Toyota Highlander vs Jeep Liberty

colorado1974

You are right, the Highlander is extremely expensive and to be perfectly honest, I get more warranty work done in my Toyota garage than in my Chrysler area. No lie. Toyota quality doesn't mean anything. The only car they make that is worth anything in quality is the Corolla. No problems. Highlander, Rav4 and Sequoia have had many problems. They are all really expensive because people for some reason are willing to pay for it. As a dealer I don't get it at all. But I am willing to take thier money. Suckers. Jeep is by far the highest bang-for-your-buck.

llofgren

I did my Highlander as a special order. That way I could limit all the options (and cost) that went with it. I found that a "bare bones" V6 AWD Highlander was still pretty luxurious (compared to what I HAD been driving) and I really didn't want the other stuff anyway. I found a dealer that would give me just over invoice pricing.....it was a pretty simple deal for them....order it and as soon as it comes in, I pay and its gone. Problem is it takes 4 1/2 months to get here. I really don't like how Toyota "pre-packages" their vehicles with set options....its hard to get anything else without doing a special order. I love the Highlander.....I think 98% of SUV's never go off road anyway....I will be using mine on some poorly maintained service roads in the north, but that will be the extent of my "off-roading". I want to get the vehicle that is best for the vast majority of my driving, and thats the HL. Yes, I DID pay just a hair over 25 grand (pre TTL), NO trade in. I posted the details of my deal in November in the Toyota Highlander Club here at Edmunds, under "How Much Did You Pay".

kittel

I don't know if anyone read the article in last weeks Automotive News about Toyota's engine problems. The problem is sludge which is building up in some v-6's and 4's and the engine will seize. Toyota is trying to keep this quiet and will only repair if you push them to the limit, but mostly they are blaming the consumer. I had a Honda about 10 years ago and the paint started to flake off. Honda blamed me, saying I was driving on gravel roads and in Wi. we don't have any gravel roads. This seems to be the pattern of the Japanese auto companies, of blaming the consumer. Toyota knows if they admit it's a problem, they will have to go back to 1996 and replace engines and they aren't going to do that. In last Friday's Wall Street Journal there was a small article were Toyota said that they would fix the problem only after examining each case. Typical Japanese solution. I will take my American vehicles and know that I won't have my intelligence insulted by a Japanese service rep. Love my Jeep Liberty!

scape2

25,000 for an AWD V6 Highlander?? This is one heck of a deal. When I looked I did see one below 32K sticker. These two vehicles are in two totally different categories.

jafo2001

Well, it's quite simple really. The Highlander wins on all of the logical reasons. It's reliable, smooth, quiet, comfortable.

The biggest problem I have with it (aside from price) is that it's dull, dull, dull.

It doesn't even come far enough to satisfy the posers who want a minivan but believe they really belong in an SUV driving across the sahara or running across the beaches on LA.

I don't know if it's the bowed out rear door or the small wheels or the lack of a C pillar but it looks just like a heavy duty station wagon.

No emotion to it.

tombuchta

Toyota has made its reputation in this country the old fashioned way, they earned it, year by year, owner by owner! This in spite of folks like you who wouldnt even consider buying one because its "not american". Given your obvious bias, I can understand why you are frustrated that folks keep on basing their purchase on independent publications like Consumer Reports and JD Power instead of your obviously objective (and oft stated) assessment to the contrary.

bjfrank42

but the results in CR and JD Power are just a compilation of obviously objective assessments by people like colorado.

Seriously though, I'm sure Toyotas and Hondas are fine vehicles now, but I remember the 70's and early 80's when they were both pieces of junk. We laughed at all the rusted and broken down Toyotas and Hondas by the side of the road. That memory will probably always prejudice my opinion. I can't see paying a premium for them when there are plenty of other less expensive vehicles that in my opinion are equal or better.

to each their own......

nippononly

just depends on how long you want it to last without costing you money for repairs. Less than five years, doesn't matter, more than 5, odds say the HL is the better bet.

colorado1974

That may have been true years ago but no longer. The Jeep Liberty is an astonishing vehicle in terms of quality. My personal rig has incredible build quality and the powertrain is awesome.

My biggest problem is that the base no-options-added Highlander is almost $25,000. That is for a 2 cylinder, 2wd model. That same dollar amount will buy you leather seats, 210 hp v-6 and a tow package on a Liberty.

On the top end, the Highlander maxes out at almost $50,000!!! WHO IN THIER RIGHT MIND WILL PAY THAT? For that you can purchase a Cadillac Escalade.

I've driven Highlanders and thier quality is not that high. For the hype, I was let down. One thing to notice. In every article about the Highlander or Rav-4 it is always mentioned that "with Toyota's reputation for quality, these will be good vehicles." It never says it is quality, they only say "will be good."

nippononly

1. base HLs have four cylinders, not two! :-)

2. If you added every available option to a V-6 limited AWD and paid MSRP for it (which would be totally unnecessary right now, in fact it even has Toyota rebates in my area), it still would not top $40,000.

As far as expected reliability, both of these vehicles are a crapshoot, since neither has been around a significantly long period of time. However, in Toyota's case, most of their vehicles end up having extremely good reliability and longevity, which is why the articles say that. It is true it is only a guess, albeit a guess with pretty good circumstantial evidence to back it up.

junepug

Where in creation did you see a Highlander for that amount? The most I can get one on the Toyota web site is about 38,000 to 40,000.

junepug

I have gone through two Jeep Cherokees and discovered that after about 45,000 miles they tend to require quite a bit of tender loving care and a lot of $$$. Hopefully, the Highlander will not repeat that syndrome.

colorado1974

If you price out every option in Kelly Blue Book, you will come up with $47,610. The obscene part is that if you deselect the $300 heated seats, you could potentially get a $47,000 Highlander and without heated seats. To my knowledge, some Cherokees did require many dollars in maintenance but I also have seen many more that had hundreds of thousands of miles on them with nothing but brakes and routine service.

landdriver

colorado1974, you must be pricing the same options twice or more. Note that some options are compilations of options that are also available separately. For example, the appearance package option includes aluminum alloy wheels and mudguards, while the aluminum alloy wheels option and the mudguard option are also available separately. As a Highlander owner, I can personally attest that fully loaded Highlanders top out at around $36,000, not $47,000!!!

A few people on the Highlander board have purchased their base Highlanders for $23,800. I've personally seen Highlanders sticker priced at around $25,000. According to the 2003 issue of Consumer Reports, the Highlander price range is $23,880-$30,795 while the Jeep Liberty price range is $17,510-$23,970.

nippononly

don't use the blue book to do this - it is misleading. Instead go to Toyota's website and click on "build your own car". You will quickly see that adding everything in the world you still cannot push MSRP past the $40K mark, and more like $38K max. Options packages mix up individual options so adding everything in the blue book gives an erroneous result.

colorado1974

I have a subscription to the kelly blue book software that prices out every vehicle sold in the US. They also include option filters that do not allow you to select options when they are either part of another group or incompatible with other options. Still, choosing available options that are all compatible with each other, I can price one out to almost $48,000. I know that this software is correct because it is accurate for my Jeep, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Dodge franchises. Actually it is more accurate than our corporage sponsored alternatives.

landdriver

What specifically are the options that bring the Highlander up to $48,000?

colorado1974

go on kbb.com and find out. There are to many to list.

nippononly

colorado just had me so curious, so I went to Toyota's website and built my own HL - V6 4x4 Limited with every single thing you can add to the car where I live, which is in the San Francisco Bay, California.

The MSRP including delivery/handling fee is $38,985.

I don;t know if this will come up, but here is the link: http://www.toyota.com/toyotaConfigApp/toyyourvehicle.do

Whatever this kelly blue book software is, it may be inaccurate for Toyotas, or it may be that in my area there are major packages and options that are not available? This seems slightly dubious given the California market and our love for gizmos in our cars, but it is not impossible, that is for sure.

I still think it a real stretch that there could be $10,000 worth of stuff not available in California.

junepug

I must admit that I did love both of my Jeep Cherokees. They were 92 and 97 models. I do like the styling of the non Grand Cherokee. However, Chrysler decided to drop that model from their line and it did tick me off. I do not like the design of the Liberty. It looks too much like a small Japanese car.

I also became tired of the rough ride in the Jeeps. The Highlander has a much better ride and the V6 does have more pep than the V6 in either of the Jeeps, and I got more car. My Highlander is a 2003 base V6, FWD, with the tow package, tinted windows, power drivers seat, keyless entry, prewire for alarm, roof rack and floor mats for a total out the door of $25,020.00. The sticker price was $28,096.

I did have some reservations about buying a [non-permissible content removed] car but did not see anything made in USA in my price range that appealed to me. I am now a total Highlander fan. My SUV now has 6,000 rattle and trouble free miles. That is more than I can say for either of the Jeeps or the two Ford Bronco 2,s that preceded the jeeps.

stever

I went to Kelley and tried to load one up (mostly with either the Gulf States or Southeast packages), and I got to $44,000 once before I blew something up and unchecked all the option boxes I was working through. I think it'd be hard to actually order one loaded up the way I was punching buttons. ymmv.

Steve, Host

landdriver

Woa! I went to kbb.com and saw zillions of options for the Highlander that I never even heard of before -- was too intimidated to check all those check boxes from fear it would far exceed $50,000!!!!! How colorado only got $47,000 I can't imagine...

nippononly

shouldn't Toyota know better than kbb what options Toyotas can be sold with? What am I missing here?

Try out the "build your own" feature on toyota.com. I am curious to know if people in other parts of the country can build a more expensive HL than the one I built.

stever

I got $38,742.00, not including any fees covered by this cute bit of fine print: "Toyota may make a profit on the Delivery, Processing and Handling Fee." I guess the dealers will start charging micropayments just to search their inventory when that becomes more technically feasible - another profit center, lol.

That's for a Boise zip. Oh yeah, your link didn't work; have to go through the toyota.com build your own links. All bets are off with options installed through the Gulf States or Southeast distributors.

Steve, Host

nippononly

I thought that link might not work, since it was specific to a car I had built, and would not be a permanent save.

So, under $39K in Boise. Now we need to work our way east. I am convinced no-one in the country served by TMS will be able to build one that costs more than $40K.

Gulf States is a notorious rip-off, and Toyota should change their distributorship down south. I am curious to see if anyone down that way can build a more expensive one. Maybe I will go dig up a few zips and do it myself.

I am becoming more and more convinced there is no such thing as a $47K HL, or ANY HLs over $40K.

stever

Someone would be happy to sell you a Highlander for $50k - heck, I would!

I thought the point of this exercise was to grumble about how confusing some makes are to customize with the various "regional" option packages available. I had similar frustrations trying to price out a Caravan in '99, compared to 2 trim lines and just a few available options on the Odyssey.

If they're going to offer all these permutations, the factory should let you custom build one from scratch and be able to deliver it in a couple of weeks.

Steve, Host

colorado1974

highlander limited: 31,605
extra mile package: 1,083
preferred accessory pkg: 409
color keyed package: 967
leather package: 1526
protection pkg: 699
tow prep: 160
travel pkg: 523
two tone aggressive: 1226
protection pkg: 200
moonroof: 900
bug deflector: 99
cargo mat: 119
tote: 49
woodgrain dash: 498
24k emblems: 499
dvd: 1389
door guards: 119
reciever hitch: 339
hood protector (not bug deflector): 109
cd changer: 200
side air bags: 250
color keyed running boards: 967
leather seats: 1295
heated seats: 440
skid control: 650
steering wheel upgrade: 599
moon roof deflector: 120
rwl tires: 699

total msrp: 47,748

there you go!

nippononly

you have proven my point then: many of the items you have listed are duplications that would not appear on any real car Toyota built.

Some examples:

color-keyed package is included on all limiteds, so that $967 is a duplication. Also, this cannot be combined with the "two-tone-aggressive" package. The woodgrain dash is also standard on all limitieds, a $498 duplication.

The moonroof at $900 is included in all option packages available for the limited, as are the $1295 leather seats, and the $1526 "leather package". So there is another $3721 duplication.

skid control (VSC) is standard on all HLs, isn't it? It is certainly standard on the V-6 4x4 Ltd. $650 duplication. Side air bags - part of every package offered on the HL, including the one I priced at $38,985. $250 duplication.

The DVD and the "steering wheel upgrade" are not listed as available for my zip code, and I am not sure what the "rwl tires" are, but since that stands for raised white letter, which all the Goodyears are on every HL I see around here, I figure that must be standard in my region.

Anyway, I was just doing this because I had a little time to kill and was having fun with it. There are probably a few more minor duplications, but I count $6086 in duplication just from what I have mentioned here, so that brings colorado's MSRP for the maximum-expensive HL available down to $41,662, which roughly jibes with my $38,985, after you add the $1400 DVD and the $600 steering wheel upgrade that are not listed on Toyota's website for my zip code.

No offense to anyone, just killing time here...the Liberty is still the cheaper vehicle either way...but isn't the HL bigger?

colorado1974

Actually my dealer software filters out what is available with what and the options are all compatible. It works flawlessly with my Jeep, Chevrolet, Chrysler and Dodge vehicles so I have no reason to believe that Toyota is any different.

colorado1974

leather, colored keyed package, skid control, side air bags and a moonroof are not standard on any Highlander.

sorry but you are mis-informed.

nippononly

misinformed by Toyota's own website, LOL.

Interesting.

landdriver

I don't question that colorado's software crunches a price of $47,000 for the Highlander when you include every single obscure item available, many of which most Highlander owners have never heard of nor would want (I would question why anyone would want port-installed leather over factory leather seats); perhaps this number its a consequence of the wider variety of options available for the Highlander for those who want them (some people may actually want 24k emblems).

But once again it's not representative of the high-end for sticker prices for Highlanders on dealer lots in the real-world which tend to top out at $36,000.

colorado1974

I never said that the majority of them are at $47k, I just was aghast that Toyota would have the nerve to offer something remotely that expensive, other than the Land Cruiser. Basically the Highlander is a vehicle that should top out at about $29k at the most.

nippononly

in case I wasn't clear, I didn't pull that post above out of my head, or quote numbers from memory or anything. I had a second window up with Toyota's website, and was just reading straight across. I maintain what I said...loaded vehicles go out the door under $40K. Colorado either did not read what I wrote closely enough, or chose to ignore it because he is used to taking his third-party software at its word. I never said those items mentioned in #86 were standard, I said they were all included in packages he had already listed higher in the list.

And that $40K is for a vehicle with every whoop-de-doo in the universe...if we are comparing to the Liberty, it isn't even close in content level to that hypothetical vehicle.

But in reality, how many Highlander owners insist on 24K gold badging and heated steering wheel anyway?

junepug

My, my, what will they think of next???

nippononly

a pretty nice Highlander for sticker $28K too, but of course, HL is a soft-roader so there will be no true 4WD options like a transfer case with reduction gear.

The HL has a really great smooth ride, and is very zippy - passing on the highway is effortless. I have had a V-6 for a loaner for a few days, and forgot how fast this car can be. I particularly like the power seat with adjustable lumbar. The sticker of this car is in the glove box, $29,2. The moonroof is $900, so leave that out and it would be the same price as that Liberty.

tn8806

If you want a REAL SUV then go Jeep. If you want an over sized car, go Toyota.

rboccella

Not sure how you can compare these 2, other than the SUV label. I looked at a Highlander and Mazda Tribute back in 2001. Really liked the Highlander, more because it was so refined. Great interior, but the ride reminded me of our Sienna (in fact, the interior did, too). Bought the Trib -- and this year the Liberty - because I liked the sportier feel, didn't mind throwing muddy sports equipment in the back, and it was a fun vehicle to drive. And it was about $5k less, fully equiped with AWD.

My wife will look at the Highlander when the Sienna dies...

utter

My sister owns a Liberty and she loves it. Like rboccella said above. Its more of a sportier car. They don't feel bad treating it a little rougher than some other cars they could have chosen. That being siad, it takes a beating and keeps going. I have not experienced the Highlander but it looks to be less of this kind of vehicle.

stever

No one is comparing these two rigs any more?

Steve, Host

jbhogen

Full disclosure, my wife owns a Toyota Highlander, which I have driven many times. I rented a Liberty to make the annual trip to the mother in law's place in northern wisconsin and had a chance to sample it over several hundred miles.

Highlander highs: smooth power delivery, good steering feedback, excellent transmission, decent brakes, great room all around. Fit and finish are impeccable, materials first rate, and has been trouble free. Lows: a bit underpowered, wallows more than I'd like in the corners, paint easy to chip.

Liberty highs: good steering feedback, torque was excellent, 4WD inspired a lot of confidence in snowy conditions. Lows: suspension travel on smooth roads (I felt like a jumping bean), driver ergonomics (I'm 6' 1''), brakes felt underwhelming, fit and finish and materials were sub-par.

My take: if you spend a lot of time off-road, pick the Liberty. If you spend a lot of time driving on roads, the Highlander.