I drove a $55,000 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. These 19 features show why it’s one of America’s best-selling family SUVs

The Highlander’s cabin is a thoroughly enjoyable place to be. It’s stylish and thoughtfully designed with plenty of handy storage nooks and conveniently placed charging plugs.

What’s most impressive is the material and build quality. The plastic interior trim pieces felt substantial, and the entire cabin felt impeccably screwed together.

The Highlander’s second-row seats offer 38.7 inches of legroom, slightly trailing the Honda Pilot and Hyundai Palisade.

Despite not being the roomiest in the segment, the heated leather captain’s chairs in my test car were excellent. They were supportive and comfortable.

Captain’s chairs are available on all trim levels except the base LE and LE Nightshade trims, which come only with a bench seat.

The Highlander’s second-row passengers also get dedicated climate controls, charging plugs, and a pair of cup holders.

The Highlander Hybrid comes standard with Toyota’s Safety Sense 2.5+ suite of driver’s assistance tech, which includes pre-collision warning with pedestrian detection, dynamic radar cruise control, lane departure alert with steering assist, lane tracing assist, road sign assist, and automatic high beams.

Open the rear liftgate, and you’ll find 16-cubic-foot cargo compartment behind the third row. That falls short of the Palisade’s 18 cubic feet and the Pilot’s 18.6 cubic feet.

With the third-row seats folded, the Highlander’s cargo capacity expands to 48.4 cubic. In total, the Highlander boasts 84.3 cubic feet of cargo space behind its front row, trailing the Palisade and Pilot by two and 3.2 cubic feet, respectively.

The focal point of the Highlander’s front dash is its 12.3-inch touchscreen. Lower trim levels come with a smaller 8-inch unit.

The touchscreen is highly responsive, and the image quality is excellent. The eight-inch and 12.3-inch screens have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.

Toyota’s built-in navigation system is available, but requires a paid subscription.

Above the Highlander’s rear-view mirror is a panoramic conversation mirror that helps the driver monitor the passengers in the back.

The Highlander Hybrid has a spare tire under the rear cargo floor instead of a tire inflation kit. Spare tires are becoming increasingly rare due to the cost and packaging constraints created by underfloor battery packs.

Up front, Platium-grade Highlanders come equipped with self-leveling LED headlights that turn with the steering wheel to help the driver see better in corners.

A digital rear-view mirror is available exclusively on the Platinum trim. The camera, which turns on by flipping a toggle on the bottom of the mirror, is really useful when passengers or cargo compromise visibility out the rear window.