2025 Toyota Highlander

Pros

• It was a peaceful and pleasant trip.
• Easy to read.
• Better gas mileage for an SUV with three rows of seats.

Cons

• The top row is only for kids.
• There’s little room for stuff behind the third row.

How do you get a Highlander to go? It’s more fun to drive around town in the Highlander because its four-cylinder engine has a lot of power at low speeds. On the Invoice Pricing test track, our all-wheel-drive Highlander went from 0 to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, which is a little faster than most three-row midsize SUVs with V6 engines.

The Highlander is easy to drive on winding roads and can stop quickly and stiffly. When going around corners, body roll is controlled, and the available torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system helps by sending power to all four wheels, which makes the SUV easier to handle. (It also helps you grip when it’s slippery.) Thanks to its many high-tech features, the Highlander seems more agile than the average midsize SUV. The Highlander makes everyday driving easier, that’s for sure.

How does the Highlander make you feel? The Highlander is a very luxurious way to travel. When going faster, the soft suspension doesn’t feel floaty or unclear, but it does smooth out both big and small bumps in the road. The front seats are comfortable, even on long trips, and the captain’s chairs in the second row of our Highlander are almost as comfy. The third-row seats are one of the worst things about the Highlander. Because it is so small and the seat is so low to the floor, the third row could be better for adults.

The basic tri-zone system does a good job of heating and cooling, which helps make up for the fact that the seat heating and ventilation are only average. The climate settings are easy to use. The only thing that makes the four-cylinder engine worse than the V6 is the sound it makes. When you’re just going around, you don’t notice it much, but when you need to speed up, the four-cylinder’s simpler music comes to life. Other than that, we only have a few issues. No squeaks, rattles, or wind noise can be heard, even at higher highway speeds. The road only makes a little noise.

How is the state of the inside? The third row of seats in a midsize SUV with three rows is one of the smallest. The first and second rows, on the other hand, are very roomy. If you really need to carry all of your friends and family, the Kia Telluride or Volkswagen Atlas are better choices. It’s easy to find the best position for driving once you’re sitting down, but bigger drivers might wish the telescoping steering wheel could extend a bit further. It might be too far.

Great marks for how well you can see outside of the Highlander. The small roof beams in front make it easier to see around corners. Some of the Highlander’s added tech features are also worth having. For instance, the camera-based rearview mirror lets you see what’s behind you, even when the trunk is full. A clear, rotatable surround-view camera system is available and gives you a full view of the car from all sides. Sometimes, it can take time to decide what to get for the infotainment system and instrument panel.

What’s wrong with the tech? Toyota used to be behind other car companies when it came to technology, but the new Highlander shows that they have come a long way. The standard screen is 8 inches, but the 12.3-inch touchscreen that you can choose to have is big and answers inputs quickly. However, shadows on the surface can make it harder to use the touchscreen than it should be. The newest software from Toyota also looks more up-to-date. The first and second rows of our test Highlander each had five USB ports, but the third row didn’t have any.

All Highlanders come standard with a wide range of advanced driving aids, which many rivals don’t offer. That being said, we like adaptive cruise control, but we believe the lane departure warning is too sensitive in normal mode and too sensitive at low levels.

What’s going on with storage? The Highlander’s trunk could be better. Behind the third row, there is only 16 cubic feet of room, which is needed for the class. A little more than the average 48.4 cubic feet of space opens up behind the second row. The liftover height is about average for a midsize SUV, and both rows of seats in the back can be folded down to make a flat room for extra stuff. There are two shelves built into the dashboard, big pockets, and cupholders for storage in the interior. (One also has a clever way to store phone cables.)

Have you got any kids? The extra captain’s chairs can be moved forward and backward a lot, which makes it easy to fit a big car seat that faces backward in the second row. The car seat anchors make it easy to find and use different child safety seats. However, there are no clips in the third row.

How much fuel does it use? The four-cylinder engine in the Highlander doesn’t use much gas. The EPA says that the all-wheel-drive version will get 24 mpg combined in city and highway driving, which is what we saw. (Models with front-wheel drive get 25 mpg on average, which is a little better.) A few more miles per gallon may seem like a little less than the competition, but for this type of car, it is a big deal. With a very good 26.6 mpg on our real-world test route, it looks like the EPA’s predictions may come true. One important thing is that the Highlander Hybrid should get 36 mpg overall.

Is the Highlander really worth much? The inside of the Highlander is well-made, with soft, padded areas where they are needed the most, even though it doesn’t look like the most expensive SUV in its class. If you compare it to the famous Honda Pilot, which isn’t as good of a deal these days, or to a Kia Telluride, which usually comes with a big price tag, this one is also a good deal.

Toyota’s warranty covers the body panels for three years, or 36,000 miles, and the engine for five years, or 60,000 miles, which is usual for this class of car. Also, regular upkeep is free for the first two years.

The Highlander’s front end is designed to look fast, which is nice, but it might be too agile. Still, the Highlander handles curves better than most midsize SUVs with three rows of seats, which may be enough for buyers in this class.

As of this writing, Toyota hasn’t said anything public about the 2025 Highlander. After looking at the Highlander from last year, we still think the mid-level XLE trim is the best deal. If anything changes, we’ll let you know. This one has most of the things you’d expect in a family hauler, and the price is fair.

Different kinds of Toyota Highlanders

The Toyota Highlander is a large SUV with three rows of seats that can fit up to eight people. It comes in five trim levels: LE, XLE, XSE, Limited, and Platinum. Each one has an eight-speed automatic gearbox and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 265 horsepower. All trim levels come with front-wheel drive as standard, but all-wheel drive is offered on some.