it seems like every manufacturer of an suv is also producing
a hybrid version of it and toyota's in the mix as well and we'll take that for a drive
welcome back to the channel i'm Lauren Fix if this is your first time to the channel we do a lot more
than just car reviews we give you first looks we give you information you won't get anywhere else
because we believe that knowledge is power and we want you to have car smarts
so hit that subscribe button and that little bell so you don't miss anything this is the 2021 toyota
highlander hybrid now for 2021 they're going to have an xse trim which is a sportier trim
this is a platinum it is all-wheel drive it has most of the options that are on it and
we're going to review it in 10 different categories performance handling safety
visibility seating comfort technology features quality value and other categories a total of 10
giving you a car coach reports rating in the end because we want you to know the information
you're going to get here is not what the sales person is going to tell you they want to sell
you that vehicle that's obvious that's their job we want to give you this information so that you
can compare vehicles that are in this category the list is down below it's quite extensive and then
you're going to know does this meet my needs and when you're going to drive the highlander hybrid
you'll have more knowledge than the salesman is going to have time to tell you and you'll make
a good choice so that you have car smarts and you don't have buyers remorse let's take it for a ride
inside the toyota highlander hybrid it's a bit on the loud side although overall the ride is quite
quiet which is important the highlander hybrid is powered by a 2.5 liter inline four-cylinder
engine double overhead cam if you're into all the heavier details it's 186 horsepower add in the
two engines combined and you're at 243 horsepower burns up to 36 miles to the gallon all depends on
how you drive it are you driving it in the three different modes of sport normal or eco well that's
your choice but note that it does obviously change the fuel economy launching this in sport mode
it's loud and it's not fast it's not meant to be a vehicle like this is designed for fuel economy and
the ability to get you going it has enough power and sport mode to get you on non-ramp if you need
to pass a truck or something along the highway you should have no problems whatsoever towing capacity
on the highlander hybrid is only 3 500 pounds but what are you going to be hauling anyhow maybe some
bicycles or something really light but when it comes to performance overall compared to other
vehicles in this category it's unfortunately a touch disappointing and therefore it earned
a seven this vehicle rides on 20-inch alloy wheels i really like the quiet ride like i keep coming
back to it makes a big difference as far as having a conversation with people in the car and i think
your kids will appreciate that as well when they're in the third row and you need to have
a conversation with them but the handling itself has really good brakes it's very connected to
the roadway so you won't be disappointed in the handling itself however there is a trail mode if
you wish to go off-roading i don't know if you're going to go off-roading with this vehicle maybe to
a campsite on some light gravel but i don't see you doing some heavy rock crawling in a vehicle
like this but most people that buy these things aren't going to do that anyhow when it comes to
handling it earns an eight when it comes to safety in the highlander it does earn a nits of five
star crash test rating which is very important because you are transporting your family some
of the standard safety features that come with the 2.5 plus system is pedestrian cross traffic alert
especially in low light which is important in that morning time when the kids are going to school
or later in the evening this will be able to tell you if someone's in the crosswalk and it will stop
to save you from an accident standard is also lane tracing and lane departure warning this will help
you get used to the vehicle guiding you to stay within the roadway in case you're not paying
attention while you're driving i was disappointed that blind spot monitoring and cross traffic alert
were an option on higher trim levels and because of that this car is excellent for safety toyota's
known for safety i had to give it a nine when it comes to visibility there was a really nice
size windshield in the front the sills are low you can rest your arm here but beyond that the sills
are low so people in the second and the third row can actually see out looking through my rear view
mirror i have pretty good visibility but when you flip this switch and you go to the full hd camera
out the back of the rear view mirror we're seeing this in a lot of brands it certainly improves the
visibility especially if you're trying to park in a tight spot and i really think that is a major
plus for visibility for all drivers you have to get comfortable with this when you're looking
at visibility in this category they've done a really good job and it earns an eight seating
is the most important feature it's not just the performance and the handling and the safety but
it's where you sit in this car if you're driving this car you better be comfortable and when it
comes to the driver's seat you've got three stage heated three stage cooling and of course heated
steering wheel which is more of a feature you've got your two-way lumbar that's just in and out
power seats great memory seats for two people but go to the passenger side it is power but there's
no lumbar whatsoever i'm kind of surprised it is three-stage heated and three-stage cooled
and they are pretty comfortable a little bit flat on the bottom cushion but let's take a look in the
second and third rows in the second row you have adjustable backs which is really great when you're
putting child safety seats here you've got some nice armrests that are good size there's storage
behind each of the seats behind the center console you have heated seats that is really nice plus
you've got your own climate control back here there are events up above as well two more 2.1
charging ports and a 12 volt outlet and in the center between these two captains chairs remember
you can have seven or eight people in this car depending upon how you configure it you've got two
cupholders in a little tray i don't know if i'd want to put much in this tray because it's kind
of low on the sides something could fall off but it'd be fine for a phone or something like that
i set the passenger seat for me i'm 5'8 so there's pretty good knee room head and shoulder room this
is really comfortable for two people in the second row if you were to order the bench seat in the
center i think you'd still find that you have plenty of room there's storage in the doors you
have a window lift and a door lock pretty easy pretty basic let's take a look at the third row
the third row is really tight and with many of the vehicles that are competitors in this category
there is certainly more room in the third row this is great for golf clubs a dog or very small child
honestly i'm all legs and i'm cramped in here i don't know how i'm going to get out of here
when you're looking at seating overall the second row is great the first row is missing
lumbar on the passenger side and the third row is really uncomfortable and remember to put the seats
down you have to have these headrests down or the seats won't fold down and when it comes to seating
overall it earns a six when you're looking at the technology one of the biggest things that toyota
did huge improvement was this gigantic 12.3 inch screen i think they did a fabulous job the fact is
you can put a lot of information in this area starting with your audio system of course you
can adjust all this you can also have your phone connected your navigation and your climate control
there's some arrows here if you press this you can switch from side to side you can also get your
heated seats your air cooled seats fabulous you can put audio here if you wish you can also see
how fuel efficient you are at this point there's history trip information and your energy overall
that's kind of cool because you can see the engine and how it's helping recharge the battery there's
additional information here whether you're normal or in all-wheel drive now this allows you to make
it a full screen so you have all the information available that you would need you can go back to
that home and again switch it so that the climate is on this side because maybe you don't want it
there again it allows you to be more customizable you've got your music you can set that up however
you want there's different sources including apple carplay android auto and amazon alexa so it really
gives you a lot it has grace note hd radio sirius xm and this is all through the jbl audio system
now i should note that on the jbl audio the speakers that are mounted on the a-pillar match
but they seem to be a bit on the plasticy side and we'll discuss that when we get to quality as
far as other features that are on this you can hit that menu button and you can put your destination
your audio your phone there are different apps and a lot of these are through the entune app suite
which is what they've been working on for a long time was hoping they would have that instead of
apple carplay android auto but unfortunately they had to switch because that was the demand
sort of like that vhs beta days competition i'm dating myself by even saying that all right
going back here here's your navigation screen it's a bit on the dated side but it does give
you the information that you want you can use your fingers to touch it by the screen or you
can use the buttons and i do appreciate that because we're all different we want to all be
able to adjust the map and so forth as we feel necessary rather than the manufacturer telling
us we can't do that and then again your climate control you can also press the buttons here so
they've done a nice job you also have the ability to make a dual mapping setup which is nice again
the home button you can set this up however you wish one of the nice things that allows you to be
completely customizable and that is a big part of technology for this vehicle including the
wi-fi which is standard there are five outlets for charging there are two 2.1 amps and there are two
regular outlets at 12 volt outlets as well as a connection here for usb overall when it comes
to technology and they've done a wonderful job with that a huge improvement it earns a nine
when it comes to features there are four trim levels available on this highlander an le and xle
a limited and a platinum and there's an xse coming that's the sportier version there are eight colors
available as well looking at the steering wheel it's got your pretty basic controls which is nice
nothing unusual very intuitive and easy to use as well as the stocks themselves everything is
easy to find on the left you'll find your heated steering wheel your defroster your ability to
open your hatch your automatic headlights which is part of their safety system and again you've got
your memory seats in front of you you've got two basic gauges there's an ability to make changes
to this information which is great you just press the buttons so you can get your information the
warning that there's i'm not wearing a seat belt right at this moment their safety setup is here
again you can check all of your energy same thing you can find in that center screen the information
that you're looking for and that includes showing you the safety systems and that they're working
and your fuel efficiency they've done a nice job trying to make it pretty easy and intuitive for
to use we talked about that center screen and technology below that is the climate control
that has three stage heated seats three stage air cooled seats so it's pretty easy to use very
intuitive i like that that doesn't make it very difficult and then you've got your vents of course
i do like the fact that they made a blue button here because it's a hybrid i want you to know
you're driving a hybrid at all times just blue gauges a lot of blue and then there's this nice
storage here nice feature tons of storage there's storage over here and there's storage in the doors
plenty of storage in this vehicle there's no one can say it's shy on storage there's additional
storage here you've got your outlets your two cup holders then you've got your drive mode sport
normal and eco mode and there's also an all ev mode note that that's only going to be when you're
driving at slow speeds and for a short period of time and then there's also the trail mode so if
you really want to go off-road we discussed that a little bit deeper in handling the center console
has this little cover and this is your wireless charging and below that is more storage with a
tray however there is no additional charging ports inside but it's a good size and you could probably
put a laptop in there that's smaller or an ipad for sure beyond the comfortable and easy access
of the second and third row there is a gigantic panoramic sunroof and all the controls to operate
that and when it comes to features there's quite a few of them and one of the ones i like best is the
rear view camera when you flip the switch it turns into an actual camera from the rear view mirror
and that is really nice for safety as well and for features we gave it an 8. upgrades and design for
the 2021 highlander include led headlights a different grille and a lower front grille this
grille is functional it's gloss black big logo really easy to read and you know it's a hybrid
because of the blue logo down below you have a functional grille this is nice as well in this
matte silver which is good especially a lot of bugs because if it's shiny it's really going to
stand out our test vehicle has 20 inch goodyear tires on alloy wheels are really nice looking
very modern in style as well as the upgrade to the design as a whole the xse is a sportier version
and that's going to have even different upgrades to it but going down the side one of the things
that bothers me is i have no problem with the all-wheel drive logo down here but why is the
hybrid logo up here it's like pick a direction it would be weird to have them both here i'd like
to see them like somewhere in the lower half of the door it just is too much it looks like it's
trying to make a statement but it's over the top like the clean lines of this whole vehicle and
really pretty color choices as well as the eight different choices that are available
going down the side there are very modern sleek lines and this is designed to be more
aerodynamic now let's go around to the back across the back are these very high brake lights it makes
it easy for you to see when you're behind that person and of course a third brake light up top
some manufacturers are hiding them in the middle somewhere and it tends to get lost what i do
like this effect is the highlander is here it actually could be up a little higher because
you almost lose the brand itself because you have this chrome strip in the way with the toyota logo
and of course the platinum edition again the hybrid logo is in a different spot let's try to
consolidate some of this labeling i like the matte silver across the back if you're bringing luggage
or something up you won't have to worry about it being so obvious if something shiny scratches it
so they really kind of thought about changing the texture of the look so when you see it it has a
much more modern look i like the wing across the back everything is really clean but when you're
looking at the design both inside and out it earns an eight the toyota highlander is built in indiana
and it's been a very successful vehicle all the way around it has really good quality there are
a few touches on the inside that i was kind of disappointed like how the speakers integrate into
the a-pillar just seemed like they cuts a few corners here and there but the vehicle itself
as far as quality is fantastic if you purchase one of these vehicles you'll be happy with the resale
value if you lease it you'll be happy with the results and of course a maintenance package comes
with that for the first few years i really like the vehicle overall but there are a few quality
things i'd like to see a step up and we discussed that throughout the different features including
the engine improvements and seating comfort and so forth so for quality we gave it an eight
going around to the back you'll see that the cubic square feet is 16 that's from the third row seats
up a little less than that of the competitors with the second row down you have 48.4 cubic inches of
storage put the second row down you have 84 cubic feet of storage that's quite a bit and if you're
moving kids in and out of college this is the kind of vehicle you're going to want when you're
looking at the overall total of a vehicle like this you have to look the starting point of thirty
eight thousand four hundred dollars our vehicle is a platinum it's pretty well loaded and it came
in at fifty one thousand dollars that's a lot of money and you have to look what you're getting for
your money and that's the most important factor when you're comparing the highlander to all their
competitors when you're looking for value at this price point and this vehicle coming in at fifty
one thousand dollars it earned a seven for value there are a lot of pros and cons with this vehicle
the pro very nice quiet ride excellent center screen with tons of information and apple carplay
and android auto is standard as well as amazon alexa so they've really put a lot of features
a lot of technology into this vehicle and the safety but speaking of safety one of the cons is
the fact that you have to buy up to a higher trim level to get all the things that you would want on
a vehicle of this size such as cross traffic alert and some of the things that you would really want
another con is that when you're talking about a vehicle in this 50 000 category you should have
lumbar on the passenger side i'm constantly complaining about that with all manufacturers
so you will get hit in that seating category until manufacturers start
listening to you and i saying we want to be comfortable on the passenger side as well
adding up all 10 categories compared to its competition in this segment it earns a 77.
if you haven't looked at all the other competition the list is down below we have reviewed every
single one of them some have hybrid options some do not so make sure that you're comparing hybrid
to hybrid if this is the category that you're looking at remember this vehicle is not a plug-in
hybrid so you do not get the 7 500 tax credit but please check with your insurance company
because a vehicle like this costs more because of the hybrid which means it might cost you more
to insure it everybody's going to have different factors when they figure out your insurance costs
and that's really important because that affects your budget there are more great tips on our
website car coach reports that's in english and in spanish also a copy of my book lauren fix's
guide to loving your car you can get that through there as well if you got value from this video
make sure to give it a like and a share put your comments down below we want to hear did you love
the highlander hybrid is this something that is absolutely going to be in your garage or are you
thinking you know what i'm looking at some of the competition if you bought one why did you and if
you didn't we want to know why as well what did you buy let's start that conversation so we can
all learn from each other because that's what this is all about we try to give you car smarts and we
can all share in the conversation we appreciate your follow on all forms of social media and
your support on our patreon page and we'll look forward to seeing you next time thank you so much