2024 Grand Highlander XLE

If you’re drawn to the Toyota Highlander SUV but feel that it isn’t quite big enough for your family, the 2024 Grand Highlander might be the answer you’re looking for. It earns its grand naming convention not for its style, features, or luxury appointments, but because it’s a stretched version of the current Highlander. The Grand Highlander offers more space for people and cargo inside its elongated body, with most of the stretch going to a roomy third row. Three powertrains are offered, starting with a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder. Two different hybrid powertrains are also offered, including a 362-hp variant called Hybrid Max. A host of driver-assistance features is standard, and the Grand Highlander is offered only in upscale XLE, Limited, and Platinum trims—so perhaps it is a bit grander in that way after all. Three different powertrains are offered in the Grand Highlander, including two shared with the regular Highlander model. The standard setup is a 265-hp turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder with either front- or all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The Grand Highlander Hybrid uses the same hybrid powertrain as the Highlander Hybrid, which combines a 2.5-liter four-cylinder and two electric motors to make a combined 243 horsepower. The top-spec offering will include the Hybrid Max powertrain that pairs the turbocharged 2.4-liter with an electric motor for a net 362 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. In our testing, the nonhybrid Grand Highlander hit 60 mph in 7.0 seconds, but the Hybrid Max proved much quicker, completing the same test in 5.6 seconds. Both powertrains make the Grand Highlander a quicker mountain to move than the V-6-powered Honda Pilot. While the Grand Highlander won’t raise a driver’s pulse on a twisty road, it does serve its purpose well and other than a steering wheel with a too-light feel, it’s nicely set up for errand-running, kid-toting, and road-tripping.