Toyota 4Runner Fans Will Have to Wait Until 2025 for an Overhaul
The Toyota 4Runner may be a formidable off-roader with legendary capability and longevity, but the fifth-generation model introduced way back in 2009 is far from modern or refined. That won’t change for 2024, as Toyota is not giving the 4Runner a makeover like it did the Sequoia, Tacoma, and Tundra.
The 4Runner rolls into 2024 with a few updates, including a new Terra exterior color. Toyota also added blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alerts and said all 4Runner models come standard with Toyota Safety Sense.
Despite its age, Toyota still offers a wide range of 4Runner configurations. Seven trims are available for 2024, including SR5, SR5 Premium, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, TRD Off-Road Premium, Limited, and TRD Pro. Some models come standard with rear-wheel drive, while the TRD models get four-wheel drive by default.
Toyota might not be updating the 4Runner, but the Land Cruiser – albeit a smaller Prado version – is returning for 2024. It will sport a four-cylinder engine and be quite a bit more expensive than the 4Runner to start, but it should fill Toyota’s need for a modern off-roader until a 4Runner update is ready.
When that does happen, we’ll likely see a move to a turbo-four for the SUV instead of the V6 that powers it now. Toyota will make some styling changes, but most rumors point to a modest shift in looks for the 4Runner.
[Image: Toyota]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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There's a lot "just right" with the current 4Runner, and having spent time in more contemporary equivalents for road trips, I completely understand why they sell a ton of these.
Here's some topics that aren't super common among 4runner owners - excessive carbon buildup in the engine after 40,000 miles (Audi/VW), bent valves (Bronco) , failed oil coolers (Jeep), cracked engine blocks (Jeep), dead vehicles from OTA updates (Chevy Colorado), being stranded due to opening the door too many times (Defender), malfunctioning engine sensors (Defender, VW), dead batteries due to electrical system malfunctions (Jeep), unusable defoggers (Jeep), waiting for seat heaters to boot up (Subaru), randomly catching fire (Kia/Hyundai), crappy build quality (Ford, Tesla).
The interior feels solid and rattle free, and everything feels substantial in the way a Jeep Grand Cherokee or Kia Telluride does not. 14 year run means accessories are plentiful and well sorted. The control inputs from the radio to heated seats to climate control work better than 99% of the cars you can buy new at this point and are dead simple and ergonomically satisfying.
Even dynamically (I drove a model with the KDSS system to be fair) it is a surprisingly composed vehicle on mountain roads- it's far more civilized than a Bronco or Wrangler, and hell, it was far more pleasant than the past two peastant-grade Benz crapmobiles I've been in.
So I get it- car journalist rags whine about how overly complicated and tech-heavy modern vehicles are while their substance is cost cut, but here's the literal definition of 'don't fix it if it aint broken.' . It's a trusty Ford Econoline in a world of craptastic Ram ProMasters.
This isn't a notice of a wait time for 4Runner fans. This is a deadline for the opportunity to buy one new before they're gone. Whatever comes next, there is no possible way that it will be as good at doing 4Runner things as what is available today.
The next 4Runner will be BEV.
Are the HVAC and radio controls knobs? Will Lexus have a GX version?