For years, families seeking a spacious three-row SUV often found Toyota’s offering, the Highlander, a tad undersized compared to rivals. Toyota has finally addressed this with the all-new 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander, a larger sibling designed to compete directly in the plus-size SUV category. In this comprehensive comparison, we pit the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander against the established 2024 Honda Pilot. We’ll delve into eight critical categories to determine which of these family-focused SUVs emerges as the superior choice. Continue reading to discover our verdict and which SUV might be the perfect fit for your needs in the Toyota Grand Highlander Vs Honda Pilot debate.
Pricing and Features
When it comes to price, the Toyota Highlander, even in its standard size, tends to be positioned on the higher end of the three-row crossover spectrum. The Grand Highlander elevates this further with a starting MSRP of $43,070. This price point is notably higher than the Honda Pilot, which begins at a more accessible $37,090.
This price difference is partly explained by Toyota’s strategy of reserving the base LE trim for the standard Highlander. The Grand Highlander’s entry-level model is the well-equipped XLE, boasting features like heated leatherette front seats, a convenient power liftgate, rear sunshades for passenger comfort, push-button start for ease of use, and blind-spot monitoring for enhanced safety. This positioning aligns it more closely with the Honda Pilot EX-L, priced at $42,400. However, even when comparing these similarly equipped trims, the Honda Pilot maintains a price advantage, while also offering the option to opt for even more affordable, less feature-rich versions for budget-conscious buyers in the toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot comparison.
Winner: Honda Pilot
Exterior Design
Despite sharing the “Highlander” name, the 2024 Grand Highlander distinguishes itself visually from the standard Toyota Highlander. Instead, its boxier silhouette draws inspiration from the compact Toyota RAV4. The Grand Highlander’s design features clean, straight lines, lending it a more traditional SUV aesthetic compared to the sleeker Highlander. While some may prefer more elaborate styling, or find the high-set, slender headlights and prominent dual grille less appealing, the Grand Highlander presents a robust and modern appearance.
The Honda Pilot, freshly redesigned the previous year, also embraces an upright SUV design language. Honda has transformed its three-row crossover into a vehicle with a vertical front fascia and a boxy roofline. Our test vehicle, the off-road-oriented Trailsport trim, further amplified its SUV credentials. Honda injects some visual dynamism into the Pilot with sharply angled windows, pronounced fenders and bumpers, and unique design elements specific to the Trailsport model. However, aside from its striking front end, the Pilot exhibits a somewhat more rounded overall form compared to the Grand Highlander. Ultimately, exterior styling preference in this toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot matchup is subjective and will come down to individual taste.
Winner: Tie
Interior Design
Stepping inside, the Honda Pilot showcases Honda’s latest interior design philosophy, characterized by an attractively minimalist dashboard. The Pilot’s dashboard is a clean, horizontal layout featuring a centrally positioned infotainment touchscreen, followed by climate vents and then climate controls below. While the vents aren’t integrated into a hidden honeycomb strip as seen in some other Honda models, the overall design exudes a sense of understated sophistication and feels more solidly constructed than the Grand Highlander’s interior. The controls are intuitively placed and user-friendly. However, our test vehicle was equipped with a modest 9-inch infotainment screen, and base Pilot models come with an even smaller 7-inch display.
In contrast, the Grand Highlander’s dashboard is designed around a larger 12.3-inch touchscreen, which is standard across all trim levels. Toyota also incorporates straightforward physical controls and, especially in our top-tier Platinum test vehicle, luxurious upholstery on the seats and dashboard. While we appreciate Honda’s infotainment system for its superior navigation and the way it presents more information simultaneously without excessive menu navigation, the Grand Highlander’s system, despite its larger screen, can feel less efficient in utilizing the screen real estate, often requiring users to dig through menus for different functions. Technophiles prioritizing screen size might find the base Pilot’s smaller screen a drawback. Considering these factors, the interior design category in the toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot comparison is another tie overall.
Winner: Tie
Passenger Accommodations
Both the Pilot and Grand Highlander offer seating for up to eight passengers across three rows (or seven with optional second-row captain’s chairs). However, the Honda Pilot takes a slight edge in overall passenger space and versatility.
Firstly, while both SUVs can accommodate adults in their third rows, the Pilot offers easier access to the rearmost seats and slightly more legroom once seated. Secondly, higher Pilot trim levels feature a clever removable center seat in the second row. This innovative design allows owners to switch between captain’s chairs for easier access or a bench seat configuration to maximize passenger capacity to eight when needed. While the Toyota Grand Highlander offers premium features like ventilated front seats, heated second-row seats, and a heated steering wheel at a lower price point compared to the Pilot, and even boasts available ventilated second-row seats, the Pilot’s superior passenger space and flexible seating configurations are more valuable assets in a large family vehicle in this toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot assessment.
Winner: Honda Pilot
Cargo Accommodations
As expected from three-row crossover SUVs, both the 2024 Honda Pilot and Toyota Grand Highlander provide generous cargo space. The Honda Pilot offers 18.6 cubic feet of cargo volume behind the third-row seats, expanding to 48.5 cubic feet with the third row folded down, and a maximum of 87.0 cubic feet with both the second and third rows folded.
However, the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander surpasses the Pilot in cargo capacity. It boasts 20.6 cubic feet behind the third row, a substantial 57.9 cubic feet with the third row folded, and an expansive 97.5 cubic feet with both rear rows folded. The Grand Highlander’s cargo area is also commendably boxy and regularly shaped, maximizing usability. While we found the Toyota’s second-row folding mechanism slightly cumbersome, the sheer size of the cargo hold once expanded is undeniable. Both SUVs share a respectable towing capacity of up to 5,000 pounds, but for pure cargo volume, the Grand Highlander comes out on top in the toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot cargo comparison.
Winner: Toyota Grand Highlander
Ride and Handling
In terms of ride and handling, both the Honda Pilot and Toyota Grand Highlander perform as expected for large three-row crossover SUVs. Both deliver smooth, comfortable rides suitable for family hauling, and both are easy to maneuver, though not particularly sporty or agile. However, we give the Honda Pilot a slight edge in this category.
While the previous generation Pilot felt somewhat detached from the road, the latest iteration exhibits improved steering feel, body control, and braking responsiveness. It inspires greater driver confidence without compromising ride comfort. Furthermore, Honda has enhanced the Pilot’s off-road capability with the Trailsport trim. The Grand Highlander offers a similarly comfortable ride and composed handling (albeit with less off-road focus), but it doesn’t quite achieve the same level of cohesiveness as the Pilot. The Honda feels more like a refined large car, while the Toyota can feel more like a large box from behind the wheel. This is a subtle difference, and not everyone will perceive it, but the Pilot edged out the Grand Highlander in driving dynamics in our toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot driving experience evaluation.
Winner: Honda Pilot
Acceleration
As the automotive industry increasingly shifts towards turbocharged four-cylinder engines, hybrid powertrains, and full electrification, the Honda Pilot stands out with a somewhat anachronistic engine choice: a 3.5-liter naturally aspirated 285-horsepower V6. Remarkably, this is a newly engineered engine, at a time when many automakers are reducing investment in gasoline powertrain development. This V6 gives the Pilot a richer, more sonorous engine note compared to four-cylinder rivals, including the Grand Highlander.
Toyota offers a trio of four-cylinder-based powertrain options for the Grand Highlander: a 265-hp 2.4-liter turbo, which has replaced the standard Highlander’s V6; a 243-hp hybrid powertrain, also shared with the standard Highlander; and a potent 362-hp Hybrid Max, borrowed from high-end Lexus RX models. While the Grand Highlander Hybrid Max delivers more power than the Pilot, it also comes at a significantly higher price. The most affordable Hybrid Max, the $54,060 Limited model, is already several thousand dollars more expensive than the top-spec Pilot Elite. In the core of the lineup, the Pilot’s V6 engine is smoother, quieter, and quicker than the Grand Highlander’s more affordable powertrain options. The Toyotas are not slow, but the Honda delivers performance with less effort and a more refined feel in this toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot acceleration test.
Winner: Honda Pilot
Fuel Efficiency
A V6 engine is not typically associated with optimal fuel economy, and predictably, the Grand Highlander emerges as the clear fuel efficiency leader, especially in its hybrid configurations.
In EPA testing, front-wheel-drive Honda Pilots achieve 19 mpg city, 27 mpg highway, and 22 mpg combined. Most all-wheel-drive models see a slight decrease of about 1 mpg. The AWD-only TrailSport, like our test vehicle, is rated at 18 mpg city, 23 mpg highway, and 20 mpg combined, and we observed an average of 22 mpg during our week-long test. This fuel economy is typical for a three-row crossover SUV. The Grand Highlander’s base turbo engine, however, is rated at an impressive 21 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, and 24 mpg combined with front-wheel drive, with a slight reduction of 1 to 2 mpg with AWD depending on the trim. The front-drive hybrid variant elevates fuel economy to an outstanding 37 mpg city, 34 mpg highway, and 36 mpg combined, with AWD again costing about 2 mpg. Even the high-performance AWD-only 362-hp Hybrid Max achieves 26 mpg city and 27 mpg highway, and our test vehicle even exceeded these figures, averaging 28 mpg. For fuel-conscious buyers, the Grand Highlander holds a significant advantage in the toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot fuel economy comparison.
Winner: Toyota Grand Highlander
Fuel efficiency comparison chart highlighting the EPA ratings for both Toyota Grand Highlander and Honda Pilot, clearly demonstrating the Grand Highlander's superior fuel economy, especially in its hybrid variants.
Final Thoughts
We appreciate the driving experience offered by the latest Honda Pilot. Its naturally aspirated, rich-sounding V6 engine, comfortable ride with decent handling, well-finished and ergonomic interior, and comfortable, versatile passenger space are all commendable attributes. Moreover, it achieves all this while generally costing less than the Grand Highlander.
However, our overall pick in this toyota grand highlander vs honda pilot comparison is the Toyota Grand Highlander. We believe many families will willingly invest a bit more and potentially sacrifice a small degree of driving dynamism for the Grand Highlander’s significantly greater cargo capacity and substantial fuel savings, potentially up to 12 mpg depending on the configuration. While we wish the Grand Highlander’s seats folded more effortlessly, and we hope Honda addresses the small base infotainment screen in its more expensive SUVs, Toyota ultimately triumphs in crucial areas for family SUV buyers. While some buyers will prioritize the Pilot’s added refinement and clever design touches, the Toyota Grand Highlander’s strengths in practicality and efficiency secure its victory in this head-to-head matchup.
Winner: Toyota Grand Highlander
