The Toyota Highlander has been around for a minute – 18 years, in fact. But with more three-row crossovers available than ever before, it’s overdue for an update. The 2020 Toyota Highlander made its debut at the New York Auto Show, complete with a new architecture, updated engines, and fresh styling.
Like most modern Toyota products (everything from the Corolla to the RAV4), the new Highlander rides on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA). In this case, the TNGA-K configuration in particular. With that new platform underneath, both the Highlander’s gas and hybrid powertrain options carry over. Though, they’re both updated.
Gallery: 2020 Toyota Highlander
The standard gas-powered Highlander uses a 3.5-liter V6, producing 295 horsepower (219 kilowatts) and 263 pound-feet (356 Newton-meters) of torque. It even has an available 5,000-pound (2,267-kilogram) tow rating. The hybrid Highlander, meanwhile, gets a 2.5-liter, naturally aspirated four-cylinder that produces 240 hp (178 kW). That setup now returns 34 miles per gallon combined and comes with either front- or all-wheel drive.
Brand new on the 2020 Highlander is Toyota Safety Sense 2.0. Like most modern Toyota products, the safety suite comes standard. It replaces the outgoing Toyota Safety Sense P, but keeps the TSS-P suite, which includes things like lane departure warning with steering assist, full-speed adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, and plenty more.
The Handsome New Highlander:
When it goes on sale this winter, Toyota will offer the non-hybrid Highlander in five trims: L, LE, XLE, Limited, and Platinum. The hybrid model, meanwhile, gets four trims: LE, XLE, Limited, and Platinum. No word on pricing, but the hybrid model won’t go on sale until 2020, following the V6-powered version’s on-sale date of late 2019.
For more on the 2020 Toyota Highlander, see how it stacks up against the competition.