Toyota Highlander

stever

About $100 bucks in my zip code per the Edmunds Maintenance Guide.

Steve, Host

junepug

I have my exterior mirrors rolled almost all the way out. Only use them to check for autos in the lanes next to me. It has totally eliminated any blind spots. It is a neat little trick I learned from Car Talk.

BTW, I am 6'3" and find the Highlander to be far more roomy than my old Bronco II and Jeep Cherokee.

lmacmil

I read recently that too adjust the driver outside mirror you should put your head against the window and adjust it so you can't see the side of the car. That puts it out a lot further than most adjust it but really gets you a better view of the lane next to you.

briegel

I agree with both you and junepug on this! It's the only way you can see cars right next to you and just back a bit.

fishguy58

Can anyone tell me in what year model the 3rd row seat became an option?

Thanks,
Steve

mckeown

2004, became std on the V6 4wd models, option on the 4 cyl FWD. Was not available on the 2003 or earlier. This WAS the reason we waited and purchased a 2004 over 2003.

typesix

3rd row option for 4 cyl fwd is unfortunately not available for all areas.

jhollinger

Is a 2003 Highlander with 52,000 miles a good buy for $15,755? I want to finance for 4 years.

herzogtum71

What model? Extra features? It's not a good price IMHO if it's a 4-cyl. base model like my 2004.

jhollinger

it is a limited with a v6. i am more concerned with the mileage so high. with toyota, is the car still a good buy?

stever

We have a tool that you can use to appraise a used car before you buy.

Steve, Host

lmacmil

That's not high mileage for a car that's been properly maintained. The original powertrain warranty is 5 yrs/60,000 miles so it should still be under warranty.

otis1

Taken from Autospies:

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., announced manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRP) for the all-new Highlander Sport, the latest grade in the popular Highlander midsize sport utility vehicle (SUV) family.

The Highlander Sport adds numerous refined exterior enhancements including unique color-keyed grille with chrome insert, chrome door handles, chrome rear license plate garnish, color-keyed mudguards, fog lamps, chrome exhaust tip, and 17-inch five-spoke aluminum alloy wheels with a high polish finish. Standard interior features include chrome door handles, tilt leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, leather-trimmed shift knob with chrome stalk, and eight-way power driver's seat and 3-in-1 AM/FM/Cassette/CD with six speakers and in-glass antenna. All Highlander Sports will be powered by an impressive 215 horsepower V6 engine.

A standard sport tuned suspension (4WD models only) will also enhance vehicle handling without impacting its legendary ride comfort.

2WD models will carry a base MSRP of $27,765, while 2WD models with third-row seating will start at $28,615. The 4WD models will start at $29,235 and begin at $30,085 for third-row models.

In addition, a new base V6 4WD two-row model will also be available. The new Base model will further improve Highlander's competitiveness in the marketplace by providing an $850 lower price versus a comparable base V6 4WD third-row within the line-up. The new base V6 4WD two-row model will carry an MSRP of $26,990.

The Highlander Sport and new base grade will go on sale in late March.

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isn't this late march or are they talking about 2007?

landdriver

Apparently it's already out -- see www.toyota.com/vehicles/2006/highlander/sport.html.

Anyone been to a dealership lately?

hlfan

Hi all

My 04HL 4WD OEM 225/65/17 Michelins are running pretty low. This is a rare size, so I have limited option on where & what to buy. This caused me to consider upgrading to 235/65/17, which is much more common. Of course I will need spacers of some sort, since the rear wheels in particular have very small clearance from the strut. I have no idea how this works, or how much I'll part with.

Anyone with a 04 4WD Ltd with the 17" wheels replace their tires yet ? Any recommendations ?

Thanks
hlfan

volmax1

hlfan,

I just replaced the original tires on my 04HL Limited with 235/65/17 tires and had absolutely no problems. No spacers are required. The tires are slightly closer to the rear struts but there is no rubbing or visible problems. My tire dealer worked closely with me on this and he believes everything is fine. I even asked my Toyota dealer's service dept if there would be a problem moving to this tire size considering the ABS and tire pressure monitoring systems and they indicated no problem with this incremental size increase. The tires have been installed for a few hundred miles now and I am having no problems.

Good luck,
volmax1

gasman1

Miata.net's Tire Size Calculator indicates the following:

Size - Diameter - RPMs - MPH
225/65-17 - 28.5" - 707 - 60.0
235/65-17 - 29.0" - 695 - 61.1

The 0.5" tire diameter increase "should" be good. It's the MAX change most tire shops will allow. Just be aware that your speedo is off slightly.

volmax1

Yes. The larger tire will cause your speedo to read slightly slower than you are actually traveling. When I asked my dealer's service guy about this, his statement was "These speedos are not that precise to begin with, so don't worry about it to much. Just be aware of it".

hlfan

How about using snow chains on the rear wheels with the larger tires ? Or is this asking too much ?

hlfan

Oh, and which brand / model did you get ? Would you recommend it ?

volmax1

Snow chains are something that I did not check. I did not see this as an issue for me. I would suspect that using chains on the rear would be a problem.

I have the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A only because I wanted a white letter tire. I think the tires look great on the Highlander (personal opinion). The Goodyears seem to be decent tires but if you don't need white letters there are probably better choices. The nice thing about the 235/65/17 size is the wide range of choices available.

Karen_S

A large local newspaper is looking to interview consumers who purchased a Lexus, Toyota or Scion vehicle and what led you to purchase that vehicle. Please send an e-mail to ctalati@edmunds.com no later than Wednesday, April 5, 2006 containing your daytime contact information, along with the make and model your vehicle.

Thanks,
Chintan Talati
Corporate Communications
Edmunds.com

etigler

Where exactly under the hood is the engine air filter. Same thing about the spark plugs.

My 2004 Highlander has about 25K miles and I am going to repalce the air filter and the spark plugs myself.

Thanks for your help.

phil20

I wish the Highlander had a power tailgate lift. Has anyone heard of or installed an aftermarket power lift?

lmacmil

The air filter is in the big black box towards the driver's side. There's no reason to replace the plugs at 25K miles. They should be good for at least 50K. Toyota doesn't recommend replacement until 120,000. Save your money and your time.

typesix

If you intend to drive it beyond 120K miles, it's good idea to loosen the plugs every 30K miles and retighten them, perhaps spraying the threads with something like WD40. If you wait till 120K miles, it's more than likely the plugs will never come out.

budh

I have a 2002 Toyota Highlander V6 with 130,000 miles which had exhibited negligible oil consumption between oil changes -- that is, until about a month ago.

Just as I was arriving home from work, I saw the low oil pressure light blip on for a moment. When I checked the oil level, I found almost nothing was showing on the dipstick!

I refilled it to the full line and have been monitoring it every few days, checking it first thing in the morning before starting to make it easy to see the oil on the dipstick.

It is using about 1 quart of oil (Mobil 1 synthetic - I've used synthetic oil since the 10,000 mile mark) every 5,000 miles now after using nothing during the first 120,000 miles. There are no visible leaks, and I don't see anything unusual with the exhaust to show oil consumption.

Any idea where the 1 quart of oil every 5,000 miles is going?

Bud H

lmacmil

No idea but no one will tell you that 1 qt per 5000 miles is excessive. I certainly wouldn't worry about it.

desertguy

I would imagine there is some oil blowing by the rings which are bound to have some wear after 100K plus miles. One quart in 5K is excellent and perfectly normal.

rugby65

I think the catalytic converter can take care of that little amount of oil and you won't see it smoke.

grahampeters

G'day
A sudden increase in oil consumption sounds unlikely to be rings. More likely a crankcase breather pipe disconnected or a valve blocked resulting in pressurisation of the crankcase blowing oil mist into the inlet manifold

Get a Toyota dealer to check it out. Might be much cheaper than you think

Cheers

Graham

losarhp

I have 2004 V4 Highlander with weird noise that driving me carzy. It sounds like I am running on flat tire. Weird thumping sound get more incrimental as you go faster. Is it the tires?? 24,000 toyos. Or engine dealer says everything is fine.

landdriver

Do any of our Canadian members know when the centre console became standard on all Canadian HLs? My understanding is it was introduced in 2002 on the more expensive option, and became standard on all Canadian HLs sometime after this. Does anyone know what year it became standard on all Canadian HLs?

Also, does anyone know when the HL (Kluger) was introduced in Japan? Was it in mid-2002 as a 2001 model like the U.S. version?

petl

If memory serves me, the HL was released late in 2000 / early 2001 as a 2001 model in North America. The centre console was made standard in 2003 (Canada). The Kluger was released approx. 6 months earlier than the HL in Japan. This information is based on an aging mind.

landdriver

I just discovered Wikipedia from an individual contributor standpoint, i.e., I made some minor corrections and additions to the entry for Toyota Highlander. Please review for accuracy and either let me know if you see any inaccuracies or feel free to make the changes yourself!

(The entry originally stated the center console was introduced in 2004 whereas it was introduced in 2002; it incorrectly implied the HL went on sale in the U.S. in 2000 whereas it actually went on sale in early 2001; it didn't mention the new Sport model; it implied 4cyl models are only available in FWD for all model years whereas to my knowledge this is only the case for '06s. Somewhat minor stuff but I cleaned it up.

There is a sentence in there that states "Base models are equipped with a limited slip differential, with stability control providing slip control for more expensive derivatives." I'm not sure if this is indeed technically accurate or whether it's true for all model years, so if not it should probably be changed.)

Wikipedia can become a time sink if you're not careful!

(For those who aren't familar with it Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that is entirely maintained by anyone on the web who wants to make changes to it, unlike traditional encyclopedias like Britanica and Encarta that are written by paid professionals. You don't even have to set-up a user account or log-in if you don't want to! I read an article or heard on the radio recently that it was found to have error rates similar to those of traditional encyclopedias.)

melvinsb

Due to my dissatisfaction with the screen resolution on the Navigation System in my new '06 Highlander Limited, I was invited to bring it into the dealership where it had been purchased in late 2005 (Hayward Toyota in Hayward, CA). This followed an exchange of emails with the Toyota website (http://www.toyota.com/), resulting in Toyota contacting the Customer Relations Manager at the dealership, who asked me to bring in the vehicle to have it checked out. I did so in April 2006 and learned something very interesting:
It turns out the Nav System in the 2006 Highlander is an older generation, unlike that which is placed into the Prius. It has lower screen resolution (and presumably other older generation features) by design. The lower screen resolution results in jagged lines for roads and difficult to read street names on the maps. Interestingly enough, during my purchase process when I mentioned the "dot-matrix like" fonts on the Nav maps, the salesman at Hayward Toyota made 2 comments:
(1) "Oh, the Nav in my Prius looks just the same."
(2) "You just need to increase the brightness of the screen."
Both of these statements, made by the salesman (at the time, Fleet Service Manager) in November 2005, turned out to be false.
Flash forward to April 2006 and I am sitting in the Service Manager's office at Hayward Toyota (Hayward, CA), expressing my disappointment with this situation. The Service Manager was polite and offered to phone a Toyota "engineer" to air my complaint. I was amazed to hear the engineer state that the Nav units going into 2006 Highlanders (presumably even the hybrids) are "Gen 4" (short for Generation 4), while those going into the 2006 Prius are "Gen 5." He went on to say that Gen 5 Nav units were much better than Gen 4 but Toyota elected not to install the better units in 2006 Highlanders.
Now when one spends an extra $2000 for an electronic accessory (e.g., the Nav System), it would be reasonable to assume that the "latest and greatest" version would be installed. In fact, when one buys a new vehicle from an authorized dealer, it sure seems reasonable to me to expect that it comes with current technology. This would seem to especially true if one purchases a more expensive trim line (we bought a V6, Limited [leather seats, moon roof, aluminum wheels, etc.]). This obviously was not the case with the Nav System Toyota selected to go into the '06 Highlander. I wonder what other inferior systems, my Highlander contains ...
Since 1999, between my wife and I, our family has purchased 4 new vehicles from Toyota dealerships. Our purchase considerations were based on the excellent track record which Toyota has established and the trust which we had placed in the firm's integrity. The only other manufacturer we considered was Honda, from which I had purchased several cars in the late 1980's. I will tell you that Toyota will not be our first choice for future vehicle purchases and we will certainly share this experience with our friends and family. I guess the old saying, "Buyer beware ..." holds true when purchasing a new Toyota.

jbollt

While I don't disagree with your premis that:

"Now when one spends an extra $2000 for an electronic accessory (e.g., the Nav System), it would be reasonable to assume that the "latest and greatest" version would be installed."

I do have one comment...keep in mind that the Highlander dates back to 2001, with only a few changes. Yes, they did update the engne and trans in 2004, so one would wonder why the NAV system wasn't updated then. Perhaps it has to do with dash space and design? I also think that the Lexus RX330 (much more $$ than Highlander) uses the same NAV as the Highlander....I could be wrong.

I am not in disagreemenmt with you at all, just food for thought. I Have a 2005 HL Limited w/o Nav, my brother has a 2006 HL Hybrid with nav, and thoroughly enjoys the NAV. Guess I will be looking for NAV in my next car....

Re: your coments on what the salesman said...There are some very knowledgable sales people out there. Unfortunately, I tend to know more about the vehicle I intend on purchasing then the majority of the sales people I have encountered over the years. Your sales person should have at least said, "I don't know, let's look into this for you."
I bet it would have gone a long way to making you feel better.

Enjoy your Highlander, I doubt there is a better vehicle in overall terms for the money... reliability, utility, comfort, resale...

(ok....so it was more than one comment!)

car44

Anyone seen a "sport" HL2006 at a dealer yet? And can u get one w/ Leather? According to toyota.com, the Sport has 17in tires as does the Limited. Not much diff 'tween the two. Looks like its positioned below the Limited. Anyone have a visual yet?

landdriver

That was my conclusion too after reading the feature list for the Sport -- seems like the Limited platform without leather and a different grille; haven't been to a dealer recently, but the press release seemed to indicate it should currently be available.

herzogtum71

It could be that belts have separated inside a tire. It happened to me once.

jbollt

From a picture i saw on the Toyota website, it doesn't seem to have the climate control and mini-trip cpmputer that is standard in the Limited

jjane

I need a new car-- one with a 3rd row for carpooling. I test-drove an MDX recently & my husband test-drove a Highlander Hybrid last summer. (He bought the Lexus 400h.) I prefer the MDX, but because he expects to get a better price on the Highlander (non-hybrid) that is the direction I am being gently pushed.

These are my questions:
1) How truly accessible is the 3rd row? I will be getting 4 & 5 year olds in & out of there on a daily basis. Will there be room for a stroller & groceries, etc., when the 3rd row is up?
2) The nav system on my husband's Lexus works very well. The MDX's nav has a good rep (I haven't checked it out yet.). Is the Highlander nav system inferior, as I've read in some previous posts?
3) Are there airbags for the 3rd row now?

Thanks in advance for your help!

car44

I just visited an Acura showroom to look at the MDX. A very nice car w/ good reliability reports from Consumer Reports magazine (HL also has good reviews by CR). The MDX w/ Nav will run about 38k-40k. A Highlander Limited w/ Nav will run in the low 30s (i think). The MDX nav is nice with voice activation ("find closest chineese food"), bluetooth for phone, and i believe zagat info. The MDX can be configured with XM (not run thru the NAV screen though... according to salesmen). Highlander cannot be ordered w/ XM/Sirius. You have to do that aftermarket. MDX recommends high test gas, not so for HL. 3rd row seat is small for MDX (cannot comment on HL's 3rd row). The MDX's second row has 2 recline position which may eat up 3rd row space. 3rd row in MDX is splittable. Salesmen said NAV map updates for MDX on disk run $180. I didnt get more details on that.

wwest

The upcoming 07 MDX will be equipped with SH-AWD. If you decide on the MDX (between the HL and MDX I would) I would wait for the 07.

lmacmil

THe MDX is almost 7 inches wider than the Highlander which translates into more room, especially in the 3rd seat. You need to take those kids to the dealer with you and try it out yourself. There is very little room behind the Highlander 3rd row seat. What may be perfectly acceptable to someone else may not be to you. Same with the NAV.

When my wife test drove the Pilot (virtually the same as the MDX), the lumbar support was uncomfortable and she couldn't adjust it away so we went with the Highlander. We didn't need the 3rd row seat so it has never been used.

Good luck.

gpolt

Multiple dealers have informed me that the Highlander will be redone this coming fall. Will grow in size and will receive the 3.5 V6 currently in the RAV4, Camry, Avalon, ES350 and RX 350. Highlander "Sport" is the last hurrah, evidenced by the fact that one dealership revealed that it had but one slated for inventory for the balance of the entire model year. As for third seat room, I think one would be making a terrible mistake to consider putting children in the third row of a Highlander, especially on a consistent basis. There is no room behind the third seat. What would happen if there was a rear impact?

New MDX Concept debuted at the NY Auto Show - there should be pictures on Edmunds. I was there and can report that the new MDX is larger than current (similar in size to that of the new Audi SUV) and the styling is similar to that of the Acura RDX. Current Pilot has a bit more room than current MDX only because of shape or rear roorfline. Good luck.

bobby11

A few days ago I was driving down I-84 and was struck by a small pebble which caused a small rock chip (about the size of a pencil eraser) on my windshield directly over the steering column. I have full glass coverage with NO deductible. Since the chip is in my line of vision, the insurance company will replace it. I have visited most of the auto glass shops in my area and they have shown me a few samples of the repairs (using a resin) which did NOT impress me. Perhaps, the shops I visited did not have the up to the minute or state of the art repair equipment. This is why I am thinking of replacing the windshield, but I am very apprehensive. I am not sure if any glass shop will ever be able to meet or exceed the factory SEAL. I do not wish to end up with leaks, rattles or worse if the job is not done properly. I live in Danbury CT, and the Dealer does NOT install glass. Instead he uses a local glass shop that does NOT even specialize in automotive glass and the dealer has given me a whopping estimate of $934 !!! which is insane!! If I replace, I definitely want a Toyota Factory Windshield and NOT an after-market windshield. The dealer says he'll guarantee the windshield for as long as I own the vehicle. I don't see how he can do that if the dealer is NOT doing the install. The Sealing process is worrying me. Can anyone advise me? Is there a reputable repair company out there that does quality work? And is there a company out there that can duplicate the Factory Seal if I decide to replace it. Any suggestions would be most welcomed!!

rugby65

I wouldn't risk having the windshield replaced running the risk of a leak is defiantly not worth it.

I have an 03HL and in one weeks time I had a car in front of me throw a rock and another time there wasn't any traffic in front of me and I heard a loud noise and I received a crack about the size of a dime, I think some one must have been shooting something into the sky and it landed on my windshield.

I had a guy come to my house and he repaired both cracks and if I didn't know before hand where they were I couldn't find them.

Most place's that do this will tell you if your not happy with the results after a few days come back and they will do it over.

I'm happy with mine.. I watched him make the repair and I was amazed.

desertguy

I went to Pep Boys and bought the windshield repair kit and did the fix my self. Kit contains the resin and an air pump to pump all the air out of the chip. I am quite satisfied with the repair. Kit cost about 10 bucks as I remember.

landdriver

My take is they replace windshields all the time, so you'd think they'd get it right. I agree 100% with getting an original factory windshield as opposed to aftermarket.

An auto body shop replaced the windshield on my '83 Toyota pickup about 11 years ago. It was aftermarket and the tint didn't match the other windows, so I was disappointed from that standpoint. When driving home from the shop it was raining and water was leaking around the windshield. Took it back the next day and the shop apologized -- they had the glass guy come back and re-do the seal -- hasn't leaked since.