Minivan Towing Capacity

Toyota doesn’t want its all-new 2014 Highlander to be painted with the same “Mom Bomb” brush that’s ruined sales of minivans. So for 2014, Toyota’s wrapped its huge-selling crossover SUV in more-angular sheetmetal designed to attract more dudes. There’s also a bolder grille that’s slightly reminiscent of the brutish snout of the full-size Tundra pickup, as well as prominent chrome eyebrows, which sound like something Lady Gaga wishes she had but are in fact far more tame. The wheels are bigger, too, with the base rollers going from 17 to 18 inches, and they sit beneath more-muscular wheel flares. Wider by 0.6 inch and longer by 2.7 inches, the new Highlander indeed strikes a somewhat more macho pose versus the outgoing 2013 model, although it stops short of providing a Hummer-like hit of testosterone.

Inside, the Highlander’s interior has been “Avalon-ized” with more soft-touch materials on the dash and doors. Toyota admits to tooth-and-nail competition from Korean nameplates invading the lower end of the mid-size crossover segment, so the Japanese firm has stirred in more features and refinement to move the Highlander a bit closer to Lexus RX350 territory. Toyota also says it stiffened the Highlander’s body, especially in the roof and B-pillar area. Finally, it says it made a point of making the 2014 model quieter, adding a new acoustic windshield, a thicker front dash-panel silencer, and under-carpet sound deadening.

Newfound Stash Space

From the extremely useful yet also supremely boring department comes a new dashboard “shelf” above the glove box running from the passenger’s door to just above the driver’s right knee. It’s handy for stashing cellphones, parking/toll tickets, handcuffs, and other detritus. The new tambour-top front console is a deep, 24.5-liter well that’s capable, as Toyota demonstrated, of holding 38 12-ounce cans of your favorite beverage. The HVAC controls have been simplified, and there’s a new optional panoramic sunroof as well as a heated steering wheel and heated-and-cooled front seats. A new eighth airbag lives—hopefully permanently—in the front passenger-seat cushion, and there’s a long list of new nanny-style tech including auto high-beams and blind-spot, rear cross-traffic, pre-collision, and lane-departure warning systems.