Toyota Highlander or Jeep Grand Cherokee

Hi Guys,

I am moving to CO in a week and narrowed my cars down to two choices: the Highlander or Jeep Grand Cherokee. I want to be able to sleep my in car easily for longer roadtrips and colder weekends camping. My question is, do you think the highlander could handle the terrain off roads in CO? I see it gets really good snow reviews so not worried there but curious how bad some roads might be. I think it can take most of what I want to do, and it does give more room inside than the jeep (but not quite as bad on gas as the 4runner).

Does anyone have any insight into which might be better?

Thanks!

Those you're only options? I'd vote for a Toyota 4Runner, my dude. 

You won't be legally "off roading" on public land in CO with either.
Off pavement either will handle 90% of where you might want go.

I have a 2012 Rav4 now with 100,000 and no real issues. Taken it on some pretty rough roads here in the NH "outback".  I suspect the Highlander might be a bit more reliable than Jeep...but who knows these days.

Only "issue" is the locked-4-wheel-drive mode "kicks out" above about 25-30mph.  This was designed that way. Salesperson didn't say anything about it. Seems a poor design to me, but so far whenever I want locked 4wheel has been in places or conditions where I didn't want to go more than 25 anyway !  What's the 2019 Highlander do?

Another thing.  I rented a Chrysler product in winter to get home from airport. It stood outside overnight when temp reached about -5F -10F.  All the "inside controls", like the heater, fan, radio etc operated off of a touch screen.  The touch screen was so cold, touches didn't work until the car warmed up ! ...which took a while since I couldn't get the fan going!   DUH !

If you really love the dealer and want to hang out there, get the Jeep

If you never wanna see the bastards again, get the Highlander

Amen! to what Mark said !

As a jeep grand cherokee owner who really enjoys his jeep, go with the 4runner. Solid axles body on frame and alot more accessories. Jeeps mayne better on the road but for moderate off roading go 4runner- **edit***misread the headline. Between a jeep and a highlander-Get the Jeep.

4runner is generally going to be more reliable and more capable than both. Find one with the electronic locking rear diff and you are golden

Top Raven wrote: You won't be legally "off roading" on public land in CO with either.
Off pavement either will handle 90% of where you might want go.

I am not from Colorado but there are a ton of trails on public state and federal land it seems alltrails.com/us/colorado/o…

The highlander is a sneakily excellent car. I preferred it offroad to the tundra. 

Plus you'll get 5 more mpg than the 4runner and 100k more total miles than the jeep. 

ADAM H wrote: The highlander is a sneakily excellent car. I preferred it offroad to the tundra.

Plus you'll get 5 more mpg than the 4runner and 100k more total miles than the jeep. 

My thoughts exactly! It actually gets better gas mileage than the jeep as well and more reliable in my opinion and more room! Being 6ft tall and wanting to be able to sleep in it, that is ceertainly a factor. 

Ross Goldberg wrote:

I am not from Colorado but there are a ton of trails on public state and federal land it seems alltrails.com/us/colorado/o…

Jeep trails. Marketing as your average Subaru can do many of them.

Yeah what Mark said above but Highlander is short on horsepower 

Does anybody on this thread know of anyone who has ever regretted buying a Toyota?

And I don’t want to hear about people who bought a Camry and should have bought a Tacoma.

‘Nuf said...

We have 5 Toyotas. What sold us on them was our 2001 Highlander with 316,000 miles on it being more comfortable than some of the newer other make cars we owned. If you want reliability, Toyota is the car for you. My best friend bought top of the line Jeep Cherokee that ended up with all kinds of electrical issues. 12 times to the dealer and Jeep (Chrysler) wouldn’t replace it. She should have lemon lawed it.

Lindy Dean wrote: We have 5 Toyotas. What sold us on them was our 2001 Highlander with 316,000 miles on it being more comfortable than some of the newer other make cars we owned. If you want reliability, Toyota is the car for you. My best friend bought top of the line Jeep Cherokee that ended up with all kinds of electrical issues. 12 times to the dealer and Jeep (Chrysler) wouldn’t replace it. She should have lemon lawed it.

It's all subjective I think. I have a friend who has a '17 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk and it hasn't given her any issues. My other friend has a '14 Honda Accord where the navigation stopped working and the transmission blew in a matter of 2 weeks. And let's not forget the Toyota Recalls where the airbags would deploy and shoot metal out, and where the carpet would cause the pedal to accelerate. Even known reliable brands have had their issues! Jeeps reliability imporved a lot these past 3-4 years especially! 

Giant crew cab diesel truck. With the long bed of course. Preferably power stroke but duramax is alright. 

I hate these car threads but theres not much else going on on the proj these days.

No one has ever said they bought a Jeep for reliability.
The hilander is a soccer mom car that occasionally makes its way to ski resort.

It’s pretty comfy to sleep in our 06 highlander. 

Mark Pilate wrote: If you really love the dealer and want to hang out there, get the Jeep

If you never wanna see the bastards again, get the Highlander

Truth. The people that I know who love their jeeps are also people that love to wrench on their vehicles.

The Nissan Xterra does what the 4Runner does but without the price, and it can get up almost anything a stock Jeep can.

And I've spent many a night in it, quite comfortably.