Priced from RM 249k, turbo-less 2021 Toyota Harrier launched in Malaysia, TSS, TNGA

Rather quietly, UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has launched the all-new 2021 Toyota Harrier in Malaysia. Now in sole 2.0 Luxury variant, it is priced from RM 249k and it is coming fully-imported (CBU Japan).

For comparison, the previous XU60 Harrier Turbo was launched in 2017 at RM 238,000 for the Premium variant, and RM 259,900 for the Luxury variant.

Outside of Japan, the Harrier is only sold in Singapore and now on our shores. Seperately, it is known as the Venza in the United States.

Exterior - Shapely, beautiful

The all-new Harrier - XU80-series - boasts a much cleaner look outside, coming with an instantly-recognisable, shapelier silhouette. 

Flanking the slim upper grille are a pair of new Bi-LED headlamps, with L-shaped integrated DRLs. 

Rolling on dual-tone 18-inch wheels, the smooth silhouette flows into a clean rear end, definied by an LED light bar, LED tail lamps, and twin exhaust pipes.

Customers can choose between five colours - this Precious Black, Dark Blue Metallic, Slate Grey Metallic, Steel Blonde Metallic, and White Pearl Crystal Shine.

Interior - Subtle, all-black theme

As is the case with most Toyota cars launched here, our version of the Harrier eschews the dual-tone brown/black shade for a single-tone all-black cabin. 

Resting behind the leather steering wheel are Optitron instrument gauges flanking a 7-inch multi-info display.

The Harrier also utilises a Digital Display Rear View mirror, displaying live images from a high-definition camera. 

Taking centrepiece in the Harrier's cabin is the fixed panoramic sunroof, equipped with electro-chromatic glass that can be dimmed or darkened at the touch of a button.

An 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system - different from the one offered in the Japanese-market car - comes with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support as standard, blaring your tunes through a 6-speaker setup.

Also read: Why your next car should come with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay

Other creature comforts include all-round leather seats, a 12-way power adjustment for the driver's seat, an automatically-raising steering column, wireless charging pad, and also head-up display (HUD). 

One last tidbit - yes, the Harrier's tailgate is powered, complete with kick sensor.

Performance - No more turbo

The turbo goes away, and in place is a new Dynamic Force, naturally-aspirated mill:

Also read: No more 231 PS turbocharged engine for all-new 2021 Toyota Harrier, this is why

Platform - TNGA chassis!

The Harrier sits on the Toyota New Global Architecture platform, specifically TNGA-K that's shared with the Toyota RAV4 and Camry.

The rear-end uses a trailing wishbone setup with a stabiliser bar. Front suspension array remains the traditional McPherson strut. Braking is handled by discs on all four corners.

Safety - Full TSS suite

On the safety front, the Harrier gets the full Toyota Safety Sense advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) suite:

• Pre-collision system (PCS)
• Lane departure alert (LDA)
• Lane keeping assist (LKA)
• Lane tracing assist (LTA)
• Dynamic radar cruise control (DRCC, all speed)
• Adaptive high beam (AHB)

Other than that, it gets a blind spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert (BSM, RCTA), 7 airbags, electric parking brake, and tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS). 

WapCar's Comments:

The lack of turbo (and lower output than its predecessor) may be deterrents to some but the TNGA chassis should offer better ride and handling than the previous model. The not-so-pretty head unit is a bummer. On first impression, the latest Harrier is a case of two steps forward and one step back, wait, or is it two steps back and one step forward?