The Spring Festival is approaching, and it is the peak of travel. Whether it is a long trip home or a trip, with a family to travel, many people want their car to sit comfortably, drive with energy, complete configuration, safety and security. Especially now many two-child or even three-child families, ordinary five-seater cars have been difficult to meet the requirements, and a large seven-seater is just right.
Oh, maybe at this point, many people immediately blurted out in their minds: choose Highlander. Yes, in recent years, whenever you mention a seven-seater SUV, GAC Toyota Highlander is a car that can't be bypassed, and whether you choose it or not, it will definitely appear on your shopping menu.
Since its launch in North America in 2000, highlanders have gone through 21 years and are the world's best-selling seven-seater SUV. In 2009, after being domestically produced by GAC Toyota, Highlander quickly became the most popular seven-seat SUV in China, with its firm price, reliable quality and ultra-high retention rate, it has been selling well in the domestic market for 12 years, with cumulative sales of 1.1 million units, becoming the top seller in the seven-seat market segment for many consecutive years.
Not long ago, I just had the opportunity to test drive the latest Highlander, taking advantage of the fact that everyone is now on the way back from the Spring Festival to share with you.
01
Bigger size for a more comfortable ride
The test drive was the new Highlander, the fourth-generation Highlander, which went on sale in June last year. I test-drove the 2.5L 4WD Extreme Edition, so I had the opportunity to fully experience the various luxury features of this car and feel its various characteristics.
Like the latest RAV4, Camry, Asian Dragon, Velanda, Raling and other models, the new Highlander is also based on Toyota's new TNGA-K platform, so it also gives us a different style from the previous generation.
In terms of appearance design, the new Highlander has not changed particularly much, basically maintaining the burly "big man" style, but also in order to match the design language of the Toyota family, it has played exquisite, such as the sharp LED headlights of the new design, the hexagonal grille of the front face of the horizontal corrugated shape, the 20-inch high-gloss aluminum alloy wheels, etc., and the blackened shape of the A-pillar is to create a suspended roof style, so that the whole vehicle has a little more handsome in addition to the hardness. The interior of the taillight also added an LED light source, which is relatively high-end and atmospheric.
The body size of the new Highlander has also increased again, the wheelbase has been extended by 60mm compared to the previous generation, and the length, width and height have reached 4965mm, 1930mm and 1750mm respectively, just like a "big man", driving on the road, domineering and exposed.
The larger body size not only adds to highlander's grandeur, but also makes its already spacious interior more spacious: the second row is more spacious, while the seat rails are extended by 30mm, making the third row more convenient to ride and more legroom. When three rows of seats are activated, Highlander's luggage compartment length is increased by 50mm to 520mm, with a volume of 215L, which can easily fit two 30-inch suitcases; when two rows of seats, the luggage compartment length is increased by 85mm to 1182mm, with a volume of 568L. And the second and third rows of seats support 4/6 ratio reclining, so that the interior of the car is integrated flat effect.
One day after school, I drove it to pick up my son, and as soon as the little guy got in the car, he boasted, "Wow, this car is so spacious, it's so comfortable." "The old man in the family also asked what kind of car it was and how it was so spacious. It seems that spaciousness is always the first pursuit of Chinese people in a car.
The spaciousness not only provides a comfortable ride, but also excellent in terms of storage space, and the ultra-deep central armrest box can hold a lot of items. All kinds of small bits and pieces can be stuffed in.
02
The interior is more luxurious, and the car and machine are fully upgraded
In the interior, the new Highlander also tries to create a more luxurious and high-grade atmosphere. In addition to the center console and the door inner panel wrapped in soft seam material, the door inner panel also uses wood grain decorative panels, which looks more graded. Two large screens are a highlight after the replacement, 12.3-inch color TFT full LCD instrument panel and 12.3-inch color central control touch display, giving people a sense of luxury and technology.
To take care of the comfort of the second row passengers, Highlander also equipped the second row passengers with a separate air conditioning control panel, as well as a USB port and a 110 volt power connector.
The car machine system has also been fully upgraded during this replacement, not only introducing the intelligent voice navigation system, face ID recognition system, HiCar/Carplay/Carlife, etc., but also supporting map navigation, online music, voice recognition, home appliance connection, life services, mini programs, payment and other rich ecological service functions. All models are equipped with the "Fengyun Yuexiang" Intelligent Travel Interconnection Service as standard, and the vehicle can be remotely controlled through the "Fengyun Xing APP" on the mobile phone, such as 14 intelligent remote services such as vehicle condition inquiry, Yuexiang parking, remote air conditioning, anti-theft reminder, vehicle positioning, etc.
In the parts that are within the reach of the driver and passenger, the new Highlander also brings a lot of comfort and luxury. For example, the front and second row seats are equipped with three adjustable seat heating, and the steering wheel also has a heating function. Winter in Hangzhou is wet and cold, but every time I sit in this Highlander car, start the vehicle, turn on the seat heating and steering wheel heating, the hot feeling immediately comes from my hands and hips. Not only that, but the 11-speaker JBL sound system can also help you relieve tired and nervous emotions through hearing at any time.
In addition, inheriting the care and thoughtfulness of Japanese cars, the new Highlander also made this car present a better NVH effect than the same level of models through a number of noise reduction and upgrading measures such as sound insulation glass design, filling foam materials, and adding sound-absorbing cotton. If noise can be heard in the car, it is mostly the "nuisance" sound emitted by the motor intervention during acceleration.
03
"Stable" and "provincial"
The "big man" is actually very good to open
Compared with the previous generation Highlander, the fourth generation Highlander's power system has also been completely renovated, and the whole series is equipped with a hybrid system consisting of a 2.5-liter Atkinson cycle engine and a single/dual electric motor, which is jointly powered by front/rear axle motors when starting and accelerating. The 2.5L engine has a maximum power of 132 kW (180 hp) / 6000 rpm and a peak torque of 224 Nm / 3600-3700 rpm. Because of its strong power system, although the Highlander looks big, it is very easy to drive, and the strong power ensures that whether it is overtaking or accelerating, it can meet the demand at any time.
During the test drive, I also found that between 0-50 km / h, the whole car is relatively quiet, and in the acceleration situation, such as speed more than 50 km / h or deep throttle, as the motor intervenes to increase the power, the noise emitted by the motor work is still a little loud, but as the speed increases rapidly, the motor stops working, and this sound disappears quickly.
The TNGA 2.5L Toyota Hybrid System, coupled with the new generation of E-CVT electronic stepless transmission system, makes the fuel efficiency of the new Highlander impressive. From my cursory observation, the comprehensive working condition fuel consumption of this four-wheel drive top-mounted model may only be about 7L/100km. For this "big man", such "saving" oil can be said to be quite amazing.
The design of the front and rear axle dual drive motors can not only ensure that this Highlander intelligent realization of the front and rear axle drive force 100:0-20:80 wide range adjustment, the start is more stable, the rescue is faster, and even the unprecedented rear drive push back feeling can be experienced.
At the same time, Highlander also offers three driving modes of "SPORT", "NORM" and "ECO" for drivers with different driving habits, the main difference between the three is the response speed of the accelerator pedal. Personally, I prefer the SPORT mode during the test drive.
Large cars generally give people more psychological pressure, and some people may worry that they can't drive them, in fact, the big Highlander is very "stable" to drive. Toyota's latest generation Toyota Safety Sense (Toyota Collision Avoidance Assist Kit) brings a number of safety assistance features including PCS pre-collision safety system (with pedestrian recognition in front), DRCC dynamic radar cruise control system (with 0-180km/h full speed domain follow-up function), LTA lane tracking assistance system and AHB automatic adjustment high beam system, plus quasi-L2 level intelligent assisted driving, so there is no need to worry about driving.
During the test drive, I also experienced the new cornering deceleration function and the pre-acceleration function when the turn signal was turned on, which can be said to be very intimate and practical and user-friendly.
In addition to stability, Highlander's passability is also good, during the test drive, I deliberately drove it through some unpaved roads and poor asphalt roads, each time can rely on excellent suspension filtering and damping, bringing a comfortable driving experience.
【Summary】
As a benchmark model in the domestic seven-seat SUV market, Highlander has always been a mountain that many competitors want to surpass, but unfortunately, for many years, there has not been a competitor that can challenge its status, so there is a saying in the market, called "only Highlander, can beat Highlander".
Therefore, Highlander has been constantly evolving and self-transcending. After the replacement, the new Highlander has been upgraded again in all aspects, especially its configuration has been improved again, in addition to the three-screen linkage intelligent display including HUD, it is also equipped with a streaming media rearview mirror, BSM parallel line blind spot monitoring system, RCTA reversing side rear blind spot warning system, PVM panoramic monitoring system, full system standard TPWS tire pressure monitoring system (with numerical display) and other convenient driving configurations; negative ion generator, inductive electric tailgate, rear door privacy glass, segmented panoramic sunroof, The front flank snow removal function of the high-end model and the JBL premium surround sound system (with 11 speakers) are also very good.
It is no wonder that Highlander's annual sales in 2021 (107733 units) and last December's single-month sales (14,401 units) both broke the historical record, once again defending its unshakable kingship with strength.
It is believed that Highlander will continue to be the hegemon of this market segment in the future.