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Standard and orderly with a bourgeois eco-twist.
“Be typical and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you might be violent and original in your function.” Coined by French realist Gustave Flaubert (author of Madame Bovary), he is said to have lived by this maxim for most of his life. And while we have no idea how Flaubert moved about 18th-century France, were he alive nowadays, it is a good bet he’d locate the typical and orderly qualities of Toyota’s Highlander hybrid to his liking. High in practicality and low in passion, the Highlander Hybrid is positioned perfectly to make middle-class dreams come correct.
Freshly Familiar
In an effort to spice factors up a bit for 2014, Toyota treated the Highlander to a comprehensive exterior makeover, adding 3 inches of overall length and replacing the previous model’s boxy shape with some sharp and swoopy lines that echo the brand’s existing design direction. But the guys in the powertrain department apparently didn’t get the memo about spicing items up. Returning for one more tour of duty is the identical 231-hp 3.5-liter V-6 gas engine, pair of electric motors (one particular every single for the front and rear axles), 45-kW nickel-metal hydride battery pack, and constantly variable transmission that motivated the earlier version. Not surprisingly, the combined net horsepower remains steadfast at 280.
In typical day-to-day operation, the gas-hybrid program remains transparent, seamlessly switching the gasoline engine on and off as required with out distress. Depress the accelerator past the 3-quarter mark, nevertheless, and things get noisy, as the CVT lets the gas engine wind up, placing the coarser side of its personality front and center. Sadly, forward progress is not commensurate with its bluster. We endured the drone and slight vibration lengthy enough to record a 7.6-second -to-60 sprint, as properly as a 15.8-second quarter-mile. That’s only a handful of tenths off the 7.3- and 15.6-second instances recorded by the non-hybrid 2014 Highlander V-6 AWD we tested. Even although neither version of the Highlander can be classified as rapid, it is at least comforting to know that not much performance is sacrificed in the quest for environmental virtue.
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Much more telling is the 24 mpg we recorded in mixed driving. Only 4 mpg south of the EPA’s combined number of 28, it’s a important improvement more than the 19 mpg we recorded with a practically identically outfitted V-6 model. But you will pay up front for that efficiency, as our test car’s sticker checked in much more than $ 5500 greater than the V-6 non-hybrid. Whether or not or not this disparity operates in your favor depends on your person driving habits, and quite likely the opinions of your social circle.
Braking to a quit from 70 mph consumed 187 feet, inside spitting distance of the 188 feet necessary by our non-hybrid V-6 Highlander. But beyond the numbers, the Highlander hybrid’s slightly schizophrenic brake-pedal behavior irritated us in day-to-day driving. Initial braking starts out smooth and linear, but you reach a point where the pedal travel has a diminished effect on deceleration. The nonlinear braking feels downright unnatural. Dynamically speaking, the Highlander hybrid is cut from the exact same cloth as the traditional model. Content to stay in lane without correction, the steering nevertheless is largely indifferent to small corrections and sluggish to comply with abrupt inputs. Turn difficult into a corner, and the net is considerable understeer—our tester labeled it “excessive”—and a heaping assisting of body lean. But again, intensity is not the Highlander’s mission. Its strength is offering calm, constant transportation.
A Calming Influence
To that end, the interior checks all the right boxes: It is quiet (69 db at 70 mph), impacts are effectively isolated and muted, and components are segment-proper. You can not miss the huge shelf residing beneath the dash, which, in spite of a practical cable pass-by way of that keeps personal device cables organized and a soft-touch surface to keep them from sliding about, likely will turn out to be an unorganized and totally visible repository for the detritus of loved ones life. On the other hand, the gigantic storage bin beneath the center armrest effortlessly swallowed a radar detector, 2 handheld video games, and a DSLR camera with room to spare, maintaining them out of sight even though parked.
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Leather-trimmed, heated and cooled front seats come common in the hybrid, and the leather-trimmed second-row buckets—a bench seat is not accessible in the hybrid—now travel about 3 inches farther forward, delivering simpler access to the third row. Operated with a single lever, sliding the second-row buckets forward proved to be easy, a boon for these with kids to herd. Despite the fact that Toyota claims the 60/40 third-row seat is 3.3 inches wider than it was previously, it does little to shatter the stereotype of the way-back being suitable only for children and contortionists. Speaking of which, Toyota managed to position the hybrid battery pack and AWD hardware in such a fashion that it doesn’t infringe on cargo capacity, the hybrid offering the same 13.6 cubic feet of storage space behind the third row and 42 behind the second row as the standard Highlander. Models without having the panoramic sunroof get a tad far more space, measuring in at 13.8 and 42.3 cubic feet.
Only 5 options appeared on the order sheet for our already effectively-equipped Highlander hybrid Limited Platinum AWD test vehicle: a first-help kit ($ 29), carpeted floor and cargo mats ($ 225), a cargo net ($ 49), physique-side molding ($ 209), and running boards ($ 599). All in, the as-tested value came to a whopping $ 51,761 (the base cost for a Highlander hybrid is an equally lofty $ 48,225), a quantity that may possibly throw a kink in Flaubert’s whole “regular and orderly” concept.
Suburban super-moms, fire-eating sideshow freaks, and rogue self-mutilation performance artists take note: If you are searching for a predictable antidote to the hassles of day-to-day life with a nod to eco-consciousness thrown in for very good measure, the Highlander hybrid will get the job carried out without having stealing your spotlight. Just preserve the price in check, lest your bourgeois contemporaries accuse you of selling out.
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2014 Toyota Highlander Hybrid AWD Tested: Higher in Practicality, Low in Passion
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