 This is the most aggravating vehicle I can recall ever driving. I've had it for three months now and very much regret buying it. Overall, it's a very good SUV but the transmission/drivetrain is a failure. The 8-speed transmission is uncertain and unpredictable at lower speeds (less than 30 mph). It hesitates, stalls, downshifts, and does whatever else it decides to do without any warning or sense of purpose. We live in Washington, DC, and driving in stop-and-go traffic in this Highlander is frustrating and dangerous since we don't know what it will or will not do when we need it to go now! I drive a lot of rental vehicles and have never experienced anything this bad; in fact, the 1996 Nissan Pathfinder I gave up for this was far, far smoother. It does have the automatic stop/start (which I really like -- they've had that in Europe for a long time), but the issues I describe are with the vehicle already running. I brought it to the dealership and the service department did a road test -- said it checked out normal and there were no outstanding service bulletins. As much as we love our Prius V, this Toyota is a huge disappointment.