[Update: First Delivery Reported!] 6th gen 4Runners arriving at dealerships now (photos)

I’m 69. Been driving a car or truck of my own since 17. I’ve never had a flat (or blow out) while out driving anywhere. Over the years, I’ve had two flats on two different vehicles right at home, as in coming out to the vehicle in the garage and discovering a tire had gone flat at home over night. (A nail in one tire, a screw in the other.)

Back when I bought my 2006 Tundra new, some SOB stole the spare tire in the first year. Cranked it down and stole it. I never replaced it. When I sold the Tundra privately last year, the buyer noticed the spare was missing and questioned me about it. I told him someone stole it back in 2007 and I never bothered to replace it.

I guess I’ve just been pretty lucky when it comes to tires.

 

You are lucky. I remember drivers training at age 15 at Sears. My first time in the car with the instructor we got a flat as I was driving. He had me pull into a gas station and said today is your lucky day and walked me through how to change a tire.

 

Then a few years later I remember around 18 towing my now boat home from the dealer (my Grandfather) had purchased it. We were in the interstate with a Ford Econoline van pulling the boat and boom tire pops on brand new boat trailer.

So I got my experience at changing tires early on. Stopping a trailer with a flat was no easy chore thankfully not much traffic that day

 

I gave my spare tire away once. It was about 7yrs ago. At the time I owned a Hyundai Sonata. Someone on the side of the road was sitting there with a flat. I thought I would do a good deed and offer to help them change their tire. Turns out, they had a spare tire on their car already and got ANOTHER flat.

I didn't want to give up my spare tire, but I thought that was God's way of telling me something. Whatever... I did it. I changed their flat by giving them my spare tire. It wasn't a full sized tire, it was the donut. But I never used it during the entire time that I owned the car. When I sold it I admitted to the dealership when I traded it in that it didn't have the spare. The sales guy asked me why and I told him. He was shocked, but in a good way.

 

toyota does that on purpose. when a new gen comes out they de-content it from the previous gen. its so they can add all the little things back each year so the average consumer can see new stuff added each year.

saw it on my 2004 4R and my 2014 4R and seeing now on the 6G 4R

 

this feature is for the benefit of cafe/carb rules. it has no benefit for the end consumer. same goes for the air dam on any recent bof vehicle. .1 mpg across a oem fleet cage avg does wonders for the oem, it does jack shit for a the consumer.

 

FYI it seems like there’s a solution to disable the ASS system already available.

That’s good to keep in mind. So maybe the OR will eventually get power seats. Maybe even the SR5 instrument LED screen will get a software reflash to show a picture of a two-gauge instrument cluster instead of a picture of a 1990s base tercel instrument cluster. Hopefully they don’t get ideas and offer it as a subscription service.

Unfortunately, Toyota doesn’t mess around when they de-content transfer case options. The “budget” version of the Limited trim doesn’t get a center locker any more. Judging from the transfer case de-contenting from 4th to 5th generation, it’s never coming back to the poor man’s limited trim.


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With flats, they hardly ever happen, unless they do. And it seems that when it rains it pours. The last time it happened to me, it was on my trusty 1999 Accord. I had to change two flats within a month. Changed one in a parking lot, and another at home. Both times, they couldn’t be patched, so the spare got me to the tire store immediately without having to rely on a tow or anybody else. That by itself is worth it.

This last summer on my trip to Colorado, I went solo camping. Dispersed camping half way up some mountain near Ridgeway. It was about 1/2 an hour down a gravel road to the nearest campers, and about 1.5 hours to the nearest town with services. The distance wasn’t far, but they tend to make gravel roads out there with football sized jagged rocks. So it’s slow going.

After settling in to camp, another 4runner comes up the road with a couple of young whippersnappers. A rear tire looked low as they came in (he had K02 load C tires). Driver got to work and put the factory spare on right away.

The next morning I get up and start packing to head out, and the kid walks over to my site all sheepish, asking if I had cell service. Nope. Told him the last time I noticed a cell signal was at least an hour’s drive away. He says he’s got another flat. Yikes! Mind you, this was on K02s load C, same as I was running.

Thankfully, I had a compressor and was able to inflate his spare. We watched it for half an hour or so and the leak seemed pretty slow, so I left him to it. About an hour after leaving, I realized I totally forgot about my tire patch kit! With a bit more work we could have found the leak and fixed it for good. Ah well, they were nearly on their way out of camp, so hopefully it held air long enough to at least get down to the next group of campers down the road.

 

most of the de-content stuff is minor items from what i remember

 

HV models will not have a S/S button so this will be a mute point since you dont have a button to splice the mod in before the button.

 

yeah, but who wants one of those?

Technically, the hybrids don’t have the ASS system at all. The gas engine shuts off, but it doesn’t use the starter to start again. It works like a lot of golf carts from what I understand. Push the pedal, and you move under electric power until the gas motor can be spun up. No annoying starter crank at every light, or whenever you put it in park.

I suspect toyota will be selling more non-hybrid versions, since you might as well get the LC branded 4runner if you want electric boost.

 

Or if we can hope, never mind the power seats, just keep the prices where they are up to the next refresh, by then 49k will be like 40k of 2022-2024 and people would be fine with manual seats if it means they get the locker and sway bar disconnect at a reasonable price.

 

Totally agree, it’s not so much the lack power seats or single dial faux instrument panel, it’s being charged a lot more for less.

 

What strikes me as a weird, superficial design flaw is the wheel cladding. If it's body-colored, it blends into the vehicle body and is rather unremarkable. The black body cladded blends into the wheel well and makes it look like a cavernous hole. I just find the side view weird on the Gen 6.

Edit: I think what's throwing me off with the 6th Gen is that the 5th Gen wheel cladding is flat, whereas this is much more pronounced.

 

I agree JennyJo. I dislike the non paint matching wheel wells. This just looks more finished when it matches the paint of the main body. I admit this red is sharp but matching wheel wells is nice. Surprised it’s not an option.

btw your description of wheel cladding is probably more accurate whereas I always say wheel well but that would be inside not on outside of body

 

Toward the end, I don't think there was any trim among the late 5th gen where the wheelwell cladding was not body color, correct?

Perhaps it was a conscious marketing choice to make the 6th distinct from the older models?

 

You're absolutely right about the 5th Gen, but look at this and tell me this doesn't look weird. Looks like the body is hovering over wheels.

 

I think in the instance with this red 6th Gen, what's throwing me off is that this looks too much like a Tacoma. Seems like Toyota is trying to cut corners by fishing from the parts bin.

 

This looks much better with the silver on silver. More cohesive.

I am starting to like the look of these I suppose, but I'm a long way off from considering a future purchase. Maybe 3-4 years down the line once my daughter gets fully settled as a nurse practitioner (and the kinks get worked out of the new model) she can be the guinea pig and go get one.

Heh-heh...you should have seen the look on her face when I pulled up in my 2024 and she didn't realize I'd traded my Maverick in.

 

It looks like a clown shoe

 

Who designs the wheels for Toyota lately? They all seem to be hideous.

 

You can have any color you want as long as it it’s black. They are reverting back to the colors of the Model T

 

Here's the other thing I find questionable: Why does it need THIS in the body design? This looks like one of those areas you would slap a big piece of black plastic (for a rock guard or whatever) sort of like the older model Kia Souls GT (?) line.

 

Just to be different. Like the weird dents behind the fenders and that angled line near the rear bumper. It looks goofy. Why can’t we have nice smooth lines anymore? Who really likes the transformers or Lego look? Are they designing for the adults that can actually afford these things or for their children?

 

Yeah, the back end on the Tacoma and the 6th Gen 4R looks like someone gave it a kick in the ass.

 

Looks like Subaru designers were transferred to the Toyota design office and brought their templates...

 

Dont forget the "first" overlander.... The 2001 Pontiac Aztek... Maybe the 6th gen 4R is copying this look, i mean the cut-out in the lower door you circled would be a nice place for plastic like:

 

Oh dear god, NO!

I hear the Aztec is making a comeback with the car camping crowd, so it's ironic you posted this with a hatch tent.

Speaking of tents, do the "permanently mounted" rooftop tents bother anyone else? Thoughts on this?

 

Let's see what happens.

Before I had a "call to Jesus" moment and fully committed to buying my 4Runner, I considered the Subaru Outback and Forester. (No, I'm not a lesbian.) My daughter absolutely adores her Outback (she's not a lesbian either) but I'll be really curious of what the 2025 Outback is going to look like. $10 that will be a discussion thread at some point here.

 

I don’t know if it’s just me but when I see the 6gen from this perspective I can’t help but see a combination of a 1990s Dodge Durango (mainly the side panel indentation) and the boxy fenders of a Pathfinder (I loved my 87 SE!). So perhaps those odd curvy indents are there to avoid looking too retro…