2020 Toyota Highlander keeps it straightforward

It's hard to get excited about a midsize, three-row SUV, unless you have a bunch of kids and even more cargo, at which point this segment will feel like a saving grace.

Practicality in this arena long meant foregoing some of the industry's niceties, but the latest crop of crossovers has eschewed that notion. 

The new-for-2020 Toyota Highlander embodies that idea, tacking some posh silver linings onto an otherwise straightforward family machine with great effect.

The 2020 Toyota Highlander is in the middle of the freakin' Thunderdome in terms of its segment.

The 2020 Honda Pilot is getting a little old, especially in the infotainment department, but its starting price is lower and it's great to drive. 

The biggest threats to the Highlander, though, are the 2020 Kia Telluride and 2020 Hyundai Palisade.

Sometimes you just want something that's familiar, and despite being completely redesigned for the 2020 model year, the Highlander is precisely that.

Its on-road demeanor is as predictable as the sunset, the correct trims can turn it into 90% of a Lexus and it's loaded with the technological doodads everybody's after in 2020.

I'd be doing you lovely readers a disservice by not recommending this get put at or near the top of your three-row-SUV shopping list.

Keep scrolling or clicking to check out even more pictures of the 2020 Toyota Highlander.