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Anyone consider the new 2014 Toyota Highlander?

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2014
13K views 87 replies 35 participants last post by  Zhe Wiz 
#1 · (Edited)
My wife and I are getting close to purchasing her a new SUV and I think we have are minds set on the new 2014 Toyota Highlander. Before we saw the new Highlander we were pretty set on the 2014 Overland because its an amazing looking vehicle with TONS of options and tech. For the most part every Toyota has always bored me until we saw the commercial for this new Highlander and I started watching reviews and checked one out at the dealership.
So let me explain our situation. This will be my wifes vehicle as our family is growing again and her 2004 Accord is getting up there in mileage and space can be pretty tight at times. I owned a 2012 Overland V6 for about a year and it was a good vehicle, but sold that because I missed driving cars and we didnt really have a need for an SUV at the time (it was an impulse buy lol). I love everything about the 2014 Overland, however I will be honest I have been getting more and more nervous after hearing about quality issues and electrical issues (which may or may have not been worked out by now I dunno). That along with the possibly not so great Jeep service im starting to look elsewhere. If it was for me its not big deal, but for my wife how can you go wrong with a Toyota? Then I found out that is has a useful 3rd row and even captains center row which is awesome...and in a mid size SUV and not something enormous like a Tahoe or Durango. With the platinum package you get most of the features of an Overland such as heated steering wheel, cooled seats, adaptive cruise, pano sunroof, blind spot monitoring...you name it. The only thing that kind of boggles my mind is that it doesnt come with HID headlights. How can a car with so much tech not have that feature? Oh well guess its not the end of the world. It has halogen projectors. What has me thrilled is I found out it has the rear tailgate flipper glass which is a great feature and was done away with for whatever reason on the 2014 GC's. Reviews are all excellent and apparently its the only SUV that currently has a 5 star + crash rating. Price wise it looks like it can be had for less than a somewhat equivalent V6 Overland.
Please dont take this post as if im putting the Overland down because its an amazing vehicle and I will always love those things, but just looking for some input from you guys to see if anyone else has driven or checked out a 2014 Highlander Limited with Platinum package and compared the two? I know some guys on this forum are offroaders or use their vehicles for towing, the Highlander can tow 5,000lbs and apparently is relatively capable offroad, but for this threads sake, the vehicle we purchase will never see a trailer or anything but paved suburban roads.

other vehicles considered was the Honda Pilot which we ruled out the second we saw the highlander mainly because it costs the same and has literally what seemed like no feature even remotely close to the Overland or Highlander...plus its not pretty to look at. Durango is just too big and I could be slightly concerned with reliability for the wife. New GMC Acadia seems nice, but also doesnt seem to come as equipped.

Thanks for any input guys.

James
 
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#53 ·
I hear ya, but at the same time he can do what he wants can't he? As long as he isn't hurting anyone else why would any of us care?

Not saying I agree or disagree with him, although it's totally my right to go either way.....or at least it used to be......


Sent from my iPhone using JeepGarage
 
#54 · (Edited)
Its a discussion forum. If you're going to post a statement like that...ya gotta be ready for the response.

The thing is, that attitude does hurt people. Its not healthy for any of us to carry around that sort of baggage...he passes on the hatred and blame to his children and it keeps the cycle continuing when in this day and age it needs to stop.
 
#60 ·
I was going to go downstairs and microwave myself a pizza for a late night snack. Then I remembered...pizza is from Italy...and the Romans killed Jesus!

So I threw the pizza away and went to bed hungry. Take that Italy!
 
#64 ·
Jeep dealers are the greatest but at least in my experience in the Mid-Atlantic area, Toyota dealers are much worse to deal with in sales and mainly service.

The sales departments act like Toyota's are little nuggets of gold going down the road. They think that Toyota is the only thing you will buy. I guess some always buy Toyota, period.

The service departments are crooks, much more that other dealers, they nickel and dime, they are slow, etc.

I shopped the 4Runner and Tundra before getting my Summit and they were just as bad as they have been in the past.

I would go for a Lexus RX or GX if you really want the Toyota. More $$$ but way better sales and service.
 
#65 ·
I just bought my 2014 Overland in white fully loaded two days ago. I had a 2013 BMW X1 xdrive35i MSport and was barely a suv and needed more room and always had my eyes on a white overland.. I just had my third child as well so even more motivation to switch to Jeep. I actually went and test drove the highlander.. I felt like I was driving a lifted up station wagon and far from my personality. I am extremely happy with my choice and I keep getting thumbs up and people breaking their necks everywhere I go down here in South Florida in the past two days in my Jeep ;)
 
#66 ·
My brother's Highlander was a really nice vehicle and my Lexus Land Cruiser was excellent as well. The Highlander pulled down good fuel numbers and the LLC the worst of any vehicle I have owned except for a Ford Full Time 4WD in the mid 70's.

New Highlander is an excellent vehicle so is the Jeep. I went with the Jeep for one reason, the diesel. If I could not get the diesel I would have most likely purchased the 14 Forester with 2.0DIT.

You honestly can't go wrong with either the Toyota or Jeep. Hopefully if you go with the Toyota it will be more reliable than my Avalon which was not the paragon of reliability.
 
#70 · (Edited)
To me there are differing degrees of unconscionable. A sneak attack on a military installation that had received fleet transfers and is poised to be a jumping off point into your territory is one thing...nuking two cities full of civilians is another thing. They killed 2,500 of our people, we killed 250,000 of theirs. Theres an eye for an eye...but to me thats a head for an eye.

In any event, the bombs weren't just dropped to retaliate for the attack on pearl harbor...they were dropped to cripple Japan and end the war as quickly as possible...and they did
 
#72 ·
You guys have said that no HID lights are crazy. I just drove a new highlander because Chrysler is buying back my jeep and I am trying to decide if I want to risk buying another jeep or something else. The 2014 highlander limited has hubcaps yes hubcaps they call them chromtec wheels but they are cheap aluminum wheels with a plastic hubcap made to look like a nice wheel. Very cheap.
 
#74 ·
In Toyotas defense they aren't really "hubcaps" per say. When I think of hubcaps I think of a 14" plastic cover over a black steel wheel that can fall off or crack. The highlander limited comes with a nice looking 19" wheel with a molded plastic cover that is not removable. You can call it cheap or whatever you want, but they look real nice and is certainly nothing like a hubcap. Funny thing is Jeep used to do that ;-) my moms 04 Overland has the nice chrome 5 spoke wheels and guess what...they are plastic covers....and still look great to this day, which I can guarantee wouldn't be the case if they were a full out chrome wheel.

Besides you not liking the wheels, what are your thoughts on the vehicle? I still haven't driven one but plan to take out a 14 limited platinum soon. I'm on the forums over there and so far everyone seems to like it. I had a new Pilot last week and even though I know that generation is nearing its end and is far behind the competition, it actually drove great!! Not gonna get it, but while my wife's Accord was being serviced he let me take home a new pilot so I said sure why not.
 
#73 ·
But if you ask consumer reports they'll give Toyota extra points for innovative technology for bringing back hub caps!


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#75 ·
It was a very nice "tool" it did everything OK drove well had a nice ride but it was a little under powered made my v6 jeep seem fast. I really liked the seats very comfortable. I took it off my list for two reasons, 1) the touch screen is to far from the driver I have ape arms and I had to reach for it and it gets completely washed out in the sun. 2) just not enough power to tow my stuff I have a 4500lb trailer and I think I would be killing it to make it work. Also the jbl audio system was not very good either. I am going to drive a Explorer Sport see if I like that.
 
#78 · (Edited)
After eliminating the Highlander, the MDX was on my short list for a new vehicle. Went to test drive it and was unimpressed with the fit and finish of the interior. Someone at the Acura dealership had traded in a Grand Cherokee for an MDX the day before (apparently some people do prefer the MDX) and the Jeep was still sitting there. I parked the MDX next to the Jeep and it was pretty much over from there. Stopped at Lexus to look at the GX the headed straight back to the local Jeep dealer to order the Grand Cherokee.
 
#77 ·
I came from a 2008 MDX Sport it was a great car just got to 100,000 and decided to move on, was waiting for them to release the 2014 Acura MDX instead they Released the 2014 Acura Odyssey, hated it everything I liked about the old MDX gone replaced with mini van bits they even removed the tails pipes. Also one of the main reasons I got rid of the MDX was the need for Premium gas, around here Premium gas prices are not stable one station would be 20 cents higher the next would be 70 cents drove me nuts.
 
#79 ·
I looked at the MDX before I bought my GC since it had a 3rd row, but didn't look that elongated from the outside, but once I went inside it I realized it was really a 6 seater. Two, Three, and one seating across the back. There is pretty much no foot room back there an the middle row is in a fixed position. At that point since I liked the GC better it made the decision easier.
 
#80 ·
Yeah we drove a 2010 MDX advance and it's ok, my wife didn't like it. As for the new MDX I like the way it looks, but we haven't driven one yet. Price was gonna be higher than we wanted, atleast for a new one as of now. Saw a new Highlander Limited driving on the road today, and as with any Toyota it's certainly not the prettiest thing to look at, but was acceptable. Everything else it does and the interior and options are great.

I have one more question for you guys. The amount of 2014 Grand Cherokee problem threads on this site are becoming overwhelming now. What I want to know is, are these problematic cars ONLY the early builds? Or are guys experiencing issues with even fresh out of the factory recent builds? I will in no way in hell buy an early build one. If we do end up with a Grand Cherokee it's gotta be the most recent built as possible. I wish all the problem threads on this site had a build date included in their threads. That would help significantly!! What are your thoughts on that?
 
#82 ·
I know most of you guys wouldn't approve, but we ended up going with the new '14 Highlander Limited Platinum. Like I said before the Jeep is an excellent vehicle with looks to die for, but for our needs it just wasn't the one for us. So far we both love it. Drives great, super quiet like the Jeep, engine and tranny are both solid and proven, and the interior is awesome...especially the second row captains chairs. The roominess in the second row is incredible and even the third row is doable for me at 6ft tall. It has most of the tech features the Overland offers give or take. I know most guys on here bring up towing and offroad capabilities, but we do neither of those so that was not a factor. I think its rated at like 5,000lb towing though.
Never thought we would own a Toyota, but this one sure impresses us! its my wife's vehicle and I still enjoy my manual TLS, but who knows maybe i'll be back into a Jeep someday. Had a full front end clear bra installed, tint matched the front windows, and purchased Weathertech floor liners.

Thanks for everyone's input and all the other useful information I have received from this website. For what its worth I still always break my neck when I spot an Overland driving because I cant stop looking at it lol. You cant mistake those LED's comin at ya from way down the road :)

Here are a few pics of the wife's new Highlander.











 
#83 ·
I know most of you guys wouldn't approve, but we ended up going with the new '14 Highlander Limited Platinum. Like I said before the Jeep is an excellent vehicle with looks to die for, but for our needs it just wasn't the one for us.
Honestly that's the important thing! You tried a bunch of vehicles and picked the one FOR YOU, that's why there are 5 billion options out there and not just one!

Congrats on your new ride. I've owned many Toyotas (still own a Prius), at least you can be pretty sure it will be reliable!
 
#84 ·
Congrats! It's a great vehicle that does a lot of things really well, much improved from he previous version. Won't get any derision from me!
 
#87 · (Edited)
No, but that doesn't mean we all have to feel like every vehicle that isn't a Jeep isn't worthy of owning or discussing.

The guy is a long term, PAYING (hint, hint if you care so much pay up cheap-o) member of JeepGarage that traded his Jeep, involved us in his search for a replacement, and posted to share what his decision was with us even though its not a Jeep.

Whats the big deal?
 
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