We've been shopping recently for a new 3 row SUV. We were coming from a fun but chronically issue laden 2018 Audi Q5 and it was our baseline for a comfortable and somewhat fun to drive SUV. We are primarily a family of four (two teenage sons) however we have young adult son and a mother in law who resides with us and occasionally we take local trips as a family. It's much easier to take one car on these occasional outings.
We shopped the market sub $60k for a nice, comfortable and most importantly reliable vehicle to handle these duties with a planned long life of use (wife will be retiring early in about 6 years so it'll be long paid off). We really liked the interiors of the Palisade/Telluride twins but they felt very heavy and clumsy in typical city/parking lot driving. They felt great on the road but just did not "wow" my wife to make the switch. FWIW we've owned many Hyundai's over the years and loved them. The Pilot was okay, owned many Honda's over the years and it felt like an Odyssey and we're past the minivan stage of our lives. The Mazda CX-9 was a strong contender and has a fabulous drivetrain however rear row access (although not used much) was the only negative. Inventory of new ones in top trim were basically non existent in our area so we kept looking.
We drove a 22 Highlander and really liked the packaging and interior quality. We were not impressed with the 3.5 V6 lazy throttle response and the low tech Entune system (we road trip alot and like good quality tech).
We were fortunate enough to go back soon after when a new '23 had just landed with the new 2.4 turbo 4 and new media tech. We live close to 6000' elevation and turbo cars always seem to have an advantage for better engine response/power at higher elevations and we've always liked them. The Q5 was a blast to drive in the mountains and we never longed for more passing power.
The HL with the turbo was the ticket for us after our test drive. The throttle response is great, peak torque (310 lb/ft) at 1700 rpm makes for good off the line punch and easy acceleration on the highway. Some of the reviews we read were lamenting the loss of the V6, to us it made the difference to purchase vs buy something else. So far it feels like a great engine and it's very well matched to the smooth 8-speed auto.
We chose one on inbound allocation and chose the Limited trim for the torque vectoring AWD, dual 12.3" screens and mid row captains chairs. The vehicle came in early last week and we brought it home on Nov 9th with 8 miles on the odometer. Build date was October 7th. We purchased from a local dealer that is MSRP only with no adds or doc fees. The car was $51250 and we added the Toyota Platinum $0 warranty to 100k for $1600. The dealer was awesome and super easy to work with.
We looked at the Platinum trim and there was nothing in that package that we really needed/wanted and I prefer a regular sunroof over a panoramic one (we live in large hail country).
Early impressions now that it is home is that it is about as quiet as the Audi, with a comfortable suspension on the cratered roads around us and overall we are happy with our decision. With only about 180 miles on the odometer, time will tell. At this time, driving moderately in 30-40 degree temps, mixed city and highway driving the computer is stating 24.5 mpg. The build quality is very good overall- no cosmetic flaws have been seen so far.
I plan to do 5k interval oil changes on this guy and will utilize the Toyota care for the 10k and 20k changes as they come. Most likely an OEM filter and oil TBD. My first change will probably be this spring and we have a 5-6k mile road trip planned at the end of May.
The windows are getting tinted this weel and PPF installed on the front end. I'll ceramic coat it over the Thanksgiving holiday (I'm a former pro-detailer and do awesome applications).
I'll update this thread as the engine breaks in and I learn more about it. Snow is predicted later this week so we'll see how it (and the Bridgesstone Alenza sport AS tires) do.
We did look into this one as a hybrid. The waiting list is super long (deposits placed) for higher trims and our chances of obtaining one would be about a year out.
Overall it seems great and most importantly, my wife loves it!
