TOYOTA HIGHLANDER FOR LIFE?

I owned a Toyota Highlander, but it didn’t start that way.

Somehow the wife and I went to a car dealership traded a van and ended up with a Rav4.

She decided it was the worst car ever since I insisted on the barebones cheapest version.

By the time we got home I knew it was going back.

But . . .

We’d signed all the papers and drove off the lot, which everyone knows is a costly move.

The hybrid was the prize, a hybrid Highlander. Sounds pretty good?

But the only Toyota Highlander on the lot wasn’t a hybrid.

They had our van and we had the wrong car. Now what?

We bought the regular Highlander and it was the nicest car I’ve ever had.

 

Five Years Later

One thing led to another and we made a sweetheart deal on the Silver Shadow and got the car we went in for the first time, a Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

Luckily they had one available, a Blue Steel Platinum Highlander.

If the first one was the best car, this one was on a whole ‘nother level.

In other words it was teched out more than anything I’d need.

And it had a sun roof that went all the way back to the second row. I’d never seen one either.

 

In review, I had five happy years in Highlander #1, including a run with my group to the last Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge.

The big drive was wife and I on a roadie over to Yellowstone, up to Montana, then down through Washington for the home stretch.

I saw cars on the side of the road, not many but a few with their hoods up, and wished them luck from super car.

 

Highlander #2 lasted two years, but they two of the most car-confidence years knowing I was in one of the safest cars on the road.

 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the 2024 Highlander five out of five stars for overall crash protection, along with a four-star frontal and rollover rating and five-star side protection rating.

 

I felt so safe that I drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico and back. Ran it up to 100 mph a couple of times. It could have gone faster but I felt a little stupid at one hundred.

It won its SUV degree after the sixteen mile tour loop Monument Valley.

 

Second Year Of Toyota Highlander #2

One mid-evening Beaverton night in the dark of an unlit stretch of feeder road to Scholls Ferry, my wonder car that had gone 4000 miles without a scratch got blindsided from the left.

We took a hit hard enough for a quarter spin snapper and a totaled rig by someone going fast enough to bounce off us and hit another car.

Did my five star safety rated crash car protect me and my loved one?

The common comment was, “The crumple zone did what the crumple zone is supposed to do.”

But no front airbags, no side airbag. No seatbelt tightener for me, but yes for the wife. She was cinched.

Wife: When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was a message on the dashboard screen that said ‘Air bag malfunction, see dealer.’

The official opinion was that the impact of the crash wasn’t severe enough to trigger the airbags.

Or there was a recall on the weight sensors in the driver’s seat to let the safety systems know they might deploy.

I’m wondering who in the land of Toyota could explain the consequences of soft recalls.

A couple of feet the other way in the crash and I’d still be picking glass out of my hair.

 

Good Bye Big Blue, Hello Snow White: Highlander #3

Have you ever bought a new car in twenty minutes?

I still don’t know why I believed it.

The next Toyota Highlander up to the plate took three and a half hours.

I left the house around four, did an errand, then jammed with traffic down Walnut until it cleared up on Murray.

I got home just before nine, parked the Pale Rider, and asked for a blessing from the Car Gods.

Me: In the name of all that is holy, and Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson, please give my Pearly White the power to deliver us to our destinations unscathed. Amen.

I had high confidence in the Gray Ghost Toyota Highlander #1, even higher for #2 Blue Lightning.

Number Three is for me. Not plush computer chip luxury just this side of a Lexus RX, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum was still a humble Toyota.

The Limited SnowWhite looks like a winner from the start. My hope and dream is to make a sweetheart deal in a few years like I did the Gray Ghost.

I never had a thought of parting with Blue Steel #2. Some cars leave a lingering memory, either that or I just like seeing dirt and dust on a fancy rig.

Will I check on the safety features in case something happens that requires airbags? 

Will I write to Toyota as a true fan who wants to help them be better?

Like you need to ask.