I have towed my jet boat (3000lbs wet) and now a 22' pontoon boat (3500+) for 1000's of miles from NJ to Lake George, NY multiple times every summer. It is an absolute joy to tow with this vehicle, it has plenty of power, brakes and suspension. I have absolutely no issues with it regardless of the launch incline. The AWD drive does its job and couldnt imagine a need for a locking diff.

 

I've towed heavier than that with my FWD without issue at highway speeds.

As for tongue weight, yes it will drag its ass with a lot of weight. This car was built for comfort more than having stiff rear springs to counter tongue weight/cargo. With about 300-400lbs of tongue weight, you will have about 1-2" of travel (maybe, more like 1". Link & Link, that's ~200lb of tongue weight and its already sagging, you get the idea) before you hit the bump stop. Now it won't constantly bounce off it, but if you hit a pothole hard enough (or any major dip), you will feel it. I don't have experience with it, but this has been recommended a few times, if your really worried about rear ride height, this will boost it a tad http://www.etrailer.com/p-CSS-1145R.html

For power, well its a v6, at highway speeds, your gonna downshift on the hills....a lot. I'll usually have to go down to 3rd every hill at 55+ with 3500lb+. If it starts getting shift happy between 4-5th, I'll usually lock it in 4th using the shifter (essentially OD off). Having said that, this v6 does have more horsepower than your 4runner (and weights less) so it should perform a little better at higher speeds, but it lacks the low end torque the v8 had (our peak torque is ~1000rpm higher than that old v8 and ~30ftlbs lower).

Traction, well, someone with AWD will have to speak up on that. On pavement its fine (even with FWD), but off, :lol: things can get sad. I tried to pull out an old datsun recently with collapsed tires (that had been sitting for 5+ years) out of wet grass using a chain attached to the hitch. All the front tires did was dig holes to china :facepalm: So in a slippery situation the open diffs (they are in both the FWD and AWD) can make things tricky.

Now on to that AWD system. The pilots is a bit different than ours. In the HL its full time 4wd (AWD) vehicle. It has an open front diff, open center diff (transfer case) and open rear diff. Essentially that means it can send power to any wheel at anytime. It doesn't have a limited slip differential that uses mechanical means to adjust where the power goes, it instead uses the brakes to redirect power to wheels with traction. Again this can happen at any speed or in any situation (+/- a few extreme offroad situations where you have the car on 2 wheels). The pilot is part time 4WD. Its is 100% FWD at anything over 18mph. BUT below, the rear differential can receive engine torque. Now the rear differential is always getting "power" from the engine at any speed, but it doesn't send any of it to the wheels. That is because its not a normal diff. Instead of using mechanical gears like a standard diff, it uses electromagnetic clutch packs (similar to a automatic transmission, without the electromagnets). Basically below 18mph, the ECU can send current through the magnets and squeeze the clutches together allowing torque to be sent from the internal diff gears to the output shafts. That is how they get their "locking". By locking current they can fix what power goes to what wheels. So it is a 4wd system below 18mph, but its not a true 4wd system IMHO (you can maybe call it a part time 4wd, and no I'm not being biased :lol: I've been spoiled by a full time 4wd Grand Cherokee )
This pic will probably help understanding the Pilot rear diff a little better :

 

I've towed heavier than that with my FWD without issue at highway speeds.

As for tongue weight, yes it will drag its ass with a lot of weight. This car was built for comfort more than having stiff rear springs to counter tongue weight/cargo. With about 300-400lbs of tongue weight, you will have about 1-2" of travel (maybe, more like 1". Link & Link, that's ~200lb of tongue weight and its already sagging, you get the idea) before you hit the bump stop. Now it won't constantly bounce off it, but if you hit a pothole hard enough (or any major dip), you will feel it. I don't have experience with it, but this has been recommended a few times, if your really worried about rear ride height, this will boost it a tad http://www.etrailer.com/p-CSS-1145R.html

For power, well its a v6, at highway speeds, your gonna downshift on the hills....a lot. I'll usually have to go down to 3rd every hill at 55+ with 3500lb+. If it starts getting shift happy between 4-5th, I'll usually lock it in 4th using the shifter (essentially OD off). Having said that, this v6 does have more horsepower than your 4runner (and weights less) so it should perform a little better at higher speeds, but it lacks the low end torque the v8 had (our peak torque is ~1000rpm higher than that old v8 and ~30ftlbs lower).

Traction, well, someone with AWD will have to speak up on that. On pavement its fine (even with FWD), but off, :lol: things can get sad. I tried to pull out an old datsun recently with collapsed tires (that had been sitting for 5+ years) out of wet grass using a chain attached to the hitch. All the front tires did was dig holes to china :facepalm: So in a slippery situation the open diffs (they are in both the FWD and AWD) can make things tricky.

Now on to that AWD system. The pilots is a bit different than ours. In the HL its full time 4wd (AWD) vehicle. It has an open front diff, open center diff (transfer case) and open rear diff. Essentially that means it can send power to any wheel at anytime. It doesn't have a limited slip differential that uses mechanical means to adjust where the power goes, it instead uses the brakes to redirect power to wheels with traction. Again this can happen at any speed or in any situation (+/- a few extreme offroad situations where you have the car on 2 wheels). The pilot is part time 4WD. Its is 100% FWD at anything over 18mph. BUT below, the rear differential can receive engine torque. Now the rear differential is always getting "power" from the engine at any speed, but it doesn't send any of it to the wheels. That is because its not a normal diff. Instead of using mechanical gears like a standard diff, it uses electromagnetic clutch packs (similar to a automatic transmission, without the electromagnets). Basically below 18mph, the ECU can send current through the magnets and squeeze the clutches together allowing torque to be sent from the internal diff gears to the output shafts. That is how they get their "locking". By locking current they can fix what power goes to what wheels. So it is a 4wd system below 18mph, but its not a true 4wd system IMHO (you can maybe call it a part time 4wd, and no I'm not being biased :lol: I've been spoiled by a full time 4wd Grand Cherokee )
This pic will probably help understanding the Pilot rear diff a little better :

Thanks for the info, the links and photos are definitely useful. I would like to think that the AWD would be fine on hard surfaces. It's obvious to me that towing with the V8 4Runner all these years has spoiled me, can't expect the Highlander to pull the same way I guess. Still trying to decide.

 

Good input from above posts.
Just remember that the Highlander "tow package" does not include the hitch or the wire cable for the 4 wire connection to your boat trailer.

 

I concurr with the previous posters on 1 - 2" of droop with 300# of tounge weight. The springs seem to allow an initial drop of 1-2" then take a set and not deflect much further. I've towed a 2500 # camper with 275# toung weight, to Florida and back from Mass as well as considerable New England trips. The HL has performed well towing on the interstates and country roads as well. I have no experience on boat ramps but I have towed on some steep gravel roads with no perceptable slippage.

Compared to the Pilot the HL has the advantage of being able to hold 4th gear when needed. The Pilot will allow you to hold 3rd but not 4th. I've found this useful to keep the transmission from hunting while on hills at highway speeds. I like the HL drive line over the part time system of the Pilot for its simplicity and potntially lower maintenance in the long term. That's just my preference


The HL is not meant for real heavy duty towing but is a very workable compromise with a little better fuel economy

 

Would you not need (want) an equalizing hitch on any thing much over 300 lbs?

 

I love my equalizing hitch that I use on my Highlander hybrid with a 220 lb. hitch weight. If my hybrid can handle a 3500 lb trailer your non hybrid with trailer package should do fine. Do a search on Toyoyanation for the wiring harness writeups.

I agree with what others have said. Highlander is not a truck, but a good all around vehicle. I think of it as a lifted Camry. If you need a truck buy a 4 Runner, FJ Cruiser, Taco, Tundra, Land Cruiser, or Sequoia.

 

^ Nope, overkill IMHO

 

We have been waiting to see how our 13 HL would do with a 4800 lb 23 ft boat/trailer.
It moved fine even after loading 560 lbs of fuel. Rear end went down but did not bottom out. It had travel to spare. Towing was usual considering this rig outweighs the HL.
First thing was to back down a regular angle boat launch ramp and see how the HL would pull the rig out of the water and up the ramp. We are pleased to report the HL had power to spare. Actually had to back off on the gas pedal because of too much speed. I would not be afraid of one of those steep ramps. This tow car is everything that Toyota says it is and more.
Tollbooth

 

My wife's RAV4 has a center diff lock. Why doesn't the HL have the option?

 

Your wife's Rav4 is an on demand system, which means its FWD all the time, until it detects slippage then powers the rear wheels partially (I think up to 50%). That button engages the rear wheels before slippage, but it will only stay engauged up to a speed (and if I recall correctly its fairly low (mid 30's)).

The HL is a full time AWD. Which means the rear wheels get 50% of the power 24/7, no if's, an's, or but's. So no button to do what its already doing

 

This may be slightly off topic, but I recently saw this video that compared a Venza AWD with a Subaru on ice. It purports to be a "real world" test, I guess to counter the ramp with rollers test that Subaru uses:

Bottom line: both cars in this test performed the same in this particular test. I assume the Highlander has a similar AWD setup as the Venza.

 

No, they are different systems.

Venza shares the same part time AWD system as the rav4 does.

Take a look at this: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...801-inaccurate-information-about-highlander-toyota-4wd-systems.html#post4452753

 

The HL is a full time AWD. Which means the rear wheels get 50% of the power 24/7, no if's, an's, or but's. So no button to do what its already doing

Nice. Another bonus about this vehicle I didn't know. Maybe I won't trade my wife vehicles. Besides, I think I would get too many speeding tickets in the RAV4. That thing is a rocket.