Impressive for the one of them which is nearing the end of its cycle to still do so well against 2 brand new competitors. I wonder what would have happened had they thrown the Mazda CX-7 into the mix, though.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...uv_comparison/

 

 

I've reviewed the Murano, Highlander, and Santa Fe.....not yet the Edge.

I agree with the majority of the opinions in the article, but I had a higher opinion of the Santa Fe's interior build quality (based on my sample) than they did, and I thought the Murano was overstyled and lacking in interior fit-and-finish, though improved over the early ones.

They make a good point about the square styling of the Highlander and Santa Fe. The Edge and Murano may LOOK "cool" (by their standards) but those raked rooflines and curved-in bodies take a toll in space efficiency. "Cool" is not always common sense...here we deal with that old bugaboo of "image" again.


Though it may not be a sports car, (enthusiast auto mags, of course, are heavily biased toward "sport" driving), among these 4, IMO, it's hard to beat the Highlander as a daily driver, though the Santa Fe, IMO, offers virtually the same quality and a longer warranty for less money. In my experience, both ride comfortably for an SUV (the Santa Fe slightly more so, but the Highlander has slightly better handling). Both are built like a Swiss watch (as I said above, I disagree with MT's assessment of the Santa Fe's build quality) . And both are relatively squared-off for plenty of room inside. Both have butter-smooth drivetrains and transmissions, but the Highlander's engine feels more powerful than the Santa Fe's.

 

I've been in all these cars and except for the third-row configuration (A really superfluous feature unless you need to haul the kids back there. May as well just get a minivan.) the Murano has the most comfortable and roomy interior for 5 of all these save for the Edge maybe. Yes, the cargo capacity maybe smaller with all seats up but it expands to one of the largest in class (as they observed in the comparison) with the rear seats down.

I just can't get with the Highlander's middle-of-the-road, soccer-mom personality. And the interior is dated and rather dowdy. Plus I was truly surprised at the rigid, hard plastic used on the upper dash. It is more than due for the redesign it has recieved. The main thing the outgoing model has going for it is that it's a Toyota.