SO IT’S BEEN THREE YEARS since I bought the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, and about 60,000 miles, and I’m still very happy with it. It’s still pretty much the experience that I noted here. The interior and exterior still look like new, and the mileage is still good, something I particularly appreciated when gas prices spiked recently. Nothing has broken, and it’s very pleasant to drive. My only annoyance is that if you start the engine, then quickly reach down and move the selector from Park to Drive or Reverse you get an annoying “Shift to P Before Starting” message and have to restart. Apparently, it takes the computer about two or three seconds to boot, and if you shift out of P before that it thinks you were always in gear and refuses to start.

Of course, I have a 2006 model, and it’s been redesigned for 2008 so I don’t know how much this transfers over. But here’s a review of the 2008 model. And here’s another long-term report on the earlier Highlander Hybrid.