pet connection

Ah, the Scottish Highlands. A mystical, magical land filled with thousands of open acres of high grasses and steep cliffs overlooking the wild Atlantic Ocean.

It’s a perfect terrain for terriers and a great practice range for rambling retrievers.

I’d like to visit Scotland sometime, for sure. However this week’s voyage was a bit closer to home. With the 2008 Toyota Highlander as our steed, we paid a visit to the U.S. version of the famed Scottish Highlands by traveling to the Inverness region of Marin County and the Point Reyes National Seashore on the north coast of California.

This is not the part of Marin County that many have heard of, with multi-million-dollar homes and high-style fashion boutiques. No, this is the more wild, western portion of Marin County. With winding road through redwood groves and vast, grassy tundras overlooking the relatively passive Pacific Ocean.

This is where people drive either pickups or Priuses, some with bumper stickers reading “Feral Child,” providing a little insight into the social psychology of the area.

Our purpose on this trip was to test the newly redesigned Toyota Highlander. This model is the conventional gasoline version, not the hybrid model we tested a while back. So it was fairly easy to compare and contrast the two versions in nearly back-to-back tests.

The verdict: While both are awesome DogCars, with fold-flat seats and a wide-open rear area, the Highlander’s hybrid was overall the favored pick for this writer. Not only does the hybrid version achieve better mileage — 27/26 mpg vs. 18/24 for the gas version — but the Hybrid Synergy Drive seems to pack a little more punch than the conventional engine. This is somewhat surprising. Better pickup and fuel mileage in a highly capable DogCar, what’s not to like about that?

It’s enough to make one break out in a Scottish jig!