9 February 2011
New car report; New face for Highlander
Toyota New Zealand chief Alistair Davis says the SUV sector is the “Scene of the moment” and is recovering far quicker than any other part of the motor vehicle market which fell about 30% during the financial crisis
“Small car sales rose rapidly when fuel prices were high, but now it’s the archetypical New Zealand all-rounder, the SUV which is in demand” says Davis.
And Toyota is enjoying the SUV’s recovery more than most, with every niche within the SUV sector covered. Neeraj Lala, Toyota’s Marketing and Product man, says that in 2010 the Rav 4 is up 47%, the Highlander up 110%, the Prado up 177% and even the heavyweight of SUV’s, the Land Cruiser being up by 39%.
Reasoning that the SUV suits the New Zealand family perfectly, with the versatility and practicality our outdoor lifestyle demands, Toyota execs point out that this type of vehicle is suitable as a city commuter, a school-run taxi, a weekend-away boat hauler or a practical vehicle to cart plants, pots and bags of compost home from the garden centre.
It seems that the SUV can be all things to all people and has taken the place of the traditional Kiwi favourite, the station wagon, with the added benefit of 4x4 drivelines suitable for going bush or negotiating snow-covered ski access roads.
With petrol power accounting for a majority of sales in the small to medium SUV sector, the Highlander is offered with just one engine, a 3.5 litre petrol V6. As Toyota’s latest Prado is available with only diesel power in our market, again, they have all the bases covered.
The face-lifted Highlander, which Toyota’s Neeraj Lala describes as “a car based SUV with comfort, space and usability suitable for everyday use” remains largely unchanged technically, but styling has been freshened up to give a more contemporary appeal.
"...it ticks all the boxes, more so than any SUV in our line-up." (Toyota's Neeraj Lala)
Powered by the same V6 powerplant as the Aurion, a 3,456cc 24 valve DOHC, VVT-i unit producing 221kW at 6,200rpm and 337Nm of torque at 4,700rpm, much attention has been lavished on minimising NVH levels, resulting in a comfortable ride with minimal noise intrusion.
“We are calling this 2011 Highlander, the Complete SUV because it ticks all the boxes, more so than any other SUV in our line-up” says Mr Lala. “It’s a 7-seater, it has the glass rear hatch, Bluetooth, USB port, dual zone air con, fold flat 2nd and 3rd row seats, the dedicated reversing camera monitor, it’s got a high performance powertrain and it’s even got genuine off-road capability...it provides the right solutions for our customers” he says.
While our press launch drive programme was confined to the black-top, with no opportunity to put Toyota’s off-road capability claims to the test, the Highlander buyer is more likely have refinement, rather than ruggedness at the top of their priority list, and it performs that task admirably.
The clever 40/20/40 second row seating arrangement enables the middle seat to be removed and stowed, making for business class style seating in row two, which also has highly impressive amounts of legroom.
Starting with a $54,490 2WD model, there’s also a similarly equipped 4WD model at $58,990, with the range topping out with a $66,990 Limited. Towing capacity is rated at 700kg unbraked and 2,000kg braked across the range, and fuel consumption is quoted at 11.0L/100km for the 2WD model and 11.6L/100km for 4WD models.
However this engine is not known for its frugal qualities, and it's a safe bet that it will suck the juice if you load it up and hook a boat on the back. If that's your primary need, you'll need to spend the extra cash and step up to the diesel-fired Prado.
2WD SUV's in big demand
SUV’s with 2WD have been making big in-roads to the market in recent times and are ideal for buyers not needing to venture off-road but wanting the practicality of an SUV. For Toyota, the 2WD Highlander has been a real winner, accounting for 30% of Highlander sales.
The 4WD Limited model up-sizes the 17 inch alloys to 19’s, it has a six CD changer, perforated leather electrically adjustable front seats with seat heaters and a variable seat cushion length for the driver’s seat.
Any gripes are relatively minor, but a couple of grumbles deserve a mention. With so much recent publicity about driveway safety, the reversing camera is a budget version, with a tiny screen and poor resolution in certain lights.
And although 2WD makes sense for many users, the 2,630kg 2WD Highlander is pushing the limit for front wheel drive, displaying a certain amount of torque steer when accelerating hard during passing manoeuvres for example.
We’re not saying that 30% of Highlander buyers are wrong, just that we’d go for the four paw.