It's available with four-cylinder or V6 power, and a choice of front-wheel drive or full-time four-wheel drive. The standard Highlander with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive performs well around town and on the open highway, delivering responsive performance when merging into highway traffic. Equipped with the larger 3.3-liter V6 and all-wheel drive, the Highlander offers strong power and secure handling in nasty weather.
The new Highlander Hybrid is surprisingly powerful, more powerful than the regular V6 models. The Hybrid combines a 3.3-liter V6 with an electric motor, or two motors in the case of all-wheel-drive models. The electric motor improves acceleration, helping the Hybrid to easily keep up with big, powerful SUVs. This urge to speed comes at a major cost to fuel economy. It's estimated at just 33/28 mpg City/Highway by the EPA, and you may never see that. The real story here is emissions. The Highlander Hybrid will be classified by the government as a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, or SULEV. You could drive across America several times and emit fewer pollutants than someone painting a bedroom.
First introduced as a 2001 model, the Highlander was substantially revised for 2004. The 2005 models added more standard equipment. The Hybrid is new for 2006; the other models carry forward largely unchanged. Next Page