2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian College

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

mpg ?

 

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

28 MPG city/hwy which is less than the 30 MPG the RX gets but the HIghlander does sit 7.

 

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

Still, 28 city is hard to touch for anything that seats more than 5 people, at least in North America. The split 3rd row is very nice for kid hauling. Maybe we'll have two hybrids next year lol.

 

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

30mpg?
And THEN some ... even in our heavier/more powerful AWD version



.

 

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

Still interested in a hybrid mini-van, I took a second look at the new Highlander and I'm impressed:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6
0	gas highlander	hybrid highlander	characteristic
1	270	280	hp
2	3.5L	3.5L	ICE displacement
3	5 speed auto	CVT	transmission
4	4 WD auto	4 WD full-time	rear wheels
5	2	000 or 5	000	3	500	towing
6	145.7	145.4	passenger volume
7	10.3	10.3	volume behind 3d row
8	17	28	city mileage
9	22	28	highway mileage
10	19	28	combined
11	$29	995	$37	280	list price

From Toyota web site.

Now one interesting aspect is to compare the volume*MPG of the cars:

• 19 x 156 = 2926 ft{3} miles per gallon (4 FWD gas Highlander)
• 28 x 155.7 = 4360 ft{3} miles per gallon (4 FWD hybrid Highlander)
• 50 x 116 = 5800 ft{3} miles per gallon (Prius)

Now I'm not fond of traditional fuel expense based, payoff because we know this is strongly a function of the miles per year. But a table makes a lot of sense for understanding the fuel expense, cash flow:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6	Column 7
0	miles/year	19 MPG gal	28 MPG gal	savings	$3/gal
1	10	000	526.3	357.1	169.2	$508
2	15	000	789.5	535.7	253.8	$761
3	20	000	1052.6	714.3	338.3	$1	015
4	25	000	1315.8	892.9	422.9	$1	269
5	30	000	1578.9	1071.4	507.5	$1	523

However there is one metric that makes sense, miles-to-payback, the miles to when the hybrid and gas vehicles achieve parity:

144,000 miles (143,541 @$3/gal)
​

So if the SUV mileage approaches or exceed 144,000 miles before the vehicle is replaced, the hybrid is the way to go. The more urban miles, the shorter the payoff miles. Highway miles, it takes longer.

Bob Wilson

 

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

I'd probably never recoup the cost differential, even though it would be mostly urban miles. I would pay the extra just for the reduced emissions and oil consumption, though. Not only would I keep my 3 kids farther apart in separate rows, but hopefully give them a chance of having a better place to live when they're my age.

Though completely unnecessary, at least AWD comes in a little handy in the Chicago area. Still, I wish they would have given a base level 4-cylinder, front-wheel drive option with better mpgs at the expense of having 3500 pound towing capability or 0-60 in 7.2 seconds. Those are things the vast majority of their demographic doesn't need at all and the few that do could pay for them in upscale trim. Maybe someday they'll give me a Mazda 5 with the Ford hybrid system from the Tribute.

 

Re: 2011 Toyota Highlander and Toyota Highlander Hybrid make their debut at 25th annual Georgian Col

I think your have the towing numbers between gas and hybrid version reversed. We used to have the hybrid version (loved it too) but needed the 5000 lbs towing capability so had to trade it in for the gas model.