Review: The Grand Highlander SUV fits the bill as a minivan alternative for Toyota

The gas-powered version of the 2023 Toyota Grand Highlander.Photography by MARK RICHARDSON/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

The two most important words in any automaker’s vocabulary – after “profit,” of course – are “retention” and “conquest.” Retention means keeping an existing customer and conquest means selling a car to a customer who owned a vehicle from a competing brand.

Toyota knows this better than most, because it wants to be the only car maker you’ll consider when buying your next vehicle, from cradle to grave. To do this, though, Toyota knows it must be able to offer the right vehicle. You want a crossover or an SUV? There are almost 50 variations of six different models in the Toyota lineup, and that doesn’t include the more expensive Lexus models. But if you want to carry more than five people, your only option with the brand is the Sequoia or the Sienna. The Sequoia is rugged, expensive and intended for off-road driving, while the Sienna is a minivan, with all the perceived stigma that includes. These days, most buyers want a comfortable SUV.

The SUV is big and stubby, with a huge grille to help define its size.

Toyota wants to retain its customers who are looking for a three-row SUV. It does not want to become a conquest for Hyundai or Chevrolet.

So Toyota created the three-row Grand Highlander and I’m here in Hawaii to try it out. I didn’t bring my family to fill up the seats – believe me, they asked – but I sat in them all myself and can attest to their relative comfort, if you’ll pardon the pun.

The main question concerns the third row, and no, it’s not as spacious back there as in a typical minivan, but it’s better than most three-row vehicles. There’s plenty of headroom and leg room is adequate for adults if the passengers in the second row don’t push their seats all the way to the back. If you’ve already hit puberty, you probably won’t want to spend all day back there because the seats are fairly thin, but you’ll have a dedicated USB-C plug for your phone, so maybe you won’t think about it too much.

There are three powerplants in three grades. The two least-expensive grades (XLE and Limited) have a choice of regular gas engine or hybrid engine, and the most costly grade, the Platinum, has a more powerful hybrid engine in which the electric motor is primarily there to boost horsepower and torque. (Americans get slightly different choices, including the gas-only engine in the top-of-the-line Platinum, and the more powerful hybrid engine in the mid-range Limited, each of which were my test vehicles.) These are new engines in an all-new vehicle.

All Grand Highlanders come standard with Toyota’s latest driver’s assistance features.

The Grand Highlander is not just a slightly bigger Highlander SUV, though its dimensions are greater to create space for that third row. It’s five centimetres taller, which allows for improved headroom for everyone, and 15 centimetres longer with a wheelbase that’s 10 centimetres longer. This means there’s still nearly 600 litres of cargo space behind the third row, which Toyota showed me is enough to fit at least seven carry-on cases.

The most basic grade gets a bench seat for the second row that seats three people, so it can carry up to eight passengers. The two more costly grades get a pair of more comfortable captain’s seats in the second row, so they’ll fit seven people at most.

I spent most of my time driving the regular gas-powered Grand Highlander. It was pleasant and had sufficient power for overtaking. It’s fitted with an eight-speed transmission for better fuel economy and didn’t need to hunt through the gears on Hawaii’s many uphill and downhill stretches.

The hybrid is intended to reduce fuel consumption, which shows in its official figures and is impressive for such a large vehicle. It has an electronic continuously variable transmission, which strained a little on the ascents. When it’s time for overtaking, it’s best to plan ahead.

The more powerful i-Force Max hybrid turbo engine was easily the most enjoyable to drive, with a six-speed transmission and plenty of gusto for knocking your head back in the seat when passing. Its fuel consumption isn’t bad considering its power, thanks to the electric motor creating most of the extra kick.

Tech specs

The Grand Highlander is not cheap, but it’s competitive and will surely hold its value well.

Base price/as tested: $50,490 / $65,450, plus $3,380 for freight and predelivery inspection
Engine (horsepower/lb-ft of torque): 2.4-litre turbo four-cylinder – 265/243; 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid – 243/310; 2.4-litre turbo four cylinder hybrid – 362/400
Transmission/drive: Eight-speed automatic or six-speed automatic/all-wheel drive
Fuel consumption (litres per 100 kilometres for city, highway and combined) XLE Gas – 11.2 / 8.7 / 10.2; XLE Hybrid – 6.5 / 7.3 / 6.9; Platinum Hybrid – 9.0 / 8.7 / 8.7
Alternatives: Honda Pilot, Mazda CX-90, Nissan Pathfinder, Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade, Chevrolet Traverse, Ford Explorer

Looks

It’s big and stubby, with a huge grille to help define its size. SUV lovers will appreciate that.

Interior

The two more costly grades get a pair of more comfortable captain’s seats in the second row, so they’ll fit seven people at most.

There are lots of thoughtful touches in a spacious cabin, with plenty of storage spaces and seven USB-C ports. Access to the third row is simple: the second-row seats tip and slide forward, and there’s an inside step and even a handgrip to help the passenger climb inside.

Performance

Performance is respectable, given the size and two-tonne weight of the vehicle. Toyota says the gas engine will accelerate from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in 7.7 seconds and the hybrid will do so in 8.8, while the 362-horsepower turbo hybrid gets there in 6.5 seconds. That more powerful version, and the gas version, is rated to tow 2,268 kilograms (5,000 pounds), and the hybrid is rated for 1,588 kilograms (3,500 pounds).

Technology

All Grand Highlanders come standard with Toyota’s latest driver’s assistance features, including a blind-spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert – very valuable for such a large vehicle in a shopping mall parking lot. Pay extra for the Limited and you can get parking assistance and even Traffic Jam Assist, which helps drive the SUV in traffic at speeds up to 40 kilometres an hour – under supervision of an alert driver, of course. The Platinum grade also provides four different drive modes for different terrains.

Cargo

Aside from all the storage cubbies, there’s 583 litres of cargo space behind the third row, 1,640 litres when you fold that row flat and 2,761 litres when you fold the second row flat as well. This is good but it’s no minivan. Compare those numbers to the Toyota Sienna, which claims 949, 2,129 and 2,860 litres, respectively. Or the king of them all, the Chrysler Pacifica, which claims a total 3,978 litres of space when you fold the stow’n’go seats beneath the floor.

The verdict

Toyota needed to develop a vehicle that could be sold to Canadian families as an alternative to a minivan. The body-on-frame Sequoia was too costly and niche, but the Grand Highlander fits the bill. It’s not cheap, but it’s competitive and will surely hold its value well. Buyers are unlikely to be disappointed.

The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.

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