Thoughts on 4th gen Highlander?

My wife has a 2021 Pilot that is out of warranty, and has given me some headaches (as well as concerns for the future).

We are looking to trade it in towards a used Highlander. Looking at 2021-2023, less than 50k miles, which can be had for under $40k.

Hoping some people on this forum have some significant others with Highlanders.

Are there any problems or issues I need to be aware of with a 21, 22, or 23? Is there a year that is known to have more problems?

Any advice welcome.

Just thought I’d try here since there aren’t many thriving Highlander forums out there….

 

You said ANY advice. So here goes. I bought a 2019 new from the dealer for Mrs. McGov,. V6 basic trim package. It's been flawless. But it's tuned at the factory for gas economy gutlessness. MUST be driven in S mode. Which also takes care of the silly 8 speed tranny. 7th and 8th are worthless. The factory suspension starts checking out in the early 60,000 miles.

Sooooooo many Highlanders are driven by old people that your odds of finding one that hasn't been deliberately abused or thrashed is really good.

If I had to do it again, and could find the right specimen, it would be a 2016 Limited model and the 6 speed tranny.

 

^^^Good info here. Been hunting for 1 as well. Will have to trim the herd though, lol..

 

Thanks for the info!

I’m not worried about the pre-Covid Highlanders, it’s the 2021-23s I mentioned. Everything sucks, basically, since then.

Just trying to see if the 21-23s suck less than others.

 

Just our current nightmare with my wife's recent purchase of a 2019 Highlander with 80,000 miles. Within first 20 days transmission developed a whine under power. Look up Highlander transmission whine and the internet is loaded with failed transmission stories from 2019-2022 models. No repair, but complete replacement at about 9 grand a pop. People begging for a recall. Affects the Rav4 also. Never heard of the problem till the last couple weeks.

She bought it from a KIA dealer and they honored the new purchase warranty and put in a new, not rebuilt trans from Toyota. Got it home and it was pissing gear oil everywhere.
KIA sent it to a owner related Toyota dealership now and they said the new transmission has got to go. Won't seal with driveshaft. Gouges were spotted. Last word as of yesterday was Toyota can't get a new one as they have just announced a national stop order on those transmissions. Weird, because KIA obtained that one only two weeks ago.
Out of six weeks of ownership, my wife has driven it for two of those weeks.
As of now, we really don't know when we will see the vehicle as she drives a loaner. Need to hear more from Toyota about if there is actually a fix. Hate to think the new ones are just as bad as the old.
At 50 days if not resolved may have to go MN Lemon Law.
The Highlander is a sharp vehicle, but WTF is with these multiple speed trans?

Very happy otherwise with the 2019 Tundra and old 2010 Corolla that has never needed repairs. We figured when she was looking that how could we go wrong with another Toyota, right?
We also were keeping pre Covid vehicles in mind. Guess that ain't a complete safety net either.

Too much damn tech to possibly fail, and too many mandates pushing it.
That's my rant, and I'm sticking to it.

 

Yikes. That sounds horrible.

Honestly shopping for a car right now is so stressful because everything seems to be such a piece of shit. It’s scary.

Going to try to find something with <36k miles so we can do an extended Toyota warranty.

 

Oh, I forgot the best part of the story.
The first new KIA rental the wife got, was thunked in the parking lot at her job while she was working. Person took off, no video.
Our insurance now covering $7,000 in damages to the passenger front, 500 deductible for us.
Yay!!!

 

Man, this sounds like my type of luck. Truck went back to Toyota several times for transmission issues... They ended up getting tired of looking at my grill and ended up replacing the driveshaft first, then the transmission, then they flashed it and all the problems with it sorta stopped. Then someone backed in to my front bumper with a hitch, leaving a permanent dimple on my fog light.