The Toyota Highlander also known as the Kluger, is a mid-sized crossover SUV car produced by Toyota.

It was released in last season of 2008 and displayed at the New York Auto Show held in April, in the same year.

The Highlander is the first mid-sized crossover from the house of Toyota.

The sports Highlander had a unique grille design, which differentiated it from the non-sports vehicles.

Toyota Highlander First Generation (2001-2007)

The Kluger model is also called the Highlander in North America, which shares the Toyota Camry platform and it is offered in seven as well as five-seat styles. The standard Highlander model comes with the front wheel drive, but it is also offered in an optional all-wheel drive by splitting the torque in 50:50 amongst the front and rear wheels. The competitor to the Highlander was the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Toyota’s 4 Runner.



The Highlander model is offered in three different types of trim levels in United States of America, namely the Limited model, Sport model and the Base model. Only Limited and the Base models were offered when the company launched the Highlander for the first time , while the Sport model was launched in month of March, 2006. The Limited trim wheel was replaced by the 5-spoke alloy instead of 6-spoke in 2004.

The steel rims in the Base model were changed to alloy rims that were seen on the B-package and the Highlander Limited.

Second Generation (2008- present)

Toyota launched the Highlander and the Highlander Hybrid models as the second generation vehicles at the Chicago Auto Show in the year 2007. The sales of the Highlander began in July and that of the Hybrid vehicles began in the month of September. The power train in the Highlander is a 3.5 liter 2GR-FE V6 engine that produces 270 horse power of energy and mated to 5-speed automatic transmission. The use of four cylinders in the engine had been discontinued in past, but used again in the lastest model.

Engine Specifications

The 3.5 liter engine produces more power in comparison to the 3.3 liter V6 engine by 55 horse powers. The fuel economy of the vehicle was improved considerably. The estimated fuel economy for the front wheel drive of the vehicle is 18 miles per gallon in city streets, while it is expected to be 24 miles per gallon on the highway roads.

Standard Features

The latest feature in the car is the Electric Power Steering (EPS) system. The other noteworthy features in the Sport model and Limited include the backup camera that uses a LCD display screen – 3.5 inches in size.

The other major options in the SUV crossover include:

• Heated seats,
• Leather upholstery,
• DVD based touch screen navigation system,
• Upgraded JBL stereo system,
• New smart key system,
• DVD entertainment system to the rear seats with the 9 inch screen and
• A towing package that increases the towing capacity of the model.

As far as the safety features in the vehicle are concerned, the car is equipped with following safety options -

• traction control system,
• vehicle stability control,
• brake assist,
• electronic brake force distribution and
• the anti lock brakes.

2011 Toyota Highlander

2011 Toyota Highlander equipped with the standard features like the driver’s knee air bag, tire pressure monitoring system, side curtain air bags and the side torso air bags mounted to the front seats. The Hill Start Assist Control system is standard in all the models, which prevents the vehicle to roll backwards on elevated areas.

TH Motto: “The Soft Roader”

Toyota Highlander Pictures Gallery

2005 Highlander	Black Highlander	Grey Highlander
Highlander Cargo	White Highlander >	Highlander Interior
Highlander Outlook	Silver Highlander	Toyota Highlander