The trend towards SUVs is unbroken, small and medium-sized crossovers have been booming for years. But the demand for the large models with up to seven seats is also increasing in Europe. These mostly luxurious SUV models have often only been offered in the USA until now. With the Highlander, Toyota is now expanding its range of compact RAV4 hybrid (test) and rustic Land Cruiser in Germany.

With its 4 , 97 meters in length, generous space for five people and With its third row of seats, it can also transport seven people. For getting in and out, the second row of seats can be moved by 180 millimeters. Front and rear it is very comfortable and even with full 7-seater seating, the Highlander still has a load space of 332 liters. If you move the two bench seats in the rear, you can 865 or even 1909 Use liters. The tailgate is operated electrically and reacts to the now established foot gesture under the rear apron.

Comprehensive safety package The Toyota Highlander also offers a extensive safety equipment with numerous assistance systems, such as the Safety Sense package with a forward-looking emergency braking system (PCS) that also detects pedestrians and cyclists and intervenes in the steering if necessary, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning system and lane departure warning and high beam assistant.

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In Europe it is only available with the proven 2.5-liter four-cylinder Petrol and 134 kW plus electric drive with 134 kW on the front axle and 16 kW on the rear axle. Engineers call this “electrically driven secondary axle”. In terms of system performance, the drive reaches 182 kW. The AWD-i hybrid all-wheel drive system with electrically driven secondary axles is already known in this country from Toyota RAV4. It automatically distributes the drive force between the front and rear depending on the driving situation and traction requirement. Toyota gives up consumption in the WLTP with 7 liters 100 Kilometers on. With the 63 liter tank is calculated quite a long range. A plug-in hybrid drive is not available.

Emphatically comfortable Without any significant delay, the all-wheel drive pulls up to speed 150 noticeable before he at 180 km / h is limited, whereby the four-cylinder naturally sounds more strenuous than a V6. The option for the 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine, as in the USA, is not offered in this country. The landing gear is not spongy, but the Highlander cannot override its high center of gravity. Fortunately, he doesn’t want that either, otherwise he would lose the pleasant suspension comfort. At the front, Toyota McPherson uses struts with lower wishbones, at the rear a multi-link suspension, the payload is up to 590 kg. The trailer load is at least two tons.

The new Highlander is available in three equipment variants at prices from 53. 250 euros offered. The top model includes air-conditioned leather seats, LED headlights, a digital interior mirror and head-up display, but then also costs 63. 490 Euro. This suggests that the sales figures in this country will remain rather clear.

(fpi)