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Steve, Host
BTW, I am 6'3" and find the Highlander to be far more roomy than my old Bronco II and Jeep Cherokee.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve, Host
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?
Anyone been to a dealership lately?
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
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
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.
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.
Thanks,
Chintan Talati
Corporate Communications
Edmunds.com
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.
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
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
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?
(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.)
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.
"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!)
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.