Time flies along, especially since I realize it was more than a year ago we first spoke of the strangely gigantic 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander – which did not seem like it was going to be so huge when it was previewed at last year’s Denver Auto Show.

Nor did I expect it to have an even bigger physical impact than the mechanically-related Lexus TX I drove last fall. But a week with the very grand Grand Highlander suggested it might find some fans with those needing a legitimate three-row vehicle.

Maybe the shock comes from the fact that we’re used to the idea of large Lexus vehicles, but an oversized, 201-inch-long and 70-inch-tall Toyota that is not a minivan or the previous generation Land Cruiser kind of feels like a house, or like a Suburban suddenly appeared where a Sequoia was standing.

I had a Platinum-level, all-wheel-drive Grand Highlander that also was powered by the high-output Hybrid Max setup, which combines a 362-horsepower 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with electrification for a combined 27 mpg – an engine also found on the new Tundra and Sequoia – and retailed for a not-inexpensive $58,125, but came to me at just under $60,000, delivery and all-weather floor mats included.

It’s one of three powertrains available for the vehicle, slightly different than the TX’s engine choices, which also include a traditional 2.4-liter turbo engine with 265 horsepower, or a 36-mpg 2.5-liter hybrid with 245 horsepower. Somewhere in that mix, a base model starts at just over $43,000.

As I remarked during my late winter drive, the work required for on-roof snow removal, the multiple attempts required to center the Grand Highlander in a parking spot or even the massive space found between the captain’s chairs in the second row all speak to a sense of bigness that TX somehow better concealed.

Most importantly, the third row is a real, adult-sized seating space, complete with individual USB ports, storage spaces and a helpful hand-hold to get in and out of the vehicle. With those third-row seats up, there’s still 21 cubic feet of storage, or the whole shebang can be flattened to produce a truly gigantic 97 cubic feet of cargo room.

Technology, like its equally Indiana-made Lexus counterpart, is very much ahead of the curve, with its digital control screens offering notifications on what seemed to be 30 different safety systems, each with their own synonyms. 

Grand Highlander is trying very, very hard to push the needle on driving-assist tech, and in order to stop it from trying to take the wheel or do a lot of self-stopping, I needed to turn off portions of the Safety Sense and Star Safety systems, plus the predictive fuel-efficient drive mode. I then almost slid into oncoming traffic on U.S. 285, so maybe you’re better off just letting the Grand Highlander do what it wants. Its lane-keep system can be very intrusive and its audible warnings unbelievably loud – even the parking sensors sound like a Pachinko machine if you get too close to a curb.

The reward for the larger engine output (and higher price) is a somewhat rooty-sounding exhaust, a la Sequoia, but not exactly blinding off-the-line acceleration. It’ll absolutely get up to and past highway cruising speed and the 400 pound-feet of torque also helps the GH tow up to 5,000 pounds of trailer. Again, Hybrid Max is not created for maximum efficiency – 27 combined mpg is about tops here – so you may need to seek out the smaller hybrid powertrain if you want both big and efficient at the same time.

While the Grand Hybrid wears a considerably different face and body details than the TX, inside, it’s eerily similar to the Lexus, which might prompt some buyers to go the Toyota route. You get Lexus-level touchscreens and controls, including the micro-sized shifter, and a few GH-specific touches such as an awkwardly aft-positioned drive mode knob (here, drivers get a very un-Lexus “mud” setting). Turning it to Sport mode helps brighten up the displays; the 362 horsepower still does not make itself painfully obvious in most circumstances. 

If $60K seems like a lot of coin, I should also mention time I spent in another example of the smaller but perhaps right-sized Toyota Corolla Cross. This time, it was the hybrid version, which starts at just over $31,000 and came to me at about $36,700 with options including a power moonroof and rear liftgate, a nine-speaker JBL audio system, adaptive headlights and a frameless rear-view mirror.

Andy Stonehouse’s column Mountain Wheels publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden.