2022 Toyota Highlander Review, Ratings, Specs, Prices, and Photos (2023)

Martin Padgett Editorial Director

November 3, 2021

Likes

• Lots of choice
• Sporty XSE spec
• Still practical…
• ...and fuel efficient
• Great standard safety

Dislikes

• Exterior is a little busy
• Small-ish third row
• Pricey top models

Buying tip

Pick the Highlander Hybrid LE or XLE for value and fuel efficiency—not to mention interior space.

features & specs

What kind of car is the 2022 Toyota Highlander? What does it compare to?

The 2022 Highlander sells families on its three rows of seating and its super-efficient Hybrid edition. It’s big but user-friendly, weirdly athletic-looking, flexible for people and cargo, and a good value in middle trims. Rivals include the VW Atlas, Honda Pilot, andKia Telluride.

Is the 2022 Toyota Highlander a good car?

Sold in a multitude of Hybrid and non-hybrid trims, the 2022 Highlander gets a TCC Rating of 7.0 out of 10 thanks to strong safety ratings; Hybrids would perform even better. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

What’s new for the 2022 Toyota Highlander?

Not much, save for a bronze trim package and a power passenger seat on XLE Highlanders and those priced higher.

The latest Highlander has zero time for boredom. Its supercharged style leans into big swollen fenders and lots of angular breaks around its hood, not to mention a rackful of ribs on the XSE’s grille. It’s big and it is not shy about it. The interior’s more poised and pared-back, even in versions with a big 12.3-inch touchscreen and jazzier trim.

Most Highlanders step off the line with smart response courtesy of a 295-horsepower V-6 and an 8-speed automatic powering the front or all four wheels. The Highlander has energetic responses and handling poise, with the firmest XSE tune probably not what most shoppers for this family hauler are after. The Hybrid’s our choice for its 36-mpg city EPA ratings, remarkable for an eight-person SUV.

Highlander drivers aren’t necessarily focused on the driving; we get that. We also get the functional superiority of minivans versus big three-row SUVs like this one, but the Highlander does all it can to steer you away from the related Sienna. It’s large and comfortable, and its third-row seat—while too small for tall people—can be easily accessed by sliding its middle seats forward. With more than 84 cubic feet of space behind the front seats, it’s ready for two-person cross-country camping or hours of sheer eight-passenger “joy” on family vacations.

The Highlander receives the blessing of the NHTSA and the IIHS with top crash-test scores, and Toyota—in the vanguard of standard safety gear—fits each one with automatic emergency braking, active lane control, adaptive cruise control, and blind-spot monitors.

How much does the 2022 Toyota Highlander cost?

The $36,380 Highlander L covers plenty of bases with its feature set and includes a CarPlay/Android-friendly 8.0-inch touchscreen. We’d pick the $41,580 Highlander XLE for its sunroof and power/heated seats—and stop well before we spent $52,135 for the Lexus-lite Highlander Platinum.

Where is the 2022 Toyota Highlander made?

In Princeton, Indiana.

2022 Toyota Highlander

Styling

Is the Toyota Highlander a good-looking car?

We’ve decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Edgy? Yes, without question, but the multitude of curves and creases on the Highlander’s body can be confusing to the eye. We give it a point for the handsome interior, and call it a 6.

In this generation the Highlander skips past its dowdy past and goes straight for the digital French curve in the designer’s virtual toolkit. The nose changes shape from plainer base models to a “Predator”-style teeth-gnasher on the XSE model. The arches look less swole than swollen, and they’re grafted on plainly stamped door panels. The roofline tapers down to the tail without much drama. It all compiles into a disjointed but athletic look that veers far from the mock-minivan shapes in its past.

Inside, a tiered dash smooths out the first impressions generated by the body. It’s decked out with lots of small-item storage, and controls and a touchscreen that cant toward the driver. Base versions have an 8.0-inch display; the bigger 12.3-inch touchscreen dominates the dash, but doesn’t overwhelm the tasteful selections of trim that flank it.

2022 Toyota Highlander

Performance

The Highlander knows its place in the crossover-SUV realm. It’s a minivan in all but name—and that’s not backhanded praise. Today’s minivans have good handling and acceleration, and the Highlander does too, even an XSE model with stiffer tuning and heavier steering. We give it a 7 here, for the more common V-6 drivetrain and for its confident road manners.

How fast is the Toyota Highlander?

That V-6 puts out strong acceleration. The 295-hp 3.5-liter V-6 couples to an 8-speed automatic transmission and front- or all-wheel drive for 0-60 mph times in the seven-second range. The Highlander weighs from about 4,100 pounds to more than 4,400 in high-spec models, but it can still step smartly off the line, pass with brisk response, and pull a trailer of up to 5,000 lb.

With an independent suspension and tires ranging from 18 to 20 inches, the Highlander steers and rides well. It soaks up road seams and bumps with aplomb, though the smaller wheels on XLE trims and below forgive poorly maintained roads with more equanimity; Hybrids pat the road smooth even more with their battery weight. We’re not convinced we need the 20-inch wheels or the sport tuning of the XSE; any Highlander can chirp its tires, a strange but exhilarating thing to note in a big three-row family cruiser.

Is the Toyota Highlander 4WD?

All-wheel drive comes in three flavors to supplant standard front-wheel drive. The lower-spec version has a simple setup that splits up to 50 percent of power to the rear wheels when it detects slip. Higher-spec non-hybrid models offer a system with rear-axle torque-vectoring; it can split power front-to-back and then side-to-side across the rear wheels, for even more usable traction.

The Hybrid crossover has the third system. Its 243-hp, 2.5-liter inline-4 and electric motor, supported by a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack, can team up with a motor on the rear wheels to deliver through-the-road all-wheel drive, which means that the motor only powers the back wheels when the front wheels slip.

2022 Toyota Highlander

Comfort & Quality

The Highlander reaches for three-row SUV stardom with up to eight seats and a big cargo area. It’s a 9 here, with points for its front- and rear-seat comfort, cargo space, and the ability to transport five large passengers without winding up in family court.

At 194.4 inches long, on a 112.2-inch wheelbase, the Highlander sizes up with the Honda Pilot and Nissan Pathfinder. In front, its wide seats provide good comfort for lots of body types and good adjustment range. The driver seat has power adjustment on all models; passengers on the XLE and higher-spec versions get power too. Base cloth upholstery upconverts to synthetic leather on most trims, and most versions also have heated front seats with options for cooling and second-row heating.

Row two has 41.1 inches of leg room and well-sculpted cushions, which makes the Highlander generously sized for most passengers. The bench can be swapped for captain’s chairs; in either case, the seats can move up for easier third-row access.

Small people fit best in the third row. It has just 27.7 inches of leg room, and though the second row seats can slide up to make more space, the wayback seat lacks shoulder room for bigger people, too. It’s a step down from a Pacifica, for sure.

The Highlander sports 16.0 cubic feet of space behind its rear seat, and 48.4 cubic feet when row three’s folded away. Behind the front seats it offers up 84.3 cubic feet—you know, in case you need to move appliances regularly.

2022 Toyota Highlander

Safety

How safe is the Toyota Highlander?

It earns top marks from both safety agencies and has standard automatic emergency braking, so it’s an 8 here.

The IIHS rates the Highlander as “Good” in all crash tests, but its headlights range from “Good” on Platinum models to “Acceptable” on others. That’s still enough for a Top Safety Pick+ award.

The NHTSA gives the Highlander five stars overall, but publishes a four-star rating for front-impact protection.

All Highlanders have automatic emergency braking, active lane control, and adaptive cruise control. All but the base version have blind-spot monitors and many can be fitted with a surround-view camera system and parking sensors—helpful since the Highlander’s rearward vision gets blocked by thick roof pillars.