We all know that the United States is the land of big servings of food, large cups of coffee, and wide thoroughfares for land yachts.
This penchant for extra size has rubbed off on the seven-seater Toyota Highlander crossover, which has long battled with the Ford Explorer, the Honda Pilot, and soon enough, the 2024 Mazda CX-90.
Toyota debuted the Grand Highlander at the Chicago Auto Show on February 2023, poised to give Americans an even roomier family hauler.
Supersize me!
Dimension-wise, this crossover is 165 mm longer than the standard Highlander and is around 51 mm wider and 51 mm taller.
The Grand Highlander also takes on a boxier form, looking more like the Toyota 4Runner, especially with the prominent front grill and the hexagonal lower grill.
Black plastic trim runs along the bottom of the front fascia, the fenders, and the side skirts, all the way to the rear bumper. The side profile also emphasizes the crossover’s more upright look.
At the rear, some pizzazz is offered by the raked rear windscreen, the wraparound taillights, and the slightly concave tailgate. Silver trim and two exhaust pipes complete the look.
Optional 8-seater cabin
Inside, there’s room for up to eight passengers, depending on the choice of second-row bench seats or captain’s chairs.
The front-most occupants get a reasonably simple dashboard with a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and wireless charging.
Higher-end Grand Highlanders also have a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, heated and ventilated seats, and a panoramic moonroof.
Aside from a generously sized third-row bench, which is usually quite tight in crossovers, there are also 13 cupholders to handle all those supersized cups and bottles.
The Grand Highlander offers 583 liters of cargo space with all three rows up. This is 130 liters more than the standard Highlander.
In addition, with the second and third rows folded down, you get a vast 2,761 liters of volume, up 374 liters from the smaller namesake.
‘MAX’ power
The Grand Highlander naturally carries over the regular Highlander’s engines but gets something extra.
The company said this big crossover could be equipped with the Hybrid MAX powerplant, which combines a turbocharged 2.4-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline-4 gasoline engine with a pair of electric motors.
This all-wheel-drive behemoth has a combined output of 367 PS and 542 Nm of torque, coursed through a 6-speed automatic transmission. This allows for up to 2,268 kg of towing capacity and a claimed combined fuel consumption of up to 14.5 km/l.
The standard Highlander’s powerplants include a turbocharged 2.4-liter gasoline inline-4 producing 269 PS and 420 Nm of torque and a 2.5-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve gasoline inline-4 hybrid with 246 PS and 252 Nm of torque.
Would the big Toyota Grand Highlander suit Philippine roads and big Filipino families?
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Source: Chicago Auto Show 2023: Toyota Grand Highlander packs 367 PS hybrid engine, room for 8