The first time I took it out I crossed about 14-18" of water and it wasn't a problem.
I'd be more worried about the mechanical components on the undercarriage as opposed to the hybrid related bits. It's all water tight and I'm not looking to put a snorkel on for really deep water...although, hmmmm...

The way I look at it is that all the parts, with the exception of the hybrid components have been in Toyo trucks for many years so there's durability on that end. As for the Hy stuff, if it's on the outside of the truck it's gonna get wet or snowy or muddy. It is a working vehicle so I don't fret about that.
The main issue with the HIHY not beingcapable off road is that if you go off a rock and it punctures the batterypack...game over.
As someone stated earlier, it's really not that capable off road. The elec. engines shut off if the rear wheels can't push and then you only have front wheel drive so...

 

You guys want to offroad it? Come over here. I am working in the central Libyan desert and we off road it all day long. Rocks, sand dunes wadi's and sabhka's. The trucks over here are Dodges, Land Cruiser's and Defenders. I would not even begin to think of bringing a highlander into the stuff I drive over on a daily basis.

Working over here allows me to buy a nice 2007 and soon to be another 2008 Hybrid 4x4 Highlander. I bought the 4x4 2007 because I wanted the traction and a bit of off the pavement help for moving around or in wet weather. I don't think any of us with 4x4 HH's really expected to take them out here.

I should post some pictures of real offroading. When you are 600 clicks from the nearest dirt road, thats offroading.

Oh, and yes, I have buried the dodge bad in the sand one time so far. That is why you carry a radio (two for us) and water and food. Nothing like an afternoon in 115 heat to make you appreciate a bit of shade and water.

 

You should definately post pix. That's hardcore.

 

Ok, I will next week. I am on an inmarsat connection right now, so it is hard to ftp up pictures. I shot a lot out in the desert this time. I get to fly home tomorrow so today we pack up and start driving back to our desert airstrip so we can bug out. Nothing like looking for oil to make life exciting.

 

I will amend this to mention the Touareg fully-loaded with the air suspension and all the goodies, is both unibody and very capable off-road. So that's one exception.

 

Jeep XJ Cherokee is unibody as is the Landrover LR2 and these models are capable off-road.

 

while I have no intention of taking mine 4-wheeling I think the 4WD-i is pretty misleading, as near as I can tell the back wheels only run electrically and at really low speeds. I've not tried anything crazy as we just got ours a month ago but still pretty disappointed in the marketing of it.

 

WTF are you talking about? Are all 4 wheels driven?? Then it's 4WD. They didn't advertise lockers or anything. Sheesh. Nothing was hidden from you.

 

These are tracks from Rommel and Montgomery's army (or maybe the original SAS) from WWII.



Nice view of a Mirage in the distance.



My Dodge and a friend driving.



Here is an impending sandstorm coming.



The view out the dodge in a sandstorm.



This is a real offroad vehicle for making seismic energy for the exploration of oil.


We were roughly 780 km from the nearest "real" town. Other then us there was no one around as far as I could tell. We never saw anyone else in the time I was there. Some camels, but no other animals. The terrain is not bad, just flat hot open country. The problem is the rock at the surface is chert and it just shreds tires. Also the surface is powdery below the crust. If you break through you can bury the truck in just a few moments. Look at the path behind the Dodge picture. That is only a few passes and it is going to powder. Once it gets like that the Dodge will get buried.

A highlander would have no chance out here.

 

I took mine on a "rough dirt road" over the weekend. While it went uphill fine going down in another matter. You must really ride the brakes going down to maintain any type of control. Using the "B" position was no help at all. It seems to have a negitive effect at low speeds. By this I mean it takes even more pressure on brake pedal to keep the speed under control.