The new mid-size Highlander slots in as a car-based (uni-body) SUV slightly larger in capacity than the truck-based 4Runner. Like its kissing cousin, the Lexus RX300, the Toyota Highlander offers lots of flexibility when it comes to carrying people and cargo. It totes four people comfortably, five less so. Alternatively, the seats can be folded down for cargo carrying.

The Highlander performs decorously on street and highway pretending to be a car. Yet it can swallow with ease impromptu buys at flea markets and get them home despite sudden worsening of the weather. Women went gaga over the Lexus RX 300 and will be equally at home in this variation from Toyota. Men of a practical bent will like the more utilitarian attitude of the Highlander. Everyone will cheer the obvious value: for all its shared components the Highlander is some $8,000 to $10,000 less than the RX 300.