 What is up you guys, welcome back to another one. If you are new to the channel, I am Gold Pouty. I do new car truck SEV reviews on YouTube. And today, we are in the new 2020 Toyota Highlander courtesy of Hanover Toyota and Hanover PA. And so for the 2020 model year, this one has been completely redesigned. When you add to that Toyota reliability, this is definitely a sure pick. And the first thing I noticed when I got this one, the seats are ridiculously comfortable. When I've always said this in my reviews, Lexus has the very most comfortable seats. Well, with Toyota making Lexus, of course, I kind of always wondered why work the Toyota seats equally as comfortable as Lexus. And I think Toyota may have just done that with the new Highlander. So what do you say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. So as expected, there are a few different trim levels for the 2020 Highlander. First one being the L starting at $34,600. Then you have the LE for $36,800. XLE for $39,600. Limited starting at $43,650. And lastly, the Platinum starting at $46,850. And so by the way, that was pricing for the front-wheel drive setup. If you wanted to add all-wheel drive, simply add $1,600 to any of those prices there. And so regardless of trim level though, that you go with the power plant on the Highlander will be the same. Powering this beast is a 3.5 liter naturally aspirated V6, putting out 295 horsepower at 6,600 RPM, 263 pound-feet of torque available at 4,700 RPM, power sent to front wheels or all-wheels through an eight-speed automatic, giving you zero to 60, approximately 7.5 seconds, with MPG numbers coming in at 21 in the city, 29 on the highway for the front-wheel drive, 20 in the city, 27 on the highway for the all-wheel drive. Either way, taking regular unlit fuel, AKA 87 octane. Dude, you do not have to fill up with the super expensive 93 octane in this one. And so at this point, somebody's gonna ask, isn't there a hybrid version of the new Highlander? There will be, there isn't yet. There is going to be probably within the next few months, I would imagine, but as of now, that hybrid trim level is not out yet and neither are the numbers or specs or any of that information. So that will be saved for a separate video. And so now before we do any kind of accelerations in the new 2020 Highlander, first I want to mention, there are a few different driving modes that actually come standard on this one as well. That button is located just behind the shifter, but that's gonna give you eco, normal, and sport. And so essentially what those drive modes are gonna do, I just put it in sport mode. It did immediately downshift for me. So it is going to adjust the shift points. So with sport mode at least, it's gonna give you more power on demand. We'll also adjust the throttle sensitivity and the steering sensitivity as well. So what do you guys say? Let's do a quick little acceleration here in this one and let's see how quickly we can get this new 2020 Toyota Highlander here up to speed. All right you guys, and a little rolling start. Here we go. Yep, that'll work. Certainly no issues with merging onto the highway. Naturally aspirated V6 with nearly 300 horsepower. Even in the SUV, you're definitely not gonna have any issues with acceleration. With a very linear acceleration as well. That's one of the things I love about NA engines as opposed to turbocharged engines which a lot of manufacturers are going with these days is you don't have that random burst of power with a little delay at the beginning. You just have a very smooth linear acceleration which I happen to love. So well done Toyota for that acceleration. That was beautiful. But so as always to go along with that acceleration, braking is equally important. And so upfront you will find 13.3 inch ventilated front discs. In the back, 13.3 inch rear discs as well. As far as the braking feel goes as we come up to this red light here. It is perfectly fine. No brake pedal delay. It's not squishy or anything like that. So braking feel is just fine for me. Touching on suspension and handling a little bit. Up front you will get an independent McPherson strut front suspension with a stabilizer bar. In the back independent multi-link rear suspension once again with a stabilizer bar. As far as the ride quality goes, ride quality has been absolutely brilliant so far in this test drive today. It's definitely soaking up Pennsylvania's road imperfections quite nicely. Probably a good bit more so than a lot of other three row SUVs that I've tested lately. So ride quality is definitely on point in the new Highlander. Well done Toyota once again. So far as cabin noise goes, it's been perfectly fine for me. You guys can probably tell there isn't a whole lot of exterior noises coming into the cabin. Even just cruising at 50 miles per hour here. Typically you will get some wind noise but I feel like Toyota has done a very good job with that with the Highlander. So once again, very well done. As far as steering feel goes, it is a little bit heavier weight in the sport driving mode in normal driving mode than I'm at right now. It's kind of loosey-goosey but in the end that's pretty much what you would expect in a three row SUV. So all in all, steering feel is just fine. Perhaps the one thing I would change with the Highlander at least is the steering wheel itself. The grips are very tiny. It's a very thin steering wheel I guess you could describe it as. And again, that's not a horrible thing. It's just something that I prefer a little bit thicker grips when it comes to steering wheel. It gives you a little better feel of control over the vehicle but the steering wheel grips are pretty tiny for the most part here in the Highlander but it's not a bad thing. I'm sure I would get used to it but they are much thinner grips than most other SUVs out there right now. So I do want to mention that. But one additional thing as we are pulling up to the park where we're about to do our exterior shots here of the new Highlander, do want to mention if you were to go off-road in the 2020 Highlander, there are actually some off-road drive modes as well. And those drive modes are located just behind the other drive mode buttons all of it located just behind the shifter but that's going to include mud, sand, normal and rock and dirt. And so those modes are essentially going to adjust traction control and so it's going to provide you with the most optimum grip in different situations so you don't end up stuck in the mud or the snow or whatever the case. So by the way, there is a snow driving mode just to the right of those driving modes. There's like three different sections. You can adjust different terrain settings and traction control settings. So that's kind of cool. There is, yes, there is a snow mode on the 2020 Highlander. I always have to mention that, especially living in Pennsylvania, we quite often do get snow. So that is definitely a very big plus in my book as well. Then when it comes to visibility, I can actually see pretty decently out the back. Usually the boxier the shape that you go with with SUVs, the better visibility you're going to get. So it's not maybe quite as good as let's say the Honda Pilot, but it is definitely plenty good enough for you to see out the back. So no issues for me overall there. Did want to also mention to go along with that rain sensing windshield wipers will come standard on the platinum trim level. And to go along with that, also on the platinum trim level, a head up display projecting your speed as well as the speed limit and some safety settings onto the windshield help you better keep your eyes on the road. One last thing you have to worry about so you can better enjoy the drive in the new 2020 Toyota Highlander. But that about rounds out the performance segment of this review. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of this all new, completely redesigned 2020 Toyota Highlander. All right, here she is you guys, the new 2020 Toyota Highlander finished in Blizzard Pearl. Very nice looking color on this one. Let's go ahead and start up front here. Front grille is actually going to differ slightly amongst the trim levels. You will get a material black with a silver perimeter. If you were to go with the LLE or XLE trim levels, gloss black with a chrome perimeter. If you were to go with the limited for the platinum trim levels and there is actually some silver accenting on the lower portion of the front bumper. Again, if you were to go with the platinum trim level only, but to the sides, LED headlights will come standard across the board with the automatic feature, meaning when it starts to get dark out, those headlights will turn on automatically for you there. LED fog lights coming standard with the LE trim level and up along with LED daytime running lights. Again, LE trim level and up, high output LED fog lights coming standard with the limited and the platinum trim levels and you will actually get an adaptive front lighting system if you were to go with the platinum trim level of this one. So then making our way to the side of this one, XLE trim level and up is going to give you roof rails up top there, rear privacy glass coming standard on all trim levels. You'll also find chrome belt line molding for all trim levels there as well. Take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors for all trim levels. They will come heated that comes standard with integrated turd signals. Again, coming standard across the board. One of the best parts about the new 2020 Toyota Highlander there you guys is there is no black cladding found on the side skirts on this one with just about every other SUV in its category right now. You will find that black cladding located on the side skirts, which really takes away from the elegant look of any SUV in my opinion. So I do love that Toyota eliminated the black cladding and made it body color to look so much better in my personal opinion at least, but let me know in the comment section what you think of it. But anyways, let's take a look at the wheel setup. 18 inch alloy wheels coming standard with the LLE and XLE trim levels. 20 inch alloy wheels coming standard with the Limited and the Platinum. And I don't think I mentioned it yet today. We actually have the XLE trim level here. So you are looking at those 18 inch alloy wheels. Let me get our way to the back shark fin antenna up top just below that rear spoiler with an integrated brake light for all trim levels. Just below that rear window wiper and yet another thing Toyota does very well in just about all of their vehicles. LED tail lights coming standard across the board. So a little better visibility, less likely to get rear-ended, that's always a good thing. When it comes to that rear bumper, it's actually gonna differ slightly once again amongst the trim levels. Black rear bumper is gonna come with the LLE and XLE. That's what you're currently looking at right now. You will get a dark gray metallic finish to that rear bumper if you were to go with the Limited and a standard gray metallic finish with the Platinum. But just below it all, I think you guys know what we have to do next. There is a single exhaust outlet. So here it is, you guys. This is the new 2020 Toyota Highlander exhaust clip. All right, you guys. And so now, since we are around back of the 2020 Highlander, there are a few different ways to go about opening that rear liftgate. There is a button on the key fob that is probably the simplest way. There's also a button by the driver's side left knee if you were in the driver's seat. There's actually a button just above the license plate on the liftgate itself as well. And I did want to mention with the LE trim leveling up, it is a power liftgate. So it will open up automatically for you, but I will say having said that, it is one of the slowest opening liftgates I've ever experienced. So you don't have to wait a little bit for it to actually open up. But I did want to mention that, but it is a power liftgate for the LE trim leveling up. So that's always cool. But once opened up, you will find six cargo area tie down hooks. There's also some grocery hooks back there as well. There is a rear cargo cover if you go with the Limited or Platinum trim levels. And you will find some in-floor storage along with some tools to switch out the wheel and tire combination if you were to get a flat, but there is some in-floor storage back there. So that's definitely a plus as well. But now let's take a look at the cargo capacity here. Behind that third row, it is going to come in at an even 16 cubic feet, which is identical to the 2020 Honda Pilot, by the way. It is an even 16 cubic feet, whichever setup that you go with. That's kind of cool. Behind the second row with that third row folded, it comes in at 48.4 cubic feet. It is pretty simple folding down that third row. You just have that little string seat belt looking thing. You just pull that and then fold down the third row. It's very simple to use, but 48.4 cubic feet behind that second row with all rows folded, there is a 60-40 split, of course, that comes in at 84.3 cubic feet, which by the way, beats the Honda Pilot by just a little bit. Honda Pilot gives you 83.9 cubic feet. 84.3 cubic feet is definitely a good bit of space back there. Not quite as much as the Kia Telluride coming in at an even 87, but still all three of those SUVs, they're pretty darn similar at that point, so definitely a ton of space behind the first row. All right, so now making our way to the rear legroom. Third row legroom comes in at 27.7 inches, which I gotta admit isn't a whole lot, quite honestly. For reference, I'll give this a shot. I'm in even six feet tall, this is how much space I had back there. So quite honestly, third row is gonna be better left for small children, and the plus side of being in that third row, you do have rear ventilation that hits the third row as well, that's gonna be found on the roof or the ceiling of this Highlander, so that's definitely a plus, keeping them comfortable. Making our way to the second row, rear legroom comes in at 41 inches even, so this is definitely where you're gonna wanna put adults. If you have any rear passengers six feet tall, again, this is how much space I had back there. Once again, rear ventilation could be found for that row as well. And I did wanna mention, when it comes to bench seating versus captain's chairs, you will get eight passenger bench seating with the L and L E trim levels. However, you will get eight passenger seating with the bench seat, coming with the L, L, E, and XLE trim levels. XLE really can go either way. So this particular trim that we have today, we could have had it either set up, but seven passenger seating with captain's chairs can come with the XLE, or of course the Limited and Platinum that comes standard with, but second row sunshades coming with the XLE trim level and up, and this is the big one for me at least. This is something that Toyota definitely did very well. A lot of times with the rear window sunshades, you have to go with the very top trim level of just about every other manufacturer out there, but with the Toyota Highlander, you can get it on the XLE, the Limited and the Platinum. That is definitely a plus. Toyota did well with that. Heated second row seats coming standard with the Platinum trim level only. And you can find some USB charging ports for this rear passengers to stay connected as well back there. But now making our way to the front seats, cloth seating is gonna come with the L and L E trim levels, soft techs upholstery coming with the XLE, that is of course what we have today. And by the way, as I said at the beginning of the video, these are some of the most comfortable front seats that I've been in really besides Lexus. Lexus is still my favorite, especially the F Sport seats. Those are the most comfortable and they're bolstered a little bit thicker on the side bolsters, but you really do sink into these seats. These are extremely comfortable seats. Definitely a very nice pick for a long road trip. So I did want to mention that because more than likely the Highlander will be going on many road trips for many families, but leather surfaces coming standard with the Limited and Platinum trim levels. And so the soft techs upholstery, it's kind of like a leather, right? If you wanted to think of it that way, you will find an eight way power adjustable driver seat with the L and L E trim levels. You will get a 10 way power adjustable driver seat with power lumbar with the XLE trim level. And that includes a four way power passenger seat as well and you can find heated and ventilated front seats with the Limited and the Platinum. And I will say we do have heated front seats here on the XLE trim level as well. But now let's go ahead and take a look at the steering wheel. Once again, the grips are very thin, but it is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped for the L E trim level and up and it will come heated for the Limited and the Platinum trim levels in case you wanted that feature. But make your way to the startup. Let me first start by showing you guys the key here. We do have a Toyota Highlander specific key. You can find that on one side of the key and when you flip it over lock unlock and again that button to pop the rear hatch there. But it is actually all keyless entry across the board. So simply just leave the key in your pocket if you wanted to put your foot on the brake and press that engine start button which is again standard across the board located just by the driver's right knee there. And so once started up, gauges will do a full sweep tachometers all the way on your left speedometers on your right. There is a fairly large digital display front and center. And so to control what is on that digital display simply use the steering wheel mounting controls on the left side there. And that's gonna give you a ton of different things like safety features, how many miles you'll have left until you hit empty outside temperature. There's when you need your next oil change time of the day. There's honestly a ton of different things you could check out up there including your driving modes of course as well. Then make your way to overall interior quality power moonroof coming with the XLE and limited trim levels. However you will get a panoramic moonroof going all the way into the back seats if you were to go with the platinum trim level only. Overhead sunglass holder coming standard for all trim levels. It did what I mentioned in addition to that overhead sunglass holder you do have a rear conversation mirror toy to cause it. Meaning it's kind of like the school bus mirror where you can spy on the kids in the back seat make sure they're behaving so that's kind of cool. Autodimming rear view mirror with home link controls coming standard with the XLE trim level and up. If I were to sum up the trim levels I would say the XLE is really the sweet spot that's where most of the features start to kick in. Like these home link controls for up to three different garage doors here. I always love that feature because the alternative is the garage door opener device that clips on your sun visor and sometimes can rattle at highway speed. So I don't like the rattling. So I do like the home link controls. Tri-zone climate control coming standard for all trim levels. So driver, passenger and the rear passengers controlled by the second row there can set their own temperatures. It's very nice. Wireless phone charger coming standard once again with the XLE trim level and up. Ambient interior lighting coming standard with the limited and platinum trim levels. Didn't want to also mention there is a driver easy speak voice projection system that will come standard on all trim levels as well. And so that's kind of like the school bus thing. Once again, you can project your voice into the rear seats. It's always nice. Overall, there is a ton of little storage areas I wanted to mention as well. For instance, on the driver and passenger side doors a lot of times you won't get storage there but you actually do in the Highlander here. Also just above the passenger side glove box you have another little storage area that's kind of divvied in so things don't pop out of it. That's definitely nice as well. Just underneath the climate control in front of the shifter here yet another storage area. And so actually I think what Toyota intended for that storage area is you can feed the USB cable up through that storage area and then set your phone right there. So it kind of keeps the wires out of the way. So welcome Toyota for thinking of that. Even more storage just below that yet another area you could probably set yourself in if you wanted to. You'll have dual cup holders just to the right of the shifter, lecture, mechanical parking brake just behind that. Of course all your drive mode buttons. And then if you were wondering where the wireless phone charger actually is it is underneath the center armrest actually. That is out of the way I guess you could say and you can actually fold that up and that is how you're gonna get to all the cargo area which is insanely deep within this center armrest. There's a tray area there as well, 12 volt power outlet and really a just ton, ton, ton of space in there. And yet another really subtle interior touch I really loved on the Highlander is there are aluminum sill plates when you first open the door but when you open the door there is actually LED illumination on those aluminum sill plates as well. So I don't think I've ever seen it done that way. I've seen the sill plates illuminated themselves but not actually a light projected onto this sill plate. So I don't know it's kind of different I kind of like it there but anyways. So overall interior is definitely finished quite nicely and there's a ton of interior color options I should mention as well. Though we have the basic black today there is really a good bit of color options you can go with with the interior which I absolutely love. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the tech display on this one. Eight inch color touchscreen display coming standard with the L, L, E, X, L, E unlimited essentially all trim levels but the platinum. Platinum trim level is actually going to give you a 12.3 inch color touchscreen display up front. Of course that is not what you were looking at right now but either way either set up that you go with you get Bluetooth and audio streaming Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Yes for all trim levels. Even the bottom trim level gets Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and that's always a big one for me because that gives you free navigation as long as you have a smartphone simply hook your smartphone up to the Highlander you have that navigation displayed up there as well as the ability to liken this like your Pandora songs. There's a couple other compatible apps of course as well. If you wanted factory navigation system if you maybe live way up in the mountains where there's no phone service whatsoever you can get that with the limited and platinum trim levels. And of course you can check out your radio settings up on that screen and by the way when it comes to the sound system six speakers will come with the L, L, E and X, L, E trim levels. However there is an 11 speaker JBL sound system that comes standard with the limited and the platinum. The sound system comes with the subwoofer and external amp and 1,100 watts. That is a ridiculous amount of wattage that you typically only see in luxury vehicles like Mercedes Benz or probably the Bowers and Wilkins sound system that is thrown in a bunch of Volvos. Usually luxury manufacturers include that type of wattage but we actually do have that sound system as an option here today on our XLA. So what do you say? Let's just go ahead and turn on the radio here see what we got playing this morning and let's test out the clarity of this one. Definitely clarity I would say is the most on point with that sound system. Clarity is crystal clear really with 1,100 watts that's to be expected. Decent amount of bass definitely more than enough bass for what you would expect in the 3 row SUV but clarity 100% on point with that one. But last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on that display screen at least is when you do put the Highlander in reverse you will of course find a rear view camera standard across the board. Did what I also mentioned with the Platinum trim level you will get not only a 360 degree camera a bird's eye view letting you know what is all around you for perfect parking but you will actually also get a digital rear view mirror and so what that digital rear view mirror is is it will display what is behind you within the rear view mirror that camera is located on the outside of the vehicle. This is always a cool feature especially if you're going on long road trips and you have the back completely piled up with all kinds of luggage to the ceiling to the point where you can't see out of that rear view mirror but with the digital rear view mirror the camera's on the outside of the vehicle you can still see what's behind you there for so it kind of helps you back up and things like that but anyways it's Platinum trim level and up and that is going to lead us into safety. Let me first start by mentioning the Toyota Highlander in 2019 was an IIHS top safety pick so I would imagine it would be at least that in 2020 front side side curtain airbags will come standard in addition to that a driver's side knee airbag in the back you're going to have latch AKA lower anchors and tethers for children for the rear car seats also standard back there rear child door locks tire pressure monitoring system and best part all trim levels will actually give you Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 which includes things like a pre-collision system with a pedestrian detection lane departure alert with steering assist lane tracing assist automatic high beams dynamic radar cruise control road sign assist and cyclist detection again coming standard across the board that is definitely a big plus there LE trim level and up is going to add a blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert and that's the little car icons found in the side mirrors so you don't go turning into anybody in your blind spot and then limited and Platinum trims are going to add in addition to that front and rear parking sensors with automatic braking and so but anyways that is about it for this one you guys thank you so much for watching feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen there if you like be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're into new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel after all do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video stay gold