Up to 350 hybrid horsepower.
SUVs still don’t seem to catch on, so Toyota is adding another large SUV with three rows of seats and up to seven seats to its delivery range. Especially for those who think the Highlander is too tight, here is the Toyota Grand Highlander!
Toyota has been offering the Highlander in the Netherlands since the end of 2020. The Toyota Highlander is a 4.97 meter long SUV with a wheelbase of 2.85 meters, which is by far the largest Toyota model here. Not in the United States, where the 5.29 meter long Sequoia, based on the Tundra, is at the top of the SUV ladder. Toyota has come up with an intermediate form especially for those who find the Highlander too small but the Sequoia too big. This is the Toyota Grand Highlander.
Toyota Grand Highlander
Highlander or Grand Highlander
The Toyota Grand Highlander, like the Highlander and cars like the Lexus RX, is based on Toyota’s GA-K platform. As its name and positioning already indicate, it is a size larger than the Highlander without the Grand addition. It measures 5.12 meters in length and has a distance of 2.95 meters between the front and rear axles. That makes the Grand Highlander 15 centimeters longer than the Highlander and its wheelbase 10 centimeters larger. With its appearance, the Toyota Grand Highlander does not hide the fact that it is not made to chase the Grossglockner or to be hung on the wall of boys’ or girls’ rooms. The Grand Highlander is a down-to-earth but practical one. For example, occupants must have more space in each row of seats than in the Highlander.
Although the Grand Highlander is in fact the big brother of the Highlander, it is not just a longer version of that SUV. It is wider and higher than the model known here. If you look closely, you will see that the Grand Highlander does not even share a single piece of sheet metal with the Highlander. The nose is different and higher, the doors are not interchangeable, the windows do not match and we also see no external similarities at the rear. Even the interior of the Grand Highlander does not match that of the Highlander several years older. According to Toyota, the Grand Highlander has, among other things, a different rear suspension, with the result that the bottom of the car is lower and that extra headroom is created in the back.
Toyota Grand Highlander
Twice hybrid
The Toyota Grand Highlander will be available with a regular blown 2.4 four-cylinder that kicks it up to 270 hp and with two hybrid powertrains. The first hybrid powertrain has an atmospheric 2.5 four-cylinder and delivers 250 hp, the second hybrid version has a blown 2.4 four-cylinder and kicks it up to a system power of 350 hp.
You may already feel it coming: as far as we know, the Toyota Grand Highlander is not coming to Europe and therefore not to the Netherlands. Since the Dutch market introduction of the Highlander, about 210 copies have been registered in our country.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl