2026 Toyota Highlander Starts $5000 Higher, FWD Models Dropped
The three-row SUV now comes standard with all-wheel drive across the board and starts off with the XLE trim, meaning last year’s LE base model is no more.
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Toyota
Toyota is adjusting the Highlander’s lineup for 2026, making all-wheel drive standard and dropping the base LE model.
The base price for the XLE AWD is $46,765, which is nearly $5000 higher than last year’s LE FWD trim.
Prices for equivalent trim levels are only up by a few hundred dollars compared with last year.
Toyota is offering far fewer configurations of the Highlander for 2026. The mid-size three-row SUV now comes standard with all-wheel drive on all models, and the base LE trim is no more. That means the price of entry starts at $46,765 for the XLE AWD, compared with the 2025 Highlander LE FWD trim’s $41,815 base price. Though the XLE obviously comes with more equipment than the LE did, that’s still a jump of nearly $5000 year over year.
The Nightshade and 25th Anniversary special-edition models also don’t make it to 2026, leaving only the XLE, XSE, Limited, and Platinum trims with either the standard turbo 2.4-liter inline-four or the optional hybrid powertrain, which already was AWD only.
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Toyota
Prices for the nonhybrid models range up to $54,420 for the fully loaded Platinum AWD trim. Comparative prices for equivalent trim levels are only up by a few hundred dollars. The hybrid model starts at $48,515, just $200 more than last year’s model, and it ranges up to $56,170 for the top Hybrid Platinum AWD.
Sales of the Highlander have declined significantly this year, as the larger Grand Highlander is outselling its smaller sibling by a wide margin. Toyota sold 38,594 units of the Highlander through August, a 47 percent decline compared with last year, and 89,339 units of the Grand Highlander through the same time period.
Toyota Highlander: Review, Pricing, and Specs
Long-Term Toyota Grand Highlander: 40K-Mile Wrap-Up
2025 Toyota 4Runner, Highlander: How They Compare
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Joey Capparella
Deputy Editor, Rankings Content
Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
