Utility on the inside. Truth be told, there is so much utility here that I don’t know where to start.

First off, the interior is visually typical Toyota. No crazy patterns and no instruments that look like something out of The Jetson’s, just tasteful, traditional and attractive surfaces and shapes. Most media testers come with seats clad in leather. In the real world though, a good portion of the buying public choose cloth seats and Toyota supplied our Highlander with just that. Warm, comfortable cloth seats that warm up nice and quickly on cold days, so heated seats aren’t really needed.

Continue reading →

We’ve spent a lot of time lately in traditional domestic family movers, now the time has come to sample what the Big T has on offer. Our tester this week is a 2008 Toyota Highlander SR5. The first thing that really got my attention was the fact that the Toyota folks have gone to the trouble of installing Toyo Observe snow tires on their media vehicles. Thanks for realizing that it is winter here in Ontario. One thing about testing different vehicles every week is that one doesn’t always become accustomed to how a vehicle handles in slippery conditions. It’s good to know that the Highlander is ready for anything winter can throw at it.

Out on the road, the Highlander feels much smaller than it actually is, and actually feels more car like than some of the competitors. With 270 horsepower, the Highlander is only 5 up on the Taurus X we had a couple of weeks ago, yet the Toyota feels much more powerful. It will be interesting to see how the fuel economy compares.

Will the Highlander pass the 3 hockey bag test? Stay tuned!