Clearing A High Bar: The 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD

2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD.

All-new cars are exciting and also fraught with peril.  If the old one was beloved, there's the risk the new one will somehow screw it up.

The stakes were especially high here at TireKicker World Headquarters for the all-new 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD---the replacement for the exact 2019 model that Mrs. TireKicker and I took on our epic nine-day, 3,000-mile road trip last September and loved.

Six Thousand Dollars For Nine Extra MPG In The City: Is The Toyota Highlander Hybrid Worth It?

2014 Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

Back in June, Michael wrote a fairly unflattering review of the newly redesigned Toyota Highlander.  I have to agree with most of the points he made apart from the lack of headroom (I'm not as tall as he).  It's not a terribly attractive vehicle, it does not carry quite as much behind the seats as the previous model did, and the instrument panel, while attractive, puts virtually every control that matters---especially the HVAC, audio controls and touchscreen---well out of the reach of most drivers.

But would a big boost in fuel efficiency offset those sins?