Video: 2014 Toyota Highlander

The Toyota Highlander is a popular family SUV for Toyota, with a versatile second row and a capable V6, but minimal cargo room behind the third row and kind of a cost cut interior. That said Toyota has completely redesigned the SUV now, which brings us to the New York International Auto Show to take a closer look. Very bold front end here, actually a lot more vertical than the last Highlander, which was kind of more slicked back, a little more front overhang visually when you look at it from the profile. Notice this chrome line here runs all the way in to the headlights, comes in, the center of the grill here is dominated by Toyota's logo, actually almost Subaru-like the way they joined the two sides together. As you come around the side, you'll notice the new Highlander about three inches longer than its predecessor, width is increased about an inch and a half. That's good because the old Highlander was one of the smaller SUV in its class. This new one should get a little bit bigger and join the rest of them more evenly. Tail lights have a little bit of Toyota Rav four in them, that's their smaller SUV. Little bit of chrome going on here, kind of an old trick in the book. Overall, not a lot of cohesion with that many other Toyota models though, not that that's really stopped anyone from buying a Toyota before. Cabin quality again, a sore spot in the old Highlander, appears to be vastly improved in its followup. Things like padding along areas where your elbows fall here, stitching along the dashboard, even along the steering wheel here, very upscale. Even consistency in things like the headliner, comes down the A pillars here in the car at the auto show. Very nice what we see so far. Standard features things like Bluetooth, a backup camera, Toyota's Entune system which includes apps like Pandora and OpenTable. Pretty well equipped there. Let's take a look at the back seats. Lots of room in the second row. Very adjustable, long range here, comes all the way up here, all the way back down. Also reclining second row seats, Bucket seats in this car at the auto show. There's a center console here, which kind of flips out of the way. Similar to something the Honda Odyssey minivan has had allowing you a second row pass through. The last Highlander had a second row middle seat here that actually stowed and went underneath the center console in the front, kind of a nifty feature, doesn't appear to be back for this new generation. Second row seats have a walk-in feature that now Toyota says offers three additional inches, three additional inches of space here to pass through. And it's actually pretty easy once you get back there, of course, once you're here, you're going to want to negotiate more scoot room from your second row passengers because otherwise space in the third row is pretty tight. It's now been raised to three seats back here, which gives the Highlander a maximum seating capacity of eight up from last year's seven, thanks to the third row space here being about 4.3 inches wider than it was before. Still pretty tight, you're gonna have to hope that middle passenger back here is really skinny. Cargo space behind the third row in the last Highlander was pretty tight. Toyota says there's about 30, 35% additional cargo space here behind the third row now. That's pretty obvious, you get more space here. Still, not as big though as general motors three row SUV's, the Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia, which have even more room behind the third row. Engine choices include a 2.7 liter four cylinder, or Toyota's familiar 3.5 liter V6. Now the last Highlander came in fifth out of seven SUV's in cars.com, USAToday and MotorWeeks $37,000 SUV shootout. We complained about things like mushy brakes, choppy ride quality, interior quality. Toyota says that the suspension has been revised and there's additional insulation for the new Highlander. We're going to have to wait and see how it does sometime around the on sale date in early 2014. (car revs)