With so much attention on fuel economy, and so many choices out there, I am wondering why my fellow highlanders bought their vehicle.


I myself bought it for my wife who used to drive a Trailblazer LTZ that got 12 mpg real world.

I wanted to get her into a Mariner or FEH but she wanted her monster truck and eat it too, so she got the monster truck, and i got my hybrid with 25mpg real world.

just wondering how others came about the highlander when so many others have better gas mileage.

 

Similar story here. We were replacing a 2003 ML500 that had as low as 9 mpg with premium! She wanted the SUV, the 7 seats, Nav, Leather, and the accleration. The HiHy Ltd was a no brainer. We more than doubled our MPG and cut our maintenance cost by well over $1,000 a year. (Mercedes has "special" brakes and rotors that need replacement every 12K or so)

 

I am planning to retire in July, 2007 and are planning to sell our house in PA and move to a house we bought in FL. We therefore needed something that could carry the "stuff" we needed to fix up our old house and personalize the new one. My wifes car (Volvo S80) was not suitable.

We considered getting a pickup, but were disappointed with the gas mileage. We looked at SUVs and decided they had more utility and a "little" better efficiency. I read about hybrids and did some test drives on the FEH and MM. I liked the power and fuel economy. The engineer in me loved the technology. We then drove the HiHy (regular and hybrid). It was a little bigger, had PLENTY of power (yes I also like the zoom-zoom-zoom sometimes, coming from a SAAB convertible), and Toyota had a great lease deal on the base model (plus the dealer significantly reduced the up front deposit). Actually we liked the hybrid better overall. The rest is history....love the HiHy and would do it again in a heartbeat. Next time I would get the limited, however, simply because of the synergy monitoring screens and the sunroof.

When all is considered, I replaced a very fuel efficient car (20 city/30 hwy)with a BIG SUV and actually improved the fuel economy to the point where I get better local mileage than people driving subcompacts.

I figure in three years we will be settled in our new home and hybrid technology will have advanced to the point where I would look to something in a car body style.

Probably more than you cared to know, but that's the whole story.

 

Well, I live in the foothills outside of Denver, off a dirt road and quite frankly, our 2wd car has trouble making it up the drive when it's snowy/icy out. For a while, I was driving my "car" in good weather and a Jeep Grand Cherokee in bad weather... the problem there is that in CO, the weather can change dramatically in just a few short hours. The weather when I leave for work in the morning my not in any way resemble the weather when I return from work later in the day. Trying to "guess" which vehicle to take was a pain. Add to that the fact that I'm involved in scouts and other volunteer efforts and since I haul a lot of "stuff" related around with me. I'd often find that I was at a meeting only to find that what I needed/wanted was in "the other car". I got tired of this and wanted a single vehicle that I could drive year-round. My goal was a 4wd vehicle that would get close to the 30mpg I was getting in my "car". We've owned a couple different subarus with mixed experience but I really wanted an SUV especially for some of the rough roads we drive to get to campsites.

I briefly considered the FEH but the Highlander won out on several fronts: Toyota had a proven track record with hybrids already plus in general Toyota quality seems better (to me) than Ford; larger - possiblity to throw a couple extra scouts in that 3rd row seat if needed; higher tow capability - again, not sure if I'll use this as others in the troop can generally tow our trailer but nice to have if needed.

I put a lot of miles on my cars and I've been very pleased with my 27pmg overall and 30+ now that the weather is warming up.

 

Fo us it had the best combination of space, power, mileage, emmisions and features.

 

gang

very very cool.

 

The biggest driving factor for me was that my old '90 Acura Integra was becoming too much of an embarrassment for my wife, my friends, my relatives, my parents, my in-laws... well, basically everyone except for myself . My objective was to drive my Integra into the grave... and I was getting pretty darn close!

My experience with my underpowered, low center-of-mass Acura influenced me in deciding to purchase the HiHy. Here are the factors that were most important to me:

Visibility/Utility
- two main reasons for choosing an SUV. I was fed up with the lack of visibility from getting stuck behind SUVs... between SUVs... in front of SUVs... The low center-of-mass of the Integra really exacerbated this problem. I figured a mid-sized SUV would finally get me to a level playing field in being able to see the road around me without being too much of a hypocrite obstructing the view of other passenger cars (i.e. large-sized SUV).

-I also mtn bike a bit, and mounting a mtn bike on a trunk-mounted bike rack is... well, very cumbersome and not very confidence-inspiring. Straps flapping in the wind. I wanted something that could allow me to mount my mtn bike quickly and securely and potentially get me to interesting places... The hitch and the L-shaped BVG bike rack I ended up getting for my HiHy is such a joy to use (~1-2 min to mount).

Power
-For me, I just had to get a more powerful vehicle that also felt like a passenger car. I test drove several other SUVs and all of their accelerations felt.. well, like a big lumbering truck (xterra, pilot, etc). I tend to drive with a strategy of negotiating the best path through crowded traffic, or positioning my vehicle to avoid or nullify the occasional moronic or wreckless driver around me. I need to have good acceleration to do this. The HiHy felt like a passenger car in terms of acceleration and handling; so it felt natural for a person like myself that has always driven passenger cars. The only other SUV that I test drove that felt more like car was the new RAV4.

Fuel Economy
-Again, coming from the world of passenger cars, my expectation was to maintain a passenger car-like fuel economy, specifically to keep it roughly the same with my dying Integra, at about 27 mpg. I'm personally astounded that anyone would put up with any sort of vehicle that had a FE less than 20 mpg. You would figure that after 3 decades (remember those long lines in the 70's?), we would have evolved a little bit (maybe learned our lesson?) by demanding steady improvements in FE in whatever vehicles we chose to drive. I guess Darwin was full of it. I guess I'm embarrassed for our country. Next to the lovely Hummer H2, have you seen the Cadillac Escalade?? Bling, bling, bigger badder... *sigh* There was just no way I was going to compromise my personal or moral integrity on this. No going backwards. Gotta demand more of our car manufacturers. I wanted an SUV, but it had to have passenger car-like fuel economy.

That stubbornness pretty much reduced the field to the HiHy and the FEH. So why didn't I pick the FEH?... ah, that brings me to my last key factor.

Reliability
- There is nothing I disdain more than an unreliable vehicle, and whether or not it is justified, the acronym that burns in my mind when it comes to unreliable vehicles is FORD - Fix Or Repair Daily. I lived, or I should say suffered with a '82 Ford Mustang and I will never, ever forgive Ford for what that vehicle put me through. I can go on and on and on about my experiences with that car, but why? There are so many others that have had similar experiences. Yes, I've heard that Ford has improved their quality over the years... but I have never heard that their quality has ever exceeded Toyota. It's another area that embarrasses me. Again, after 3 decades you would think that companies like Ford would have risen to the challenge.

Not to mention, my dad bought a '76 Toyota Corolla and that car kept kicking for over 20 years with minimal problems. I pretty much owe Toyota my loyalty for taking car of pop for so many years.

When I reviewed reliability ratings for the Escape I observed just above average ratings, versus excellent ratings for the Highlander. So... no FEH for me thank you. Getting 4 mpg more wasn't worth the potential reliability headaches, not to mention far less power...

 

My last vehicle was a VW Touareg V8. A real pleasure to drive, but tons of little bugs and terrible fuel economy at 13.5 mpg. My lease was expiring and with the VW dealership (and service dept.) of choice 60-70 minutes away I decided to look at some other models. With two small kids, business travel, working on a home, snow, etc. an SUV was still at the top of my list.

I looked at the FEH, but felt it was a little too small for my needs. I then headed to the Toyota dealership to drive the new RAV4. I had read a sterling review in Car & Driver so it was near the top of my list. I really liked the RAV4 and had the salesman working up some lease figures when I noticed the HiHy on the showroom floor. After sitting inside I asked if they had one available for a test drive. I ended up driving that vehicle home the next afternoon!

 

Up to August of last year I drove a Ford Expedition - 17mpg at best, but normally only around 14mpg with a 50/50 mix of highway and city traffic. I drive 70 miles round trip to work daily and it was costing me nearly $120 week for gas - just commuting. I traded in the Expy for a Ford Escape (non-hybrid) as the pickings for Escape Hybrids at that time were very limited. I've driven Fords almost my entire life - my mother retired from Ford after over 40 years - so the employee purchase plan helped a lot - I've never had a serious problem with my Fords - until the Escape!

Immediately after taking delivery of the Escape, I discovered a vibration at highway speeds (50-65 mph) that caused the steering wheel, gas pedal and body to shutter/vibrate. Other than that - I loved the little SUV; however, after 3 attempts to repair the problem - Ford decided it was normal operation - (apparently about a third of the 05-06 Escapes have this problem). Fortunately arbitration found that this was not normal operation for a vehicle, that a reasonable consumer would expect to drive - and required Ford to purchase back the vehicle. This took nearly six months to resolve - I was even considering getting a different Ford. In fact, we were even considering getting the FEH for my wife in a year or two and I looked into that. However, with the treatment I got from Ford, I wasn't wild about going through the agony again.

In my search for an alternate vehicle - I stopped at a Toyota dealer and looked at the regular Highlander, I didn't even know the hybrid existed - when the salesman mentioned they hybrid model - I took a test drive and fell for it - so did my wife. Going through a second mid-life crisis - I opted for the Limited with all the bells and whistles and I'm glad I did - for the summer months I'm pushing 28 mpg with the same commute with fuel only costing about $40 week (which would probably be more than $120/week now with the Expy).

Oh, my mother disinherited me - and she's really pissed at Ford - but I think she's forgiven me - she sent me a birthday card.

 

gang


great posts. The general concensus i am getting here is that we all looked at the FEH and found we needed more . Aside from the dubious problem from sea dog and his FEH , we seem to need a bigger suv.

the FEH is ambitious, and a real winner for Ford. I have an escort which is also a real winner in terms of reliability, but too often Ford, GM , and Chysler have bombed in their auto making.

I suspect the labor costs have something to do with having to cut quality to compete with japanese models. I am glad Ford and GM are finally addressing these issues. I am highly disapointed Ford has decided to sell out to ethanol, but very well may need to just to survive in the mainstream.

I encourage all Highlanders to post why they bought