It's a luxury car in disguise, a roomy luxury wagon really, a vehicle that sets the new standard for carlike sport-utility vehicles. I can't call this one a truck, because it doesn't feel or ride anything like a truck. This is what a sport-ute of any refinement should feel like. Toyota has wised up and is aiming this straight at the suburban crowd tired of climbing up into some behemoth that rides like a rude steer at the Banff rodeo and drinks more fuel than a camel refilling its humps. Highlander fits in Toyota's lineup between the small RAV4 and trucklike 4Runner.
Pricing is amazingly mainstream, low in fact, compared with some trucky midsize utes.
Highlander is way beyond average, competing more with the likes of the Infiniti QX4, Acura MDX and its cousin, the Lexus RX300. Several passengers said it was one of the quietest vehicles they had ridden in and were surprised at its starting price, figuring this as a luxury vehicle. It lifts the Highlander up to highway speed just as you would expect in a luxury sedan with silky efficiency. Helping the effort is one of the most seamless shifting four-speed automatics around. Sometimes I couldn't tell when the ute shifted from third to fourth gear.