Yes and no. I looked at all three Veracruz versions.....but drove the Limited. The base versions are more or less Highlander competitors....not so with the Limited. While it is true that the Veracruz does not come in a Hybrid model like the Highlander does, the Veracruz Limited has just about everything most people could want on a vehicle. And the interior, IMO, beats even some Audis, which is one of the industry benchmarks for interior quality.

Expensive? Yes....for a Korean vehicle, but the Limited I drove, at 36K list, had features and fit/finish equivalent to some SUV's running 40-50K.

But...as I said in the review, IMO, it still is not that much nicer than the Santa Fe to justify the extra moolah. I actually enjoyed driving the Santa Fe more than the Veracruz. Neither had very crisp steering, but the Santa Fe had the softer ride I prefer, less of a school-bus feel, and a plenty nice enough interior of its own.

 

mmarshall

I'm not sure what you are thinking to say the Veracruz is not going to compete against the Highlander. They are in the same class, the NEW highlander 08 is not in the SantaFe class no way you can say that.

The Highlander is 7-passanger, the SantaFe is a 5-passanger. It'd be the same as if you said the Highlander will compete with the CR-V (SantaFe size) instead of the Pilot (Highlander size).

Flagship (?) or not has nothing to do with it. We are talking about the same size cars (ie. Highlander/Pilot/Verracruz) Price max on a Santa Fe is $31K a Verracruz is around $40K and non-hybrid Highlander is $42K. Tell me how you believe the $42K Highlander should be compared to the $31K SantaFe?

The NEW highlander has every feature and more than the Veracruz Limited has (and more) it's more powerful and being a Toyota (IMO) will be better than Hyaundai (at the verry least better in resale)

 

You raise some good questions about the new Highlander, but I wasn't talking about the new Highlander ( I haven't seen or reviewed it yet....just the existing one. And there is some overlap among the various Santa Fe and Veracruz models, especially with the Veracruz Limited. True, it is the same body and platform as the base model, but inside, the Limited is a different puppy.

I'll commment on the new Highlander more when I see it and drive it. In the meantime, if YOU have seen and driven it, by all means, give us a review on it (or a mini-review). I appreciate all the comments you would post.

 

Wow, good review. I had no idea it cost 36k with options. I can't even consider this based on price alone.