New member here

[GreenMtnMan]

I'm a new TS member so it seems a good idea to introduce myself. In 2005 we bought a new 05 Highlander V6 AWD for my wife and I just signed up to buy a new 07 Tacoma to replace a Ford Ranger but haven't taken delivery yet. I'll post my Tacoma comments in that section after taking delivery. The Highlander has been very reliable but for me it's not a very satisfying vehicle. My wife loves it though.

The good? Reliability and driveability. We live 5 miles up a washboard gravel logging road and the Highlander drives up and down like a Billy Goat. It's much more sure footed than my 4WD Ranger.

The bad? The factory radio was unuseable. We live a ways from most radio transmitters but have never had trouble with reception. The Highlander, ,though, had great difficulty pulling a signal in at all when in our driveway. We have not had that problem with a myriad of other vehicles and the dealer couldn't find anything wrong. They faxed over the receiver specs and the tuner sensitivity spec was pathetic. So, we had to replace the radio with an aftermarket one that has no trouble receiving signals with the stock antenna. We also have ongoing trouble with the TPWS giving false alarms even after reinitializing it. It seems Toyota took technological short cuts on that design (maybe it has trouble with tire slippage on gravel roads). Lastly, the drivers side one-touch-down feature doesn't work well. Sometimes the window starts dropping then suddenly changes direction and rolls back up.

Disappointments? The seats are fine for my wife but for me they become very uncomfortable on any trip greater than about 30 minutes. The seat base seems 2-4" too short with little thigh support. I'm 6' tall and the seats seem way to short. We looked at aftermarket seats but the side airbags make that a difficult proposition. I don't ride in it much so we'll let them be I guess. Also, the controls seem much less intuitive than our Fords. The cruise control and wiper controls seem more confusing than necessary - not hard to learn but not intuitive either. My wife thinks most of the interior appointments (console, dash and controls) are "big", i.e. much larger than necessary and it seems to take away from roominess.

With all this nit-picking I must say that we'd probably buy another one. It really is a blast to drive the Highlander up and down our mountain road.

[toobroke]

Sorry to hear about some of your disappointments with the Highlander. I purchased a used 03 with about 20,000 miles. It has a 2.4L engine and all wheel drive. This has been one of the best vehicles I have owned and considering that it has 20k miles that is saying alot. Toyota has quality second to none. Not every vehicle will meet every standard that a consumer will have, that is the purchaser's responsibility to do the utmost in research in order that he or she finds the best vehicle to suit his or her needs. Hopefully you can live with some of the faults or you may need to sell your Highlander and find a vehicle more suited to your requirements.

[GreenMtnMan]

Rereading my post it did seem that I was complaining quite a bit. That wasn't intended. My wife is very happy with the Highlander and she may be in the target demographic more than a 50 year old male like me.

[toobroke]

Look on the bright side, you get the Tacoma, she has the Highlander, the Toyota gods are smiling and the service department is having a coronary from the lack of business.