The Grand Highlander Gets Muddy With a Woodland Edition

Toyota has added a Woodland Edition to the 2027 Grand Highlander, giving its biggest crossover all-terrain tires, a small lift and a camping-friendly cabin, and it comes only as an all-wheel-drive hybrid.

The Woodland follows the RAV4 and Sienna Woodland models with taller coil springs that add half an inch of ground clearance, matte black 18-inch wheels on all-terrain tires, black badging and trim, LED fog lights, roof rails with crossbars, a tow hitch and mud guards. It uses the 2.5-liter hybrid four-cylinder with 245 combined horsepower, so its tow rating stays at 3,500 pounds, the same as the other hybrid grades.

Inside, the Woodland builds on the XLE with second-row captain’s chairs, a heated steering wheel, all-weather floor mats, a cargo tray with pop-up dividers and a 120-volt, 1,500-watt outlet in the second row, according to autoevolution. The signature piece is a removable, Woodland-branded cooler and console between the second-row seats that holds six 12-ounce cans.

Toyota’s announcement didn’t include a Woodland price, and Motor1 and other outlets reported it as still to come. The 2027 price list published by Carscoops shows the Hybrid Woodland AWD at $51,780, which would make it a $3,000 step up from the Hybrid XLE AWD it’s based on, although the text of the same article gives $48,780, the Hybrid XLE AWD’s price. All prices exclude the $1,595 destination fee.

2027 Grand Highlander	MSRP
LE	$42,560
LE AWD	$44,160
XLE	$45,430
XLE AWD	$47,030
Limited	$50,060
Limited AWD	$51,660
Platinum AWD	$55,745
Hybrid LE AWD	$45,910
Hybrid XLE	$47,180
Hybrid XLE AWD	$48,780
Hybrid Woodland AWD	$51,780
Hybrid Limited AWD	$53,410
Hybrid Max Platinum AWD	$60,475

The rest of the 2027 lineup changes too. The Hybrid Nightshade Edition and Hybrid Max Limited are gone, so the 362-horsepower Hybrid Max now comes only as a Platinum, which trades its chrome and silver trim for black. XLE models gain a heated steering wheel and dark gray 18-inch wheels, the gas Platinum gets new two-tone 20-inch wheels, and the base price rises $300 to $42,560. The Grand Highlander is still built in Princeton, Indiana, and the 2027 models are due at dealers before the end of the year.

The Toyota Report Take

Nobody is going rock crawling in a Grand Highlander, and half an inch of lift won’t change that. The Woodland makes sense anyway, because it packages the things families who camp and tow small trailers actually use, such as the hitch, the tires, the cooler and the 1,500-watt outlet, in the powertrain most Grand Highlander buyers now choose. If the $51,780 figure holds, it’s a fair premium over the Hybrid XLE for that gear, but it’s a lot closer to Hybrid Limited money than a dressed-up XLE should be.