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

I agree that automotive journalism is next to worthless these days. That is why I was looking for an actual new 6th gen owner to give an honest and informed appraisal.

… but I personally really couldn’t care less about rear seat comfort as I could count the times on one hand I’ve ever had anyone in the back seats. I gave up my Tundras for 4Runners because of the fold down seats and cavernous rear cargo area which my dogs and all my gear love.

 

Well my opinion is just that. But I recently drove a co workers bronco raptor that he bought used. 2023 with 2500 miles for just less then $68000 certified preowned.

If your considering buying a $68k+ 4runner or land cruiser. Do yourself a favor and also test drive a bronco raptor. It might be un practical since its so wide, poor mpg and small gas tank. But it's soo much fun. I mean a blast. Yeah bumper to bumper isn't great. But on the open backroads, trails and bumps it made my adrenaline pump. I wish I could afford one.

 

With the extra weight of the hybrid system it's bound to impact payload. Irony abound that the set up with the most power cannot handle three rows.


On the other hand with the ice cap white blending the front end edges the 6th gen looks pretty decent, similar to the 5th gen in fact. I hope the paint is better on the 6th gen than before.

 

If it's not too much effort to the detriment of one's driving enjoyment, one could toggle the gear shifter to the left and let S4 do its thing. But I understand that putting in in Sport mode on steep inclines could be viewed as demanding too much from some. I have two manual transmission cars so it doesn't bother me in the least.

With an 8 speed it will depend on the programming, the gear ratios will be there, however if it's primarily MPG minded then it could still gear hunt.

 

They are pretty wild. If I was gonna trade in the 4Runner's reliability for anything it'd probably be a 392.
I wish there were more off road vehicles coming out with V8's.

 

Even though some are discounted the cheapest one around me is still about 84k after incentives.

 

For fun I just looked up my area.
Cheapest br near me is $74k brand spanking new.

 

Zero spare, or a temporary spare?

Or a shitty, almost full-size spare like some of the Tacos have?

I'd be really surprised to see any 4Runners without a spare, but I've certainly been wrong before.

 

My money is on temporary spare:

 

That’s fine but I think most 4Runner owners use the backseat regularly. One would think it would be an important part of the vehicle design and an important part of vehicle reviews as well.

 

Also ironic that the vehicle designed for overlanding can’t carry much weight.

 

Probably the temp donut. Otherwise the spare tire chain would be dangling around back there. Unless they eliminate the whole carrier to save even more money?

 

Yep you’re right I remember that. They are still out there now waiting for the 2025s

 

Yep. If no one used the back seats then 2 door BOF SUVs would still be a thing.

 

Wintertime PA is probably a little softer in car market. 74k is a great price for a Braptor

 

It's listed in Toyota's spec that lower trims don't have any spare at all starting in 2025, maybe they are wrong but why print it if it is not right?

 

I was watching a video today by motor mouths (the couple from Vancouver) on the new V6 Ranger. Zach commented that a CEO once told him it takes “dynamite” to get someone to change who is brand loyal. toyota guys are toyota, gm are gm etc.

He then said would the V6 offering in the Ranger be the dynamite to get customers to consider a Ranger since V6s are going away the midsize pickup market

Similarly, I wonder if the exorbitant prices on new unproven vehicles such as these could sway customers to seek other alternatives. There certainly seems to be some credibility to that. Sure there are those willing to spend crazy amounts. But could sales decline so much so the manufacturers regret those prices?

 

It's that they don't have a full-size spare, I would bet money they have what is technically, a spare. Just not "full-size" - exact words and all.

Hell, I've seen "full-size" refer to a full-diameter donut by another manufacturer so what do words mean anyway.

 

Thats engine and trans tuning, not something wrong with the cruise control. The earlier models, 2010-2012 didnt have that problem, they drove nice and the throttle and cruise did exactly what you wanted and expected it to even when towing. Seems around 2013 or 2014 when the front end changed, the tuning started to get weirder. Then somewhere around 2019-2020 it got even worse. The hunting gears you are referring to is all in the ECU tuning and trans tuning. The trans changes gears when the ECU senses a certain amount of load. In the past the load cells were higher before the trans changed gears, it seems like they lowered the load settings to force the trans to change gears before load gets too high. In the past you could put it in gear, drive, accelerate to 70, set the cruise and bam.... It just worked. You could hit a hill and the engine would lug down a bit, maybe lose 2-3mph before it shifted but if the hill wasnt bad and you only lost 1-2mph nothing would happen it would just drop a few RPM and lug and climb. Then as they changed the load parameters, the trans would unlock and downshift if you even lost 1mph on a climb. Instead of allowing for 90-110% load before a gear change, i think they rolled it back to like 60% load. This has likely got something to do with fuel economy and emissions, or maybe trying to make a trans last longer rather than lugging it and getting the trans hot on climbs bogging it down. The newer vehicles have gotten worse and worse, the closer your ehicles manufacture date to today, the worse the tuning gets. A current 2023-2024 are completely crap and cruise control are practically useless unless you dont mind it downshifting 2-3 gears and reving up to 5500RPM to climb every stinkin mole hill on the highway and downshifting 1-2 gears even on flat ground when the wind blows. Cruise on a current model is absolutely useless.

HOWEVER..... If you sign up and get an OverlandTaylorTune, you can eliminate that issue almost completely. Their tuning for the 5th gen basically makes it crank and run and drive more like a 2010-2012 did, basically like they are supposed to. This tuning "adds" more power but also changes a lot of parameters in the ECU that affect how the engine calculates load, and the timing and fuel trims, and all this modifies how and when it shifts. The vehicle will crank run and drive 2000% better and actually make cruise control work like its supposed to without hunting gears every time the wind blows or you hit a 1% incline on the highway. Every bit of what is wrong with the current ones is the tuning in the ECU and can be corrected with an Overland Taylor Tune which basically changes the vehicle tune and makes it run like they used to run and like you want it to run.

 

If you notice, 30 different online media personnel, and 16 different writers for magazines and others all showed up at one big event. They all did their stories, videos, media, and all released them at the same time in one big wave that was intentionally meant to get astroturfed all across the innernet.
This isnt a mistake, this was intentional, Toyota likely paid for all of those people to come and is likely subsidizing them or paying them for their write ups and videos. Pretty sure there were plenty of hints at how the stories and videos needed to be edited to try to boost sales. I am sure anything negative would have been frowned upon. You see all the people hit their heads in the rear seat on the headliner due to the sunroof. The thing hangs down so low. Why didnt they make it a flip up, slide out style sunroof. Its like they took 4+" out of the headliner and EVERYBODY hit their head that i saw. I saw 4 people hit their head, only 2 mentioned it, one didnt mention anything about it, and one only said something about the height of the roof once they were sitting back in the seat. I would have thought it should have been harped on,
"Holy crap this headliner is hanging down lower than the height of the door frame.... Watch your head"

 

Hence the phrase don’t bite the hand that feeds you

 

I have read 1/2 dozen different reviews posted today and they have all been very positive. Other than observations on the price, hardly any negatives.

After all the critical press around the Tacoma and Landcruiser drivetrain, it's definitely a bit of a head scratcher.

 

I believe it. I will be shopping around when it’s time to replace our Tacoma and 4Runner. I would go with a Gladiator or Frontier over a new Tacoma. For a 4Runner replacement the new Passport and Tahoe will be on the list.

 

Definitely. They don’t want to say anything negative because they might not get invited back to the next event. It’s pretty creepy.

 

It’s because the media embargo was just lifted. These were all test drives done under Toyota’s watch. Once the vehicles have been out longer people can give some honest reviews.

 

If I had to buy a new mid-size pickup tomorrow I'd buy a Colorado ZR2. If I had to buy a full size pickup i'd buy a Silverado. This is after 4 Tacomas and 4 Tundras.... all of which I loved.

If I had to buy a new SUV tomorrow, I'd probably get a GX although I would definitely take the time to go look closely at an Ineos.

 

I like the GX but I don’t trust the engine yet. Still too many Tundra engine failures going on.

 

The pricing on the Colorao ZR2 is very tempting. The 2.7 I-4T used in that truck is a very nice one from what I hear.

 

i think you missed the sarcasm, some states, most of all subu's sold are to the LGBT+ community

thats how i took that comment

 

i personally like it. nice change from the always black interior on standard colors.