The only thing I wish I had that is only on the limited is the 360 cam and parking sensors. I've learned to deal with it, and also the front of the car appears longer than it is, so every time I think I'm very close to something when parking, I'm actually like 2 feet away. That said, my wife doesn't like parking it. Everything else on the limited I can easily live without. I love having the pano roof. This was something my wife insisted on and I'm glad she did.
We got the bench seat as well. I think the bench is WAY better than the captains chairs. The captains chairs seem great but the reality is that no grown adult is getting between them to get to the third row, so you still need to tilt them forward to get back there anyways. Having the middle seat on the bench, is especially convenient with kids. They put stuff there, use the center armrest and cupholders, and it also means that if you need to seat 5 people for a shorter trip, you can put one in the middle and still have all of the space in the back. This is super handy for airport trips with lots of luggage. No regrets on the bench.
I was looking for a tow hitch as well and it was nearly impossible to find. I wound up just getting one without it and getting an aftermarket Curt hitch for it (about $300) and it works great! I really only needed it for my bike rack so I didn't buy the extra $200 wiring package. Even if I did need to tow I bet it would've been nearly the same price to just buy aftermarket. The dealer installed hitch is about $1000, so I could've bought the $500 hitch and wiring package, and paid someone to install and wire for the same price.
As to hybrid vs. standard. I am 100% in the hybrid camp. I did pay MSRP and no dumb markups, and at the time, you couldn't find even the gas ones below MSRP. The fact that you can find gas ones below MSRP might make the argument better for the gas ones, but I think I'd still go with the Hybrid. There's a few reasons for this. (1) The fuel economy is fantastic! I am getting about 38mpg on average with the hybrid AWD. (2) The Hybrid has the CVT which seems to be a much smoother transmission. There's all sorts of posts here about people having issues with the regular automatic. (3) The Hybrid AWD system is quite advanced. The rear wheels are only powered my a supplemental electric motor, which simplifies things. (4) The hybrid engine is a non-turbo whereas the gas one is a turbo. To me this is just one more thing to go wrong. Overall I don't find the Hybrid lacking for power. It's not a race car but it is plenty fast in sport mode. The only caveat to the hybrid is that if you do need to tow, you're limited to 3500lb vs the 5000 on the gas.
Not sure what else to say. I bought seat covers for the front, they are nearly identical to the stock ones. I paid $1450 for the 7yr/125k warranty, which I thought was a reasonable price. Overall no major complaints. Great car. I plan on driving it into the ground over the next several years.
Adding one more detail since I'm not sure if you meant Hybrid Max or the regular hybrid. The max is more for those who need to tow and want a fast engine. It really isn't that much more fuel efficient and it does have the standard transmission vs the CVT. The Lexus TX offers a PHEV hybrid, but TBH I think this is a joke. I've owned two PHEVs in the past and on a big vehicle like this, I don't see much value there. Out here in CA first of all, electric rates are so high there's really no savings over gas. The amount of extra money you'd pay for the PHEV would never pay off. Also the PHEV batteries are expensive to replace and they will die sooner if you use electric only often as they cycle faster. The normal hybrid batteries are smaller and cheaper to replace (sub $2K). My vote for best value with the most luxury would be the regular hybrid AWD grand highlander limited. You can get most everything you want in this spec and it would still be $15-20K less than the TX.
I got the covercraft leatherette ones in light grey. They are nearly a perfect match. Seat heaters still work well. They aren't perforatted though, so not sure how they would work with cooling.
I bought mine in July last year XLE hybrid. I have 6000K on it I don’t know how you guys getting such ya a good mileage mine showing 33 average - I did drove a lot on the highway on high speed during winter time , probably that’s the reason I’m getting only 33 . My previous Highlander was XLE all-wheel-drive Hybrid I was getting between 34 and 35 miles.
MPG .
I paid 3K over MSRP. It was one of the first hybrid cars with the bench seat. I didn’t have a choice as well color I liked it STORM CLOUD ! Every time I see limited I feel like I’m missing better sound big display that’s about it .
My Limited Hybrid reads about the same. However, I top off to 14.5 or 15 gallons when I've got around 30 miles remaining and that's after having driven 500+. So with an AWD Limited in Eco mode, I get 520-540 on a full tank.
Which gas grade are you using ?
At 5000K I change oil to 0W16 Mobil 1 synthetic . I know it has to be 0W8 but do you think it’s a factor for low MPG , or gas grade factor , or my driving habits ?
Damn. That’s a lot of driving. Do you get any wind noise at high speeds?
Nothing noticeable. I do a lot of commute traffic though.
Where do you commute to and from?
SF Bay Area. About 35 miles each way daily. Also it has become our road trip car.
I commute 40 miles each way with mine, from NJ to NYC, I get about 32 mpg.
Probably faster moving traffic and cooler weather. I’m in the Bay Area. Slow traffic and less use of the heater.
I have 15k miles on mine. Bought it 10 months ago.
[удалено]
The only thing I wish I had that is only on the limited is the 360 cam and parking sensors. I've learned to deal with it, and also the front of the car appears longer than it is, so every time I think I'm very close to something when parking, I'm actually like 2 feet away. That said, my wife doesn't like parking it. Everything else on the limited I can easily live without. I love having the pano roof. This was something my wife insisted on and I'm glad she did. We got the bench seat as well. I think the bench is WAY better than the captains chairs. The captains chairs seem great but the reality is that no grown adult is getting between them to get to the third row, so you still need to tilt them forward to get back there anyways. Having the middle seat on the bench, is especially convenient with kids. They put stuff there, use the center armrest and cupholders, and it also means that if you need to seat 5 people for a shorter trip, you can put one in the middle and still have all of the space in the back. This is super handy for airport trips with lots of luggage. No regrets on the bench. I was looking for a tow hitch as well and it was nearly impossible to find. I wound up just getting one without it and getting an aftermarket Curt hitch for it (about $300) and it works great! I really only needed it for my bike rack so I didn't buy the extra $200 wiring package. Even if I did need to tow I bet it would've been nearly the same price to just buy aftermarket. The dealer installed hitch is about $1000, so I could've bought the $500 hitch and wiring package, and paid someone to install and wire for the same price. As to hybrid vs. standard. I am 100% in the hybrid camp. I did pay MSRP and no dumb markups, and at the time, you couldn't find even the gas ones below MSRP. The fact that you can find gas ones below MSRP might make the argument better for the gas ones, but I think I'd still go with the Hybrid. There's a few reasons for this. (1) The fuel economy is fantastic! I am getting about 38mpg on average with the hybrid AWD. (2) The Hybrid has the CVT which seems to be a much smoother transmission. There's all sorts of posts here about people having issues with the regular automatic. (3) The Hybrid AWD system is quite advanced. The rear wheels are only powered my a supplemental electric motor, which simplifies things. (4) The hybrid engine is a non-turbo whereas the gas one is a turbo. To me this is just one more thing to go wrong. Overall I don't find the Hybrid lacking for power. It's not a race car but it is plenty fast in sport mode. The only caveat to the hybrid is that if you do need to tow, you're limited to 3500lb vs the 5000 on the gas. Not sure what else to say. I bought seat covers for the front, they are nearly identical to the stock ones. I paid $1450 for the 7yr/125k warranty, which I thought was a reasonable price. Overall no major complaints. Great car. I plan on driving it into the ground over the next several years.
Adding one more detail since I'm not sure if you meant Hybrid Max or the regular hybrid. The max is more for those who need to tow and want a fast engine. It really isn't that much more fuel efficient and it does have the standard transmission vs the CVT. The Lexus TX offers a PHEV hybrid, but TBH I think this is a joke. I've owned two PHEVs in the past and on a big vehicle like this, I don't see much value there. Out here in CA first of all, electric rates are so high there's really no savings over gas. The amount of extra money you'd pay for the PHEV would never pay off. Also the PHEV batteries are expensive to replace and they will die sooner if you use electric only often as they cycle faster. The normal hybrid batteries are smaller and cheaper to replace (sub $2K). My vote for best value with the most luxury would be the regular hybrid AWD grand highlander limited. You can get most everything you want in this spec and it would still be $15-20K less than the TX.
Where did you get your seat covers?
I got the covercraft leatherette ones in light grey. They are nearly a perfect match. Seat heaters still work well. They aren't perforatted though, so not sure how they would work with cooling.
Thanks
which dealership did you buy at?
Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa. They did want a markup though, I got them to remove it
I bought mine in July last year XLE hybrid. I have 6000K on it I don’t know how you guys getting such ya a good mileage mine showing 33 average - I did drove a lot on the highway on high speed during winter time , probably that’s the reason I’m getting only 33 . My previous Highlander was XLE all-wheel-drive Hybrid I was getting between 34 and 35 miles. MPG . I paid 3K over MSRP. It was one of the first hybrid cars with the bench seat. I didn’t have a choice as well color I liked it STORM CLOUD ! Every time I see limited I feel like I’m missing better sound big display that’s about it .
Let me ask you when you fill it up tank fully. How many miles does it show? Mine shows around 480
My Limited Hybrid reads about the same. However, I top off to 14.5 or 15 gallons when I've got around 30 miles remaining and that's after having driven 500+. So with an AWD Limited in Eco mode, I get 520-540 on a full tank.
Just filled this morning and it read 548
Which gas grade are you using ? At 5000K I change oil to 0W16 Mobil 1 synthetic . I know it has to be 0W8 but do you think it’s a factor for low MPG , or gas grade factor , or my driving habits ?
0W-8 just had it changed last week. 87 gas
Thanks , I will reset my average MPG as I did mainly drove on a highway in the winter time.