toyota Highlander User Reviews

Pros

smooth, quiet and comfortable, engine, rear seats, Toyota quality

Cons

price, steering feedback, tires, gas mileage, cargo space, rear vents noisy, visibility

Purchased As New

After 6 months and 6000 miles, I am delighted with the Highlander. This car is the quietest and smoothest that I have ever driven. Transmission shifts are barely noticeable. The kids love the reclining rear seats, and prefer the Highlander over our Honda Odyssey. The 6 cylinder engine has power to spare during mountain driving.
The steering is precise, but does not provide feedback from the road. The lack of feedback makes winter driving in icy conditions more difficult. The tires are very hard rubber, probably for good gas mileage, but have very little grip. These tires have significantly less winter grip than the nearly worn out Michellin all-seasons on our van.
Unfortunately, the Highlander does not have sufficient cargo space to allow us to get rid of our mini van. Only a few grocery bags can fit behind the 3rd row seat when it is up. It's crazy that Toyota did not make the 3rd row seat a split seat, so half can be folded down. When this seat is down, the cargo area is deep enough from the seat to the rear hatch, but the floor is very high and this limits the storage. Our family of 4 fills the back for just short ski trips.
After 6000 miles, we averaged 18.7 mpg in 80% suburban driving and 20% freeway driving. We are not aggressive drivers. On the freeway at 75 mph, we get 22-23 mpg. I wish the fuel efficiency was higher.
This is a minor point, but the rear ceiling vents are noisy when the fan is turned up. The kids like a lot of air, and it is too bad that this very quiet car has really noisy vents. A better design is to have large vents in the back of the center console.
Most new cars have a high beltline, and visibility is reduced. Smaller kids won't be able to see out the side windows. My kids, at 5' and 5' 3" are just tall enough.
Our previous 3 car purchases were Hondas, and the new Pilot looked perfect on paper. We wanted a larger vehicle. The standard transmission cooler and integrated hitch would have saved us nearly $1000 over the Highlander. Once we drive the Pilot, however, we were disappointed. The steering feel that I love in Hondas was not there. The steering was actually loose and required constant correction! The seats were uncomfortable - they were made for people shaped like a "C" instead of an "L". The Pilot is quieter than older Hondas, but much noisier than the Highlander. Once we drove both vehicles, our choice was clear.
We used the internet to directly contact 5 dealerships for quotes. This saved us a lot of money!
We drive our cars a long time, and I anticipate being just as delighted with this vehicle in 10 years.