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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Highlander Hybrid New Toyota Highlander Hybrid Owners - Give Us Your Report
143 messages, Last post on Nov 19, 2009 at 10:23 AM
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Replying to: 1aardvark (Aug 26, 2005 11:58 am) It sounds as if your driving cycle fits the design criteria of the HH. Congratulations on your ride!
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Replying to: stevedebi (Aug 26, 2005 12:14 pm) I traded in a 2002 RAV4 with 32K miles and recall getting 20 mpg in the city consistently. Really hoping I didn't make a mistake here. There is a lot to like in this feature filled limited HH, but for the money I can do without the fluf like heated seats. I live in Texas and it is HOT! : ) |
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Hi all, I have been following the forum and have read nearly every post since day one but i have never posted so I thought might give you all my new HH report. All your posts have been immensly helpful in helping to make my decision and understand the car so a big thanks to all of you for adding to the forum. I live in San Francisco but dreaded the three year wait list locally for a HH and didn't want to play any games so I chose to purchase one in Dallas Texas where I have family. After making a bunch of calls I ordered a 4WDi, limited, bluestone metallic, with the steel horse tube steps three months ago from Toyota of Richardson (TX) and plunked down a $500 deposit. I was first on the wait list. I knew Texas was the right kind of place to get a HH and was able to get at MSRP with a large discount on the tube steps. Just FYI, Richardson Toyota has four unsold HH on the lot and they haven't been selling well there so anybody in the region who is interested might give them a try. My car, exactly as ordered, came in two weeks ago so last week I flew in with my girlfriend, picked up the car, visited with family for a few days, and then drove it 1700 miles back to San Francisco. My experience at Toyota was good and they didn't try to sell me anything extravagant other than a 7yr/100,000 mile extended warranty from an independant provider (the name escapes me but it is one of the largest warranty companies). For some reason that dealership did not sell Toyota ExtraCare. So I talked them down nearly a thousand dollars (it took 45 minutes) and got the warranty along with wheel/tire protection for $2000 total. I plan on driving the car for five or six years so I thought this would be good as I have never had an extended warranty not pay for itself over it's lifetime. On the trip to San Francisco we went through five tanks of gas and averaged 29.6 mpg. My best tank was 34.1 mpg with a strong tailwind and my worst was 24mpg for the 300 miles heading through death valley with a head wind and temperatures reading 122 degrees. The tires were at 40psi from the dealer so I kept them at this higher pressure for the entire trip. I was able to keep the car in electric mode up to around 35 mph and then do a pulse and glide between 30 and 35 but at speeds greater than 35 the gasoline motor always kicks in. The throttle response was smooth and I noticed no surge when the gasoline motor kicked in. In general the hybrid system is transparent and does it's job extremely well. Here are my overal impressions of the car: There is plenty of power -even at highway speeds so passing and merging was effortless. The car has a nice highway ride although the suspension rides very stiff when you hit larger potholes. I spent 30 miles on very bad dirt roads in the Mojave and the car handled admirably - again with a stiff but very controlled ride. Braking is excellent but the car dives more than I would like. Handling is also decent although it feels pigish, in comparison to the non-hybrid, in tight corners or when taking decreasing radius turns at higher speeds. I think is due to the extra weight from the hybrid system. I'm used to driving a 3-series BMW so my expectations on handling are quiet high... I was impressed at the fit and finish of the car including the isolation from road and wind noise and absence of squeeks and rattles but there was a rattling inside the driver seat seat belt height adjuster that annoyed me for a whole day. Does anyone have any experience with this? While driving around parking lots and the visitor center areas at the Grand Canyon I learned the hard way that the car is so quiet that pedestrians will step in front of you. I nearly hit an older couple who walked directly in our path but I manged to nail the brakes and stop in time. I've learned my lesson. The climate control system is quite good as it managed to keep us comfortable in the mojave in 120+ temperatures although once the mercury climbed past 110 the car slowly got warmer, even with the temperature on the lowest setting, but the air was dehimidified and was an OK temperature (about 75) in the cabin. The stereo is surprisingly bad with very poor stereo imaging, boomy bass, edgy highes, and boxy mids, and has horrible AM reception (expected). I was annoyed listening to a lot of music that sounds much better in many much less expensive cars than this. I guess I didn't buy this car for the stereo. Passenger and driver comfort was great and I feel the seats are spot on. However, as most of you know the third row is pretty much useless for anyone except small kids and furry creatures. So overall, I am quite pleased with the car! I am sure it will be improved in every category in the next couple of years but for now it does exactly what I wanted. It is powerful, safe, attractive, comfortable, has great utility, gets good mileage, and makes a statement to auto manufactures. I'll may just be in line for the 2015 HH.
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Replying to: blewdog (Aug 30, 2005 4:47 pm) For less impact harshness lower the tire pressure, but then your mileage will go down a few MPG. Good luck with your HH and welcome to the forum!!!
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Replying to: blewdog (Aug 30, 2005 4:47 pm) If you are a purist audiophile (ARC, ML, Nordost, Wilson, etc) demanding perfection, this post will do no good  . but if you will tolerate car stereo, it may work out with some "break-in" time. We had same reaction to the stereo (JBL w/ Changer) for the first 6+ hours playing CD. The initial bass was mushy and boomy, horrible! The treble was too high, almost metallic. Mid-range was "where is it?". So in the beginning, we adjusted the bass down 2 bars, treble down 2 and mid-range up 1 just to be able to tolerate the "noise". It was painful adjusting for different CD's. After close to 12+ hours now, the bass seems to be firming up, getting tight. Treble has lost much of its metallic hardness and the midrange is showing up more. We have old ears so we still set bass down 1 bar, but mid-range is back to "neutral". JBL makes decent product so we were surprised at first but the extended break-in seems to be working. Another good sign is that different CD shows up differently rather than the same, so the CD player and wires and electronics are fairly decent. Good luck with your HH listening sessions .
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Replying to: falconone (Aug 31, 2005 3:14 am) RE: Toyota Highlander hybrid 4wd The dealer offered us the 7yr. 100,000 extended warranty for 1,700...We thought it to expensive and turned it down..Where did you see one for sale for 995.00...Thanks!
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Replying to: aizm (Mar 11, 2006 4:22 am) By the way, I'm thinking of contacting Consumer Reports (I'm a magazine and on-line subscriber) and telling them that the 22 mpg they report for the HH is ridiculous. Aren't almost all of us doing much better than that? Or has someone already contacted them? Kind of curious. . . mmreid |
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Replying to: mmreid (Mar 12, 2006 7:57 am) The technology is present in the vehicles to allow us to maximize the FE if we use the best features correctly... driving smarter. On balance in all the comparo's and articles that state that '.... the vehicle only got (_____ mpg ) being driven the way a normal driver would driver...' obscures the fact that the tester is not likely proficient in the use of the HSD system. Heck they've been in it for what 30 min. Honestly, give me any of the three HH, Prius, 400h and I will be able to provide you with any FE value you desire from 35 mpg to 70 mpg. Give it to a tester who has little idea of it's capabilities and you can see how such results might happen. Yes you are in fact smarter and more knowledgable than CR on this point.
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Mar 12, 2006 11:17 am) BUT the average mainstream consumers interested in hybrids don't know about these techniques and if they were to go drive these cars, they'd get something similar to CR. And in all fairness, I think if someone were to drive an ICE highlander with these techniques (light acceleration, anticipate stops, watch speed) and had an instant MPG guage, I think conventional cars would also see an increase in MPG- although not the same magnitude as a hybrid. Getting back to CR- I think it's their job to be as "consistent" as possible when testing ANY car. I think they'd be opening a can of worms if for each car, they "played" to that car's strengths. maybe a reasonable comprimise would be to list the MPG as 22, but have a footnote stating higher numbers can be acheived using blah blah techniques. Maybe as teh hybrid segment emerges out of a niche market, these testing procedures can be modified to reflect the higher percentage of hybrids on the road.
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Replying to: otis1 (Mar 12, 2006 7:13 pm) Most people have unrealistic expectation of the HH and set themselves up for disappointment. CR should have added a little blurb about how to increase mileage, that would have done the public a great service. Not sure why they did not bother. I think mmreid should send CR an e-mail to at least ask them to add that blurb or at least discuss it. The part of the CR report I find strange, as another post had mentioned earlier, is this foolish focus on ROI. No one ever analyzes the ROI factors in a $40,000 HUMMER, BMW or $60,000 Mercedes, Lexus or Toyota LandCruiser. Everyone just assumes it is "normal" to pay a premium for a "luxury" car. When it comes to paying a premium for a cleaner car, with a new technology that burns less gas with similar or better performance, suddenly the focus is on whether one can recoup the premium. Suddenly, there is a ton of argument as to why such new technology is unnecessary. I completely fail to see this logic. I like to ask CR or the anti-gas-electric hybrid crowd what is the ROI on that $40K HUMMER sitting in a suburban driveway that sees at most 1 off-road trip per year if at all? What of that giant Toyota 4x4 Landcruiser or Lexus GX470 sitting on more driveways doing nothing but shuttle children around town? What is their ROI computation? Where is the gas comsumption, emission and price premium analysis? Most 2007 models, including many of Toyota's models (RAV4, CAMRY, Lexus), now offer ICE engines at 270-hp and up! Where is the "green" in any of these manufacturers? Yet no one says anything. Strange...... |
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