The nation sways and bends to the 1%. They control monetary policy and have access to the channels of power. Many times, they are the channels of power. The ninety-nine experience freewill and choice, such as it is, within the bounds the 1% have set. Ever has it been, and perhaps ever will it be. And for the last two years, it has been true of my car. After parsing the relative merits of numerous sports sedans and becoming nearly giddy with the prospect of owning something fast and tactile, I settled on an entirely different creature altogether. I bought a vehicle for the 1%…of miles.
Yeah, I know. All that carping about interior quality and steering feel and engine refinement in my prior reviews and I go buy the most primitive vehicle for sale this side of the Frontier and Wrangler. I’m flip-flopping faster than a 1-percenter senator running for president. What can I say? I’ve got a soft spot for Toyota trucks and realized rather suddenly that I wanted to get out on the trail again more than I wanted to pretend to be an automotive connoisseur while trundling through traffic in a sport sedan.
Comfortable, functional, roomy, but lacking in polish.
I came to the conclusion that both vehicle types are case studies in unused potential for most of their miles. The 4Runner sees dirt about as often as the G37 would see the twisties on an empty Sunday morning. The rest of the time I rarely exceed 40 mph in the type of urban driving for which a Corolla is almost indistinguishable from a GTI. My daily route is only a few miles long and between the low speed limits, poorly-timed lights, and zoned-out drivers with one finger inserted squarely in a nostril, there is no joy to be found regardless of what you are driving. I’d have to dedicate spare time to seek out enjoyable roads, and as the father of two elementary kids you know how frequent that would be.
I find the cold logic of mathematics useful for cutting through the fog of emotion, so I developed two advanced equations for making this decision. I anticipate the upcoming manuscript will waltz through peer-review at Acta Mathematica:
Equation 1. The true experience of a vehicle is its capability adjusted by a factor proportional to the soul-sucking driving environment in which it operates
Equation 2. Truck + dirt road equals America!
QED, I do believe.
Body-on-frame SUV or sports sedan, either way I would be buying for the 1%. I just made a different choice about what that 1% would be. Here, it’s any number of unmaintained roads that lead to mountain lakes, lofty ridgelines, sandstone canyons, and distant campsites across our American public lands. The wrong vehicle will leave you turning around in disappointment quite often. I know from experience. We have a list of places we have wanted to see for years but never had the vehicle to do it in. I’ve spent too long being thwarted by random nonsense like this:
Show-stopper. This is a graded road. But there had been wind.
Granted, you pay for this 1% capability during the other 99%. Underpinning this 4Runner is the Land Cruiser Prado J150 frame, which is a great foundation for this purpose but one that puts limitations on the 99% spent on pavement. If you liked the 1990s SUVs and want one with 2012 levels of safety and amenities, here it is. If you want the modern feel and tech of today’s crossovers, there are about five billion better options for you. The 4Runner drives just like it looks, the interior has a few nice touches set against the plastic fantastic wonderland of Toyota’s late-aughts cost-saving spree, and the workhorse powertrain is fifteen years old and feels every bit of it. Little things annoy, like the tall shift lever blundering through its clumsy gated path, the body lean, and the power-to-thirst ratio. It doesn’t need to be this way–the current crop of domestic full-size pickups demonstrates just how impressive the engineering can be when there is stiff competition for a giant pile of consumer money. The 4Runner needs some of that competition.
Aside from the Grand Cherokee, all the 4Runner’s competitors have gone extinct or lost the ability to do this.
Despite this criticism, the old gal is endearing. Everything that makes it outdated is due to a simplicity that bodes well for durability. She’s a small tank, regal in her ride height, noble in her indifference to bad pavement, big ol’ engine loping through long gears. Stomp it to make that gap in traffic, and the relaxed demeanor disappears when she makes a noisy sprint toward the redline with an eagerness you weren’t quite expecting. She’s at her best cruising with quiet dignity, though. Preferably at 65, comfortable seats adjusted just so, scenery passing outside the low window sills, pulling down 23 mpg. Push her to 80-85 mph and aerodynamics give her a real drinking problem.
I didn’t test drive a single alternative, a fact I still view with a mix of shame and humor considering I just spent several thousand words scrutinizing a bunch of cars. I still did my homework, though. I had specific requirements and car shows eliminated what paper specs hadn’t already. This thing has no real competitors with my criteria, and until the Ranger FX4 arrives it still really doesn’t. Everything is either too big (half tons), too expensive (Colorado ZR2 and Grand Cherokee Trailhawk), or too compromised (Colorado ZR1, Tacoma, Wrangler, Grand Cherokee non-Trailhawk). Go for the TRD-Pro 4Runner and you enter a price strata that has some worthy alternatives, but that’s far too rich for my blood. The base SR5 4Runner is still very capable and is in a field of one.
This vehicle is a hard sell to many and I don’t blame them. Eight model years in, though, and they posted the highest annual 4Runner sales in America ever. I’m not sure why 140,000 people purchased one last year, they’re certainly not all out on the trails. Most are purchased for pavement use, and if I wanted that I’d go ahead and spend the same on a 2.7L Ecoboost F150 and enjoy similar fuel economy, better road manners, higher towing, and the ability to humiliate other drivers at the stoplight. But that’s not the mission profile.
Wes Siler’s modded Outback. I’m unconvinced. Look at that chin.
Now we’re getting serious. I’m sure the 2.5 boxer loves turning those wheels and gets fantastic fuel economy.
Others try to fill this niche while courting mainstream buyers. Subaru is excellent at it, my area is cuckoo for them and I see a lot of Outbacks and Foresters plying the graded dirt roads. I’m not sure I quite get it, their limitations become apparent quickly out here. I’m starting to see them lifted with serious tires, which is a big cash outlay that only gets you part way there–you still have a CVT, no low range, no skid plates, and poor approach angles. It can make all the difference. This can be demonstrated with two recent cases:
No one for miles, even a balmy Saturday/Sunday.
Case 1: A ridiculously scenic hike in the Utah backcountry that leads down a narrow canyon, up over the pancaked sandstone layers representing 60 million years of geologic history, across a ridgeline with stunning views, and into a garden of rock formations where a hidden natural arch reposes in seldom-disturbed silence. It’s a marvelous little place. The trailhead lies 4 miles down a dirt two-track that has this unfortunate little obstacle right after you leave the highway:
Pictures don’t convey just how much of the 33-degree approach angle and front end clearance I’m using here. Regardless of what this doofus says, you’re not getting a jutting-chinned Subaru across that and I promise you will not be willing to park there and add another 8 miles of shadeless open-country walking to this hike. Abandoning the enterprise would have been a shame, because we camped down there as well and didn’t see anyone for our 24hrs. It only takes about 50 feet of unruly road to cut a three hundred mile journey short.
Not a bad morning. The closest neighbor was a Vaquero on horseback tending a herd
My little guy “helping” set up the tent.
Case 2: A beautifully memorable father-son overnight campout with my 6-year old on a hilltop with grand views of the mountains and rolling sage in all directions and only one passerby. The reason we saw only one vehicle is because the site was down a road too rough for crossovers and too narrow for the en vogue leviathan pickups. We’re talking just two miles in which we truly needed this vehicle, but that effectively “made the trip”. The past two years have provided far more memories on excursions like this than I ever would have achieved in a better road car.
Very handsome, but trying to be all things to all people
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is the closest analogue to the 4Runner and deserves more than a passing mention here. I’ve been told it is a far superior vehicle. Reliability metrics don’t bear that out, but for the sake of argument we’ll ignore that. Half of the reason I never test-drove one is that I didn’t want it to ruin the 4Runner for me. That danger is passed now, so last week I checked out a pre-owned 2016 GC Limited with 45K miles and a price that shows these do not have the Wrangler’s value retention. Sucker was loaded with leather, heated steering wheel, and interior finishes that make the 4Runner look like a Subaru BRAT.
The GC drives much better as well, with actual body control and carlike steering response, though there’s no hiding the mass when you push it even a little bit and the ride is more jiggly and stiff. The excellent ZF 8-speed transmission allows the Pentastar V6 to do an impressive job moving this 5000-pound unibody, and it is notably more refined. Looking up the stats, I was surprised to see the GC doesn’t really grip, stop, or accelerate any better than the 4Runner, it just feels better while doing it.
I appreciate the cleaner layout and better materials in the Grand Cherokee. Image credit Motortrend.
So the Grand Cherokee is a Mercedes in comparison. This one even came with low range gearing, so why don’t I view this as a direct 4Runner competitor? Well, pop the back hatch and observe how much smaller that cargo area is. I suppose I could fit our gear in there if I left out the air mattress and the compact folding table and the 7-gallon water jug and the bed pillows and the firewood bundle. It’s a 30% difference in volume. I’m thinking about a roof box for the 4Runner but don’t quite need it. The GC would have needed it from day one.
The Jeep also has less minimum ground clearance, worse geometry, and a lower-hanging body that leaves expensive sheet metal closer to the rocks. So while it has considerable abilities off-pavement, it is still more road-oriented than the Toyota and that makes a difference. I can think of four separate roads I’d have probably turned around in with the Jeep, and all led to destinations worth reaching. You can solve this by plumping for a GC with the airbag suspension to jack up the body height, but then you are looking at a daunting price tag and are relying on fragile complexity to make a more road-oriented vehicle achieve what the 4Runner was engineered to do from the beginning. Remember the mission profile.
Of course, this line of reasoning could be followed reductio ad absurdum to the Jeep Wrangler, which also has 4 doors and is even more purpose built. But then so is a Unimog. We’ve all got our limits. Coming from a refined VW wagon, the Wrangler is beyond mine. Toyota has a winning formula here, at least for my 1% needs. Almost no one expects their family hauler to take them away from other people so they can go look at rocks and stars with their kids and then sleep poorly in a tent and wake up all foggy and sore the next morning, but Toyota offers a vehicle for just that. Twenty-five thousand miles in and we’ve had some great family adventures.
There she is, all 270 hp and 5 forward ratios. Frozen in time since 2003.
Postscript–The need for an update
The 4Runner is now entering its 9th model year, with no update in sight and yet another perennial price increase. It’s overdue for a serious upgrade in perceived quality and powertrain characteristics. Prior to the 2008 recession, the 4Runner had a history of several rapid, thorough redesigns. The 1989-1995 generation was so effective at its mission that they are still a hot item. Toyota massively redesigned it in 1996 and that one is even more of a legend, particularly the new top-of-class 3.4L V6 engine. Seven years later it was fully redesigned again, and they replaced the excellent 3.4 with another class-leading V6: the 4.0L 1GR-FE in my 2016. It was wizardry, in less than a decade they went from 150 to 240 horsepower with no loss of fuel economy. To say this engine stomped the 4.0s in the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ford Explorer for eight straight years until their 2010 retirement is no overstatement.
Careful there, 4Runner. You’re looking a bit dated.
Then…seven years of halted R&D. Domestic truck powertrains have since moved to dizzying levels of power and efficiency. The situation has reversed; Toyota is no longer the innovator and this engine has become the Ford Cologne. The old Toyota didn’t let itself get so far behind. Of course, the American market was hungrier for this class of vehicle then and the 4Runner’s schedule now is probably tied to the Land Cruiser Prado that is likely driven by global market forces. The old Toyota also sold SR5 4Runners for $52K in today’s money. That’s way out of my league, so perhaps an old engine and plastic dashboard is a worthy tradeoff for being able to own one at all.
Image credit: Kia
Just don’t do something like this for a redesign. This photograph represents everything wrong with the crossover craze. A station wagon is marketed as an SUV, photographed with ridiculous overlanding gear it could never actually use, to create a false image that will appeal to the terminally image-conscious. Monument of mendacity. I’d rather the 4Runner soldier on in its exact form for another 20 years and then be quietly taken behind the shed and shot than have the nameplate glued to this.
Excellent choice (says a 4.0 5 speed auto 2013 Tacoma owner).
I am aware of plus’s and minuses of handling, road feel, and cornering offered by other vehicles (I also own a NB Miata) and the feel and smell of a wood and leather interior can be more intoxicating than a hot cup of sake on a cold winter night.
For what this truck is giving you and your son, now and in the future, and how it manifests your priorities, I, for one, say bravo.
Thank you, sir. And a 10 year old Miata for occasional weekend drives has certainly crossed my mind.
Been looking forward to this writeup! I totally get that “1%” mentality, and my ’96 gets used in a very similar fashion, but even less so given where I live. I mostly utilize its capabilities when I visit my parents in NY. The one silver lining to the lower offroad performance envelope of Subarus and such is that you can take them down a fairly mild trail and it can actually feel kind of exciting and challenging. The 4Runner’s “problem” is that it is so darn capable that you’re into some real serious potentially-body-damaging situations before it’s really working hard. The additional downside of my ’96 is that unlike your 5th gen or even the 4th gens, the 3rd is still a very stiff riding and bouncy old school truck. You get used to it and I’ve commuted in mine and even taken many 10-15 hour road trips in it, but boy do you feel beat up at the end of the day. I’m keeping my 4Runner around as a garage queen for the forseeable future, my wife and I are serious about relocating in a few years, and are making more interesting topography and outdoor opportunities a priority.
Would be curious to hear your thoughts on the new Patrol-based Armada, particularly the SV trim with a rationally sized wheel/tire package. The one sold in the US will never compete with a 4Runner offroad, the approach/departure angles and articulation are much too compromised on US market trucks, but it’s still got oodles of clearance, great interior room, and I think superior road manners and performance to the 4Runner. Oh and an interior with velour straight out of the Japanese golden age. I see 1 year old ex-rentals going for $30k and it certainly catches my eye
Oh man, I know what you mean by that velour. The Armada has tons of virtues, but it wouldn’t work for my uses; the approach angle is a big deal and it’s far too wide. I wish my 4Runner was 6 inches narrower. Still, if I were the type to hunt down decade old land cruisers to modify into an overlanding rig, I’d be researching the Armada big time. Lift it a bit, do some surgery on the front fascia and it would be pretty formidable I think. The fuel use though…I have a hard enough time with mine.
Good write up.
The current generation suffers from an unfortunate front end styling, I prefer a look of a Tacoma. But to my eyes the best styled generation was the one that debuted in 1996.
Current generation reminds me of a wrestler Raven
‘Yep.
When I first saw the current generation 4-Runner – in white, no less – I wanted to:
1) Projectile vomit,
2) Kill it with fire.
I have a VISCERAL reaction to gore. Horror movies, The Walking Dead, anything with zombies and rotting flesh…not in my wheelhouse.
And the vertical cutouts below each headlight in that 4-Runner looked GORY to me. Actually, the first thing I thought of was the 1980s story of a beautiful actress whose face was attacked with a razor blade. Sorry, but that was the mental association and it took a year or more of seeing these out on the road to get used to it.
Frankly, the other grill treatment they use – the single thick chrome strip across the grill – just looks bad and bland.
At least a color other than white tones the look down and I can look at this one in red and appreciate it.
A colleague of mine drove a ’99 for several years and absolutely loved it. Even after buying a new Ram pickup with all the toys, he’d still talk about how he wished the rear frame rails hadn’t rusted out – the reason he got rid of it in the first place.
Another colleague brought a 1st-gen 4-Runner from California with him when he moved to Pittsburgh 25 years ago. Sadly, that one was stolen, and to my knowledge, never recovered. But it remains a favorite of his to this day.
Ultimately it’s like the old Land Cruiser was to the Jeep CJ-5. The Jeep had the credentials but the Toyota managed to go one better. Seemed like those in the know chose the Land Cruiser.
Or…
3) Look for the aftermarket nosejob kit, turning the current generation nose into third generation.
An excellent read! Somehow I have avoided America’s two hottest markets: pickups and SUVs. I guess it’s all about lifestyle. Mrs. JPC would no more go camping in a tent than she would eat a raw eel. So we are pavement people.
A neighbor has had a series of 4Runners for something like the last 15 years. After a series of silver and gray ones he finally went crazy on a red one.
That’s funny, there are some nights where I just cannot get comfortable on the ground and would happily eat an eel if I could fall straight asleep afterwards.
My wife encouraged getting rid of our roof top tent and going back to a ground tent. Though she’s not crazy about raw eel … salmon, tuna, etc is ok, but she’s not an unagi fan.
Excellent. Reminds me of when we visited Moab a few years ago. I looked around and said to my wife “If I lived here, I would definately have a Jeep”
Unfortunately where I live the off road usefulness of the 4runner would be 0.01%. Good on you for taking it out there, strive for 2% next year.
My retired Aunt & Uncle have one, it’s a great tow vehicle for their trailer and they’ve done some epic road trips (Yukon etc) so they’re getting their 1% at least too.
Absolutely, if I couldn’t use it this way I’d be in one of the cars I wrote up before.
Good write-up!
I have a grudging respect for Toyota and Lexus cars (high-quality boring ), but I’ve always admired their small pickups and 4Runners.
Reading this makes me want to buy one and go 4-wheeling!
As the saturated market becomes even more so, the ‘jack of all trades’ vehicles will become less attractive, and the more purpose-built ones, like this 4Runner, more appealing.
I think this is the best SUV in the US—it saddens me that it doesn’t have an American nameplate, but here, as with Lexus, Toyota has “out-Americaned” the Americans.
Well done!
THey should hire you to write sales brochures (if they still exist…)
I wish Ford offered the Everest here, it looks like a dead ringer for this 4Runner in capability and civility, but with far more palatable styling. It would have been nice to have a real competitor to cross shop.
I had forgotten that the 4Runner was still being made. It seems to have faded into the background now(just like the Nissan Pathfinder)
I am glad to see there is still a market for them. Even if they are mostly bought by folks that want a Toyota Taco but also want a dry cargo area.
If anything, the 4Runner has been roaring back with 140k+ annual sales, while the Pathfinder is a sales laggard and has been on the down-slope. Toyota looks very smart now for breaking out their midsize SUV (4Runner) and crossover (Highlander) as separate entities rather than abandoning the BOF segment and morphing the nameplate into a crossover.
Petrichor: it seems that we have a lot of similarities in our deliberations and conclusions. I wrote about my GTI and G35 experiences in your post on those cars, but we also have a 2013 4Runner. I went through a fairly parallel experience in choosing it. Early on I though a JGC would bubble up as my choice, and you have given a very fair comparison between the two. Ultimately, the 4R won out, with interior space and reliability beating a “nicer” car with a more troublesome reputation.
You’re exercising your 4R a bit more vigorously than we do. Ours is primarily a snow car for where we live in the Colorado Rockies; an absolute beast with Blizzaks. It does fairly light off-road duty, able to get me closer to trout streams, hiking trails, and bird hunting. It’s also a full time 4WD (though with lockable diff and low range), as I didn’t want to have my wife worried about shifting into 4WD on snow and back again when hitting dry roads. Dated interior indeed, but you can use all the buttons and switches wearing gloves, as opposed to most new cars.
We do put some highway miles on it, ranging up to Maine and down to south Georgia. Overall MPG is at 18.6 through 72,000 miles. It’s nosier and far less plush than my wife’s CUV, but it’s just fine on trips. Nothing other than routine maintenance has been needed to date. Enjoy yours, which you certainly seem to be doing.
That’s great, Jeff! More proof that brilliant minds think alike :). I take it yours is a Limited? It also sounds like we use ours similarly, to access the places we like to go rather than “wheeling” for fun.
I’d buy a 4Runner today, but I just can’t get past the hideous front end.
Looks like it was run into a solid concrete wall (barrier, whatever it’s called today).
I don’t like the front end either, but I wasn’t going to let trivial cosmetics get in the way of its unique strengths.
Nice truck. But who needs a 4×4 anyway? Just got back from our 4300 mile trip to Arizona, which included quite a bit of off-pavement driving. And on the way back, we went through Death Valley and on a whim, decided to go into Saline Valley, which is very remote and only has a very rough rocky dirt road that drops some 5000 ft down into it. Three hours of that, just to get all the way in. And three hours to get back out, including a few moments on the steepest sections where I was a bit anxious as the front wheels spun and fought for traction. And then again near the top, where there was still some icy snow on the trail.
The road was like a torture track, so rocky and wash-boardy. The only other folks down there all had serious 4x4s, mostly Toyotas. We got a few stares with our big FWD van.
And I’ve taken a Lada 2107 through the Altai steppe, through 2 foot deep water crossings and up to the foothills of the Aktru mountain while loaded with 5 people and packs. Just because it can be done doesn’t mean it can’t be done better, more reliably, and with less pucker factor in something else.
I’d like to see the big van tackle the rocky approach shown in the photos, for example.
https://ladasvetom.dennikn.sk/
This is what came to my mind instantly when you mentioned Lada 2107. The website is about Slovaks who have travelled in a Lada all over the world (mostly Asia, I think). Unfortunately, the page is only in Slovak. But you can try to find out if the Slavic languages are really that similar 😄
I hope a travelogue is coming Paul, because that sounds like a grand adventure. I’ve had to use 4low on several occasions, and broke through dry surface crust into mud unexpectedly on a graded dirt road, so 4 wheel drive has been essential on several trips.
My comment was tongue-in-cheek. I used to have a gen1 Cherokee and I know quite well what a proper 4×4 can do. And there’s times I’d like one still.
Sure, but your statement wasn’t so far from the truth. There is something to be said for how far a non-4×4 can get you down dry rough roads if you have a bit of clearance and nerve.
Down in Mexico the vast majority of trucks/SUVs bouncing down dusty dirt roads in the rural areas near Puerto Vallarta were RWD, all of the 2nd gen Tacomas I saw were of the “Pre-runner” variety. A family friend retired to Oregon and bought a RWD 4th gen 4Runner for his travels out West, indeed suspension/tire durability and clearance trumped 4wd traction needs the vast majority of the time. Heck, up to a point, when I do some winter wheeling on forest access roads in Central NY, just snow tires get me around 90% of the time. But yeah, just those few cases make or break it
I’ve never owned a 4×4, but since being in the car business have had the opportunity to drive a few. It’s amazing what “locking it in” does once a bit of rear wheel spin starts. Night and day. I spent lots of time slip-sliding on trails, mud holes, and front yards in my time; quite often requiring a pull out.. Usually in a sedan, so never too deep and serious, but I know now it’s a good thing I never owned or had access to a 4×4 back in the day. I never heard the wisdom of the 4×4 gods until recently: 4×4 is for getting you out…not in.
The last time I rested my eyes on a ForeRunner was in the early 90s when a colleague took me and a few other co-workers outside to show-off his new purchase. His new ForeRunner had wire wheels. You can’t unsee something like that.
I still wish I’d gotten a Brat during my late 80s love affair with Subaru. Petrichor, how would a mid 80’s BRAT have fared on the excursions you took? They’re skinny for trails and had decent ground clearance. Of course the bed would have been filled with your camping gear.
There’d be a few problems with ground clearance and front overhang, I think, but with the compact size I’ll bet you could sneak a ways down those two tracks that only ATVs seem to go down nowadays.
Good writeup. I wonder if a Lexus GX ever entered consideration, or if they’re just too much more expensive. Seems like the best of both worlds- 4Runner capability, and at least as nice interior as the Cherokee.
I did consider the GX, but there is too much plastic frippery on the bumpers, it kills the approach angle. I couldn’t do what I showed in those pictures without damaging the front. Don’t like the built in running boards either, asking for damage. If I wanted to spend the money to modify the rig and replace that low hanging chin with something aftermarket, it would be a great platform for it and a lot of people do just that.
Living in the desert Southwest, I also get the occasional pangs to drive on roads unsuitable for my Prius. Unfortunately, I’m too practical to own a vehicle that would do that the 1% of the time I want to.
But in the back of my head I keep in mind that Avis will happily rent me a Wrangler if I want that sort of adventure. That mood hasn’t quite struck yet.
True, if you only want to go out annually or less, a rented Jeep would be a better bet. There are several outfits in Moab who do just that, but it is expensive. I don’t know if avis would be happy to see a Wrangler returned with a thick coat of dust and a scrape on the skid plate.
I drive what at least I consider to be a “sporty” car and I try to get the most “1%” out of my daily commute. Every corner, every on-ramp, is an opportunity. I do go through a lot of tires but that’s ok – entertainment expense.
How much “fun” can you truly have in a modern performance car on a commute to work without looking like a massive d-bag to other people trundling along in traffic? Beyond taking advantage of an empty on ramp, I found myself feeling quite self-conscious driving even in a remotely “sporting” fashion in my Audi. If I lived where there are twisty back roads, different story. I had a blast devouring winding rural roads in Central PA this Christmas break. For my commute in Indianapolis, a BOF truck’s sturdy suspension and fat sidewalls are a much bigger boon than sporty handling, sad to say. As always, YMMV.
They’re all texting so they won’t notice. I’m an introvert by nature but rowing through the gears at every stoplight up to the speed limit with noisy mufflers still makes me way less self conscious than most of the boneheadedness I constantly see from other drivers, and it isn’t the sporting drivers that scare me(unless they’re right on the ass of every car they get behind)
Used to be a time I would throttle through turns at a few less busy intersections regularly too but that is something I’ve become way to self conscious about doing in the age of dash cams, youtube fail videos and the abundance of Mustang performance parts surely hexing my Cougar. i’m less cocky about my driving skill too, never had any hooning mishaps but after 10 years of driving I’d like to keep it that way.
Brilliantly articulated! I always explained my choice of vehicle by pointing out that my 4wd could get me to work every day, while a Camry couldn’t manage the Rubicon Trail or Engineer Pass. Even if I’ve only done those once or twice in the last 35 years. Since I bought my first 4wd pickup in 1983, my “personal” vehicle has been a 4wd pickup or SUV (just one of the latter) except for my Forester. Which honestly could do some amazing things offroad, but I like having extra ground clearance, low range, and a locking rear diff for that 1% of the 1%, where they’re needed.
BTW, if your 4.0 4Runner really gets 23mpg at 65 mph I think that’s better than my 3.5 and 6 speed 3rd gen Tacoma does. The current gen 4Runner was slow to gain respect here in the US, compared to its smaller and/or V8 or full time 4wd predecessors, but my perception is that it’s the best real SUV available here now, especially in TRD Pro form. And it’s more popular than ever.
You know, I wouldn’t bet on it getting 23 every single time, but it’s happened several times over some longer distances. On winter blend gas, I’m lucky to hit the 21 EPA rating in winter. Any stop and go drops the mpg very very quickly.
Glad to see one that’s actually used as designed. Around here, I see a lot of 4Runners around painted in the desert camo colors and plastered with gun-loving-I-love-America decals and chances are that the owner never served a day in the military.
Anyway, Im not a Toyota lover but I wouldn’t kick one of these out of the garage and I could see these being worth something someday.
Ugh, haven’t seen one in fake military all-talk-no-action garb yet.
I think the 4Runner may be Toyota’s best product in the North American market, they’ve been doing it well for a long time.
My USAF pilot son refers to the clothes those camo truck drivers favor as “Tactic-Cool.”
As a military retiree I’m not a fan of the stolen glory crowd in any form. Even the wannabe crowd that make no specific claims. I am a fan of the 4runner.
Mine is a 95 3.0 with probably 230k miles at least but who really knows. Driven it for 5 years and replaced the rear end and the hydraulic portion of the clutch system. Everything still works but the clutch and a new timing belt on my non interference engine are on the short list. It’s a grandpa wagon when needed and a farm truck (thanks to various trailers) when I need that. It’s great in the national forest and on the weekends it pulls a trailer with a little house built on so my church can feed the homeless. I just had the last smog inspection it’s required to have (in Texas anyway). Still pulls down 18-21mpg.
At 75 I hope I don’t have to buy another. Like I say, I am a fan.
You have a Hi lux station wagon it get a bit more gussied up in Prado flavour but underneath is a Hi lux, the turbo diesel is the pick of them good power and moderate thirst.
kiwibryce that’s not quite right. The 4runner is pure Land Cruiser Prado in terms of frame and the hard points, the “hi Lux station wagon” is the Fortuner overseas, it indeed has the Hilux frame and mechanicals (except the Fortuner has a 5 link coil sprung rear axle like the Prado). Way back in the late 80s-early 90s, yes our 4Runner was the overseas Hilux Surf and was based on the Hilux truck.
Correct, from what I’ve been able to find.
Perceived capability used to be a major selling point for SUVs, see the SUV song from Veggie Tales, where they use 4WD to get to the ice cream store. As reality set in, the CUV rose in popularity because it looks capable but is optimized for daily driving rather than serious offroading.
The 4Runner and Wrangler are the last of a fading breed of SUV that compromise daily convenience for real off road capability. This means that it should have an OHV sticker on it to prove it actually does get driven off road, otherwise the owner is a poseur.
Personally I drive a crossover because I only need to drive dirt roads to trailheads and couldn’t find a cheap AWD station wagon when I needed a replacement car.
You know what? I honestly thought that the 4Runner had been discontinued. I rarely see them on the road anymore. I really liked them, especially the late 90’s to early 2000’s 4Runners because they actually looked like SUV’s. These modern day CUV’s look like station wagons on steroids. I’m so glad Toyota didn’t slap the 4Runner name on a pumped up minivan like Nissan did with the Pathfinder.
I wouldn’t be surprised if 4Runner sales were highly regional. I’ve seen a lot out here in Utah, to the point where I kind of scowl at other red ones because my vehicle is no longer so unique on the road. Sales have gone up remarkably in the last few years–in 2018 Toyota sold almost as many as Subaru sold Foresters. Subaru is another regional seller. Nationwide Outback and Forester sales are dwarfed by any number of other vehicles but they are on every corner here. Crosstreks too.
5th gen 4 Runners are hugely popular in California, ranging from serious (or wannabe) ExPo rigs to chrome-laden Limiteds. So it must be very regional, based on comments here.
Having read the comments, I think one overlooked selling point of the 4Runner is it’s antiquated engineering. It is durable. Sure, Toyota is famous for their durability across their line-up, but no uni-body is going to have the overall durability of a body-on-frame model. Cars and CUVs are going 200k miles, now. Pickups and true SUVs are going 300k and more, provided they’re owner driven. I know plenty of “poseurs” driving heavy duty pickups and Suburbans,, fact is they’ll still be “posing” long after the wife’s RX350 or CR-V has long been dead.
Another reason for the rise of the CUV versus the SUV is not merely their more civilized manners, but cost. Unibodies are inherently less expensive to manufacture.
What I haven’t read here amongst the 4Runner, Highlander, and Subaru comparisons, is a mention of the FJ Cruiser. Personally, I’m not too crazy about them, I’d much rather have a 4Runner, but I wonder what Petrichor’s observations of them out in the wild are? Closer to the dreaded Wrangler? (Disclaimer: Anyone who’s seen my recent posts knows my utter disdain for Jeep and all things deemed “Chrysler Crap”.. My recent experience with a Grand Cherokee has put a very bad taste in my mouth for anything recent from Chrysler)
Frankster, that’s a good observation. Durability of this vehicle is a very bright silver lining. Perhaps even a primary reason for buying it over something more refined with similar capabilities. If you want to keep it long term or use it in locations where a breakdown can’t be addressed by a AAA membership, this is important.
Regarding the FJ Cruiser, I don’t have any firsthand experience except sitting in one at the dealership. All the 4Runner’s good bones are there and it has a shorter wheelbase and better departure angle so there’s some advantage off road. Given the platform and independent front suspension I imagine it is far closer to the 4Runner on pavement than the Wrangler. The problems I see with this vehicle is that the clamshell doors and jump seats make it terrible for family use and the outward visibility to the rear 180-degrees is unbelievably bad, which is a problem on road and off. They sacrificed too much for the exterior styling that I admittedly love.
Something about the FJ wasn’t resonating with the market–it’s no less practical than the Wrangler and more refined, but after the first two years it’s demand was largely saturated and it dropped to a steady ~13K per year until they axed it. I would have liked to see them revise it, perhaps with a redone dashboard and reworked exterior with more glass space. It was a cheaper way into the Toyota 4×4 world than the 4Runner, and now that the 4Runner has taken off in sales over the past 2-3 years, I wonder if axing it wasn’t a business mistake as well.
One feature of the FJ not offered on the equivalent 4Runner was a full-time 4wd mode with the 6 speed manual trans. The previous gen of 4Runner offered a full-time mode but no manual trans. But as Petrichor said, in my limited exposure sitting in one or two FJ’s, the packaging and poor visibility of the FJ made it a non-starter for me.
The Rockies are lousy with 4Runners of all generations, they’re everywhere… a fair number of FJ’s as well.
Mr. Burns from The Simpsons: “Toyota 4Runner……….EXCELLENT.”