Opinions on the Highlander? Or other options for a third row seat SUV...

I like it

 

Funny, my wife just said the same about looking at the Explorer.

I was surprised I found the seats to be so comfortable, but hear ya on everything else. Now it’s between the Atlas and the Traverse. Tomorrow will be a different story no doubt.

 

neither of which are known for reliability

 

Well, we did buy a 15 highlander XLE. Now to find a decent Highlander forum.

 

I’ve been trying to hammer home the reliability topic. It’s not very ‘sexy’.

 

My wife has an 18 Highlander XLE with about 15k on it now. It severely lacks in entertainment technology as others mentioned. Entune sucks in the Tacoma but its worst in the Highlander. Family friendly storage space is also lacking.

However, every time I drive it I get a comfortable sense of reliability. The 8 speed transmission is better than the 16 and earlier 6 speed (now that the bugs are worked out). I also enjoy the steer assist feature while highway driving. I get the feeling that this is a car we will get rid of at some point and miss dearly.

FWIW - My brother just bought a new Pilot. I think he was out the door for under 35k with leather and all sorts of options. It seems to be way more family friendly and up to date on the tech side. Someone here mentioned reliability is questionable on those but I haven't heard that.

 

If the Highlander had Car Play, infotainment option, and more cargo it’d be a done deal for me.

 

The 2020's do, but I am not a huge fan of the styling.

 

good buddy of mine just bought an 18 Highlander LE Plus today......test drove 3 Honda Pilots before he bought the Highlander.....2 of the Pilots had major slip in their Auto transmissions, even had one of them checked out by a tech at that dealer, sure enough the tech agreed it was going to need transmission work.

Another friend of mine test drove a 19 AT Accord last week, said the exact same slip issue happened to him on that car and it was brand new.

These guys are both car guys through and through, usually MT drivers so it doesn't matter. But it matters for the baby momma vehicles.

It's disappointing to hear about Honda slipping in reliability. Maybe these are coincidental incidents, but maybe not.

Interesting thing is, the first guy really wanted to build a Honda fleet.... Pilot and Ridgeline (same AT transmission)...... go on, .....so now I've told him he's gotta build a Toyota fleet at get a Tacoma

 

Funny you say this, I was looking at reviews for a 2019 Buick Enclave that’s on the wife’s long list. These were on edmunds.com. Small sample size, 19 reviews, but 3 of them referenced transmission slip. Like you I don’t know if this is an isolated thing or not. Researching vehicles isn’t easy because you have to not only look at the available data but think about where it comes from and what it means.

She looked at the 2020 Highlander and loved the styling. Interesting though, the overall cargo room with the last two rows of seats down had diminished. Just not a vehicle for our needs space-wise unfortunately, unless she changes her mind about that aspect

 

Toyota relies on the reliability of Tacomas and Land Cruisers from decades past.

I'm much happier with my Golf than I would be with a shitty Corolla hatch. Put 36k miles on it last year and 1 cel and a vacuum leak which is less frequent problems than my first gen had.

 

Update: wife decided on the Kia Telluride. Liked the '19 Highlander quite a bit but it's too skinny of a vehicle for the amount of cargo area and passenger space we need. We thought the '20 was a looker as well with the new body style, but way out of our price range.

Shifting topics: been a long, LONG time since I've had a brand new vehicle in the household. One of the prime reasons was the 10/100 drivetrain warranty. First thought with any warranty is, how are they gonna screw me and what can I do to keep from being screwed. This is not an anti-Kia statement it's just my general cynicism about the world. Next thought: oil changes. I DIY on my Taco, far ahead of the recommended interval. I keep a log and I keep receipts of the purchases for oil, oil filter, engine air filter, etc. I don't have a ton of the 5/60 drivetrain warranty left so not really that concerned about ever having a claim anyway. But with the wife's new vehicle, I'm either doing all the oil changes myself and keeping another log, or I'm taking to a reputable shop (not a 'ship) after the first free one from the Kia 'ship, and keeping a log with those receipts.

Anybody ever had a situation where you DIY oil changes on a new vehicle, and then had an engine warranty claim where you had to present your log and documentation? Was it sufficient or was that challenged? Warranties can be tricky....but only if you ever need them. In this case I'm talking about the original manufacturer drivetrain warranty, not an extended warranty, which I don't plan to add.

P.S.: if your advice is to get my butt over to a Kia thread and ask the same question, point taken. However, I happen to trust the folks on TW more than a Kia thread through because you good people are probably much more likely to be doing your own maintenance on say a newer 3rd Gen, on average, and have personal experience to draw from.

 

I'd look at the price difference between a private shop doing an oil change compared to the dealer. Seems like dealers always run coupons for oil changes so in that case I'd have them do it just so there is a log from Kia themselves.

 

Good point...however:
1) I like to use a shop I know and trust
2) dealership is 45 mins away

Counterpoint to what I said: oil change is only every 7.5K. And having a Kia maintenance log could be valuable if the warranty is ever needed, like you said.