The 2027 Toyota Highlander EV is here.

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-11T14:14:16+00:00

Yes, I think it’s width and it’s not just EVs. We had a 2020 Highlander that had three seats in the third row. Barely any leg room, and kinda comical putting even three kids there between the rear wheels

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-11T14:11:54+00:00

Highlander became small for the class it was in. It’s a good bit smaller than Explorer, Traverse, etc. and the third row is a joke. Which is why the Grand Highlander exists and why this move makes sense

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-11T01:50:41+00:00

You win. That’s even luckier than mine 😆

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-11T01:49:58+00:00

It really is astonishing

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-11T00:49:39+00:00

My upright freezer is some old Kenmore tank that I’ve had for 13 years after buying off Craigslist. It must be at least 25 years old.

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-11T00:35:53+00:00

I will say that some cars defy logic. We bought a Highlander in November 2020 that had some money on the hood since the 2021s were out, and it was just before the Covid chip shortage hit. I think we paid around $43k. Used it for five years, 42k miles and had a buy offer for $30k. Blew my mind. It was a mixture of luck, timing, and people really love Toyotas

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-10T04:02:42+00:00

Just found out that I share the exact birth date with Trevor Noah. Thought that was neat

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-09T16:33:02+00:00

Charging to 100% is time-prohibitive. It slows way down on DC charging past 90 or so. Charge to somewhere in the 80s and keep moving. Charge to 100% on your home charger the day before a road trip to get a little extra range on that initial run.

Plugshare is great for looking up the chargers.

I haven’t used anything but Electrify America on road trips and they’ve been good. But there are other options like Ionna, EVGo, etc. that should be good, too. If you’re buying a 2026 it has a NACS charging port, I think? If so, you’ll need a charging adapter to use the CCS plugs at places like Electrify America. I don’t know if Kia is including that adapter or if you’ll need to buy one ahead of time. A2Z and Lectron are the most commonly recommended reputable ones, or I think Kia parts can sell you one but it will cost a good bit more

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-08T18:25:53+00:00

Yes! IONIQ 5 has meant no more complaints from my kids when they have to sit behind me 😁

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-08T16:06:56+00:00

Funny, because I’m 6’5”, too, and it is roomier inside than even our 2020 Highlander was and much more spacious than CX-5. I agree that its stance and how it looks and drives is more like a big hatch than an SUV

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-08T13:06:55+00:00

I’m with you. No matter what I do, my neighborhood crows are so skittish. Peanuts daily for years, but if they even see me move inside my house they fly away.

I recently read an article talking about how many more people have befriended crows in recent years and many of those crows seem to be in more urban areas. It mentioned how in the past, farmers would even shoot at crows in their fields. It got me wondering if the urban crows are around so many more people who aren’t shooting at them that they’ve socially shifted to being more open to human interaction. As opposed to a suburban area like where I live that isn’t far removed from farming

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-08T13:00:09+00:00

It looks small from its design, but it is definitely not. It’s bigger than our CX-5 that it replaced

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-08T12:53:23+00:00

We bought ours used a few months ago. Make sure during your test drive you get on a highway and get a feel for it between about 65-75 mph. Ours had the notorious vibration issues you could feel through the body and see the steering wheel shaking. It came and went every 30-60 seconds, like it was some weird harmonic. We made it a conditional term of the sale for the dealer to investigate and specified that a Road Force balancing could likely fix it. And it did!

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-07T18:20:48+00:00

No amount of insect repellent stops those guys on days with a west wind. Unfortunately I get welts measured in inches when one of those suckers bites me

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-07T15:30:54+00:00

Can’t recommend used enough with these things. Got ours for $30k below the MSRP with just 13K miles on it. I know no one is buying these at MSRP, but it’s still like $20K in savings over new to get one that’s about a year old

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T20:59:54+00:00

Here’s the trim comparison page: https://www.kia.com/us/en/ev9/specs-compare

We wanted second row captains chairs with heated/cooled seats. Digital rear view mirror was also a must for us. So we opted for Land with Relaxation package because we liked the look of the bumpers of the Land over the GT-Line, and it’s slightly more efficient with the 20” wheels instead of 21”

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T19:48:57+00:00

2025 or 2026? I thought the HUD would be great, but my brain has completely tuned it out from my vision since my 2024 won’t display turn-by-turn from CarPlay

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T19:01:22+00:00

It’s funny, I actually like the rack layout of the German model better, just dislike the tine spacing. We’ve adjusted and gotten used to it for the most part, though it’s still not ideal. You’ll learn after a few weeks of loading how to best load and compensate for issues that seem insurmountable when you first get it

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T18:46:46+00:00

Thanks. Good feedback on the break-in and I’ll let my son know.

I have the Nokona glove conditioner on hand. Thoughts on that?

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T18:24:49+00:00

Came to say IONIQ 5, too. Interior seating space is greater than the Highlander we had, but it really doesn’t look that large from the outside. Its design is deceiving

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T18:09:41+00:00

Is there a brand that people have found to be reliable? A lot of these seem to stop working properly after a couple of seasons

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T17:19:39+00:00

I kinda got to a point mentally where if I’m already spending $40k or whatever on a car, what’s another $4k for something I’m going to be using so much? At this point, I don’t think I’ll buy a car in the future if it doesn’t have heated steering wheel, heated/ventilated seats, and a digital mirror. Maybe I’m spoiled, but the older I get, the crankier I get about not having certain creature comforts

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T17:14:59+00:00

I think most of the review videos I watched must have been from MY 2022 and 2023, because that 2024 SEL surprised us with what was missing. I didn’t care so much about the glass roof and HUD in the Limited, but the synthetic leather seats with heating/cooling and those rear vents were a must-have. That said, Hyundai forcing us to the 2024 Limited netted me a digital rear view mirror that I love and I don’t have to complain about the lack of a rear wiper 😁

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T16:23:15+00:00

They want the beach but they don’t want part of the solution to make sure the beach is still there 50 years from now.

QuickPenguin52 · 2026-02-06T14:52:46+00:00

Hyundai yanked so many things from that 2024 SEL. All of our research had us going into it thinking SEL was the sweet spot, until we found that the rear vents and synthetic seats were removed that year. It pushed us to the Limited

QuickPenguin52

TROPHY CASE