[bob259]

Originally Posted by Jeff Sturgill

Well, I live in the hills around LA and I've been pretty underwhelmed by the gas mileage. I love the vehicle and as long as I'm doubling my former gas mileage
(ford explorer), I'll be OK. Just not doing anywhere near the quoted 33 MPG city. I've even resorted to driving the speed limit for a full tank of gas and showed barely 1 MPG improvement. Best overall mileage was a road trip to and from Palm Springs (150 highway miles each way) where I got 26.5 overall. Haven't seen much over 24 since then and it doesn't take much to bring it down to 22. Am using premium gas as recommended although the one or two tanks of regular or mid range gas I tried made little noticeable difference.

I would say test drive the hybrid to see how cool it is and then test drive the regular highlander 2WD and see if it feels as smooth, quiet and powerful. If it's a close call to you I would save the money and go conventional.

Jeff, How many miles on your HH? Like you I wass disappointed at first. Mine didn't seem to do better till I had over 6K and now with just over 10K it usually averages around 29-30 MPG in mixed driving with hills etc. and I see over 30MPG on the flats and in town. That said winter and the cold weather will be arriving soon so I'll be way down again for MPG.