That stop start thing is one of the dumbest dumbass inventions of all time. I've been looking at a new higlander and it has it also. However, I can live with the button to turn it off, even if you have to hit it each time you get in. Now if it were not able to be turned off at all, that would be a potential dealbreaker for me.

FWIW I have 3 Toyotas all bought new, 2004 Camry 130,000 miles 2008 Solara 50,000 miles 2012 Higlander 70,000 miles. The only non maintenance repair for all 3 was a seal that had to be replaced on the Solara steering. Other than that all trouble free.

Before that I had 2 Chevrolets. I can't even begin to describe my hatred for those POS.

Stop/start. It’s coming to a car near you. Soon. It will be everywhere. It is driven by the gas mileage regulations. It theoretically can provide a minuscule improvement in your overall mpg. IF your driving conditions are just right. Otherwise, probably won’t improve mpg at all. By shutting the engine off when you stop at a stoplight. And then restarting it when you step on the gas. Therefore repeatedly subjecting the engine to the single most strenuous and life-reducing thing it can possibly do. And adding a potentially dangerous situation for you if it doesn’t restart quickly enough to get you going when you need to. And adding high levels of extra wear and tear on your battery. Requiring an extra heavy duty battery. Which will be more expensive to replace. And probably will fail earlier. Or possibly even a second battery. Which adds weight (ironically reducing gas mileage) and adds more future maintenance costs.

A useless dumbass invention by dumbasses.

PS. Adds stress to the starter as well, requiring a special starter that costs more and probably will fail earlier.

Absolutely great points that many people are not aware of these days. This is not a 2017 Honda Pilot thing, this is everywhere now. All of the things you mention are why I have held back from buying a new car, in my case I am looking at a Highlander, but all the same things apply. Another thing you didn't mention are the gremlin-like behaviors of these systems. Such as, slamming on the brakes even though there is nothing there, sounding warnings again when nothing is there, etc. These are supposed to be things to improve safety, but they also can be downright dangerous. I know personally of one person whose (almost brand new) car unexpectedly simply shut down in the middle a freeway trip, the reason later determined to be "computer failure". The start/stop thing and the 8-9 gear transmissions are used to eke out minuscule improvements in mpg, hardly worth all of the extra cost and maintenance. This is a bad direction all of the car makers are going in. Seat belts, anti-lock brakes, air bags, these were improvements that were well worth the return on investment. An expensive radar system with a computer tied to the brakes to stop the car because you are looking down at your phone and not paying attention is a waste. With all of the sensors in the bumpers now even if you just get involved in a small tap it is going to thousands to replace a bumper instead of hundreds. A lot of people don't know about the emblem on the front of their car, I first found out about it while researching the Toyota Highlander. If you have adaptive cruise control, they use a "special" see-through emblem. If you break it, it costs $500 to $1000. Versus $50 for the usual plastic piece.

camry emblems (resized).jpg

The old way worked pretty darn good if you just put a little effort in it. Watch where you are going, leave a gap, take it easy and don't speed, and drive defensively while watching out for idiots. Add in staying off the phone and you are good to go.

It took a while but I found a great local mechanic who does good work at decent rates and is honest. He always says this: “Buy a Toyota. You’ll never see me”.

Haha who would even get that joke? Are other places like here? I drove through HB this morning and probably passed 5 alkaline water stores and massage parlors. And pho places every three feet.

Yes, start/stop on 2018 Highlander. It can be disabled with a push button each time you start the car. It really will be difficult to avoid the start/stop thing no matter what brand and model you look at, it is coming everywhere as I said. I would be satisfied if I can quickly hit a button and disable it. Some people consider this a major issue but that is fine for me. Now if there were no button and no way to turn it off, that would be really annoying.

I do like the Highlander, I have a 2012 and it has been great. I have hauled EM pins in it a few times with no problem. It’s great for road trips. Problem is my wife stole it from me so I need another one.

Edit... yes the mod as posted by DCFAN is an option too. Some over at the Toyotanation forum have put that in.

Sequoia is nice except for the mpg. They made minor cosmetic changes for 2018 but unfortunately decided to add in the kitchen sink safety features such as collision detection, blind spot detection, etc. Sounds like it is a total disaster. Check out the thread about the 2018 in the Sequoia forum at toyotanation for more.

I have said this for years. Car manufacturers suck at multimedia and software interfaces. They just plain suck at it, every one of them. The trail is littered with examples like yours, from the infamous BMW joystick to many others. It would be much more logical for them to get out of this entirely and concentrate on making cars. Let the aftermarket handle the multimedia. They should standardize wiring harnesses and connectors for speakers, design spots to easily mount speakers, and leave a big double din hole in the dash to install something that actually works.

I have Kenwood stereo/nav systems in all my Toyotas and they work great. Recently on a trip I rented a Nissan from Hertz that had a stereo with Android Auto. I installed the app and connected my phone to it in a matter of minutes and it worked great for a week of driving. Using the voice activated Google maps right on the big display worked great, just as good as the Garmin nav in the Kenwoods. I was impressed, I think I will go for this arrangement on my next one.

If I understand this correctly the computers control and adjust the behavior of the transmission. It will change the shifting based on your style of driving, such as aggressive or conservative. It might be tuned for max mpg to start with which would make it behave like that. There are some threads discussing this at the toyotanation forums.

Exactly...

Exactly.....

But you do need to define what enjoyment of driving means. Most people aren't looking at an SUV or a van to go flying down the road and zipping around corners. They are looking for smooth and easy transportation. I don't think the increase it tranny speeds to 7, 8, or 9 are doing anything other than increasing mpg.

If you wanna drive the car for the fun of driving a car, let's face it, a stick shift is the only way to go. Good luck finding that on a new car these days!

Aftermarket, aftermarket.

Like I said, my Highlander got swiped from me, but this other Toyota is pretty fun to drive, even with an automatic.

2008 Toyota Solara left side (resized).jpg

I think the deal is good.