2008 Toyota Highlander First Drive Branson MO

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Introduction

Toyota Highlander - 2008 First Drive: As a general rule, we tend to operate our lives under the premise that "less is more." Carrying less weight around our midsection makes us healthier. Buying less "stuff" makes us richer in the long run. You get the picture.

While we're not ready to pitch that long-held world view into the philosophical dumpster, we are here to tell you that the all-new 2008 Toyota Highlander has caused us to take a good hard look at our own golden rule.

In fact, this new Highlander - which comes loaded with more of everything from horsepower to innovative standard features - has us prepared to admit that sometimes "more" can actually be a pretty good thing too.

Origins

While many of us - both consumers and automotive journalists alike - may have come to take the Highlander for granted over the past half-dozen years, in hindsight we have to admit that this vehicle was ahead of its time.

As one of the first midsize car-based sport-utility vehicles when it was launched in 2001, the Highlander helped create a new automotive category called the "crossover utility vehicle," or "crossover" for short. Blending the practicality of an SUV with the comfort of a passenger car, mid-size crossovers have grown to become one of the hottest new vehicle segments around, with nearly a dozen models currently on dealers' lots and another five new nameplates expected to be introduced within the next 12 months.