It may be the automotive equivalent of buying a family-sized fridge but the Kluger/Highlander has built a reputation for being a big, no nonsense, practical family hauler with typical Toyota reliability and an excellent ability to retain its value.

But is this reputation warranted? If a RAV4 is too small and a Prado is too large or potentially too off-road focussed, is the Kluger/Highlander worthy of your consideration when it comes to transporting you and your loved ones across the country? Read on.

What goes wrong with a used Toyota Kluger?

• Air conditioning evaporators can fail requiring the dashboard to be removed to replace the failed component. This becomes expensive
• There are reports of front diff issues in the front-wheel drive variants and transmission problems, however, these are far from a common issue
• Early models had reports of faulty software however this was repaired by Toyota under warranty
• Check the service history to make sure these faults have been resolved
• Check for signs of off-road abuse

Should you buy a used Toyota Kluger?

The Kluger/Highlander might not be the sexiest, most dynamic SUV available and it hardly exudes any real luxury or sophistication, but, we highly recommend it.

When it comes to an SUV that will hum along without any trouble for many years to come while keeping the things you love safe and secure, it’s very hard to look past the big Toyota.

We recommend trying to find a post-facelift, 2011-onwards model as we feel the update spiced up the aesthetics quite nicely and the extra equipment is worthy of the slight extra spend.