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| 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Inside & Out | |||
Given the Prius's rousing success, it's a curious strategy that Toyota would style the Highlander so invisibly. Exactly three items distinguish the hybrid from the heathen: a chrome grille, LED taillights, and the 2-inch "Hybrid Synergy Drive" decal right below the word "Highlander." This SUV's sales success should shed some light on the question of whether people have been picking the Prius more for standout styling or Toyota technology.Not a lot of the innards changed, either, meaning buyers can look forward to the same clean, attractive interior found in other Highlanders. The steering wheel, dash design, roomy and numerous compartments, etc. are right where they should be. The expensive-feeling buttons and switches are kept company by the Limited model's Lexus-like leather; electroluminescent gauges ("Optitron") also recall Toyota's upscale brand. And thanks for having the shift lever stick out from in front, like on a car. Just give us less flimsy cupholders and get rid of all that repulsive bogus aluminum, please; it doesn't compliment the cream colors as well as does the repulsive bogus wood. One thing Toyota did was send the tachometer packing; in its place stands a battery meter. Why? The engine is still the star of the show, and tracking its activity is both more interesting and more indicative of fuel usage than anything the battery does. Couldn't they have just left the tach as-is and tacked on a mini sub-tach for the battery in the same cluster? There's plenty of space. The only other switcharoo comes into play if you order the upscale Limited trim line with the $2,000 navigation system, which buys the fancy video game displays telling you the intricacies of a hybrid's moment-to-moment life. On top of the usual screens (Map, Destination, Menu, Audio, Climate), the hybrid part adds two more: one that monitors average MPG, instant MPG (via bar graph), and MPG over the last 30 minutes (via bar graph), and another screen that gives instant MPG (numerically), battery charge, and a detailed diagram tracking the direction of energy flow. Condensed versions of either screen can also be summoned in the readout beneath the speedometer; watching power flow from the little speedo screen and consumption from the big screen seems to make the best infotainment compromise. Some compromises could have easily been solved with a little more thought. Because the space-hog of a stereo insisted on taking up two DIN slots, the climate controls got evicted to the navigation screen. And if the Highlander would just drop that dorky cassette deck (uh, isn't this a technology showcase?), the radio's preset buttons could be living on the faceplate. Instead, this clumsy solution forces this poor little interface to house two more tenants when it's busy enough juggling the navigation and hybrid screens, which are each complex enough in their own right. But each of those systems works well. The JBL stereo, while lacking in MP3 and iPod capability, blasts the cleanest, deepest sound through its eight door-mounted speakers among any Toyota with the JBL upgrade I've heard yet. Toyota's mouse-less navigation system, as usual, makes you smear the screen with your finger and lacks some of Honda's configuration options (keyboard type, guidance prompt frequency, etc.), but is otherwise as fast, friendly, and easy. I wish the A/C system would drop it habit of switching to recirculated air on each startup, but no complaints with its chill capability. Some complaints with the driving position. Years after the Camry and Solara got telescoping steering wheels, the Highlander's remains fixed and far away, which conspire with the too-reclined seat to keep us long-legged types at a long-distance relationship with the steering wheel. The wheel's upward tilt was also makes the Highlander feel a bit bus-like, and the upper rim can block the speedometer. May you have better luck than me. The seat itself is perfectly fine, as is the one next to it, and the Highlander's height probably gives it the most pleasant entry/exit of any vehicle. The three behind it are quite comfortable too (they recline, slide, and have two cupholders in each door), if just a little bit low. The thing is, if it were any higher, six-footers would run out of headroom. Funny, the Camry doesn't have this problem. As for the third-row seat, its only practical use seems to be traumatizing young children at record-young ages thanks to exhausting entry, tall walls, and ass-on-the-grass seats. But all seats in the house recline, all have 3-point belts and head restraints, and all but the back of the bus get side air bags for body and head. It doesn't hurt that the Highlander aced every crash test known to man with 5 stars apiece. While the Highlander can't hope to approach the Sienna's versatility, folding down its rearmost seat quadruples capacity from 10.5 cubic feet to 39.7. Tumble the second row and you get all of 80.6 to work with, suggesting none of the hybrid componentry (including the battery pack living beneath the middle seats) stole any space. |
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