Easy car original Chinese people have a very fanatical demand for family three-row SUV models, which is well proved by the high sales of Toyota Highlander, and in this market segment, Highlander's reputation and status can be seen. However, the auto market is changing with each passing day, and the strength of competitors is becoming stronger and stronger, making its position gradually unstable. For example, Nissan, which has a high level of attainment in comfort construction, has launched its medium and large flagship SUV Tanlu, forming a strong showdown with Highlander as a large family SUV. So the question is, what kind of strength does Tanlu have, and can it comprehensively win the Toyota Highlander? Today we will compare the two cars.
First of all, let's look at the static aspect, although they are both SUVs with family positioning, the design styles of the two cars are very different. Tanlu is based on NEO-DAQI's new atmosphere and modern Chinese aesthetics, with a large number of horizontal trim strips embellishment, which widens the visual width of the body and can also create a sense of science and technology. The Highlander uses richer lines to outline, and the styling style tends to be dynamic.
Coming to the car, the interior design and workmanship materials of Tanlu are more impressive, with a large area of leather wrapping, as well as quilting technology + gradient perforation, the touch is quite delicate, and the seats of the top model are also made of skin-friendly Nappa leather, with a stronger sense of quality. The interior materials of the Toyota Highlander are relatively decent, although there is also a performance in line with the price, but it is not eye-catching.
In terms of size, the first thing that can be perceived in front of the exploration is the exaggeration of the size, and in terms of body data, the exploration of positioning medium and large SUVs has quite significant advantages over the Highlander in terms of length, width, height and wheelbase. So on the basis of such a size, combined with the good space performance of Highlander, it is inevitable that people will have higher expectations for Tanlu.
In terms of space, the 180cm tall experiencers ride separately, and when ensuring that the three rows are full, the second row of the Tanlu and Highlander is not bad, and it can leave more than one punch of legroom. However, the front seat back of the Tanlu is also concave to further reduce the knees, and unless you are two meters tall, there is no chance of a top leg.
The difference between the two cars is reflected in the space of the third row, after the second row is fixed, the third row of the Tanlu still has three to four fingers of legroom, and when sitting in the third row of the Highlander, the knees are directly against the backrest of the second row. And in terms of headroom, Highlander due to the body shape, the D-pillar is more inclined, which slightly affects the vertical space height in the car. After measurement, the distance from the hip point of the seat cushion to the roof of the Highlander is 900mm, and passengers who are too tall in the family may need to weigh the third row, while the distance from the hip point of the seat cushion to the roof of the car reaches 985mm, and the width of the third row of seats is slightly wider than that of the Highlander, which is not so sensitive to the height and figure of the passengers.
After measurement, the height of the Highlander's cushion is only 200mm, which will lead to the need to curl up the leg when riding, which is not very friendly to the "long legs" at home, and the weight of the body will be pressed on the hip point when riding, with a cushion that is not thick and soft, it is not suitable for adults to ride long distances, if the whole family must ride, the third row seems to be reserved for children. The height of the seat cushion of the Tanlu has reached 265mm, and the seat cushion is thicker, which can provide a more reasonable sitting posture, ensure the quality and comfort of the car, and will not be too "different" compared with the second row.
It should be mentioned that the 6-seater version of the Tanlu can provide a central tunnel with a width of 238mm, which can be easily passed by slightly sideways, and can enter the third row from the second row more flexibly and safely without getting out of the car, which is more flexible and more user-friendly than the full range of 7-seaters of the Highlander.
At the same time, the Tanlu is equipped with a one-button entry button behind the backrest and the side of the seat cushion to automatically move the seat forward and down, and the narrowest part of the side access channel of the Tanlu after moving forward has also reached 332mm, retaining sufficient pedal area, and the narrowest part of the Highlander is only 200mm due to the scheduling restriction of the slide rail. Therefore, Tanlu directly enters the third row directly from outside the car, and adults will not get stuck in and out, preventing the elderly at home from getting stuck when entering and exiting the third row from the side, causing body imbalance and falling. When getting off the bus, the passengers of Tanlu can be operated independently and put in the second row, while the third-row passengers of the Highlander cannot get off the bus by themselves, and need someone to help adjust the second-row seats to "rescue", and the Highlander needs to pull up the wrench to push the seats forward, which slightly affects the sense of quality.
In terms of storage space, after the third row of seats is also erected, the width and depth of the trunk space of the Highlander and the Tanlu are comparable, and there is no problem with the suitcase horizontally, which is worthy of praise. However, Tanlu retains a sunken storage space with a volume of 34L under the floor, which is more convenient to put some daily sports equipment, balls, shooting equipment or shoes and bags. When the trunk cover of the Highlander was lifted, there was no relinquished storage space, and all that could be seen was a set of stuffed tools.
In addition to space, ride comfort is also a part of the family SUV can not be ignored, in this part, Nissan and Toyota, as a veteran joint venture car company, will not have a strange sitting posture, anti-human problem, ergonomics level is in place. Tanlu is also equipped with independent comfortable seats in the second row, which can support 10-level adjustment, as well as 4-way headrest adjustment, and the second-row seat backrest can achieve a maximum golden angle of 115°, so passengers of all sizes in the family can easily find a suitable sitting position. In the actual experience, Tanlu has inherited the title of "Nissan Big Sofa" very well, and its seat is quite soft on the outside, but it will gradually harden inward, and you can feel that it is supported. If you blindly let people sit in it and slump on the seat and lose support, it will actually run counter to comfort. The Highlander's seat will be relatively flat, and the seat cushion and backrest will be slightly thinner than the Tanlu, and the padding will be stiffer, but the comfort performance for long rides is not bad.
In terms of comfort configuration, the two cars have front seat ventilation and heating functions, and the second row also supports heating, all of which are considered for the whole family, but the seat heating of the Tanlu is different from the regular model, in addition to the heating of the seat cushion, the heating area of the Tanlu is expanded to the lumbar backrest, which can be warmed from the hips to the back after opening, which is more detailed than the Highlander. At the same time, the seat ventilation of Tanlu adopts the form of suction air, which will be softer than the Highlander's outward blowing, and will not produce a "piercing" body feeling, so as to avoid inducing arthritis. If the elderly in the family suffer from lumbar spine pain, then it will be much more comfortable to travel by Tanlu.
In terms of technology configuration, the Tanlu car is equipped with dual 12.3-inch seamless screens, equipped with Nissan Connect 2.0 intelligent interconnection system, which is equipped with voice partition recognition and voice wake-up free is not supported by Highlander, when traveling with the whole family, you can help the family members in the car adjust the windows, air conditioning, and even seat functions without leaving the steering wheel, which is both comfortable and safer. In addition, Tanlu also supports on-board KTV, realizing entertainment projects that can involve the whole family. At the same time, the 13-speaker BOSE audio equipped with the Tanlu will be more three-dimensional than the Highlander's 11-speaker JBL audio in the actual experience, and the resolution is also higher. The Toyota Highlander's in-car system is not bad in functionality, but it is slightly lacking in entertainment.
NVH is also an important part of the quality of the car, at the dynamic level, Tanlu and Highlander are equipped with 2.0T engines, the book data is comparable, but Tanlu's 2.0T VC-TURBO super-variable engine has variable compression ratio technology, which has a higher degree of consideration in power output and fuel economy. At the same time, the 9AT gearbox equipped with the Tanlu is denser than the 8AT gear ratio of the highlander 2.0T version of the gasoline version, which keeps the form speed lower in actual driving, and the engine is quieter, which can also bring a smoother driving experience and stronger driving quality. The NVH hybrid version of the Powertrain Highlander does have an innate advantage on a physical level, but the Nissan Tanlu can still feel that the power reserve is more sufficient in the middle and rear acceleration at high speeds.
In addition, the front windshield and front side windows of the Tanlu are made of double-layer soundproof glass, which is larger in size but greatly helps to isolate wind noise. At the same time, Tanlu is also equipped with ANC active noise cancellation function that Highlander does not have, which can also release the reverse wavelength to cancel out noise from the road surface and other places, and the driving quietness is more excellent. And the Highlander, which is not equipped with soundproof glass and active noise cancellation, seems to have to turn up the sound volume by two bars.
Three-row SUVs are bound to take on more frequent full-ride family trips, so safety cannot be ignored. In terms of passive safety, the whole Tanlu series is equipped with 9 airbags for global safety as standard, including two-stage airbags on the front of the main driver, upgraded double-leaf airbags on the front of the co-pilot, knee airbags on the front of the co-pilot, side airbags on the first row, side airbags on the second row, and 90L three-row full-coverage side curtains. The Toyota Highlander, which has excellent sales in the same price range, is also equipped with only 7 airbags. In addition, Tanlu is also the only model in the same class that is equipped with second-row side airbags as standard, which brings more targeted protection to the forehead, chest, pelvis and other key parts of the family members in the back row.
But in addition to the simple number of airbags, the advantages of Tanlu in passive safety are also reflected in the details. The frontal two-stage airbag of the main and co-pilot of Tanlu can realize the intelligent judgment of the system, and correspond to the degree of inflation response according to the speed of the vehicle, so that the airbag protection in the event of a collision is more accurate. In the event of a low-speed accident, the Exploration can prevent the airbag from accidentally deflecting and causing unnecessary injury to family members in the car. In addition, the two-leaf airbag on the co-pilot side of the exploration has greater pressure and wider coverage, and if it suffers a side collision, it can avoid sprains in the neck area caused by head deviation. The three-row full-coverage side air curtain that is standard in all Tanlu series has an inflation capacity of 90L, the largest in China, and a pressure holding time of up to 28s, which can effectively prevent secondary impact. In contrast, the conventional airbags equipped with the Highlander seem to be difficult to achieve such meticulous passive safety protection for the whole family, so the exploration of land shows stronger household attributes in this link.
In terms of active safety, both cars support Level 2 driving assistance, which is commendable as a three-row SUV that can take on more tasks for driving with the whole family. The enhanced ProPILOT and the Toyota Safety Sense on the Highlander both perform well. Adaptive cruise control and collision warning can save the driver the effort of controlling speed and distance, and lane keeping assist and lane departure warning are combined with blind spot warning, so that both Tanlu and Highlander can minimize tension while driving. However, Tanlu is equipped with a total of 16 active safety technologies that are more comprehensive than Highlander, with more over-the-horizon collision warning, moving object/pedestrian warning, fatigue warning, road traffic sign recognition, etc., and at the level of perception hardware, it also has 2 millimeter-wave radars and 2 post-ultrasonic radars more than Highlander.
Since it comes to quality and safety, one of the indicators that has to be mentioned is the air quality safety in the car, which has an important impact on the quality and safety dimensions. Compared with the Highlander, the interior leather and trim panels of the Tanlu are made of environmentally friendly materials, and have obtained the "zero formaldehyde car" certification of the China Automotive Research Institute. Rhinitis patients, who are "human air detectors", can breathe smoothly when they enter the car. Although the Highlander also controls the smell well, the materials used will still emit a slight odor when the floor mat is removed and lifted.
In order to ensure that the air quality in the car is environmentally friendly and healthy, Tanlu also adopts objective odor testing that is higher than the national standard, and the "Golden Nose" real team makes subjective evaluations. In order to simulate the harsh environment of the car, Tanlu also carried out the test of sealing overnight for 24 hours after 60°C high temperature exposure, which is more stringent than the industry requirements. After exposure to the sun, harmful substances volatilize actively, so higher control standards are required, and the Tanlu R&D Office provides 16 kinds of odor substance control, which is also more than the national standard. In addition, for China's climate and environment, Tanlu provides a higher standard of air quality indicators, and the formaldehyde index is only 1/10 of the national standard, which is close to the bottom value of the atmospheric environment, that is to say, even if you drive Tanlu to play in the suburbs with clean air, there will not be much difference in the air environment from the outdoors into the car, which is undoubtedly another safety protection for the whole family. Therefore, compared with Highlander, Tanlu better guarantees the high-quality car experience and health and safety of the whole family, and is undoubtedly more suitable for the whole family.
Compared with the Highlander, the former ruler of the three-row SUV at this price point has surpassed and formed a greater advantage in multiple product forces. Combined with the price that consumers are more concerned about, after a certain range of discounts, the terminal price of the top version has come to around 270,000 yuan, and the starting price has been pressed to 210,000 yuan.
In the three-row family SUV segment, the Toyota Highlander has always been a "jack-of-all-trades" option, although the advantages are not too prominent, but the advantage is that there are no obvious shortcomings, and it is a "can't go wrong" option, which is enough for many consumers. However, with the advent of Tanlu, in the home scene, there is a better interpretation of comfort, safety and quality, which will be more suitable for the needs of the whole family, so on the whole, Tanlu is definitely a better and "correct" choice at this price.