Toyota Highlander 2004

Toyota Highlander 2004: The 2004 Toyota Highlander includes more powerful engines, brand-new security functions, and also optional seating for up to 7 passengers. Designing has actually been revised somewhat for 2004, however the actual adjustments are under the skin.

The four-cylinder engine that comes criterion is a lot more powerful as well as the brand-new V6 is bigger as well as extra effective than before. Contributing to the boosted responsiveness these modifications bring is a brand-new five-speed automatic transmission. The suspension has actually been changed, generating an extremely soft trip high quality. As well as minor structural modifications have been made to improve room performance inside.


Toyota Highlander 2004


Despite these revisions, the Highlander remains the simplest of car friends. Getting in and out couldn't be much easier. Its versatile indoor makes it very easy to numerous mixes of people and also cargo. Seatsing for five comes criterion, however 2004 models supply an optional third-row seat to carry up to 7 guests, though they would certainly be constrained. The third row folds level and also the second-row seat folds up almost so, revealing 80 cubic feet of freight space, more than a Toyota 4Runner. The Highlander could swallow unplanned flea-markets acquires effortlessly, as well as carry them home in spite of unexpected worsening of the climate. New airbag systems for 2004 include optional curtain-style air bags and side air bags designed to safeguard travelers' heads as well as upper bodies in a side impact or rollover.

The Highlander provides a soft, smooth flight as well as its engines are smooth and quiet. The base design, furnished with the revised 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and also front-wheel drive, performs well around community and on the open highway, supplying responsive efficiency when combining into freeway web traffic. Geared up with the larger 3.3-liter V6 and also all-wheel-drive, the Highlander offers solid power and safe handling in unpleasant climate. Highlander deals much of just what made the Lexus RX 300 preferred, however without Lexus-sized monthly settlements.

Design Schedule

The Toyota Highlander is readily available in base or Restricted trim, each with either front-wheel drive or full-time four-wheel drive. A choice of engines is readily available: A 2.4-liter inline-4 comes criterion, revised for 2004 and ranked at 160 horsepower. A brand-new 3.3-liter V6 that creates 230 horse power is optional on the base Highlander and standard on the Limited. All Highlanders feature automatic transmissions.

The base four-cylinder, front-wheel-drive design ($ 24,080) features cooling, power windows and door locks, cruise ship control, fabric upholstery, sophisticated anti-lock brakes, sitting for 5, as well as electronic stability control (VSC). The all-wheel-drive version ($ 25,480) is in a similar way outfitted. The V6 is optional ($ 1,060), however if you order it on the 4WD design, after that you have to take the optional third-row seat too ($ 850).

Highlander Limited 2WD ($ 29,980) and 4WD ($ 31,380) come basic with V6 and third-row seat as conventional devices. The Limited also gets automated climate control, an eight-speaker JBL sound system, eight-way power motorist's seat with adjustable lumbar assistance, four-way power passenger seat, 17-inch aluminum wheels, roofing shelf, fog lights, rear personal privacy glass, heated mirrors, remote keyless entrance with safety system and engine immobilizer, wood-grain indoor trim, leather-wrapped wheel as well as change handle, as well as other services.

Leather seats is available for the Minimal ($ 670) or base model ($ 2,255). Various other options: tilt-and-slide glass sunroof ($ 900), in-dash six-CD changer ($ 595). The optional rear-seat DVD system ($ 1,770) consists of two wireless headphones, RCA input jacks for computer game, as well as a household-style 115-volt Air Conditioner power outlet. GPS navigating ($ 2,200) is offered on Limited just. A Towing Bundle ($ 160) consists of trailer wiring plus an updated radiator, transmission oil cooler, as well as 130-amp alternator.

We recommend the optional side-curtain and seat-mounted side-impact airbags ($ 680), which are developed to protect the heads and upper bodies of guests in the first two rows. Highlander's airbags are much more sophisticated for 2004. Sensing units in both pole positions change the frontal air bags to respond appropriately to the seriousness of the collision as well as the weight of the guests.

Walkaround

The Toyota Highlander looks smart as well as trim, dropping somewhere between the edgy high style of the RAV4 as well as the muscular purposefulness of the 4Runner. There's a minor family resemblance in between the Highlander and the Lexus RX 330, although the Highlander looks a lot more dressed down, rather like using discolored jeans as well as a preferred coat as opposed to dry-clean-only lunch-with-the-ladies outfit.

Highlander is in fact somewhat bigger inside, as determined by total EPA indoor quantity, than the RX 330, although the Lexus has a little even more cargo quantity.

Highlander's front bumper, light collections as well as grille are new for 2004. The bumper cover has sharper lines molded right into it, so its shape is better specified than in the past. The grille's horizontal bars are bolder and also much better defined, while the various elements of the light clusters seem to blend together a lot more smoothly. Similar changes have been made about back. At either end, however, the distinction is so subtle that just one of the most dedicated Toyota-watcher is most likely to discover.

The Highlander no more stands for the most recent in style, nonetheless. While the Lexus RX 330, which utilizes the exact same standard chassis architecture as the Highlander, is now in its second generation, the Highlander is still in its very first generation of layout. The Highlander lacks the innovative design of the Nissan Murano, and its front and also rear overhangs are reasonably big.

Access, both for freight and for individuals, is less complicated in the Highlander than in truck-based SUVs. With its more car-like step-in and also lift-into, the Highlander is even friendly to wearers of tight skirts. Not so the normal truck-based SUV.

While the Toyota 4Runner is primarily a vehicle, the Highlander is essentially a vehicle. Like a cars and truck, the Highlander utilizes unit-body building rather than having a different frame. And, like a car, the Highlander includes a four-wheel independent suspension, instead of a solid rear axle. Two-wheel-drive variations are front-wheel drive, not rear-wheel drive. The 4Runner is the opposite of each of those. The very best option? It boils down to your video game: For towing as well as driving off roadway, the 4Runner is much better. For commuting and also transferring the family members, the Highlander is the far better choice. Properly furnished, Highlander can tow up to 2,500 pounds, not much by vehicle standards.

Interior Features

Couple of lorries are less complicated to obtain in and out of than the Toyota Highlander. Neither climbing neither stepping down is called for. Merely slide in. This makes the Highlander among the most practical cars on the planet for running daily duties. The Highlander will certainly not likely ever before annoy you.

Highlander includes reclining front bucket seats in front. These seats are flat and also lean, yet encouraging and also comfy and get used to fit various-size drivers. Part of the allure of SUVs is the convenience of seeing out at every angle. Therefore it is right here. The sloping hood of the Highlander makes the forward sight even more incorporating.

The second row seats up to 3 passengers, however is much better for two. The center of the second-row seat folds down right into an arm rest with cup holders, adding comfort with 4 aboard and also the seats recline for included convenience. It's split 60/40 and folds up with an intelligently articulated seat base. It folds fairly flat yet not perfectly flat. The second-row seat slides ahead to earn access to the 3rd row less complicated, and also to give more legroom for third-row travelers.

Toyota plans for the third row to be made use of only sometimes. We discovered sitting in the 3rd row unpleasant. Our knees rode high, there's no leg room and it's fairly confined. Legroom coincides, however the Honda Pilot offers substantially more hip as well as shoulder area in the third row. Additionally, the side-curtain air bags do not secure third-row travelers as they are created to do in a Toyota Sienna minivan. Bottom line: Think about a minivan if you need the third row often. A third-row seat folds up flat right into the floor, with no have to eliminate the headrests. Third-row seats ($ 850) include back personal privacy glass, a rear heater system with different follower controls, and also extra mug owners.

Back up front, you'll locate every little thing in its location. Power home window buttons are right there on the doors. Ventilation ducts are right where you would certainly expect to find them. Radio and heater controls make use of straightforward dials as well as amply sized buttons and also run without effort. Instruments are conveniently noticeable through a breathtaking space in the comfy four-spoke steering wheel. The entire format bespeaks thoughtful appraisal as well as wise options. V6 models include light weight aluminum indoor accents. Inside trim and also textiles in all Highlanders have actually been upgraded for 2004. 2004 Restricted designs have substitute maple-burl dash trim and also door scuff plates, but the fake timber on the facility stack looks like phony wood. The typical climate control is a single-zone system.

The shifter is uniquely placed more as a part of the dashboard than on a central console. This opens the space in between the front seats. It likewise provides an open, unconfined air to the cockpit. The interior is equipped with dome, door politeness, handwear cover box as well as cargo-area illumination. Map pockets, visor mirrors, and also front and also back supporting power outlets are provided. The driver's home window has one-touch Auto-down.

Highlander supplies a big quantity of cargo space: 80.6 cubic feet with the 2nd- and also third-row seats folded. The second row does not fold completely flat, but the 3rd row folds up level as well as does not use up freight space. Most individuals end up riding about with the second-row in position for guests and the third row folded level into the flooring, leaving nearly 40 cubic feet of area available for things. Opening up the third-row seat leaves just 10.5 cubic feet behind it for freight. The Honda Pilot provides more cargo room, nonetheless. A neat function: The freight cover stores.

Driving Impressions

The Toyota Highlander is simple to drive and run. It feels instantaneously accustomed to no messing up for controls. The Highlander is quieter compared to truck-based SUVs both in engine as well as roadway sound. It flights efficiently on a selection of surfaces, real to the cars and truck side of its SUV heritage, though some road vibration could be really felt via guiding wheel.

The basic front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder Highlander makes a superb wagon for the city as well as suburbs, particularly since grip control as well as security control are common equipment. Highlander is much less complicated to manage daily compared to a truck-based sport-utility. Though you ride a little taller, you look eye to eye at Volvo wagon drivers.

The four-cylinder engine uses good power. It fasts, smooth and also silent. Power is up slightly from the 2003 design to 160 horsepower and 165 pounds-feet of torque. We located the four-cylinder version to be a happy performer as well as really did not feel like we were missing out on something by not having the V6. The four-cylinder gets significantly better fuel economic situation than the V6 (22/27 vs. 18/24 mpg EPA-estimated City/Highway). The four-cylinder Highlander has a four-speed automatic transmission. It includes a Snow Setting for improved throttle control when starting up on an unsafe surface area from a dead stop.

The optional V6 is larger as well as much more powerful this year, at 3.3 litres as well as 230 horse power (versus 3.0 liters and also 220 horsepower in 2003). Torque is enhanced substantially, to 242 pounds-feet. Torque is that pressure that propels you far from intersections and up hills. Even more boosting engine level of smoothness are active-control engine mounts that cancel resonance. Toyota advises making use of costs gas for the V6, however it runs great on routine. The new V6 is mated to a brand-new five-speed automated.

Highlander feels at home around community, in the middle of traffic lights as well as car park seekers. It's an excellent dimension for city streets and also absorbs holes and also irregular pavement well. Rolling into suburb, the Highlander fits right in. It's a natural mall-crawler, manoeuvrable and fast to nose right into an auto parking port. It travels well on major freeways, using excellent security and a smooth, silent trip. It's a solid-feeling structure.

The guiding initiative is extremely light at low speeds, so it's very easy to turn in tight quarters. Hold is fairly great for difficult cornering, far better than expected. On winding roadways, though, the guiding felt sluggish and also vague. The suspension is too soft for hard driving. There's excessive body movement. The auto wallows in edges, the body leans.

Toyota's electronic Lorry Security Control (VSC) with traction control (TRAC) is now typical on all Highlanders. VSC could identify sliding of either the front or rear wheels and also decreases engine power and/or uses the brakes on individual wheels to correct the Highlander's program.

Braking is specific as well as smooth. Requirement on all 2004 Highlanders are anti-lock brakes (ABDOMINAL) with Digital Brake pressure Distribution (EBD) as well as Brake Help. ABDOMINAL MUSCLE helps preserve guiding control while stopping hard, while EBD maximizes brake pressure at each wheel under various tons conditions, or as the automobile's weight shifts forward under stopping. Brake Help detects emergency braking and instantly preserves enough brake pressure to involve the ABS even if the motorist makes the mistake of stress-free pressure on the brake pedal.

Four-wheel drive functions great in unsafe or inconsistent problems. Snow thaw, sloppy ruts, icy patches on shadowed contours were conveniently taken care of by our AWD V6 Limited. On a meandering country road, the Highlander cut up hillsides via 8 inches of recently fallen snow like a snowplow on a rescue goal. All-wheel-drive Highlanders utilize a completely involved system that divides torque 50/50 front/rear, as well as relies on TRAC's electronics to restrict slippage at any kind of wheel. Highlander is intended largely as a freeway as well as street vehicle with all-weather ability. It is not indicated for rock slamming a.

Recap

Toyota Highlander is an excellent choice as a no-hassle wagon. Its simplicity of procedure and also benefit attributes make it eminently simple to cope with. Highlander lugs 4 people comfortably, hauls a great deal of stuff, and also will roll with any kind of storm. Toyota's track record for high quality, longevity as well as reliability need to suggest trouble-free possession as well as a strong resale worth. Highlander provides exactly what many people desire from a modern-day, on-road sport-utility.