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Sunset after our hike with the new 2022 Highlander. Can’t get much more beautiful than this — and the 80-degree day didn’t hurt either.

Craig Conover, Daily Herald

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Deanne with the new 2022 Highlander Bronze Edition at dusk in Sedona, Arizona. What a beautiful day it was in the high desert, and watching the sun set was even more spectacular.

Craig Conover, Daily Herald

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On a hike in the early evening on our second day in Arizona. Yes, the cacti are really large in the dessert outside of Phoenix.

Craig Conover, Daily Herald

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An interior view of the new 2022 Toyota Highlander Bronze Edition.

Courtesy photo

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An interior view of the new 2022 Toyota Highlander Bronze Edition.

Courtesy photo

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During the first week of March, we were presented with the opportunity to travel to Phoenix, Arizona, as we had some credit to use with Allegiant Airlines from a previously canceled flight. Why not go to the Arizona desert and enjoy some warm temperatures while our city remained in the mid- to low 30s?

With our upcoming trip in mind, we reached out to our friends at DriveShop, and they provided us with a beautiful, brand-new Toyota Highlander Hybrid to use during the four days we were to spend in the sun. The fact that it was a hybrid added to our enjoyment, with rising gas prices affecting what areas we could visit.

For the 2022 model year, Toyota has come up with the Bronze Edition. It’s available only as a hybrid and only this year. Ours came clad in a color the manufacturer is calling Cement, which turned out to be a beautiful, light, flat gray color. There will only be three colors available on the Bronze Edition: Cement, Wind Chill Pearl and Midnight Black Metallic.

There were also bronze-colored accents on the exterior and interior that made it a very unique version of the Highlander.

We were thrilled to get a hybrid vehicle for our trip into the Arizona desert as we didn’t plan on spending the entire four days poolside (although we did make time for that). We wanted to get out and experience all the desert has to offer in the spring!

Past experience with Toyota hybrids has proven they get better mileage around town than on the open road. We have also generally found we do better in the mpg department than what the EPA puts on the window sticker.

On our first day in the Arizona sun, we decided to take the two-and-a-half-hour trip north to Sedona, which was about 150 miles from where we were staying in Chandler. The biggest problem was we tend to get sidetracked when out and about, so it took most of the day to get to Sedona after seeing Cottonwood and Clarkdale.

Riding in the new edition of the Highlander proved a completely comfortable way to spend most of the day. It sported leather seats that were heated (although we didn’t need that feature in the mid-80s temperatures of central Arizona). There was no other way to describe it than perfect.

The Highlander connected easily with our smartphones. And by using Apple CarPlay, we were never lost and knew how long it would take to get back. We were continually asking Siri new questions and getting directions to new places along the way.

The new hybrid setup comes with a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine and two small electric motors that add up to a very nice 243 total system horsepower along with a 35 combined mpg. This number is up 22% over the previous generation Highlander hybrid that produced only 29 mpg. With fuel prices hitting $4 per gallon when we arrived, having the hybrid made the trip that much better.

So, how did we do in the real world, realizing that we had a brand-new Highlander just days from getting off a truck? After almost 900 miles of driving, we came in at 36.2 mpg. We felt like this was a phenomenal number knowing that these types of hybrids generally get better as they get broken in.

With the included Toyota Safety Sense 2.5+ (a feature that is standard across all grades), the drive was made almost autonomous as we set the radar cruise control and lane tracing assist. With all this up and running, the Highlander kept itself centered in the lane and at a preset distance behind the vehicle in front of us. This feature alone is worth the purchase on a long drive. It was awesome not having to worry about what all the traffic in front of us was doing.

Also included with the Safety Sense were pre-collision warning with pedestrian detection, high beam assist, emergency steering assist, automatic high beam headlamps and a very cool road sign assist function. The latter allowed us to always know the speed limit no matter where we were on our journey.

On our second day out, we headed south toward Tucson looking for Native American ruins and other unique places to visit. This allowed us to get out into the dirt and try out the all-wheel drive system in the Highlander, which worked perfectly at all times. Our only trepidation was getting the beautiful vehicle extremely dirty!

It turns out that the Highlander is also Amazon Alexa compatible. After hooking it up through a home network, one could start the Highlander remotely or add a destination simply by telling Alexa or downloading it by vocal commands to the Toyota.

The new Bronze Edition is also equipped with three rows of seats. It would work great for a family, having plenty of room in the back for all the stuff needed for any adventure.

After four glorious days in the sunshine and desert of Arizona, we were completely taken with the new Highlander and loved having its companionship during the trip. We went from mountains to desert, from temperatures in the 90s to the 50s, and the Highlander had all the creature comforts we could have ever wanted.

Base price: $45,480

Destination charge: $1,215

Price as driven: $47,0131

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