Toyota Highlander History
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The Toyota Highlander is a five- or seven-seat crossover vehicle, built from the vast Toyota parts bin that also has spawned the Camry and Avalon sedans, the Venza crossover, the Sienna minivan, and the Lexus RX crossover and Lexus ES sedan. Assembled in Princeton, Indiana, the Highlander has other family vehicles to compete with in the Toyota family alone--but also sells against the likes of the Nissan Murano, Ford Edge and Ford Flex, Mazda CX-9, Honda Pilot and Chevrolet Traverse.
The Toyota Highlander first went on sale in the U.S. as a 2001 model. That original Highlander bore very plain styling, inside and out--hardly related to the related Camry sedan, more like the Subaru Forester in its boxy, upright stance. The compact overall length of the 2001-2007 Highlander had many advantages, though--among them a usefully tall interior space and great visibility. Relatively lightweight and equipped with a choice of either a 160-horsepower four-cylinder engine or a 220-hp V-6, the 2001-2003 Highlander also came with a choice of a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic on four-cylinder models; the V-6 version came only with the four-speed automatic. All-wheel drive was a popular option.
In the 2004 model year, the Highlander gained a new 3.3-liter V-6 with 230 hp, and a five-speed automatic. The four-cylinder powertrain was carried over. The Highlander also added a third-row seating option, giving it added flexibility over the five-passenger Ford Edge and Honda Pilot. A very slight makeover heralded these updated versions. In 2006, a mild-hybrid edition of the all-wheel-drive V-6 Highlander was introduced, but fuel economy benefits were slim. The system shared its electric batteries and motors with the Lexus RX400h, also new that year.
A new Toyota Highlander arrived for the 2008 model year, and it's something of a mixed blessing. Fans of the pragmatic original will find the new generation much larger but also much softer in driving feel, though also more impressively finished inside. The four-cylinder version makes 187 hp and is paired with a six-speed automatic, but it's no longer as refined as Toyota's small fours used to be. There's a big, automatic-shifted, 270-hp V-6 option--and it's better suited to the hefty new Highlander. Dynamically, neither version feels very connected or responsive--a problem aggravated with the latest Highlander Hybrid and its feeling-free electric power steering.
Initially, for this generation of Highlander, Toyota had planned to shift assembly from Japan to a new facility underway in Blue Springs, Mississippi. The downturn in the global economy and in car sales put that plan on hold; the plant, still unoccupied today, may one day manufacture the Prius hybrid. For 2008, Toyota imported Japanese-built Highlanders; as of the 2010 model year, Toyota now sources U.S. editions from its Indiana assembly plant.
A facelifted Highlander could arrive in the 2011 model year, if Toyota's regular product cycles can be maintained. The company's recent troubles in the U.S. are likely to slow down the automaker's torrid new-product pace for a while.
