Shopping! Questions all about kids and dogs

Hi all!

Long time T4R fan, but never owned one. Came real close to a Gen4 a while back but the rust was too much.. landed in a 2008 Exploder EB .

Believe it or not, the Explorer has served me incredibly well for all duties with wife, 2 kids and 2 dogs (and sometimes extra folks) - From road trips to groceries to ORV on the Cape.. its been a highly functional, albeit a very slow truck.

SO all that said, I'm starting to consider the next box.. 4Runner of course being on the short list. The Exploder has two killer features that have me hesitant on moving to any other truck:

1. 3rd row air vents - for passengers AND dogs
2. Flip up rear glass - Fob controlled

I have learned that the 4Runner rear glass can be controlled manually with the key - which is awesome, considering so few vehicles have any such ability. It drives me insane that this feature has exited nearly every new "suv" on the market, save the Highlander and 4Runner. With dogs, or just lots of gear, its a HUGE help to just drop something in without opening the whole hatch.

My bigger question: how is the air flow to the rear in the real world? If we're all jammed in there for a road trip - how cool does the 4Runner's A/C keep that dog zone in the back? My wife's Outback gets really toasty despite having second row vents, so we use my Exploder for everything - the rear A/C is down right amazing to have. THX for any input!

 

Hi Pete kind of funny I have a 2018 SR5 Premium, live in Mass and have owned an Explorer. I cannot answer everything but I'll try to enlighten you just a little. Far as air flow back there I think it'll be pretty good as I picked mine up in September I never had it for the really hot weather. I can say when I put the heat on what doesn't seem very high it heats rather quickly and can get surprisingly warm quickly. I don't mean that in a bad way meaning when I'm trying to do the opposite (A/C) if it does the same I'll be impressed. It is a good sized vehicle and will accommodate your family fine but be for-warned it isn't very good on gas, you'll make frequent stops for fill ups. Mine is from Boch's on the "auto mile" and I think they treated me fairly. Shop around they won't let anybody beat them price-wise and lose a sale. I got in and around 3,500 off sticker (don't have figures in front of me) hold out and be willing to walk if dealers throw you the BS it's a super hot vehicle and their not taking money off. I had running boards installed at 1/2 off the "listed dealer" price and paid "full price" for the remote starter I was ok with that I wanted them to install it before I took delivery. The price was automatically like 200.00 more if you drove it off the lot for even a week! All in all I like the vehicle, do I "love" it...No...Would I buy it again...Yeah probably... Good luck! Oh and to be honest I don't know if my key controls the back window I'll have to check but it definitely does go up and down that I do know.

 

Thanks DGP! Good insights - surprised Boch could take so much off! As for mileage.. it cannot be any worse than what I get right now . Pretty horrific #s in the Explorer in winter!

 

You can roll the rear window up/down by inserting the key and turning/holding.

You can roll all windows down + sunroof from a distance with a press on the key fob- but I don't know if that includes the rear glass. Anyone know the answer?

The window settings/changes/options are accessed using a Bluetooth dongle + app (like Carista from Amazon) or you can have a dealer change settings from stock configuration (for a fee, usually). But once you get things set how you want them, no reason to ever change them again.