2025 Toyota Highlander

The 2025 Toyota Highlander is a midsize SUV with three rows, seven or eight seats, and a gas-only or hybrid powertrain. The Highlander is for drivers seeking a spacious, fuel-efficient SUV.

Buyers can choose from two powertrains. The base engine is a turbocharged 2.4-liter 4-cylinder with 265 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. An optional hybrid powertrain is available for those who want the best gas mileage, matching a 4-cylinder engine with three electric motors for a combined output of 243 horsepower. Front-wheel drive (FWD) is standard and all-wheel drive (AWD) is available with the conventional powertrain, while all hybrid versions are AWD.

The Highlander provides comfortable accommodations for passengers. The first two rows have generous leg- and headroom, with ample space for taller passengers to stretch out. The seats offer soothing support, too, making longer drives more pleasant. This gentle ride quality makes the Highlander excellent for commuting.

This SUV also comes packed with desirable standard equipment. The list includes tri-zone automatic climate control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth, and a Wi-Fi hot spot. Standard driver aids include adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, and blind spot warning.

This Toyota also falls short in a couple of areas. The gas engine is intrusively loud during aggressive acceleration, and while this SUV’s first two rows are spacious, the third row is tight for adults.

What’s New in the 2025 Toyota Highlander?

• Standard AWD for XSE and Platinum models.

2025 Toyota Highlander vs. the Competition

Midsize SUVs provide ample room for passengers. The Highlander competes with these rivals:

• Nissan Murano: Comfy seats and pleasant driving dynamics.

• Kia Telluride: Upmarket cabin and poised handling.

• Hyundai Santa Fe: Roomy cabin and many standard features.

Where the Highlander Sits in the 2025 Toyota Lineup

Toyota’s vehicle lineup features everything from small sports cars to a family-friendly minivan. The SUV lineup also includes the 4Runner, Corolla Cross, Crown Signia, RAV4, Sequoia, Grand Highlander, Land Cruiser, and bZ4X. The Highlander and 4Runner are the brand’s three-row midsize SUVs.

What’s the Best 2025 Toyota Highlander Trim for You?

Which Trim Is the Best Value?

The Highlander’s base LE trim offers excellent value. It has FWD, the 265-horsepower engine, 18-inch wheels, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, proximity keyless entry, tri-zone automatic climate control, and a Wi-Fi hot spot. Standard driver aids include adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, and blind spot warning.

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Best Trim for Fuel Economy

Highlander SUVs with the hybrid powertrain earn the best fuel economy in the lineup, at an EPA-estimated 35 mpg combined city/highway.

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Best Trim for Cargo Space

All Highlander SUVs have 16 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row, 48.4 cubic feet behind the second, and 84.3 cubic feet behind the first.

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Best Trim for Towing

Gas-only models are best for towing, pulling up to 5,000 pounds.

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Top-of-the-Line Trim

The Platinum rules the range. It can have the gas-only or hybrid powertrain, with AWD, rain-sensing windshield wipers, a panoramic sunroof, heated second-row seats, a head-up display, and a surround-view camera system.

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Should I Buy an Older Toyota Highlander Instead?

The 2025 Highlander is part of this SUV’s fourth generation, which debuted with the 2020 model. Any older fourth-generation model (2020-2024) will be broadly similar to the 2025 Highlander, and you can save money by purchasing one of these used SUVs.

You can find a used Toyota Highlander with Carfax used car listings. Each used car comes with a free Carfax vehicle history report.

Research the Highlander from other model years

Toyota Highlander Hands-On Test Drive

Driven by Patrick Olsen

• Trim Tested: Highlander Hybrid Platinum FWD

• Price as Tested: $53,352 (including destination charge)

The Highlander has been a family favorite for many years, and this new version only ups the ante by using a hybrid powertrain so that it gets very competitive fuel economy (we got around 36 mpg in combined highway and surface street driving). It’s got a Lexus-like interior with comfortable seats. But goodness me, the racket the engine makes when the gas pedal goes down is truly annoying. I drove the Highlander Hybrid for a week, and these are my impressions.

How It Drives & Handles

The Highlander Hybrid has a 2.5-liter, 4-cylinder engine. It doesn’t feel or act underpowered, but as mentioned, the resulting “blender-fixing-to-die” sound it creates is just shy of a showstopper. The hybrid setup means that it can jump into traffic under most circumstances, but the built-in stop/start functionality sometimes requires half a beat before the engine kicks in. It’s not as bad as many other systems, but it takes some getting used to.

The Highlander’s handling is better, and its steering is more responsive than the Volkswagen Atlas, a close competitor in both features and pricing. Still, both 3-row SUVs suffer from the kind of body lean one would expect in a large family hauler.

Comfort, Quality & Usability

The current generation Highlander’s interior has been one of its high points. There are soft surfaces all around, and it really does feel similar to its more expensive corporate cousins. Earlier versions of this Highlander had a long, continuous shelf for items such as house keys, smartphones, and sunglasses. That’s been updated to two separate shelves: one for charging a smartphone and a second one over the glovebox. Both of these have closed-off ends to make sure things don’t slide out of the driver’s reach. But that still didn’t keep my smartphone from repeatedly sliding off of the charging mat. That was pretty frustrating.

One item that doesn’t get a lot of digital ink in our reviews is the position of the steering wheel. In the Highlander, it sits – when fully telescoped out and tilted up – not that far above my lap. This certainly kept my hands at 9 and 3 o’clock, as safety advocates suggest, but it left me wishing I could raise it an inch or 2 for comfort’s sake.

We found the front seats to be comfortable and supportive, and two adult friends said they enjoyed the roominess of the second row. They also liked the captain’s chairs located there. Finally, cargo space with the third row up is just OK, but there’s a ton of space with those seats folded over.

The climate and infotainment controls are easy to find and use, which is not something the Highlander’s competitors can all say (looking at you, Atlas). One minor quibble with the Highlander’s touchscreen setup is that it can take quite a bit of hunting through the menus to find where to turn off advanced driver-assist systems or the like. Of course, actual owners of a Highlander will only have to do that once for each feature, but it’s not as intuitive as some other competitors.

Editor’s Note: Review is based on test driving the 2023 model.

Carfax vehicle reviews let shoppers compare a vehicle’s specs against its competitors’. However, some aspects of a vehicle – performance, comfort, usability – can only be evaluated through actual driving. That’s why we evaluate as many vehicles as we can, so you’ll know what to expect.

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