Fuel Economy Update for January - 2014 Toyota Highlander Limited Long-Term Road Test

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Fuel Economy Update for January - 2014 Toyota Highlander Limited Long-Term Road Test

Thanks to Matt Jones' recent road trip, our 2014 Toyota Highlander added 2,018 miles to its odometer in January. That brings its total to 15,830.

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legacygt

I drive a 2009 CX-9 and have been waiting for some manufacturer to crack the code when it comes to fuel economy in 3 row crossovers. I thought Toyota would be the one to do it but not quite. I get 18-19 with my CX-9 and I have AWD. I understand that these things are big and people expect a degree of performance (sorry Ecoboost Explorer) but there's been basically no improvement in 10 years of the 3-row CUV. During this same time there have been significant gains made in other classes of cars. Why not this one?

s197gt

i have an '11 cx-9 awd and also get 18/19. years ago i had an 03 explorer with the ancient 4.0L v6 and 5-speed auto. i could generally get about 20mpg on the highway at 70 mph. i remember driving to florida and getting 22-23mpg on the way down there. about the same as i got with my cx-9; but speeds were up this last time in the mazda. 80 was the average.

so i think there has been some improvement. not much in real numbers but if you look at percentages it makes a difference. hard to get a 5mpg boost at 15 mpg vs that 35-40mpg; in percentages.

legacygt

@s197gt I'm with you. I guess I just hoped that the Highlander would do better than 19 because that's what I get in the CX-9 and that car is really unchanged since 2008. The GM Lambdas are basically unchanged since 2006 and they are still competitive as well. We've had car-based 3 row CUVs for more than 10 years now and some companies have tried some different things (Ecoboost in the Explorer, CVT in the Pathfinder, fancy transmission in the Durango) but we're still seeing these cars getting about the same real world fuel economy.

a1addict

Small displacement high torque diesel is really the only way these porkers can realistically sniff 30 but I'll say this- wife used to get 16-17 in '12 Pilot, and does typically 2 better with this AWD 'Lander.. 24-25 on long highway drives isn't too difficult and I'm happy with that- for now at least. And have you seen that spread from regular to diesel fuel lately? I'm happy with my choice (CX-5) vs something from Germany with an oil burner for 10k more...not comparably equipped!