Did I buy a chick vehicle?

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

There are a bunch of 5th Gen 4Runners in my area due to the nearby mountains and nearly limitless opportunities for outdoor adventures. So you can't hardly throw a rock without hitting either a 4Runner or a Jeep Wrangler.

I usually give a friendly wave to every 5th Gen I pass on the road; especially those modified, and I've noticed that the vast majority of owners are women. Most of the modified ones have male drivers, but every now and then a female will be behind the wheel of a nicely set up rig, which is cool to see.

There are a few 5th Gens in my parking lot at work, and every single one is owned by a woman. And all are between 25 to 40 years old. Only one has a lift and 285s (besides mine).

I know that this site is predominantly populated by males, but in my area, nearly every one I see is owned/driven by a female.

Have you noticed that in your area, or is just me?

Maybe the women in my area just have excellent taste in vehicles (except my girlfriend. Went from a Hummer, to a Jeep Compass, to a Nissan Juke, and now a Nissan Rogue...).

 

This made me laugh. maybe it’s just the area you’re in?! 3/4 times I look into a 4Runner in southern CA it’s a guy? Now that I got a 20% tint they probably can’t tell it’s a girl driving the car hahah. But most of the 4runners I’ve seen that is driven by women is stock. You’re not wrong, there’s barely any girls on this forum as well. I think you bought a unisex car hahahah.

Your commentary on your girl’s car choice is too funny.

 

im a female lol... I noticed here in Hawaii there's a lot of women who have 4runners too and your right its mostly the men who have modified runners and females that have stock . I love my runner and eventually would like to do more to it

 

Or, it could be that the men in Southern California are as feminine as the women in Idaho...

Oh, and every woman I've seen driving a 4Runner is attractive, which is notable. More women than men in Limited 4Runners, Only elderly people I've seen in a 4Runner have been in a Limited version as well, and more men than women in the TRDs. My SR5 is firmly in the camp of attractive women between 30 and 40. And my girlfriend loves it. But she's an attractive 40yr old originally from Southern California and a huge USC and Raiders fan, which is annoying.

 

My wife drives a slightly upgraded (lift, wheels and tires and soon UCA's) '20 ORP, age group 58+, and I'm trying to stop laughing about your post, then it hit me! The 4Runners I see around here (Central Wisconsin) have been mostly driven by women! Not all, like 75-80%. Before the 4Runner my wife drove a lifted, big tired and wheeled Tacoma. While I procure the vehicles, she drives 'em. Good observation on your part though! Truckin' On!

 

If you're worried about it, just drive through some mud and don't wash it off. It'll project an air of masculinity.

 

There is so much truth in what you say! My wife and I have played this game since last year! It would see that, most the 4runner owners we see are women and again, all are pretty damn attractive! I imagine Toyota’s lack of change stems from this account.
Is it possible that the largest clientele of the 4runner is hot babes? Why would Toyota want to change a vehicle that sells so well to the non enthusiast?

Hopefully this isn’t a complaint, honestly never mind a pretty sight on the eyes!!

 

When my wife drives our modified 4Runner pretty much every dude she sees in 4Runner waves at her. She doesn’t even like stop for gas because if she’s alone, more often than not there will be a guy that walks over to “ask about the 4Runner.”

Neither of those things happen to me when I drive it lol

 

Hilarious topic!

Some of the folks on Tacomaworld seem to think so. Apparently preferring to have a secure, enclosed cargo area and being able to fit grown-ups in the back seat makes you a little girl.

It seems around 50/50 here.

Being in an area where a capable 4×4 is often a necessity could skew the numbers.

I wonder if women have any theories about men in 4runners being generally attractive or not?

 

I'm curious as to how you can tell the men from the women in the pacific northwest...

 

I actually get a little disappointed every time I try to wave to another runner and see a chick driving. Only because they usually don’t care about that shit lol

 

Although I haven't actually been keeping track, in the upstate of South Carolina (we're near the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains) I have noticed a pretty decent mix of men/women driving unmodified SR5s and XPs, mostly men in TRDs, and mostly women in Limiteds. It have only noticed men in TRD Pros. As to the level of attractiveness, I haven't paid much attention. I have, however, noted that most of the people I see driving 4Runners, especially 5th gens, seem to be more physically fit. Perhaps this is due to the proximity of recreational outdoor activities (hiking, biking, camping, kayaking/canoeing, etc.) which are usually associated with 4Runners and 4Runner owners (and Subaru wagon owners, Tacoma owners, and other 'adventure' type single or family vehicle owners).

Skewing the results are folks driving Jeeps, who range in sex, level of fitness, and general physical activity. Most of the wranglers are either completely stock mall crawlers (my brother-in-law) or modified for wheeling/crawling. Other Jeep models (newer Cherokees, XJs, GCs, etc.) typically fall into the "I just wanted a Jeep" category because "they look cool".

Damnit. Now I feel like Sheldon. As I sit here typing this, I'm thinking of ways to quantify these observations (developing a sample size, control groups, survey, etc).

Maybe I'll just get out and enjoy my 4Runner with the kids tomorrow and hit some light trails in the area.

 

Maybe Area you’re in? On my commute home from work I come across 4-5 modified 4runners like mine. 4 of the 5 are males. Then the stock ones are usually male. I have noticed In my area though most limited model 4runners I see are driven by a female.

 

LMAOOO

 

Awh, I’d wave back. Haha keep trying.

 

I cannot with your first sentence. LOL, you may have a point there. Could be! I’ll do a daily tally from now on. 70 miles on the road a day, I see about 15+ 4runners, it would give a decent pool to do this analysis.

okay fair, the limited are 9/10 driven by women. SR5 about 50/50. OR are about 6:1 male to female. At least in my head this is the breakdown. I will conduct further field observations to confirm and give you an update.

I’ve definitely noticed most that drive the 4runner are probably in the 40-50+ (maybe mid 30s too) age group. At least this is what I can gather from my 3 second stare. I can’t say I’ve paid attention to the attractiveness, but I will make a note of this during my field investigation . I’m 26 and don’t see too many ORs or 4Runners driven by people in my age group but I’d probably say that is due to the cost of the vehicle. I love this thread, I’ll give an update next week on the 4Runner demographic of southern CA .

 

I live in an area with two major universities within 8 miles of each other and am amazed at the vehicles the college kids drive these days. The Asian students particularly have a fondness for German vehicles.

The median income around here is $33k and I see a ton of Porsche Cayenne SUVs on the road. The problem is, they don't know how to drive or maintain them. The parents buy them $70k vehicles for college, but do nothing to teach their kids how to safely operate them or keep them maintained.

I talked to a kid the other day at the gas station that was filling up his BMW X5. Chinese national that spoke almost no English. I noticed that his front tires were completely bald, with cords poking out on the outer edges. He also had a big scrape on the driver's side where he had hit a pole at a drive-thru or something.

I mentioned to him that we were getting a big snow storm this weekend and that he should get new tires. He just nodded his head and smiled and indicated he didn't speak English.

So, I guess I see a lot of very nice vehicles being driven by younger people in this area. When I was in my twenties, I drove a 70's muscle car and had a brand new Toyota 4x4 regular cab pickup.

 

OP buy a Jeep. There's nothing more manly than a guy busting a sweat, fixing his broken rig on the side of the road.

I've actually had someone else say the same thing, people think it's a girly vehicle (his words). I was like, oh...well damn it's going to be embarrassing for you when my girly vehicle pulls you out of that mudhole.

 

Here in MI it's quite the opposite. I see TONs of females driving Jeeps - way more than males (most are between the ages of 18 - mid 20's). As for the 4Runners, most of the drivers I see are male, unless its a limited - then its usually a female, with the exception of a few older males well into their 60's.

 

That’s actually quiet common! Same here when I was going to college in San Diego. There were so many dinged up Range Rover, Aston Martins, Porsche and German cars in our parking lots. Majority of the drivers were foreign students (primarily from China). I didn’t know much about the international Chinese students but apparently they need to take a really difficult exam to be admitted to the universities there. When they don’t pass.. their parents send them here to come get their education and most that come here are well-off hence the expensive cars. Most don’t take care of their cars as you mentioned and it’s their parents money.

I’ve been financially independent since I was 18 so I can’t relate hahah. But it would be nice to have a luxury car at that age. I decided that I work too hard and it was time to buy my attainable dream car. Let’s see if I have any regrets.

 

In my area I see men and women driving 4Runners. When my wife and I went to buy her 4Runner the very first thing she said to me when we got home from the dealership was have you ordered my lift, tires, and rims yet ?

 

I live in North Orange County here in Southern California I would say I see mostly guys driving 4runners and most have some kind of Mod. I do see more young women driving lifted Jeeps with either Method or XD wheels, It’s a thing here....

 

I am Michigan also and ton and tons of women drive Jeeps, it is very popular. I have seen a few driving 4Runners although more seem to be men. Although I think the domestic name plates are obviously more prevalent in my area.

 

Was looking for 4Runner memes for the other thread and came across this gem. Figured it belongs here .....

 

I have purchased four 4runners over the years and all are still in the family. My wife loves her 2012, her daughter the 2008, grandson drives the 2005 (which was previously driven by the daughter and granddaughter). My bicycle or golf clubs are always in my 2016. Never had a repair on any of these, just maintenance stuff. Clearly we are all big fans especially the females.

 

So one thought I've had about this before was the guys buy the Tacomas and the ladies the 4Runners, but that's just cause the guys want a 4Runner but need a truck bed. And for the ladies, I want my wife in a reliable and safe vehicle. When I didn't need the Tacoma, I just had 2 4Runners. Later, we now have my 4Runner and Outback (also safe vehicle). So maybe that's driving some of that.

 

Heck, even on this site I've seen plenty of "I bought my wife a 4Runner, but I drive a..." Granted, I've always thought those posts come off as "me, man, drive truck! Me buy SUV for woman!"

 

I was originally researching Tacomas, too. It is the perfect vehicle for overlanding in pretty much stock form. But, more I thought about it more I’ve realized that I’d have better use of the cabin space vs the truck bed. All my camping supplies are in an enclosed and air conditioned environment vs being exposed to the elements. This also applies for when we do road trips or even going grocery shopping. 4Runner is a solution to my needs 98% of the time whereas strictly needing a truck bed is a seldom event for me. And in such a case, I can always rent a trailer for dirty work. So, 4Runner just made a lot more sense.

 

I see what you're saying. I don't need a pickup bed, so I have a 4runner. Also, I like being able to transport adults in the back seat. sadly, the 4runner also seems better insulated and is quieter than my Tacoma was.

 

I had a 2009 Tacoma TRDOR extended cab. That was the loudest interior ever. I went with 4R for interior comfort and passenger space. I plan on buying a trailer for those times when I need a 'bed'.