I ended up with a HH 4wd-i because I had a lemon. A sad and strange but true story.

In April 2006 I purchased a new Japanese built '07 Camry XLE V6 that developed transmission problems shortly after purchase (and I'm not the only one with this issue). Several trips back to the dealer and even a transmission replacement did not fix the problem. I also had several fit and finish issues that were unable to be resolved so I was not at all pleased with the Camry.

To make matters worse, Toyota Corporate "Customer Service" was simply the worst that I ever experienced in my adult life.

However, my local Dealer stepped up and saved the day. Even though Toyota Corporate treated me very poorly, the Management at the Dealership valued my repeat business (I've owned 7 Toyota's previous to the '07 Camry) and they offered to give me 100% of my purchase price of the '07 Camry in trade towards another Toyota.

So I was in a bit of a quandry. I was now able to get out from under the '07 Camry Lemon but only into another Toyota. I vowed to never own another Toyota after the way I was treated by Toyota Corporate, but after considerable thought and research, I decided to take the offer and own one more Toyota.

I ruled out another '07 Camry because of the ongoing issues, and ruled out an '06 Avalon for the same reasons. My remaining choices were a Corolla, Prius, Sienna, or a Toyota SUV or Truck. I remained somewhat leery as there seems to be higher prevalence of reported driveability concerns regarding Toyota (and Lexus models) with V6 engines and 5 and 6 speed automatic transmissions.

My basic requirements are simple. Good gas mileage, good power, seating for 5 and the ability to carry a reasonable amount of stuff, and since my '07 Camry was a lemon, a history in online forums of little or no ongoing issues or problems. I had learned a valuable lesson - the Toyota's of today are not built or designed as well as Toyota's of yesterday, so one cannot make a selection based on previous experience or Toyota's reputation for building reliable, quality vehicles. It appears that Toyota's continued expansion and cost cutting are having a negative effect on the brand, so one should be extra careful in their selection.

I ended up selecting the HH as the Toyota that best met all of my requirements. I live in Oregon so in addition to the $2600 federal tax credit we get an additional $1500 state tax credit. $4100 in tax credits essentially made the purchase a wash when compared with a comparable gas powered Highlander. The V6 coupled with the CVT seems to not have any driveability issues and once I drove the HH I could see why everyone was so high on this model. Scans of the online forums showed that the Highlander Hybrid, while being described as having a "dated design" by some, was a reliable, proven design that just seems to work well.

I'm a techie by trade so I was impressed by the Hybrid technology, and feel that the HH is probably a much better showcase for what a Hybrid is capable of than other vehicles like the Prius or Honda Civic.

I also came across a recent article in Popular Mechanics regarding a comparison of Hybrids with their non-Hybrid counterparts and I was convinced that the HH was the best way to go. Here's a link for those of you who have not had a chance to read it:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...tml?page=1&c=y

Now that I've had my HH for a few weeks and have driven about 1200 miles, I remain impressed with the vehicle and the Hybrid package. I'm getting great mileage and I am impressed with the fit and finish.

I'm still upset at Toyota Corporate for treating me so poorly, so who knows if I'll ever be able to overcome that and continue owning Toyota's.

But I do like my Highlander Hybrid.

 

cool story.

I like it!!!

cheers

 

I was looking for a vehicle to replace my 1997 Subaru Outback which had over 110,000 miles. I might have replaced it with another Subaru but but for the new models having less headroom. I am an artist who hauls paintings to art shows and the more I can fit in a vehicle (along with my display racks) the better. My old Subaru had 34" of height in the cargo area with the back seats down. New ones, largely because of a different mechanism for lowering the back seats as well as a lower roof line with the ever present moonroof cut the height to 27." I wouldn't even be able to get my 30" display racks in. I wanted something bigger but I knew I didn't want a large minivan to drive around all the rest of the time.

I first looked at the HH back in September but they had the same shortcoming as the current Outbacks-- I would not get enough height in the cargo area because of the moonroof and the 3rd row of seats. The dealer said that all Highlander Hybrids came that way. I was bitterly disappointed because I was really sold on the hybrid technology. I then went to a car show to investigate available models that might fit my needs. Of course I brought my measuring tape. The Ford Escape and Subaru Forrester were too small but the Honda Pilot, Mitsubishi Endeavor and the gas Highlander (without the moonroof or 3 rd row) seemed to fit the bill.

I went to the Toyota dealer and told him why I couldn't have the hybrid but would like to look at the gas Highlander. To my surprise he said that within the last month, Toyota had started shipping him hybrids without the moonroof or 3rd row. He then showed me a AWD model in the color I wanted (gold) and we took it for a spin. I was ecstatic. An AWD hybrid where all my "stuff" would fit inside plus it was slightly cheaper (~$1000) than the moonroof version! The rest, as they say, was history. I did have the dealer put in heated seats and I drove it home yesterday. On the way home, I did some errands and with a mix of highway and suburban, my first 27 mile trip yielded 28.2 mpg! I know it's not going to be that good for the next few months as it will be a new car in cold weather (Connecticut) but hopefully I will be able to repeat the mpg in the spring.

I love it. This is the first 6 cylinder that I've owned and I'm not used to all this power. I think looks gorgeous, handles beautifully, and I'm so glad I didn't buy the gas hogs Pilot or Endeavor. I read the posts regarding mpg with the HH and since I got 22 mpg with my Subaru which was about 10% below its 1997 EPA rating, I'm hoping that I can stay within 10% of the EPA for the HH. They're predicting snow tomorrow so maybe I'll be able to put that second motor through its paces!

 

Okay, Okay. I admit it I am cheap and I bought my HiHy for one main reason . The Gas Mileage,then the safety. I have to say, I am disappointed so far. I live in Mass. and do mostly city driving, short distances, and work up a steep hill that can get icey, so I really looked forward to buying a 4WD for several years, but held off because of the poor mileage they have. When It snowed, I just borrowed my husband's gas guzzler. I had an Acura which was getting 17-18MPG, (less than the 23 that was advertised.) So I was really looking forward to getting - maybe not the 31 mpg advertised in the city - but not 21 mpg, with the heat turned off, riding like a little old lady, doing everything that the Toyota Hybrid Mechanics and the manuals and articles recommend that you do to conserve! It's amazing to me that there are folks getting such great mileage! Yes, I am concerned about the environment, but I'm also concerned about my pocketbook . Now that I have this, any of you expert HiHY owners have suggestions on getting the most bang out of mileage? Thanks

 

gassoc - Have you tried to "just drive it" for a couple of days to see how you do? There are a few cases of people around the board who try a bit too hard right from the beginning and wind up doing worse rather than better. I like to refer to it as "my spouse did better than me!" syndrome. It tends to be a matter of trying to use the electric motor too much and not being able to maintain the battery without "forced charging" from the ICE. I would suggest letting the car do the decision making for a little while to see what happens.

 

Trust me, when I first got the car, I just let it do it's thing and was not at all concerned. I kept it on the minute-by-minute gas mileage meter and that can really lull you into a sense of bliss. It wasn't until I filled the tank the first time and did the math, that I began to get a little worried. Then Toyota said to wait until I broke it in at over a thousand miles. So I did do that and the mileage went down even further. Now I am concerned. I even went out with a Hybrid specialist mechanic from Toyota yesterday to "learn from the master" and the best he could get was 21.9 mpg.Yesterday was a gorgeous, warm day up here and we road around for a good amount of time, to give it a chance to warm up, and didn't use the heat. Any thoughts out there?

 

Hmm. It's really a topic for a different thread but there are all kinds of possibilities. Dragging brakes and a bad alignment are two possibilities that don't always come up. Low tire pressure will add all kinds of drag. (Go for at least the maximum values recommended in your user manual / on the sticker in the door jam.) Running the heat really shouldn't hurt unless you try to blast it while the engine is warming up. Do you only drive a few miles at a time from a cold start? That's another very common issue that is sometimes forgotten. I find that my mileage is lousy any time I drive less than 6 miles. But there's a flip side to that, which is that driving less means burning less gas over all.

 

I would drive a loop from the dealers lot then repeat the loop with a new vehicle just like yours and see the difference.

 

I bought mine because my 2007 HyCam was rear-ended, and I wanted to feel safer, but not at a severe cost to the environment.

 

I bought mine for the following reasons:

• Replacing Sienna my wife is driving. We need third row seats occasionally. Highlander hybrid has it.
• We have a lexus, which is 6-cylinder. I do not feel comfortable buying another one.
• I never had SUV before, I wanted one.
• I like toyota cars in general.
• There was tax credit. It turned out I cannot get it due to AMT. I wish the salesman had told me that.
• If there were a hybrid minivan, I would have bought it.