Toyota Highlander vs Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk: which is more reliable?

The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is clearly ahead of the Toyota Highlander on the federal record: 77/100 against 65/100 across every model year we score.

The record, side by side

Toyota Highlander
Toyota Highlander · Wikimedia Commons

Toyota Highlander

65/100 mean
  • 11 model years scored
  • 2,349 owner complaints on record
  • about 27 complaints per year on the road
  • 39 recall campaigns, 24 safety-critical
  • best year 2016 (86/100) · worst 2020 (37/100)

Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

77/100 mean
  • 4 model years scored
  • 1,116 owner complaints on record
  • about 38 complaints per year on the road
  • 0 recall campaigns, 0 safety-critical
  • best year 2021 (94/100) · worst 2018 (47/100)

Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.

Year by year: Highlander against Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.

YearHighlanderGrand Cherokee Trackhawk Gap
202582 BUY——
2021—94 BUY—
202037 AVOID87 BUY-50
201940 AVOID80 BUY-40
201845 AVOID47 AVOID-2
201756 CAUTION——
201686 BUY——
201578 BUY——
201479 BUY——
201380 BUY——
201285 BUY——
201184 BUY——

What owners actually complain about

Toyota Highlander

  • Power Train — 461 complaints
  • Unknown Or Other — 363 complaints
  • Electrical System — 306 complaints

Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

  • Electrical System — 385 complaints
  • Unknown Or Other — 296 complaints
  • Engine — 177 complaints

They do not fail the same way: the Highlander's complaints concentrate in Power Train, the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk's in Electrical System. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.

Years to avoid on each

Toyota Highlander — avoid: 2018, 2019, 2020.

Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk — avoid: 2018.

A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.

What each costs today

A recent used Toyota Highlander prices at about $40,800 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk at about $31,600 — the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is roughly $9,200 less, and they return 25.0 against 13.0 MPG combined.

Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.

FAQ

Is the Toyota Highlander or the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk more reliable?

On the NHTSA record the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk scores 77/100 against the Toyota Highlander's 65/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk carries about 38 complaints per year on the road against 27 for the Toyota Highlander.

Which Toyota Highlander and Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk years should I avoid?

Toyota Highlander: 2018, 2019, 2020. Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk: 2018. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.

What goes wrong on the Toyota Highlander and the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk?

The largest complaint group on the Toyota Highlander is Power Train (461 complaints); on the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk it is Electrical System (385).

Is the Toyota Highlander or the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk cheaper to own?

A recent used Toyota Highlander prices at about $40,800 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk at about $31,600, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.

More head-to-heads