highlander vs prius

Comparing a 2008 Highlander Hybrid with 2007 Prius

Prius wins -

Prius - big MFD that shows you energy, MPG as a number, all kinds of stuff

Highlander - Tiny MFD, doesn't show as much info, doesn't even show the correct arrows when doing a force recharge

Prius - set the AC temperature and it will automatically run the AC until the car reaches that temp

Highlander - turn the fan up or down manually like a stone age person who has no modern technology

Prius - big area under rear cargo bay for stuff

Highlander - no area under rear cargo bay for stuff

Prius - 50+ mpg

Highlander - 25 mpg

Prius - massive discussion forums, lots of junkyard cars / parts

Highlander - not many discussions online, not as many junkyard finds

Prius - stock sound system is actually very good

Highlander - not that great audio, distortion in speakers, volume + tuning knobs develop cruft after a decade+ requiring cleaning

Prius - simple out-of-the-way shifter that "just works"

Highlander - ridiculously huge skewmorphic shift lever designed to imitate something its not. uses up valuable console space. and it will also let you turn the car off while it's in "drive" to the point it can roll away.

Highlander wins -

Prius - bottoms out all the time, lose your front shield on a curb, god bless you if you are in snow or dirt

Highlander - beautiful 8-ish inches of clearance, and the lowest part is the exhaust pipe, can actually do mild offroading though its technically discouraged in the owner's manual

Prius - weird visibility issues with the huge hatchback pillars and the large a pillars, read window bar thing

Highlander - actually not bad visibility

Prius - battery lasts ~ 200k miles

Highlander - per internet scuttlebut, HV battery lasts longer, perhaps due to the 6 cylinder engine taking more of the workload off the battery more often, or the battery being bigger and having better cooling

Prius - 2wd

Highlander - comes with AWD option

Prius - almost too slow for certain situations

Highlander - feels like a rocket ship compared to Prius, actually faster than the gasoline-only Highlander

Prius - no EV button

Highlander - EV button

Prius - if you are 6 feet tall and you sit up straight you are basically looking down on the roof - windshield contact area and cannot see anything

Highlander - if you are 6 feet tall and you sit up straight you can actually kind of see the horizon

Prius - no 3rd row, 2nd row a lil' short on legroom

Highlander - 3rd row for small folks, 2nd row can have lots of legroom

Prius - technically not legal to tow anything

Highlander - rated for 2000 pounds towing, up to 3500 pounds with sway control device

Prius - have to open entire hatch to access cargo area

Highlander - poke a button and the rear window pops open without the whole door popping open

Prius - manual rear hatch

Highlander - Power rear door!!

Overall

Prius is more quirky and fun for zipping around town, sneaking in little parking spaces.

Highlander is much better for bigger cargo, more people, worse roads, giant trucks on highways.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk