Comment on new Toyota Highlander (was: Results of Weekend Shopping for a New Car For My Mother)

I actually drove the new Highlander this past weekend and I thought I
pass along my impressions:

The good:

- 4 cylinder engine has decent power and it moves the car just fine -
not much different than the V6 Freestyle it replaced, but ....(see
below)
- Transmission seemed flawless
- Great seats, better than the Freestyle
- Controls much better than the RAV4's my Sisters own. I think Toyota
should fire the guys that did the RAV4 and let the Highlander guys
redo them. I do wonder about the Japanese obsession with HUGE control
knobs,. Does anyone need a 2.5" diameter knob to tune the radio? It is
like something from a WWII Shot Wave Radio (ditto forf the other
knobs). (see below)
- Third seat is very easy to raise lower, much better than the
Freestyles...but (see below). It worked like the third row seat in my
2003 Expedition (but easier to reach, but not split)
- Smooth ride but .... (see below)
- Interior is ver spacious
- For only a couple of thousand more than a similar RAV4, you get a
much better vehicle - I wonder how many RAV4 buyer ough to look at the
Highlander
- I was really happy with how much car my Mother got for the money

The bad:

- The 4 cylinder engine is very noisy - much louder than the V6 in the
Freestyle. The engine noise is very noticeable, especially since the
vehicle is otherwise very quiet. It is not too bad at a highway
cruise, but very noticeable when accelerating.
- While the ride is very smooth, the car is awfully "floaty." Reminds
me of some of the old Chryler stuff or the Grand Marquis my Mother
used to own. This won't be a problem for my Mother but I'd like
soemthing a little tighter. Manybe the suspension fior ther "Sport
Model" would suit me better.
- Although the controls are better than the RAV4's, they could use
some improvement. The knobs and buttons for the radio and HVAC are all
big and shiny and not particularly well laid out. The industrial
designers need to tone this down, Form should follow function. The
controls should not look like some bizarre modern art sculpture. This
is something the Japanese designers are addicted to and it is starting
to influence American designers. The controls in my current (2009)
F150 are showing this influence. They are easily the worst I've ever
had in a US designed vehcile (but still not as bad as the RAV4s my
sisters own). The F150 has two many big knobs arranged in some sort of
pattern that is not really related to the function. They are arranged
to look cool. And this cool looking arangement is just silly. There
are decades of study available on how to do controls and the Toyota
designers have tried to ignore all of them (Honda is just as bad, and
apparently Ford is copy catting the bad ideas becasue they think it is
what sells).
- Although the third row seat is much easier to deploy than the seat
in the Freestyle my Mother used to own, this ease comes at a price.
The Freestyle seat was a complicated arrangement that folded into a
well at the rear of the car and it had no significant effect on the
cargo load height. When the Freestyle seat was raised, there was a
huge well at the rear of the car that my Mother found perfect for
groceries. There is no well behind the Highlander's third row seat. It
folds on itself (thinner cushions than the Freestyle) and the rear
cargo floor is higher than it could have been with the Freestyle type
seat. It is a trade off. Given the choice, I'd go with the Highlander
stlye seat, but I think my Mother wishes it was more like the one in
the Freestyle (which she could not deploy herself...I always had to do
it for her). I think the Highlander third seat is potentially more
useful, but I doubt it will see much use. Still it is very easy to
raise and lower. It would have been nice if it was split so you could
raise half at a time, but this is only a minor (very minor) complaint.

Ed