2016 Suv Toyota Highlander Sport 4dr Reviews

2016 Suv Toyota Highlander Sport 4dr Reviews - The 2016 Toyota Highlander is a midsize crossover that's designed to combine the carlike ride of the popular Toyota Camry sedan with the practicality and family-friendly capabilities of an SUV. Fully redesigned last year, the latest Toyota Highlander succeeds in that aim like few of its rivals have.

If you're familiar with the old Highlander, the latest model looks a little different on the outside. A lot has changed on the inside too; the Highlander boasts a far nicer interior than its predecessor did; it's an interior that we now think is near the top of its class in terms of quality and appearance.

As for the Highlander Hybrid, it's only offered with all-wheel drive, and it features a 3.5-liter V6 that teams up with an electric motor and a battery pack to produce 280 net hp. This system is also carried over from the previous.

Highlander generation. The Hybrid's transmission is a continuously variable automatic, meaning that you won't feel it shift because it doesn't have discrete gears. Fuel economy is 27 mpg city/28 mpg hwy.

Toyota said one of its goals was that the new Highlander be “perceived as upscale, sophisticated and luxurious.” In my view, the interior is a visual match for anything in its class. The basic controls are easy to use, and daily, down-to-earth needs have not been ignored.

There’s a huge bin between the front seats, the cup holders will handle anything from a small cup to a 1-liter Nalgene bottle and a clever padded tray that runs most of the width of the dash, giving both the driver and passenger easy-to-reach storage.

The front seats are wide and clearly aimed at accommodating broad anatomical variances. The legroom for the first two rows is virtually unchanged, which is not a bad thing. There’s plenty of room for two 6-foot passengers in the second row, but the third row is useful only for small children, particularly since legroom back there has been reduced by 2.2 inches.

The steering is light and communicates little about the road or what the front wheels are doing. But some relationships work reasonably well with one party being distant and numb, and that includes the Highlander.

It takes a while to appreciate this subtlety, however. At first the Highlander seems soft and sloppy, a feeling reinforced by that sometimes extravagantly bouncy ride.

2016 Suv Toyota Highlander Sport 4dr Reviews

The Highlander is highly rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The organization, which is financed by the insurance industry, has given the 2014 model its highest rating, Top Safety Pick+, after a challenging series of crash tests.

The 2016 Toyota Highlander marks the beginning of the third generation of the family SUV that debuted in 2001. The new people hauler gets a restyled exterior, more technology inside and out, and a few quirky features that could make traveling with the family a lot more manageable.

Three engine configurations are available, starting with the 2.7-liter I4. It's only offered on the LE trim and makes 185 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. Fuel mileage is rated at 25 mpg combined. The next step up, power-wise, is the 3.5-liter V6. It makes 270 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque and also returns 25 mpg.

Finally, the Highlander hybrid comes with the 3.5-liter V6 and three electric motors. One is driven by the engine and powers the other two, the second pushes the front wheels and the third motivates the rear wheels.

Total system power is rated at 280 hp, while fuel mileage goes up to 28 mpg combined. Six-speed transmissions are standard with the four and six; the hybrid gets a CVT.

The previous full-time four-wheel drive is ditched in favor of an on-demand system that can send up to 50 percent of the torque to the rear wheels. A lock mode holds power at 50/50 and turns off automatically at 25 mph. A “snow mode” button allows for easier takeoffs in the slippery stuff.

Three trims are offered in addition to the hybrid and LE: LE plus, XLE and Limited. The hybrid is based on the Limited trim with the Platinum options, including safety features from the Driver Tech Package, giant panoramic moonroof, heated steering wheel and heated second-row seats.

2016 Suv Toyota Highlander Sport 4dr Reviews

The 2016 Highlander will seat eight passengers with a second-row bench seat that's standard. And with the third and/or second row folded, the Highlander will still swallow a ton of cargo.

With blind-spot indicators, rear cross-traffic sensors and lane-departure warnings, Toyota expects the Highlander to get a five-star safety rating from NHTSA and a top safety pick from IIHS. There are eight airbags.

Toyota expects to sell about 140,000 Highlanders in 2016, 90 percent of which, they predict, will carry some form of the V6.

Thrust was more than adequate from the sixer, but unlike other semi-powerful SUVs, its suspension was tight enough that it didn't have a lot of pitch or roll. The throttle tip-in was also well modulated for smooth take offs.

This Highlander uses MacPherson struts up front, with retuned coil springs and a double wishbone setup in back. The coil springs were relocated, which frees up a little more interior room.