2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Goes beyond Just Being a Size Up

• The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander is bigger and roomier than the regular Highlander, but it has more to offer than that.

• The Grand Highlander has three powertrain options, including an 362-hp hybrid setup from the Toyota Crown quasi-sedan.

• To improve interior packaging and ride comfort versus the regular version, the Grand Highlander features a redesigned rear suspension.

Toyota will have to forgive folks who think the newly introduced Grand Highlander is simply an XL version of the regular Highlander. The new entry goes beyond just being bigger, but size-based assumptions are bound to happen when an adjective like grand is plopped into a popular nameplate—and the Highlander has proved pretty popular.

Making the Highlander More Popular

Over the past two years, Toyota has sold nearly 487,000 Highlanders, making the three-row mid-sizer its second-best-selling SUV in the U.S. behind only the compact RAV4. However, the brand believes there's more meat on the bone, so it's introducing the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander to satiate customers who crave a big interior without an overly bulky body.

Basically, Toyota expects the Grand Highlander to fill the space between the full-size Sequoia and the regular Highlander. Dimensionally, it does just that. At 201.4 inches front to back, the Grand Highlander is 6.5 inches longer than its smaller sibling and roughly 7 inches shorter than the Sequoia. The Grand also stands 2 inches taller and spans 2.3 inches wider than the regular Highlander. With about 116 inches between its axles, the bigger Highlander's wheelbase is approximately 4 inches longer than its counterpart.

Obviously, the Grand Highlander's increased exterior proportions translate to a roomier interior, particularly in the cargo area and third row. Compared with the regular Highlander, the Grand's rearmost row gains 5.5 inches of legroom (33.5 versus 28 inches). There's also an extra inch of headroom and over 2 inches of additional shoulder space.

This 5'10" author sat in the enlarged third row and found it to be genuinely comfortable, even with the second-row captain's chairs slid all the way back. It's also nice that Toyota includes a USB-C port and dual cupholders for outboard passengers back there. Unlike the regular Highlander, the Grand offers ventilated second-row captain's chairs, but only on the top-spec Platinum trim. The XLE and Limited are the only other models; both are available with a second-row bench seat that unlocks an extra spot for an eighth passenger.

With either seven or eight people onboard, the Grand Highlander boasts 21 cubic feet of cargo volume behind its third row (five more than the smaller version). Stowing the seats in the back two rows opens up 98 cubes of storage space, which is 14 more than the regular Highlander.

Grand Gets More than a Bigger Body

The Grand Highlander is built on the same TNGA-K platform that underpins the regular Highlander. Of course, Toyota did more than just stretch its proportions. We're told the Grand's structure is more rigid overall due to extra spot welds and additional adhesives, which are also expected to help reduce noise, vibration, and harshness levels.

Along with improved NVH, the Grand Highlander's interior packaging and ride comfort are said to benefit from a redesigned rear suspension. Toyota says structural changes to the multilink setup on the bigger Highlander were designed to maximize the space in the third row and cargo area as well as make the ride more comfortable.