One of our key takeaways after evaluating the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander was just how expansive its cargo area is compared not only with direct competitors like the Volkswagen Atlas, Kia Telluride and Honda Pilot, but also other Toyota SUVs. Shoppers needing space behind the third row might have been disappointed by Toyota’s current three-row SUV options because the regular Highlander comes up pretty short for the class, and the recently redesigned Sequoia full-size SUV has a strangely configured cargo area. We performed our standardized cargo testing on the Grand Highlander Hybrid and compared its results with other Toyota SUVs as well as its Sienna minivan.
Related: 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Review: Do We Still Need the Regular Highlander?
The new-for-2024 Grand Highlander has 68% more -measured cargo space behind the third row than the regular Highlander, and 35% more space behind the third row than the Sequoia. Automakers don’t always follow the same methodology for measuring and reporting cargo space numbers, so we devised our own procedure that allows for apples-to-apples comparisons between brands.
With the third row folded, we measured 48 inches of cargo length in the Grand Highlander Hybrid from a reference measurement point behind the second-row seatbacks to the rear cargo lip near the liftgate, which is significantly longer than the 39 inches we measured in the Highlander and the 41 inches in the Sequoia. Behind the third row, there were similar gains in cargo-area length, with the Grand Highlander Hybrid measuring 18 inches versus 13 inches for the Highlander and 14 inches for the Sequoia with the Sequoia’s sliding third row in its most rearward position. The Grand Highlander also had the widest cargo space behind the third row.
As the above table shows, the Grand Highlander has less of an advantage in cargo space behind the second row when compared with the regular Highlander, and it’s still more usable than the Sequoia’s because of that SUV’s oddly arranged cargo area, where a partition that’s well above the cargo floor creates a flat loading floor. Like most SUVs, however, the Grand Highlander’s available cargo space behind its third row still pales in comparison to the Toyota Sienna’s 21.7 cubic feet — but if you’re shopping the Toyota family for an SUV and need a lot of space that’s easy to use, the Grand Highlander has the goods.
