Compare the2025 Cadillac XT6VS 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander

The XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport’s optional pre-crash front seatbelts will tighten automatically in the event the vehicle detects an impending crash, improving protection against injury significantly. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer pre-crash pretensioners.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the XT6 are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

A passive infrared night vision system optional on the XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a night vision system.

Both the XT6 and the Grand Highlander have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Cadillac XT6 is safer than the Grand Highlander:

The XT6 comes with a full 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck. The Grand Highlander’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 14,000 miles sooner.

Cadillac’s powertrain warranty covers the XT6 1 year and 10,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Grand Highlander. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 6 years or 70,000 miles. Coverage on the Grand Highlander ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The XT6’s corrosion warranty is 1 year longer than the Grand Highlander’s (6 vs. 5 years).

J.D. Power and Associates rated the XT6 first among upper midsize premium suvs in their 2024 Initial Quality Study. The Grand Highlander isn’t in the top three in its category.

As tested in Motor Trend the XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport 3.6 DOHC V6 is faster than the Toyota Grand Highlander turbo 4 cyl.:

On the EPA test cycle the XT6 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder AWD gets better fuel mileage than the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum 2.4 turbo 4-cylinder 8-speed Auto AWD (21 city/26 hwy vs. 20 city/26 hwy).

An engine control system that can shut down some of the engine’s cylinders helps improve the XT6’s fuel efficiency. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a system that can shut down part of the engine.

In heavy traffic or at stoplights the XT6’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. If the conditions warrant or the driver wishes, the system can be manually disabled at any time for the duration of a trip. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Cadillac XT6 uses regular unleaded gasoline (premium recommended with the 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder engine for maximum performance). The Grand Highlander Hybrid Max requires premium, which can cost on average about 84.9 cents more per gallon.

The XT6 FWD’s standard fuel tank has 1.8 gallons more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander Hybrid’s standard fuel tank (19 vs. 17.2 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The XT6 AWD’s standard fuel tank has 4.2 gallons more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander’s standard fuel tank (22 vs. 17.8 gallons).

The XT6 has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

A nine-speed automatic is standard on the Cadillac XT6, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only an eight-speed automatic is available for the Grand Highlander.

The XT6’s standard front and rear disc brakes are vented to help dissipate heat for shorter stops with less fading. The rear discs on the Grand Highlander are solid, not vented.

The XT6 stops much shorter than the Grand Highlander:

For better traction, the XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport’s optional tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Grand Highlander (265/45R21 vs. 255/65R18).

The XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport’s optional tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum’s 55 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport offers optional 21-inch wheels. The Grand Highlander’s largest wheels are only 20-inches.

The Cadillac XT6’s wheels have 6 lugs for longer wheel bearing life, less chance of rotor warping and greater strength. The Toyota Grand Highlander only has 5 wheel lugs per wheel.

The XT6 has a standard easy tire fill system. When inflating the tires, the vehicle’s integrated tire pressure sensors keep track of the pressure as the tires fill and tell the driver when the tires are inflated to the proper pressure. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer vehicle monitored tire inflation.

The XT6 offers an optional driver-adjustable suspension system. It allows the driver to choose between an extra-supple ride, reducing fatigue on long trips, or a sport setting, which allows maximum control for tricky roads or off-road. The Grand Highlander’s suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

The XT6 has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the XT6 is 1.1 inches wider in the front and .8 inches wider in the rear than on the Grand Highlander.

The XT6 Sport AWD handles at .88 G’s, while the Grand Highlander Platinum AWD pulls only .80 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The XT6 Sport AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.4 seconds quicker than the Grand Highlander XLE AWD (27.2 seconds @ .67 average G’s vs. 28.6 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

The front grille of the XT6 uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The XT6 uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

Pressing a switch automatically lowers the XT6’s second row seats and pressing a switch automatically lowers or raises the third row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

The XT6 uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Grand Highlander uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

J.D. Power and Associates surveys of service recipients show that Cadillac service is better than Toyota. J.D. Power ranks Cadillac fifth in service department satisfaction. With a 32% lower rating, Toyota is ranked 21st.

The XT6’s standard easy entry system raises the steering wheel and glides the driver’s seat back, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

The XT6’s standard rear and side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Grand Highlander has an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

The Cadillac XT6 has power folding mirrors that offer unparalleled convenience while maneuvering in tight places or parked. With the mirrors folded it’s easier to walk past and help prevent parking damage. The mirrors can be quickly unfolded when the driver is ready to leave. Power folding mirrors are only offered on the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum.

The XT6 Premium Luxury/Sport’s optional Automatic Park Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting and stopping automatically, with the driver only responsible for switching from reverse to drive. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Cadillac XT6 and the Toyota Grand Highlander, based on reliability, safety and performance.