New OR, Justified Disappointment?

I have 5800 miles and hardly a peep from anything yet. So agree with all the folks saying take it to the dealer. If they care they can get it sorted. I had a mysteriously squeaky driver seat in my BMW and while it took two attempts the dealer was serious about it and made a permanent fix.

All that said, the 4R is an old-school truck. It's not actually civilized, just prettied up a bit to fool ya . So I don't think some squeaks and rattles are out of place. There's a lot about the thing I wouldn't accept in any other vehicle I've had..... Let's see.... uh.... cheap interior plastics, weak headlights, mediocre acceleration, poor cornering, terrible gas mileage.....

 

lol what’s left?! I like a bit of old school I admit, I guess for 40 grand I had hoped it would be silent inside, but no use in stressing about it, dealer appointment has been made, but as long as it’s dead reliable mechanically I can live with its idiosyncrasies and enjoy it.

 

Ours isn't "silent" either with less than 200 miles on it. But okay, we didn't buy it for being a luxury ride, would have taken a Lexus, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW or Audi for that. I am very much reminded of the Mercedes Sprinter vans I drove in the 90s nearly every weekend ... from handling, over interior to acceleration, it's all very similar ... the truck has it's place in other scenarios.

 

That's so weird -- one of the pleasant surprises I've had with my Limited is how solid it feels when you shut the doors. Strange. Of course, a few of my recent cars had frameless-window doors, so that makes a big difference. (Which reminds me, I just hate that a power window has to automatically drop or lower itself a half inch just to let you open or close the door. Too complicated!)

 

It is just a BOF suv or wagon as our insurance states...
You give a few things up for the capabilities of the vehicle! If you want the same platform you can always go to the Lexus GX460. It is a luxury version of the 4Runner. I personally prefer the look of the 4Runner.
Ryan.

 

My 2016 Pro is still solid as a rock, the doors to me seem very solid. No interior rattles at all.

 

As far as the comments about the 4runner interior feeling cheap, and doors sounding tinny; I sometimes think my '03 SR5 was a tad quieter than my '19 ORP is. But, my 4runner is still much quieter than my '15 Taco was.

One thing I will say is that my 2003 was still just as quiet and solid feeling at 257K miles when I traded it in as it was when I bought it (used) in 2005. So, if my 2019 is of the same quality, it will still feel basically new for many years. Not many cars hold up so well.

 

Mine rattles, squeaks and is loud. I’m currently trying to get Toyota to buy it back from me. Hoping they do. I hate my particular 4runner.

 

He's talking about this...

Same stuff I used on the convertible top seals on my S2000.

 

That’s it I’m selling mine before it starts to rattle. lol. My wife has been driving Acura’s for years. She thought after I added the new Eibach springs my 4runner would not be as quiet as stock. She loves riding it in or driving it. She evens says it feels really solid when driving on the road. Maybe I’m lucky that all my Toyota’s felt the same way.

 

should of included more info. At the factory they missed pinch welds on my driver side. My interior was making loud noises like pieces of sheet metal slapping together for months. Toyota sent it to a body shop to figure out the noise and they found the missing pinch welds. They had to replace panels/door and repaint the driver side of my vehicle twice.

they had to replace my dashboard.

the cowel was installed improperly at the factory and the windshield was making loud noises. Had to be reinstalled.

my rear seat hinges are defective and have to be replaced.

the vehicle was purchased new less than a year ago and I’ve had these problems since day 1.

currently my ac/heater motor is also on the way out.

the vehicle was purchased new and I received a non completed product from the factory. My “new” car wasn’t really new since it had to be repainted several times.

 

Jeez. That's ridiculous! Must have been a Friday build. That sounds like a lemon. I can't imagine how so many things got screwed up on one car.

 

Update, pulling the rear factory cargo mat out of the 4Runner fixed it. No more annoying squeak.
Going to trim the mat a bit.

 

That's horrible! Have you consulted a lemon law attorney? I went through that once. No cost (or risk of it), not much hassle and it worked -- the dealer bought the car back from me for a good price.

 

So much about "have a hard time believing the Japanese would let their QC standards slip for ANY reason". They are just as bad as all the others these days. Only older design and less advanced tech.

 

Lol.

How do you figure?

 

Just read up on problems and look at international statistics on break downs or yearly/biyearly inspections. It's not rocket science. There are still better and worse out there, but overall the field has come together significantly closer than it used to be. A lot of the ranking differences also come from differences in expectations. An interior squeak in an otherwise beautifully silent and nicely designed Mercedes will get A LOT more attention and worse ratings than a squeak in a utilitarian Toyota or Honda. It's just the nature of the beast.

 

Hmm. I still think the 4runner's quality is a touch higher than it's competition. I don't hear nearly as many complaints compared to a wrangler, etc.

I will admit that other companies seem to have gotten better than in the past, so it's closer than it used to be, as you said.

You can't really compare fit and finish to a Mercedes or BMW as those are considered luxury cars, and should be held to a higher standard.

 

I think that's debatable. If they cost the same, you'll have to check where engineering and material costs go. The 4Runner is very low on value for what you get on the inside, it is very low (and cheap) tech for the drive train. The benefit is simplicity and therefore less components to break. Toyota is milking the concept significantly with their trim options. I would have been happy with an SR5 trim with some options added. Can't do. You HAVE to buy a comparably high priced trim level, but still get SR5 price level quality parts all over the place for a few bits and pieces that are actually rather low in additional cost while manufacturing the thing.

The real benefit you get from a 4Runner is that is a well understood, simplistic concept with fewer things to go wrong. That produces a certain level of reliability right there: less parts, less breakage, better understood problems that can be solved easier. It does NOT produce necessarily better quality, although it can, since the age of the design has given opportunity for incremental improvement on possibly problematic parts. It produces a much higher margin on Toyota's end though, since real money is going into actually modern development.

I personally find it completely ridonkulous that if I set the center infotainment to Celsius, but the AC and instrument cluster stay on Fahrenheit. The person who implemented this should consider some honorable death for doing something so outrageously stupid that could have been solved so easily and is such a little thing to get right to give a better overall impression. It's embarrassing for Toyota engineering. And the 4Runner is full of these little oddities where obviously nobody at Toyota gives a **** to get these little things right.

And don't get me wrong: we bought a 4Runner TRD Pro for a reason, but the reason is NOT the rather low interior quality, or the laughable infotainment, or the shitty LED headlights without auto leveling, or the rather nasty fake leather seat material, or ... you name it. The reason is that the simplistic, well understood concept make it a fairly safe bet if you don't want issues that you HAVE to get solved to actually use the vehicle. Oh, and the resale value is high, because there will always be "somebody" who thinks that yesterdays technology was better (and might be right in some cases) ... ;-)

 

No matter how many complain about the quality of the Toyota’s. The trade in value is crazy on them. They hold there value so well. Yes anyone can get a lemon with issues. Me personally I
have made out pretty good with Toyota. If anyone remembers the recall on the old Tacoma’s with the bad frames well I had a 1998 off road with 173,000 on it. Trouble free except for the hole in the frame. Well Toyota did the buy back. That was crazy how much they gave me.

 

I guess we actually agree here, just different viewpoints. I do agree that they're way behind with some if the technology and comfort features.

They are consistently ranked as one of the most reliable vehicles available, so that's where I'm coming from with my opinion about quality.

My personal experience comes from a 2003, so I guess I'm just hoping that this one is built as well as that one was. Like I said earlier, that interior was basically silent after years of use and abuse. If the new one doesn't live up to my expectations, I might have to eat my words.

 

@Thatbassguy – let's hope for the best!

 

LOL nice write up. In summary, a lot of us buy the things for the Zombie Apocalypse. If the shit hits the fan and you really gotta high tail it out of Dodge, there are few things you rather have. Lots of interior room for family/pets/supplies. Lots of ability if part of your escape route is off road. High ground clearance and skid plates and rugged BOF construction for when ya gotta drive over the heaps of dead (re-dead) zombies. Willingness to swig some iffy gas, and happy with the low octane stuff. Lower than normal odds of a mechanical failure that leaves you stranded or can't be fixed without specialized equipment. THAT'S the main reason for the 4R IMO.

Plus, in the meantime it's pretty fun and useful for normal everyday life.

 

Very likely, that's not all that far off the truth.

Although this:

Is HIGHLY unlikely for a very high percentage of owners unless you live in a place where the off-road capabilities you mention are used in everyday life.

 

The reliability thing is real. The 4R is consistently near the top in vehicles that last over 200,0000 miles. And do you know what's at the top? The Land Cruiser, which is built at the same factory. Would most of us rather have a Land Cruiser? Sure. But that's 80 freaking grand!

While not scientific, I still think it's worth noting how many posters on this forum report exceeding 200K miles, even 300K, and how few serious mechanical issues are discussed. It's exceedingly rare to read about engine or trans failures or electrical issues. The fundamentals of the 4R are unusually solid.

 

toyota is supposed to get back to me in a few weeks. However I have a new problem. My screen took a shit

 

Looks like proven high quality and reliability ... Should have bought a Land Rover.

Wish you the best of luck to resolve this to your liking.

 

Jeezus! I hope they take care of you!

 

That ok. Your 4runner is a 2020. So when they put the new one in. Put a screen protector on it so you don’t get scratches on it. I don’t know if you had one on but I put one on mine before I got any scratches on it.