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We can’t really criticize Toyota’s choice in expanding its already thorough array of SUVs, because it would be an act of futility, based on the success the company seems to appreciate from every strategic move it makes.

The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander has grown up from the solid midsize SUV it always has been, giving customers a logical step up from the smaller RAV4 toward the larger company SUVs and then onto the upscale Lexus stable. The new Grand Highlander seems more like a destination unto itself, forget about moving above and beyond.

So to finish off the maturation process of the Grand Highlander, Toyota has filled it with luxurious interior appointments and some new and high-tech stuff under the hood, all of which went into the development of the Grand Highlander Platinum Hybrid Turbocharged AWD I recently lived with for a week.

The “Storm Cloud” paint job and the exterior styling befits a middle-class vehicle seeking more prestige, with well-sculpted lines housing three rows of seats, into which you can pile eight occupants, even if you may choose to put the smaller members of the family or group into the way-back. The front buckets are richly covered in leather, as are the middle and third-row seats, which fold down almost like a Rubik’s Cube puzzle to adjust to virtually any configuration that might help you transport your herd.

For example, folding down the second-row buckets makes it easier to get into the way-back, where the rear row folds down with a split-back scheme that lets you store long stuff, or store some long stuff and still put a couple folks in place. Toyota has spent over 20 years following the leadership of its Prius Hybrid compact, and it now is to the point where it may be feasible to make every model into a hybrid.

The new Camry, for example, and the new Corolla, can greatly benefit from the addition of hybrid power and economy with the company’s new gasoline engines. The new Grand Highlander came with the newly built 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine, which on its own, probably wouldn’t be powerful enough to move a vehicle of the Grand Highlander’s heft. So we turbocharge it, and then we hook it up to Toyota’s Hybrid system, and connect it to an electronic 6-speed automatic, and put steering wheel paddles on either side to let you govern your upshifts and downshifts.

Hooked up to the full-time electronic all-wheel-drive system, this beast develops a whopping 362 horsepower, and an even-more-whoppving 400 foot-pounds of torque 00 enough to move the Grand Highlander quickly into freeway traffic or on up the mountain trail toward wherever you intend to go camping.

You can get the Grand Highlander in other configurations, without the hybrid or without the turbo, although those will get much less power. As it is, the test vehicle has a 5,000-pound towing capacity, and came with a tow package.

The drivetrain also can be governed by a rotating electronic switch on the console, letting you go from Normal, to Eco, to a Mud and Sand setting, or Rock and Dirt, or to Sport. Engaging a separate button off to the right side seats you up for snow and ice. Driving first in Normal, I thought the Grand Highlander lacked precision in turning and steering, but switching it to, say, Sport turned it into a much more satisfying vehicle to drive through traffic or on city streets.

At a base price of a steep $52,000, the Grand Highlander climbs rapidly up to $58,125 for the Turbo Hybrid, and on up to the test-vehicle’s $61,705 once you add in all the safety and convenience features — including the Premium JBL audio system with its 11 speakers. If I had any disappointment in the operation of the Grand Highlander it would be the fuel economy.

No matter how large or hefty a vehicle is, when you tell me it’s got a high-tech 4-cykinder, even with a turbocharger, it should get better than 27 miles per gallon. The test vehicle showed an EPA estimate of 26 miles per gallon city, and 27 highway. We coaxed it up to a high of 26.7 mpg around the city, which includes the cliffside avenues of Duluth.

But we recently were able to get 38.7 with a Kia Telluride all-wheel-drive V6 vehicle, and it doesn’t seem all that acceptable to get slightly less fuel economy with a 4-cylinder Hybrid. For versatility, the Grand Highlander’s 201.4 inch length and 116.1 inch wheelbase, maneuvered well wherever we drove, and the 8-inch ground clearance was an asset we never tested off the road.

The suspension is another trick that Toyota has seemed to master, with independent front suspension and MacPherson struts, and rear multilink suspension, with stabilizer bars both front and rear.

Design and styling cues are all met, and it is impressive to see Toyota, which has been building potent V8 and V6 engines, now accomplishing the same performance out of a twin-cam 4-cylinder. We also expect to see more use and more refinement from that new 4, and its turbocharging and Hybrid bolstering.