2022 Highlander Costs $9,024 Less Than a 2025 Pilot

Our calculator puts the five-year cost of a 2025 Honda Pilot at $40,895. The 2022 Toyota Highlander comes in at $31,871. That is a gap of $9,024, or $151 more per month for the Pilot.

The Highlander is the cheaper car to own, and it is not close. Most of the difference comes from one line: depreciation, which is how much value the car loses while you own it. The Pilot loses $6,835 more than the Highlander. Fuel and insurance add to the gap, but they are side notes. Repairs barely matter.

The gap is really a price-tag gap

Here is the story in one sentence: you pay more for a newer car, and then you lose more of that money.

Our estimate for the 2025 Pilot's purchase price is $35,700. For the 2022 Highlander it is $24,800. That is a $10,900 difference at the start. Over five years, our calculator has the Pilot losing $12,912 in value and the Highlander losing $6,077. So the Pilot's depreciation alone accounts for $6,835 of the $9,024 gap.

That is about three-quarters of the total.

A nearly new car takes its biggest hit early. The Pilot loses $4,112 in year one and $3,078 in year two. The Highlander loses $1,554 and $1,340 over the same stretch. The Highlander has already taken the steepest part of its drop before you buy it. The previous owner paid for that.

If you are comparing these two on monthly payment feel, the Pilot's newness is what you are buying. Newer model year, longer remaining warranty, fresher tech. Those are real things. But they are not cheap, and our numbers say you pay roughly $6,800 of your own money for them in lost value alone.

Fuel and insurance pile on

The next two lines both lean against the Pilot.

Fuel over five years: $13,292 for the Pilot, $12,136 for the Highlander. That is $1,156 more for the Pilot. Per month, it is $19 more: $222 against $202. Nobody feels $19 a month, but it runs every month for five years.

Want the MPG ratings behind those dollar figures? Look up the Honda Pilot and the Toyota Highlander on fueleconomy.gov, where you can pick the exact model year and trim. Trims differ, so check the one you plan to buy.

Insurance is $9,892 for the Pilot and $8,811 for the Highlander, a $1,081 difference. One caution: these insurance figures are our estimate, built from each car's value and class. They are not a quote. Your own rate will differ based on your age, ZIP code, and driving record. The direction is predictable, though. A more valuable car costs more to insure, and the Pilot is worth more.

Add fuel and insurance and you get $2,237 more for the Pilot. Add depreciation and you are at $9,072. The remaining small difference is repairs, which go the other way by $48.

How the years play out

The Pilot never catches up. It is more expensive in every one of the five years.

Here is the year-by-year picture from our calculator:

• Year 1: Pilot $9,443, Highlander $6,341
• Year 2: Pilot $8,642, Highlander $6,434
• Year 3: Pilot $7,561, Highlander $6,029
• Year 4: Pilot $8,224, Highlander $7,012
• Year 5: Pilot $7,025, Highlander $6,055

The first year is the ugly one for the Pilot. It costs $3,102 more than the Highlander in year one, mostly because of that $4,112 depreciation hit. By year five the yearly gap shrinks to $970. The Pilot is getting less painful with age.

That is worth understanding. The Pilot's cost curve falls as the steep depreciation fades. The Highlander's curve is flatter from the start. If you keep either car well past five years, the gap in yearly cost keeps narrowing. But it narrows from a big hole. You would need to own the Pilot a very long time to make up for the early losses, and our calculator does not claim that it ever does.

Year four is the bump on both cars. Maintenance jumps to $1,335 for each, up from $335 the year before. That is the kind of scheduled service spike, think of bigger intervals for fluids, brakes, or tires, that can catch owners off guard. Budget for it. Both cars hit it equally, so it does not change the winner.

Repairs: close, and not the point

Repairs over five years: $1,620 for the Pilot and $1,668 for the Highlander. The Highlander costs $48 more. That is a rounding error across five years.

Both start low and climb. The Pilot goes from $180 in year one to $510 in year five. The Highlander goes from $185 to $525. Same shape, nearly the same dollars.

Maintenance is identical at $2,924 for each, and registration is identical at $255. Neither car gets an edge there.

So what about reliability and the risk of a surprise bill? RepairPal publishes reliability ratings and average repair costs by model, and it is worth checking both models there before you buy. Look at how often owners take these cars to a shop for unscheduled repairs, and how often those visits turn serious. Our calculator uses expected repair costs, which are averages. An average does not capture a single bad year, like a transmission or electronics failure.

Here is my read. The Highlander has the longer record behind it, and Toyota's reputation for durability is earned. The 2025 Pilot is the newer car, so it has less history to judge, and it should still be under factory warranty for much of your ownership. That cuts the risk of a big bill in the early years. A 2022 Highlander will be closer to the end of its basic coverage sooner. If a four-figure repair would wreck your month, that is a fair point in the Pilot's favor, and it is the only one that matters here.

Still, the numbers say you would pay $9,024 more to hold that protection. Even a bad repair year is unlikely to cost that much.

The verdict

Buy the 2022 Toyota Highlander if you want the lowest cost and you care about the total, not the new-car smell. This fits the buyer who keeps cars for years, drives a normal amount, and would rather spend the $151 a month difference on something else. You give up a newer model year. In return you keep about $9,000. The Highlander is also the better pick if you are financing on a tight budget, since it starts $10,900 cheaper.

Buy the 2025 Honda Pilot if you want a nearly new three-row SUV with the most warranty left, and you are willing to pay for that on purpose. This fits the buyer who values predictability in the first few years, wants the latest features, and has room in the budget for a first-year depreciation hit of $4,112. Go in knowing it is a luxury choice, not a savings choice.

If you are undecided, the Highlander wins. The Pilot costs $682 a month in our calculator, against $531 for the Highlander. Unless the newer car solves a real problem for you, that extra money is hard to justify.