"Toyota's Four-Cylinder 2009 Highlander: Fuel-Efficiency and Lower Price" Green Car Advisor

Toyota's Four-Cylinder 2009 Highlander: Fuel-Efficiency and Lower Price

Just ran downstairs to the Edmunds garage (actually, the building's garage, but it's where visiting carmakers bring stuff for us to look at) to do a fast walk-around on the upcoming four-cylinder version of Toyota's Highlander SUV.

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The 4-cylinder Highlander for 2009 looks just like its V6 sibling (right) -- except under the hood.

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This isn't a hybrid, but with the new four-banger (to be shared with the Veranza) and a new six-speed automatic transmission, the 2009 Highlander base model will deliver, by Toyota's estimate, EPA-rated fuel economy of 20 miles a gallon in the city and 27 mph on the highway for an all-around average of 22 mpg.

That's better highway mileage than the Highlander hybrid, which is EPA-rated at 25 to the gallon on the open road. But the hybrid makes up for that in the city, with a 27-mpg rating (26 miles a gallon overall).

Toyota says production of the new Highlander four-cylinder begins at the end of the month, with deliveries to dealerships starting early next year.

Pricing hasn't been set yet, but expect the new base model to start several thousand dollars lower than the cheapest V6 version. Toyota says pricing will be announced around the end of this week or early next (in any case before the new four-cylinder Highlander is officially unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show press preview next Wednesday).

Here are the rest of the (important) numbers.

Horsepower: 187 versus 270 for the V6 and the hybrid.

Torque: 181 pound-feet, versus 248.

0-60 acceleration: 9.7 seconds, versus 7.X for the V6 and 8.1 seconds for the hybrid.

Drivetrain: 2WD only, versus 2WD and 4WD models of the V6 and the hybrid's on-demand, electric 4WD.

The 2009 Highlander four-banger also will come standard with two-row seating for five, with the third-row (standard on the V6) an option.

Everything else is pretty much identical to the base V6 model -- the only option you can't get on the four-cylinder version is a sunroof, said Highlander marketing manager Jerry Friedberg.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor