Thinking of getting a 4Runner?

[ekinnee]

I traded mine in for an m440. They're fun offroad but drive like shit otherwise. They're slow, inefficient and have tons of body roll on the street as daily driver.

[XutvJet]

My wife has a 2020 4Runner that's modded with OEM parts to look like a Pro. I have a stock 2011 Cayman 6MT and a modded 2016 M235 6MT. My daughter has my wife's old car, a 2015 Outback 3.6R butched up with 17" wheels and AT tires.

My wife absolutely loves her 4runner and right now she's heading to CO and will be camping in it for 6 nights. I love the 4runner too. It's the perfect size SUV, IMO. It's well built and no fluff. The new gen 4runner addresses all the issues with the 5th gen and earlier models like MPG, suspension sway, acceleration, gear hunting, etc. Neither my wife or I know how to really 4X4 though plan to learn in the near future. The 4runner is complete overkill for what we use it for, but the wife loves it. The Outback is a far better dual purpose vehicle and can really hold it's own on road and light off-roading.

I've enjoyed the 4runner so much that I plan to sell my M235 and get a F150 XL regular cab/short bed V8. I really like the new Land Cruiser (cleaner design vs the new 4runner) but it's too pricey for me at the moment and why have basically two of the same SUV?

Like others noted, I'd definitely drive one. The problem though will be trying to test drive a new one. I imagine they'll be impossible to buy for at least a year once they are out. You might want to drive a 5th gen just to see and keep in mind that everything will be about 20% better in the 6th gen.

[Efthreeoh]

Here's my two cents. Just for creds... I have three BMWs in the fleet at the moment and five in total over the past 35 years. All manuals and of the three in the fleet, one is a Z3 and one is a Z4 Coupe.

Get a Bronco with the 2.3L EcoBoost and a manual transmission instead of a boring 4Runner. If you can use the smaller 2-door version go with that, but the 4-door works well too. If you want utilitarian, that's the Bronco (rubber floors with drains). Get the Black Diamond or Badlands trim. The Bronco has a really good suspension and has some sport to it on the street (it has a "Sport" driving mode). I find mine quite entertaining to drive (keep in mind the reference to my BMW experience). Ford offers a tune for the 2.3L EcoBoost that's bumps the HP from 300 to 330 and torque from 325 to 385 if you feel you need more power, and it's factory warranted. All had with a manual transmission and a decent EPS system.

A Bronco is not a replacement for an M4 obviously, but as far as entertainment value in a 4x4 ORV, it's far better in entertainment than a fixed-roof 4Runner. Once you drive a Jeep or Bronco with the top off and doors off "you get it" why people like it, and never want to go back to a full cage.

[BlkGS]

Get a grand Cherokee if you want a vehicle that's very off-road capable. They at least don't suck to drive daily

[XutvJet]

Get a Bronco or Jeep if you like visiting the shop

A 4runner with the windows down, back window down, and moonroof open is a pretty dang nice open driving experience too. A stock 4runner on AT tires has 90+% of the off road capability of a Jeep or new Bronco and is the only one you can completely trust when 200+ miles of a main road.

Two good friends have new Broncos. One is a two door and the other a four door. It's surprising to me just how cheap the interior is on those and how they make our 2020 4runner's interior look fancy and less plastic. The Broncos also creak and rattle and our 5 y/o 4runner is like a vault. Their Broncos also cost $17K+ more too! WTF?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Get a Bronco or Jeep if you like visiting the shop

A 4runner with the windows down, back window down, and moonroof open is a pretty dang nice open driving experience too. A stock 4runner on AT tires has 90+% of the off road capability of a Jeep or new Bronco and is the only one you can completely trust when 200+ miles of a main road.

Two good friends have new Broncos. One is a two door and the other a four door. It's surprising to me just how cheap the interior is on those and how they make our 2020 4runner's interior look fancy and less plastic. The Broncos also creak and rattle and our 5 y/o 4runner is like a vault. Their Broncos also cost $17K+ more too! WTF?

Yet the Gen 6 Runner has a turbo or turbo/hybrid drivetrain. Reports are Toyota's turbos are reliable like everyone else's are. And I'm daily on the Bronco forums. A few early fuel pump failures, that's it.

My Black Diamond has zero creeks, zero rattles, and was $39.3K
The 2024's have jumped in price. Inflation. 2025 4Runner TRD is $50K per Car and Driver estimates. The Bronco interior is meant to be the way it is. Utilitarian and moisture resistant. The doors and roof come off so the panel gaps are larger by design and let in more noise.

[Innovade]

My 4Runner is the only vehicle I trust out in the middle of the woods with no reception. I live in the PNW as well and my 4Runner + Falken Wildpeak AT (great in rain and snow as well) can get me anywhere.

With Ford's reliability track record, I would not trust it like I would trust a Toyota. I would hate being stranded out in the woods.

[JohnnyT]

Ask your question on 4Runner6g.com (the forum for the new 6th gen 4Runner) and I'm sure you'll get much different answers than some of what you're seeing here.

[BlkGS]

The last gen 4Runner is the reliable one. They used that 4.0 V6 and automatic for the better part of 2 decades. It has no power and is crap on gas but they just don't break.

The new ones with their new turbo hybrid 4? Who knows. I wouldn't bet on it having the same reliability. Probably a bit better than average, buttnotota had a lot of issues with the new turbo v6 in tundra at first. Nobody nails it right from the get go.

[cfm56d7b]

Bayo_Ruby, there is nothing with 4Runners. Just the opposite - I owned 3 of them. It just goes anywhere.

The new model offers a lot of potential but for me absence of a V-6 is a deal breaker. The new Lexus GX does have a V-6 engine.

It's not a BMW but it wasn't designed to compete with a BMW. As a second vehicle with an ability to ignore potholes - just get it and enjoy it for different non-BMW reasons.

[whyzee125]

I love the e90 and 4runner combo that I have. 4runner and m4 would be even better. Toyota trucks are badass. You’ll love it.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Yet the Gen 6 Runner has a turbo or turbo/hybrid drivetrain. Reports are Toyota's turbos are reliable like everyone else's are. And I'm daily on the Bronco forums. A few early fuel pump failures, that's it.

My Black Diamond has zero creeks, zero rattles, and was $39.3K
The 2024's have jumped in price. Inflation. 2025 4Runner TRD is $50K per Car and Driver estimates. The Bronco interior is meant to be the way it is. Utilitarian and moisture resistant. The doors and roof come off so the panel gaps are larger by design and let in more noise.

I'm not so much a fan of Toyota going turbo with the 4runner and Land Cruiser. Their turbo track record with their newer trucks is pretty dismal, especially for a Toyota. I hope the reliability of the 4 banger turbo is solid. 4runners are currently the most dependable vehicles on the road largely because the truck is the same one introduced in freaking 2012!!!

You must have a 2.3 Ecoboost Bronco. My friends have turbo 6 versions. One is a 2022 (paid MSRP $52K) and the other just got a fairly loaded 2024 for $57K. I don't know what to say about the creaks and rattles. They both are pretty rattely over bad surfaces and yeah, most of the noise comes from the hardtop parts.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

I'm not so much a fan of Toyota going turbo with the 4runner and Land Cruiser. Their turbo track record with their newer trucks is pretty dismal, especially for a Toyota. I hope the reliability of the 4 banger turbo is solid. 4runners are currently the most dependable vehicles on the road largely because the truck is the same one introduced in freaking 2012!!!

You must have a 2.3 Ecoboost Bronco. My friends have turbo 6 versions. One is a 2022 (paid MSRP $52K) and the other just got a fairly loaded 2024 for $57K. I don't know what to say about the creaks and rattles. They both are pretty rattely over bad surfaces and yeah, most of the noise comes from the hardtop parts.

I do have the 2.3.

Honestly, I wasn't excited about going turbo either, but in the market there is no choice, because EVERYTHING is a 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder turbo. I wanted a manual transmission and didn't want a Wrangler (I had a YJ for 14 years). Ford had an early issue with bad valvetrain parts on the 2.7L EcoBoost V6 and bad fuel pumps on 2022 models, both resolved. There is a TSB on the manual transmission for a cold temp "scraping " noise, but I've not seen it on mine.

I've got maybe 15 years of driving left in me until they take me to the boobyhatch, I'm thinking that's less than 100,000 miles on the Bronco total; the 2.3L EcoBoost routinely sees 200,000+ miles commercial service in Ford products the world over, so im confident I'll have no issues with it. And for God's sake, I've been driving BMWs for 35 years, like a Ford could intimidate me.

I did have a popping noise on my driver's roof panel that showed up during my first winter with the Bronco. The dealership adjusted it and it's been good since. I've had the hard top off twice so far and no noises when I put it back on. It's designed so there is no guesswork. It sits exactly where it is supposed to and bolts in in 5 minutes.

Not my first Ford rodeo either. I like them.

[Donut Lord]

Originally Posted by Bayo_Ruby

https://www.toyota.com/upcoming-vehicles/4runner/

I've never owned a non sports car. Getting into my 30's now and I'm starting to feel the tug of an SUV.

They're high up off the ground, don't have to worry about curbs, speed bumps, better mpg, towing, camping, more usable all around.

I live in the PNW, and half the time we don't go on hikes or camping in certain spots because Google Maps road view shows me uneven dirt roads and other horrors an M4 shouldn't experience.

For an SUV, I want something utilitarian vs. luxury. It's supposed to get used and dirty. Sort of the opposite of our cars. The new 4Runner looks like more than enough.

I'm guessing for a lot of you here, the M4 is your secondary car, or you at least owned a truck/SUV.

Am I glamorizing it? Will I feel suicidal?

A '22 4Runner TRD Pro is our main vehicle, while my '12 E92 M3 just sits in the garage 95% of the time.

What do you want to know as an M3 owner and a 4Runner owner?

[Bay0]

Originally Posted by Donut Lord

A '22 4Runner TRD Pro is our main vehicle, while my '12 E92 M3 just sits in the garage 95% of the time.

What do you want to know as an M3 owner and a 4Runner owner?

I guess it comes down to, if you could only have 1, which would it be and why?

[Donut Lord]

Originally Posted by Bayo_Ruby

I guess it comes down to, if you could only have 1, which would it be and why?

If I needed to have one. The 4Runner, but it would have to be a TRD Pro like I have.

M3 is amazing. I love every moment in it, but due to my WFH career it is a big paper weight lol

[masab321]

Originally Posted by user12464

Add an X3 or X5 to the stable. They will handle the uneven dirt roads.

4 Runners are fine and good for serious off road, but it's gonna feel like driving a school bus after the M4.

This. I had a Tacoma with my M4 and it was so sluggish and borinh to drive. Just got an X5 and that B58 is love.

[MJBO]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

Get a grand Cherokee if you want a vehicle that's very off-road capable. They at least don't suck to drive daily

If you buy one of those it’s probably more important to know how your local dealer’s service loaner feels as a daily.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by MJBO

If you buy one of those it’s probably more important to know how your local dealer’s service loaner feels as a daily.

My grand Cherokee was problem free. It was a loaded hemi overland too. My x5 m50i averages a visit to the dealer a quarter for some dumb issue.