Driving the 2025 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX

Car critics, when we talk amongst ourselves, often sympathize with the challenge before an automaker that makes a car that’s nearly the best in its class.

Making a car that’s almost perfect for most buyers must be brutally hard. After all, a car is the second-biggest financial decision most Americans regularly make. If there’s an obvious best answer, you should get that one.

It must be awfully hard to be a reliable triple hitter when a home run wins the game. It must be awfully hard to compete with Toyota.

This was the thought I couldn’t shake in a week in the 2025 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX Platinum. Its price is a little steep, but it’s just so good in so many ways that, in the end, it might offer the best value for the money of any family-oriented 3-row SUV.

There are many very good 3-row SUVs, but most are extraneous. This one does just about everything right and holds its value exceptionally well.

I treated the Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX like my family car for a week, driving it around the suburbs of Washington, D.C., during rush hour and to a host of family activities outside the city on the weekend. I walked away thoroughly convinced by the value argument for Toyota’s midsize 3-row SUV and even wondered if it makes the more expensive Sequoia unnecessary for most.

Which Trim Level?

My tester was the top-of-the-line Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX Platinum. The “MAX” in the name gives it a more powerful powertrain. The “Platinum” gives it niceties like a power tilt-and-slide panoramic roof with a powered sunshade, leather trim on the steering wheel to complement the Ultrasuede and leather seats, and heated seats in the first two rows (plus ventilation for the front seats).

Favorite Feature

The Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX is a straight-A student. It’s not bad at anything. But its best feature is its spacious cabin design.

Toyota also makes a full-size SUV, the Sequoia, with a starting price almost $20,000 higher. Drivers get more headroom and legroom in the cheaper Grand Highlander (though less shoulder room). Second row? Same story. Third row? Grand Highlander passengers get more headroom and nearly the same legroom.

And the Grand Highlander’s cargo bay embarrasses the Sequoia’s. With all seats in place, you get 20.6 cubic feet of space for luggage in this, and just 12 in the Sequoia.

Unless you’re buying a tow vehicle or driving around three rows of broad-shouldered people, the less expensive model better suits your needs.

What It’s Like to Drive

The Hybrid MAX powertrain gives this model 362 horsepower instead of the 243 in lesser-priced hybrid models. It also has a 6-speed automatic transmission, while other hybrids have a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).

If you enjoy driving or plan to weigh your car down with adults and cargo often, the MAX is the way to go. CVTs have come a long way from their rubbery early-2000s reputation. But the added power and the zip of a real automatic make this version feel capable of anything.

Driving modes include Eco, Normal, Sport, Mud and Sand, Rock and Dirt, and Snow, which is likely more than most families will ever need.

Steering feel is light, and makes parking a nearly full-size SUV in tight suburban confines thoughtlessly easy.

Interior Comfort and Technology

There’s a natural progression over time where new features are introduced in luxury cars and gradually make their way into more mainstream products. Still, I’m slightly surprised at how the Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX encroaches on Lexus territory.

I’m sitting in a 10-way adjustable heated and ventilated leather-trimmed seat. Even my second-row passengers have seat heaters. They get their own climate control, as well.

Third-row guests get USB-C ports and air vents not always found in mainstream 3-row SUVs.

I’ve already cited the space, but I’ll reiterate: This competes with some full-size models for legroom and headroom.

The 11-speaker JBL audio system isn’t quite the equal of the system you’d find in a similar Lexus TX, but it comes closer than you might expect.

The 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen is intuitive, and Toyota wisely keeps separate buttons and knobs for climate control functions.  

Limitations

You won’t want for much in the Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX Platinum, but I would note that the price jump from the Hybrid MAX Limited model may not be worthwhile for some. The biggest differences you’ll feel come from the panoramic roof and Traffic Jam Assist (which can handle some of the work of driving in low-speed situations). If you’re not likely to use those, anyway, get the cheaper one.

If everything about this appeals to you but you want a higher level of luxury, you want the near-identical Lexus TX.