11th Sep 2006, 09:22

To the Ford driver - the Highlander is no way the "Slowest SUV on the market". Did you drive a V6, or were 3 spark plugs disconnected?

14th Sep 2006, 12:44

In reading the negative comments about the Highlander it's obvious why I'm seeing ads for them with huge discounts. They apparently have lots of problems and perform very poorly. This really doesn't surprise me, as the Highlander is basically an already underpowered Camry drive train with a much heavier body.

15th Sep 2006, 10:18

I am not sure about the 2004 model, but the 2006 is a 3.3 liter V-6, rated at 215hp.

24th Sep 2006, 16:23

It's good that people are finally waking up to the fact that Japanese brands aren't all they are reported to be (by Japanese owned car magazines). The Hyundai Sante Fe and Kia Sorento are definitely far better and more reliable than the Highlander. I've driven the Highlander and The Sorento, and the Sorento had far more power and felt much safer and more solid by far than the slow and erratically handling Highlander.

3rd Oct 2006, 15:47

Has anyone heard anything about recalls on the Highlander for braking problems and transmission problems? There seem to be a lot of problems in those areas.

18th Oct 2006, 21:03

This morning's paper carried an item about yet ANOTHER recall on the trouble-prone Highlander SUV (and it's Lexus clone). Now it seems that the accelerator might stick on the floor "possibly causing an accident". Since the cars are so dog-slow it would likely be a very minor accident of course, but this is yet another example of how Toyota's quality is grossly over rated.

27th Oct 2006, 17:59

Now I hear that Toyota is recalling 30,000 cars because the airbags might not work!! I guess they are too busy being "superior" to worry about minor details like that.

28th Oct 2006, 00:48

Toyota has had only a VERY small percentage of recalls compared to anything made by Chevrolet, Dodge, or Ford. If you're going to try to criticize Toyota, at least get your facts straight.

30th Oct 2006, 18:56

Well, gee, I guess Toyota would have less recalls than Ford, GM or Chrysler. After all, they sell about a TENTH the number of cars that the Big Three sell.

To think that Toyota has somehow cornered the market on build quality is a delusion. Ad hype, the idea that charging more for comparable products somehow makes them "better", and reviews in Japanese-owned magazines has led a lot of people to the very incorrect assumption that Japan builds better cars. The real world experience of car owners tells a different story. Japanese cars, are on average comparable to, but certainly no better, than American cars.

I hear the chant of "higher resale value" continually from those misled by the ad hype. OF COURSE Japanese cars sell higher used. They START OUT higher. If you pay $25,000 for a Camry, keep it two years and sell it for $17,000 (about average depreciation for one) you've lost $8000. If you bought a Ford Taurus for $16,500 and sold it for $14,000 two years later (typical depreciation for Taurus) you've lost $2500. Unless you are REALLY bad at math, it's easy to see you're $5500 better off with the Taurus (not to mention the lower maintenance costs of the Taurus).

1st Nov 2006, 21:41

This morning I read that Toyota has yet ANOTHER recall due to a major safety defect on their pitiful F-150 imitator, the Tundra. I guess this is another example of superior Japanese build quality??

2nd Nov 2006, 05:52

To 18:56. Toyota has far less recalls by PERCENTAGE. Look it up.

4th Nov 2006, 22:57

I'd rather drive a safe car than one that has recalls involving such major safety issues. A cigarette lighter not working is one thing. An accelerator sticking or an airbag not working is far more serious.

13th Nov 2006, 14:12

To 21:14, thank you for making one of the few reasonable comments that have been posted lately.

13th Nov 2006, 15:49

Lexus is also a luxury brand that costs double if not triple that of the cars you mentioned.

Its your fault for choosing and engine tranny combo you didn't like. Its not like we forced you to. 0-60 times? when does that matter in an suv?

18th Nov 2006, 13:10

I appreciate the previous well-founded and researched comment (14:57). I'd like to add another. I am always running across wild and inaccurate statements about American made vehicles having "horrible resale value" compared to Japanese cars. Baloney!! I went shopping for a small truck last year and had negotiated a price on a Toyota Prerunner SR-5. Thinking it was pretty high, I shopped Ford and bought a comparably equipped V-6 Ranger for thousands less. A few days ago I checked the Kelly Bluebook "private party" resale value (what you should get if you sold it yourself) for the Toyota and the Ranger. The value shown for my Ranger was actually MORE than I paid for it by $1080. The Toyota was about $400 LESS than I was being asked to pay for it. (and YES, I entered the exact same equipment and mileage for both vehicles). When looking at resale value you have to look at WHAT YOU ACTUALLY PAID, NOT THE LIST. Last year I sold my 5 year old Dodge truck for 90% of what I paid for it brand new. You will NEVER do that with ANY Japanese truck...EVER. I bought my Dodge for $7000 off list and my Ranger for $5000 off list. You can't base resale value on suggested list.

As for reliablity, I just got the latest issue of Consumer Reports Auto edition. For Tacoma it lists projected reliability as "average". For Ranger it lists projected reliability as "average". Looks like I saved money AND got a vehicle that is equally reliable.

19th Nov 2006, 20:19

I need to amend my previous comment (13:10). I stated that the Toyota was "about $400 less in value than it's purchase price". I just checked (I'd written the figures down a few days ago) and I noticed that the value of the Prerunner is actually $650 less than it's negotiated price. That means I'm actually ANOTHER $250 better off with my Ranger than what I stated earlier. In all, it now has a private party value of over $1700 more than the Prerunner I (thankfully) did not buy.

19th Nov 2006, 20:31

Comment 15:40 asks "when do 0-60 times matter in an SUV?" Well, for one thing, when merging onto a freeway. Before we bought our current (American) SUV we drove the horribly underpowered and quirky handling Highlander V-6. It was so slow we barely could merge onto a freeway at a safe speed. Our amply powerful and super smooth GMC is as fast as some V-8 cars we've driven (and it's a 6), and in 3 years it has never seen the inside of a service department except for oil changes and recommended servicing. In reading about the Highlander's problems with brakes, airbags, sticking accelerators and erratically shifting transmissions I thank my lucky stars every day we didn't buy one. Performance DOES matter, and until Toyota builds something more powerful than a golf cart I have no intention of looking at another one.