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Regular as she goes, Homer—this SUV’s 40 years of success happened by preserving tweaks to a minimal, and Toyota is aware of it
Within the traditional Simpsons episode “Homer’s Enemy,” everybody’s favorite bumbling yellow cartoon dad is tricked into getting into a kids’s model-building contest. The Enemy in query, the long-suffering Frank Grimes, tries to ridicule Homer for competing towards youngsters along with his scale nuclear energy plant, however the plan backfires.
“Effectively, principally I simply copied the plant we’ve got now,” says Homer of his miniature reproduction of his office. “This racing stripe right here I really feel is fairly sharp.”
The group cheers enthusiastically! Grimes is so incensed he goes loopy and rampages by the actual nuclear plant, sadly electrocuting himself to loss of life. How can Homer – or anybody, for that matter – discover such unbridled success by simply doddering alongside doing the identical outdated factor over and over? Anyway, right here’s the fortieth anniversary Toyota 4Runner. Say—is {that a} racing stripe? Yay! First prize!
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$32,590 to $44,250
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$22,690 to $30,390
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$45,650 to $53,890
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$41,350 to $54,350
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Someplace on the market, the Frank Grimes of automotive design simply misplaced their marbles. It’s 2023, and it is a ten-year-old truck that somebody has simply put some stickers on. The place’s the plug-in hybrid? Is that also a five-speed automated transmission? Why is everybody applauding?
As a result of, at 40, the 4Runner fills its area of interest by being steadfast and unchanging. Folks like its easy, old-school nature. They’re prepared to place up with its truckish foibles. Put a stripe and a few bronze-look 17-inch wheels on it, and everyone not named Grimes couldn’t be happier. And moreover, tucked underneath the lip of the rear liftgate, this 4Runner additionally has just a little Easter Egg — a tribute to forty years of 4Runner heritage.
The primary outing of the 4Runner badge, launched in 1983 for the 1984 mannequin yr, is kind of a unique beast than the present family-friendly dinosaur. If you will discover considered one of these two-door proto-SUVs in good situation, you should purchase it instantly. Most of them have rotted away after laborious use, and they’re certain to be future collectibles.
Plus, the first-gen 4Runner is simply plain enjoyable. As small sport-utes just like the Chevy Blazer and Ford Bronco II hit the roads, Toyota turned to its Hilux pickup truck as the premise for a competitor. The Hilux, offered merely because the Toyota Pickup in North America, nonetheless has a repute for being as sturdy as a lump of granite.
And in addition for having the efficiency envelope of a lump of granite. Initially, the primary 4Runner’s 2.4L four-cylinder engine made lower than 100 horsepower, and because it was heavier than the pickup model, on-road efficiency was extra like 4Stroller. Nevertheless, off the crushed path, the 4Runner provided correct body-on-frame 4×4 functionality. Because the Nineteen Eighties progressed, extra highly effective engines grew to become out there, with a 150-hp V6 exhibiting up in 1989.
The most effective half was the detachable fibreglass prime, that includes an built-in roll bar. The vibe was pure SoCal surf truck, and certainly, in abroad markets the 4Runner was known as the Toyota Hilux Surf. There are nonetheless loads of forty-somethings on the market who keep in mind pulling off the roof of their battered Toyota vans as a youthful ceremony of summer season.
If the primary 4Runner was a little bit of a toy for teens, the second era pointed the compass within the route subsequent fashions would go. There was a nonetheless a pickup truck body lurking beneath the bodywork, however mentioned bodywork was now a correct full metal shell. Each two- and four-door fashions had been out there, however because the two-door variant was largely a styling train, most 4Runners offered had been four-door variations. Canada obtained the two-door 4Runner for one yr longer than within the U.S., however by 1994, 4Runner meant 4 doorways.
These second-gen vans are much less lovable than the first-gen 4Runners, whereas nonetheless having some points that had been solved in later generations. The rear suspension of each first- and second-gen vans, leaf-spring and coil-spring, respectively, tends to sag over time. The V6 engines supply extra energy than the four-cylinders, however aren’t fairly as long-lived, and never notably environment friendly. Early Nineties 4Runners additionally supply up some fairly alarming crash-test outcomes.
The place you see this era of 4Runner most frequently is as a built-up rig with numerous modifications finished to make up for any deficiencies. Should you can carry on prime of the rust, a second-gen 4Runner makes for an excellent off-road undertaking car.
Halfway by the run of the third-generation 4Runner, all the SUV phase got here in for a skewering from The Simpsons. You recognize the tune: “Are you able to identify the truck with four-wheel-drive?/ Smells like a steak and seats thirty-five!/ Canyonerooo!”
The true-life Canyonero might be greatest represented by a Ford Tour or related (the Sequoia, if in search of a Toyota badge) however the 4Runner was now roomy and cozy sufficient to be a household daily-driver. The cartoon criticism remained – did you really want a 4×4 truck to simply get groceries? – however the gross sales outcomes proved Toyota proper. The 4Runner was now a mainstream providing.
Whereas nonetheless assembled in Japan, the 4Runner was now based mostly on the North-American-spec Tacoma pickup, and acquired the identical upgrades to the powertrain. The four-cylinder providing displaced 2.7L and produced 150 hp, whereas the V6 was as much as 3.4L and 183 hp.
This era of 4Runner actually established the cornerstone of the nameplate: not off-road functionality, not a repute for reliability, however unassailable resale worth. Few automobiles can contact the 4Runner for retained worth, and the costs these late Nineties 4Runners nonetheless fetch is spectacular.
Merely put, the fourth era 4Runner represented a fall from grace. The vans themselves are nonetheless individually beloved — when he noticed the fortieth anniversary 4Runner parked out entrance, my neighbour came to visit to wax ecstatic about his V8-powered fourth-gen. Nevertheless, gross sales tumbled because the 2000s progressed, again to ranges not seen for the reason that Nineteen Eighties.
To start with, apparently having not watched the Canyonero episode, Toyota’s engineers determined the 4Runner wanted to be larger, heavier, and extra highly effective. Nearly 200 kg heavier in some variations, the 4Runner was additionally visually bloated versus the earlier mannequin, a minimum of within the decrease trims with their unpainted physique cladding.
However, arguably, that is the most effective 4Runner of all of them. By no means thoughts what the shopping for public thought, a V8-powered fourth-gen is principally a barely-disguised Lexus product. Particularly if towing is a priority, the 2005-forward mannequin 4.7L V8 comes with 270 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque. It may be a bit thirsty, however Toyota won’t ever make something prefer it once more.
The 4Runner is extremely common in North Vancouver the place I stay, and a few critically wild climate over the vacations gave it an opportunity to shine. A number of days of snow and freezing rain introduced visitors and transit to a standstill, however not for those who occurred to have a Toyota with some Neat StripesTM.
The long-in-the-tooth present era of 4Runner was facelifted for the 2014 mannequin yr, however the fundamentals are the identical as they had been again when the primary Avatar film hit theatres. Drivetrain specs are a 270-hp 4.0L V6 paired with a five-speed automated transmission. The driveline is a real 4×4 system with low-range functionality, and options handbook shift-on-the-fly functionality. There’s no automated 4WD engagement on this SR5-based mannequin.
It is a large, heavy, body-on-frame truck with squishy-sidewall tires on 17-inch wheels, and obscure steering. Driving it out to the Fraser Valley earlier than the actual snow hit actually highlighted the 4Runner’s tendency to wander when hit by gusting winds. The experience shouldn’t be punishingly agency, however you possibly can actually really feel the bones of the previous-generation 4Runner poking by right here. For about the identical cash – $54,380 after choices however earlier than freight and taxes – you may have a Highlander Restricted with extra choices and higher street manners.
But, when the deep snow hits, there’s one thing hilarious about how inexorable the present 4Runner is in poor situations. Consumers have to decide as much as the TRD Professional model for selectable terrain modes, however the 4Runner’s primary 4×4 performance is strong and reliable. Even after the snow, you possibly can at all times safe the most effective parking spot within the lot by merely ramming it into the pile of snow left by the plows, as it’s going to at all times claw its means out.
The 4Runner feels outdated, it rivals the Jeep Wrangler for agricultural driving really feel, and it lags behind in right now’s tech-focused world. The Frank Grimes of the world leap to their toes, demanding to know why this lovable-but-lumbering machine continues to be so common. Oh, pipe down, Grimey. The 4Runner shouldn’t be that good, however it’s definitely lovable. Wish to see its Grammy award?
