Hybrid powertrain pays off
Looking for the most fuel-efficient three-row crossover with all-wheel drive? Chances are you’ve zeroed in on the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Not much has changed for the 2019 Highlander Hybrid except the market. Automakers are rolling out more fuel-efficient crossovers by the day, it seems, with plug-in hybrids and full battery-electric vehicles planned for the immediate future.
As one of only a few hybrid three-row crossovers, the 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid is worth revisiting since our last write-up for model year 2015. Is it worth the upcharge, and how does this model stand up to the new competition? And, does it pay to be patient until the redesigned 2020 model drops this year?
The 306-horsepower V-6 with an electric continuously variable transmission comes standard. Motors on the front and rear axle provide AWD capability.
Toyota Safety Sense, the suite of advanced driver assistance systems including adaptive cruise, automatic high beams, lane-departure alert and more are standard on all Toyota models. There are no great surprises or steep learning curves, the infotainment system is functional, the control layout sensible enough. It has a smooth and quiet power delivery and offers plenty of room for a family of six.
It gets 28 mpg combined versus the 22 mpg combined in the gas-only version.
Based on U.S. EPA estimates of 24,000 kilometres driven annually at current gas prices, Hybrid owners will recoup their extra costs within five years of ownership. But that is based on 55 per cent of city driving. The Hybrid is at its most efficient in around-town driving, getting nine miles to the gallon more than the gas version. With city-only driving, the upcharge is recouped in three years of gas savings. But are you really driving 24,000 km around town? For some parents, it sure feels like it.
By year four of ownership, the Hybrid owner is winning. Then there’s the added bonus of having a cleaner, greener conscience and showing the drivers of tomorrow that you give a leaf. Let the economists put a cost on that. Seriously, though.
So, yes, in most cases, the Hybrid is worth the upcharge over the gas version of the Highlander and other fuel-efficient three-rows such as the Mazda CX-9 and Kia Sorento. Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV doesn’t come with a third row, so that raises the question everyone is asking, from regulators to automakers: How much green do you want to spend on being green?
The lovely Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid starts at nearly 50 per cent more than the Highlander Hybrid. All the luxury makes are launching plug-in or full battery electric crossovers in the next year or two, so maybe they think we have money to ... compost.
What about the excellent Chrysler Pacifica plugin Hybrid? I can hear the eye rolls from here. You hate the styling, I get it, but sliding doors and wide spaces make the minivan the most practical family car around. Pacifica gets 29 mpg combined, too, without factoring the 32-mile electric range. That would suffice the vast majority of family errands, we expect, so there would be no gas charge annually except for the road trip fuelled by all the money you saved on gas.
But it’s not a crossover. Now I’m the one rolling my eyes.
The excellent Acura MDX Sport Hybrid is the nearest competitor. It’s fresher, more refined and more powerful, but it’s also more expensive and less efficient.
More mainstream automakers are rolling out three-row hybrid crossovers. The 2020 Ford Explorer will come as a hybrid, though fuel economy numbers won’t be released until closer to the spring release date.
Even if the Explorer Hybrid is in the same fueleconomy range, the Highlander Hybrid is better. In this sense, the Highlander Hybrid is ahead of the game. It might be the only sense in which this is true, but for the fuel-conscious, family-hauling, minivan-hating car shopper, it is the sense that is most important.