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"Great car with excellent mpg, comfort and ride." on by Falcip
Pros: The car is averaging about 28 mpg and has improved a bit each week for 6 weeks. The space is great and the ride is smooth and quite. The engine transitions very seamlessly between electric and gas,
Cons: Stereo could be better. No programmable seat positions,
Summary: We have the Highlander Hybrid with the Popular Plus package. Love the car. The auto lift gate and programmable temp controls for front and middle seats are great. I am disappionted with cnet's review because it seems to me that their bad driving experience (almost crashing into something) influenced their review. The stereo, bluetooth, hands-free calling, and Nav system (referring to other consumer's reviews) are hardly reasons, in my opinion, to judge a car on. The stereo, maybe some. Check out the the non-hybrid Limited review and you can get a fair opinion of the vehicle and add a well built hybrid motor, which is identical to the one in the Lexus; also highly rated in reviews.
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"Great Hybrid Vehicle" on by craigsuter
Pros: SKS, great mpg, jbl sound, comfy ride, Limited edition is loaded
Cons: Nav system, Bluetooth, voice recognition all have a way to go
Summary: I have the Limited edition and not the standard Highlander Hybrid.
I love the vehicle and would give it a higher rating IF the following were not so annoying:
Voice Command
•It is very difficult to find a listing of commands you can give this unit! I eventually found some lists on the internet. This really belongs in the documentation.
•It is incredibly annoying to have the voice prompt shouting at you every time you press the “talk” button. There should be a configuration item that allows you to turn voice prompting off and only ring the bell when you press the “talk” button. After you have done this a few times, you really do want to say commands quicker and the voice prompt simply slows you down.
•Power Users want the quickest and dirtiest way to accomplish a task as is possible.
Navigation
•The detail in Toyota maps is sorely lacking. Using the Toyota GPS unit, my house sits in the white area of the display with no detail of neighborhood streets. I have had the Magellan Roadmate for 4 years and it displays my neighborhood correctly. When in Map mode, I frequently cannot see side streets and major roads that my Roadmate shows – useful for detours when a road is unexpectedly closed.
•Another annoyance is that you have to manually change the region you are routing to! Garmin and Magellan do not require this. Somehow this is invisible to the user!
•For a unit costing more than $2K to add to your vehicle, there is no information available to find out what the current map release is – so you can determine if you need a newer version, or how you are going to get future upgrades. Do you get an email? Letter? Does the first upgrade come free? What is the cost of an upgrade? Do the upgrades have firmware upgrades too?
•Power Users want the quickest and dirtiest way to accomplish a task as is possible.
Bluetooth
•I do not know what to call this so I will call it “Headset Mode”. When using my Plantronics Bluetooth headset with my Motorola Q, I can simply say “call john doe home” … and the call goes through because my phone is doing all the work. It would be fantastic to have this mode available as an option. All Bluetooth phones have this capability … why not use it! For those who do not want to, they can use Toyota's implementation.
• I have to
o Press talk
o Listen to annoying voice prompt
o Say “Dial by Name”
o Listen to annoying voice prompt
o Press talk
o Say “john doe”
o Listen to annoying voice prompt
o Press the call button
•When I “dial by name”, I can only get the first phone number! There appears to be no way to voice dial the 2nd phone number.
•Most phonebook/address books allow for a mobile, home, and work number. Your unit only allows two telephone numbers. And as I said above, you can only voice dial the first number.
•The whole point of this Bluetooth capability is not “gee, whiz bang”, rather it is for safety. The less I have to take my hands off of the steering wheel, the safer I am to myself and others. It is the law in Washington State that cell phones cannot be operated in moving vehicles unless the driver is using a Bluetooth device.
"Hybrid battery failure a problem" on by momnn3
Pros: The car runs quietly and gets great mileage compared to other vehicles its size. Interior is very comfortable on long trips.
Cons: I have owned this vehicle for 1 1/2 years and have had complete hybrid battery failure twice. Car needs to be towed to a toyota dealer equiped to handle hybrids. The second failure was on a weekend and dealership was closed.
Summary: Quality of product from Toyota is disappointing. Also emergency service is nonexistant for a hybrid on the weekend. Car is unusable during hybrid failure. Toyo tires wore out prematurely and needed replacement at 25k miles despite frequent rotation by Toyota dealership.
"Nice to do my 'bit' for the environment" on by Jesstefsmom
Pros: 22-25 mpg is still better than the 16 mpg in my Gr. Caravan
Cons: Terrible stock stereo! The worst!!!! Hard to get one of these vehicles with options you want!
Summary: I like the ride. I like knowing I am at least trying to do something for the environment....but it was expensive for the 22-25 mpg I average. I love gadgets what can I say and although I didn't want the full nav system, I did want a GOOD stereo which they make IMPOSSIBLE to get even 'after-market'!!! Your reviewers hit it on the head! The bass is terrible even when you try to lower it, it's still overpowering! Why is it so hard to buy a vehicle with the options you want???? The dealership told me they had hybrids on a truck ready to be delivered but Toyota was holding the truck back! Hhhhhhmmmmmmmm, sounds like an unfair marketing ploy to me! They would have had more of my money had they made available a vehicle with the options I wanted! Like a better stereo system!!!!
