- Our check outcomes for the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max present spectacular acceleration occasions.
- It additionally beat out different three-row SUVs when it comes to noticed gasoline financial system.
- The Hybrid Max setup is just accessible on the Grand Highlander’s high two trim ranges.
Welcome to Automobile and Driver’s Testing Hub, the place we zoom in on the check numbers. We have been pushing autos to their limits since 1956 to offer goal information to bolster our subjective impressions (you’ll be able to see how we check right here).
We discovered so much to love concerning the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander once we first drove and examined it, however now that we have been in a position to evaluate it towards the three-row SUV section writ giant, we’re notably impressed with the efficiency of its new 362-horsepower Hybrid Max powertrain. This setup, which mixes a turbocharged 2.4-liter inline-four fuel engine with two electrical motors and a six-speed automated transmission, delivers on each the acceleration and fuel-economy fronts.
In our three-row SUV comparability check, the Grand Highlander was the quickest in a straight line by a large margin, attending to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds. That is regardless of it weighing greater than any of its closest rivals, at a hefty 4936 kilos. There are faster three-row SUVs on the market, however not many: the Dodge Durango’s V-8–powered SRT variants come to thoughts, plus costly luxury-badged SUVs such because the BMW X5 and Audi Q7.
The Grand Highlander additionally lives as much as the model’s fame for fuel-efficient hybrids—a minimum of in relative phrases. Whereas the Hybrid Max mannequin does not obtain Prius-level MPG numbers, it was the thriftiest SUV in our check, averaging 25 mpg over our 650-mile comparability loop. That beats the EPA’s 22 mpg mixed ranking. Nonetheless, we have been a bit disillusioned with the Grand Highlander’s end in our 75-mph freeway gasoline financial system check, the place it solely hit 24 mpg, a bit behind the EPA’s 26 mpg estimate.
Whereas the Hybrid Max is significantly dearer than the 2024 Grand Highlander’s lesser powertrains, which embody a nonhybrid turbocharged 2.4-liter inline-four and a much less highly effective however extra environment friendly hybrid with a nonturbo 2.5-liter fuel engine, we predict the improve is value it. The Hybrid Max setup is obtainable solely on the Restricted and Platinum trim ranges, which each carry beginning costs above $55,000.
Senior Editor
Regardless of being raised on a gentle eating regimen of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or maybe due to it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive trade all through his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He discovered a approach to write about automobiles for the varsity newspaper throughout his school years at Rice College, which ultimately led him to maneuver to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first skilled auto-writing gig at Car Journal. He has been a part of the Automobile and Driver workforce since 2016 and now lives in New York Metropolis.
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