Toyota Highlander Hybrid: next year, the Escape gets competition

Toyota's amply-praised Highlander SUV gets a hybrid powerplant early in 2005, so now you can add fuel economy and hippie cachet to its other positive traits, car-esque drivability and roomy practicality. The drivetrain will be close to what the Prius employs, just bigger. Toyota's 3.3 liter V6 will be augmented by an electric motor twice as powerful as the Prius', together pumping 270-hp and resulting in an 8 second 0-60 sprint, which is pretty darn snappy. The Highlander Hybrid will have a 600-mile range, and in combined city and highway driving situations it is said to travel about 28 miles per every gallon of gasoline used.

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