2024 4Runner TRD ORP - Throttle issue?

Hi all. New owner and first time poster, will try and keep this as concise as possible!

I purchased a brand new 2024 4Runner TRD Off Road Premium at the end of the summer last year, about 3,500 miles in on my ownership now. I've been absolutely loving my time with it so far. About a month ago, I noticed some strange throttle performance (or what I'm perceiving to be strange as a new owner) while driving one morning.

That morning, I had started my runner like normal to head to work. On my drive, I noticed my throttle felt somewhat weak or sluggish on acceleration. When accelerating from a dead stop, it was like it was shifting prematurely through the 1st and 2nd gears to get to 3rd, not reaching the usual RPMs. When I hit 3rd gear, I got this sluggish feeling on the pedal, like there's a zone where I push down and get little to no response in RPMs. I push the pedal down through that zone and then my RPMs would eventually jump up and acceleration would pick back up.

Since that day, I've noticed that on most starts/drives, it repeats this symptom, but not always. There's some drives where my throttle feels more responsive and I seem to move through the first 3 gears normally and have good throttle response in 3rd gear. I have no check engine light or any other dash lights and have not seen any in the vehicle's lifetime. No other quirks like rough idle or poor gas mileage.

Is this just normal behavior from a 4Runner that I'm reading too far into? I'm still under all warranties and within my first 6 months of ownership, so I have no qualms about going back to the dealership if this is something I should get checked out! Any advice or guidance to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

What gas you running? You got a video?

 

Just regular 87 from a Shell station I frequent nearby. No video of this, but I can try taking one this afternoon if the symptoms pop back up for my drive home

 

Also, I will note: I came from a 2017 Honda Civic EX, 1.5L turbo with a CVT, so my perception of performance/acceleration is probably skewed.

I've been driving my 4Runner with a very light foot because that's how I'm used to driving from my Civic, and I've read online that your Runner transmission will 'learn' from your driving habits and adjust accordingly? I'm wondering now if this could perhaps be a result of going easy on the pedal overall for these first few months?

 

What happens when it's in "S" mode and you shift through the gears?

 

Sounds like just normal "hurry up and shift into top gear" behavior.

 

I find the throttle response of the 4Runner is sluggish, when you try to drive it lightly. My built Subaru drives terrible unless you maintain higher RPM's lol.

 

I didn't think to test this way, great idea. I'll give it a try.

 

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I think I was reading too far into my perceived 'issues' here, I appreciate the support. Everything I'm finding online now seems to back up the fact that I've just been driving with too light of a foot, need to re-learn some habits coming over from the Civic

 

Also- the behavior of the transmission will change based on you drive. I opened a thread on this subject a few months back because I was concerned with how my new '24 ORP was shifting compared to my previous '22 ORP. As it turns out, the new transmission hadn't "adapted" yet to the way I drive. This was news to me.

As a side note, almost all of my driving is local and semi-rural, lots of hilly two lanes and gravel roads. I am now driving exclusively with the transmission in S4 and I'm very pleased with the transmission's behavior.

 

This sounds normal to me, unless you see it slipping via the RPM gauge (which I HIGHLY doubt on a new 5th gen).

My biggest complaint of the 4Runner was the throttle response but I’ve gotten used to it now. It can be especially sluggish for me on very cold mornings.

 

A Banks Pedal Monster will take care of the sluggish throttle. I have one on my Tundra and both of our 4Runners (2016 and 2020).