I don't like it! A three-time 4Runner owner rant

Damn those TFL guys testing their vehicles in fake world conditions.

The buying public seemed to be buying the 5th gen toward the end more than ever so clearly they were fine with it on test drives. Perhaps your opinion in favor of turbo engines is indeed, a small minority opinion. But again, public opinion means little when there is government mandates overriding it.

 

I don't favor Turbo engines. But, I don't have an issue with having more power and better fuel economy. Even if it's mandated by the government, I'm going to look on the bright side rather than whining about it.

 

2010 SR5, I like that! Not many around typically

 

I've seen a few YouTube videos, TRD Jon being one of them, they all report 22 to 23 highway. As far as 5th gen power, it's fine for me. If I want to go fast I'll borrow my wife's AMG convertible.

 

22 to 23 is already an improvement over the 5th gen. But, I'm still going to wait until there's a few out there with 5 to 10,000 miles on them, daily driven, before I feel like we have an actual representation of what the fuel economy is going to be like.

As I've said before, I have gotten by just fine with my 5th gen as far as power. But, no one in the history of automobiles has ever complained about more power. And, for every one of us who is satisfied with the 5th gen there are probably nine others who think it is underpowered and sucks at towing.

 

I usually look at Fuelly if I want close to real world numbers. The new Land Cruisers are getting around 18.

 

Same.

But, on average, the new Landcruisers that are on fuelly are all still very low mileage. Once there's a bunch of them with 10,000 miles or so on them, I might start to see that as a real world representation.

 

How about the 4th gen Tacoma that is averaging 19 mpg on fuelly?

 

How many people choose a 4Runner for towing? I hope not very many.

 

That's what I got with my 3rd gen.

 

Thank you for a detailed post!

I honestly can’t get past how much meh it is, aesthetically. I am surprised quite a few here and on YT seem to think it’s great styling. I understand it’s very subjective. However it does not look like a progression to me for the better. Purely from the looks of it. It’s just very meh.

 

~3600 miles per vehicle, average. Still pretty new.

I doubt anyone buys the 4Runner specifically for towing. But, if you look around on this forum, you'll see that plenty of folks tow with them. I tow with mine probably 5-10 times per year. It gets the job done. But, more power would be welcome.

 

That’s the joke of these new drastic fuel saving changes. The 3rd gen is 18.5 mpg on fuelly and the 2nd gen 17.5-18 mpg. Incredible.

 

I don’t think they are miraculously going to start getting better mpgs as they age.

 

My fuel economy improved after a few thousand miles.

Even if it only ends up being a marginal improvement, does that not count?

How would you prefer that Toyota goes about complying with government regulations? Would you prefer a smaller V6 with even less power than the current V6?

 

I don’t think a marginal improvement is worth much of anything. If we actually cared about saving resources and the planet then keeping a reliable long lasting engine for decades is much better then creating new designs requiring new manufacturing, new parts etc. then if said new design isn’t as reliable it’s even more wasteful.

 

I don't disagree with you here.

But, tell this to the folks who write the regulations. Toyota is just doing what they have to do. If we get a little better fuel economy and more power, that's a silver lining, IMO.

 

too bad this forum doesnt have an ignore thread

 

Yep it’s almost as if we have the forums Debbie downer.

 

We do. It's called not clicking on a thread you're not interested in.

 

Yes. This thread is titled “I don’t like it! A three time 4Runner owner rant.” It’s the perfect place for us to complain and bicker about the new design.

 

True. Doesn't mean I'm not going to come in and argue, though.

 

Since we're already off topic here...

I agree with this perspective. Engine and turbo technology has come a looong way in the last 30 years. Toyota is currently working on a 4 cylinder turbo engine that makes 400 horsepower. Toyota engineers are claiming that it will be able to handle 700 horsepower on stock internals. They also claim more development has gone into the engine than the legendary 2JZ-GTE. So I'd certainly agree there is a silver lining here...
But I'm an cautious optimist.

Just excited to see what the future holds for internal combustion engines.

 

I’m sure they can make that much horsepower out of a four cylinder. I’m also sure that it will blow up before the warranty is up.

 

They're not going to mass produce and sell an engine that's going to blow up under warranty (on purpose). People have gotten over 1000 RWHP out of 4 cylinder engines. 400 isn't much on an engine built for it.

 

Couldn't agree more and its why I changed the Avg MPG off the main screen so I am not staring at it constantly lol

 

I wouldn't be so sure. If it's engineered to handle 700hp in a racing application, why would the detuned version blow up on the street?

Don't get me wrong, I love big naturally aspirated v8's. But saying all turbo engines will blow up immediately is quite a statement. Plenty of turbo engines can last >300k miles when properly maintained. Which is much longer than the warranty period and frankly, more mileage than most people will care to drive them.

 

I was referring to 700 hp. I wouldn’t worry too much about it because it’s never happening from Toyota anyways. Have they ever released any high horsepower engines?

 

Yeah quite a few. Its worth noting that the 4Cylinder I was referring to will not come from the factory with 700hp. The engineers are just claiming it is built to handle that since it will be Toyota's new performance engine that will be detuned to 400hp and offered in a few different models. Still, very cool to hear that level of confidence from Toyota engineers.

Here are a few more that come to mind...

F33A-FTV. 500 something lb-ft of torque twin turbo that I wish we got in the 4Runners. Diesel though. I think it came in the land cruiser 300 series? Not in North America.
2GR-FKS. Turbo 4 banger that makes about 370hp.
V35A-FTS. Twin turbo 390hp/ 480? lb-ft of torque.

I'd say those are the most modern boosted Toyota engines that come to mind. Pretty cool stuff imo

 

Toyota engineers also claimed that drum brakes were better for off-roading.
I don’t think any of those should be considered high horsepower. The Raptor R is making 720 hp these days.