Looking to buy 2013-2015 4runner need input please

[O.R.C.A.]

So i am looking to buy a new vehicle for my wife, this will be our family vehicle as well as her every day driver. We would also be using this as a weekend expo vehicle. Just wanting to see what everybody's input is and what options are out there as far as aftermarket parts such as roof rack, winch bumper, rear bumper with tire mout ect. If you have one fixed up would love to see pics of you and list of mods you like and think was a waste of money. As I've seen so far there are not to many aftermarket parts for these 4runners in the newer years. Also any experience in car seats mounted in a new 4Runner , the little ones are important

 

[enzo]

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/

 

[Dalko43]

OP,
The forum link posted by enzo is a good place to start.
To clear things up, there are more than plenty of aftermarket options available for the 5th gen 4runner; everything ranging from bumpers, roof racks, skid plates, tires, winches, lights, snorkels, ect. You can find plenty of gear feedback on that forum. The real question you'll need to ask yourself is how much "overlanding" do you really expect to be doing, especially given that this vehicle will serve as your wife's DD.

The 4runner is plenty capable in stock form. I'd say give yourself at least a few months of ownership and trail driving before you start throwing any money into mods. If you are for sure looking to explore some trails and back country, a trail edition or TRD pro would be a good platform to start with (mostly due to the locking rear differential).

 

[O.R.C.A.]

Thanks for the reply Enzo, Dalko43.

Thanks for the link will have a lot to read this weekend

The I'm not looking to mod out to be some sema rig or some high dollar monster truck, just looking to but the basics on it a little front armor with a winch, a little rear armor,and a roof rack, some lighting, and a small slim line com (CB/ham). No city mall crawling junk, shiny wheels ,Crome ,ect are not needed or wanted. If it's not functional we don't need it. Yes it will be my wife's DD but will be our family travel/ camping vehicle. I'm maybe looking to sell my truck and maybe my jeep and getting me a Tacoma to go with my wife's 4 runner. Both would be daily drivers but would be off road ready to take off at any notice to hit the woods for the weekend. We have a off road trailer with RTT we can hook up to ether and go. Waiting to see what she does before I change my set up. Our kids are getting bigger and it is easier to take them on trips/ adventures so we plan on doing a lot more camping and road trips in the next years. Looking to build on a well tested and reliable platform that's why we are looking at these toyotas

 

[Dalko43]

Only reason I bring up the mods is because the 4runner, while a capable platform, just doesn't have the powerplant and gearing to really be carrying a lot of extra gear and weight, especially for daily driver use. To clarify, the 4runner can handle a extra gear in the form of a bumper, bigger tires, roof rack, ect. but your acceleration will suffer as will your mpg...the 4runner's 4.0L doesn't like stop-and-go traffic as it is, so adding extra weight and bigger tires will exacerbate that issue. That's why I recommend driving the 4runner on some easy to mild trails/terrain to see how it performs and if it meets your expectations.

If you do decide that your driving style necessitates some of this extra gear, just remember that less is more with this platform. A lot of people like to buy the whole catalogue for their overland rigs....a 4runner with a mounted hidden winch, sliders, and A/T tire (stock size of 265) will probably work just fine for 99% of the overlanding you'd want to do in North America, and still maintain a half decent mpg and road performance.

 

[buffalojay]

I love my 2015 4Runner SR5 and i agree with Dalko43 these things are very capable off-road in stock form. Taken it out several times where I'm at and I was pleasantly surprised how well it performed. The only thing I've added to my vehicle (so far) are n-fab steps. I have a 8 month old and her car seat and base fit great in the 4Runner. Much easier to attach and hook in than my wife's Xterra. I will say the power on the Xterra is much better than that on my 4Runner. I agree with the others on here the www.toyota-4runner.org forums are a great resource. Hope this helps with your decision.

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

So i am looking to buy a new vehicle for my wife, this will be our family vehicle as well as her every day driver. We would also be using this as a weekend expo vehicle. Just wanting to see what everybody's input is and what options are out there as far as aftermarket parts such as roof rack, winch bumper, rear bumper with tire mout ect. If you have one fixed up would love to see pics of you and list of mods you like and think was a waste of money. As I've seen so far there are not to many aftermarket parts for these 4runners in the newer years. Also any experience in car seats mounted in a new 4Runner , the little ones are important

Allow me to chime in... we have a '15 TE, and it meets our needs and then some. We're a family of 4, and Papou (grandpa) comes along camping with us too. I have a 6 year old (who rides in a simple booster) and a 4 year old (who rides in a Britax Frontier booster/harness), a Labrador and a Redbone Coonhound, and I have been able to get ALL OF US and our gear into the truck by using a small cargo box on the roof (10 CF), and a simple shelf I made for the back.

By gear I mean:
5 folding camping chairs
2 Coleman 48q coolers (the cheapo ones)
2 Tents (a 4 person and a 2 person)
5 sleeping bags
5 sleeping mats
camp stove & mini propane
Dutch oven
Dry goods
shovel
hatchet
Water Cans
Small recovery bag with a snatch strap, some shackles, gloves and stuff
Small air compressor
Flashlights/headlamps and other misc gear.

Now... this is enough for a developed camp site (like a place with a picnic table, vault toilets, and other stuff like that) for an overnight, but we could go up to 3 nights without too much difficulty at a developed site.

We then get Me (6'4" 275), my wife (5'7"), my father-in-law (He's 5'9"), my boys and their boosters, 2 medium dogs (one weighs 75lbs the other 45LBS), and all that stuff in the truck.

The shelf I built rises up a few inches from the wheel wells inside the cargo area, and is partially supported by the coolers. The Dogs ride on top of that (We have a cargo divider to keep them from nosing into the seating area, but they are secured in the back with harnesses attached to the tie downs in the back, which will hopefully secure them in the back in the event of an accident. They can get up, move around as they like, but for the most part just lay down and chill. They usually have the boys sleeping bags in their stuff sacks up on the shelf with them, but that's it, and they have plenty of room.

Under them go the coolers, and everything else that will fit. In the cargo box on the roof we keep the camping chairs, sleeping mats, a couple of sleeping bags and so forth (so we don't get top heavy). We will put a few things in the foot well area in front of my youngest, and other snacks/car entertainment in the cabin, but that's pretty much it.

Now, like I said - I only have a 10 CF cargo box on the roof, and the shelf in the back. That's it as far as mods go. It takes time to pack which I will admit does kind of suck (imagine playing tetris outside... while it's raining), but we have space enough to get out there.

If my F-I-L didn't come, or if we didn't bring the dogs, we could REALLY get all we needed for more primitive camping or a longer trip.

As far as offrodabilty... the platform is solid. ATRAC is remarkable, and my Trail Edition also has a terrain management system, crawl control, and a rear locker... so yeah, she does fine. The only thing that could out perform it from the jump would be a JKU Rubicon, but the JKU is nowhere near as spacious inside and it's cargo area is a joke.

As for mods on the market... I'm not sure where you're looking, but there are TONS. Full length roof racks, aftermarket bumpers F and R, skids, rock sliders, lifts and long travel suspension kits, you name it. The only thing that isn't there for it is a snorkel, but Safari reportedly has one in development.

I say do it. I LOVE this thing. It's a great truck and should serve us for a long time.

 

[p nut]

... looking to but the basics on it a little front armor with a winch, a little rear armor,and a roof rack, some lighting, and a small slim line com (CB/ham). No city mall crawling junk, shiny wheels ,Crome ,ect are not needed or wanted. If it's not functional we don't need it.

I agree with others. Bumpers, winch, off-road LED light bars--that's the new "mall crawling junk". Black is the new chrome. Sure, some mods are useful at times, but for what you're looking to do, I would just maybe get some AT tires and head out. You'd be surprised what the stock 4Runner can do.

 

[O.R.C.A.]

Only reason I bring up the mods is because the 4runner, while a capable platform, just doesn't have the powerplant and gearing to really be carrying a lot of extra gear and weight, especially for daily driver use. To clarify, the 4runner can handle a extra gear in the form of a bumper, bigger tires, roof rack, ect. but your acceleration will suffer as will your mpg...the 4runner's 4.0L doesn't like stop-and-go traffic as it is, so adding extra weight and bigger tires will exacerbate that issue. That's why I recommend driving the 4runner on some easy to mild trails/terrain to see how it performs and if it meets your expectations.

If you do decide that your driving style necessitates some of this extra gear, just remember that less is more with this platform. A lot of people like to buy the whole catalogue for their overland rigs....a 4runner with a mounted hidden winch, sliders, and A/T tire (stock size of 265) will probably work just fine for 99% of the overlanding you'd want to do in North America, and still maintain a half decent mpg and road performance.

Thanks for your input Dalko43 that all makes sense. And yes gear is one of our issues we have been looking at. Both gear as in truck mods and Bolt ons as well as camping gear. We have a custom off road trailer kind of like a chaser with a RTT on top. Most of our gear will be on trailer or in it, some gear will be in the rig. But weight is weight no matter where it is stored. I've worried bout the power plant of the 4 runner being we live in the mountains and every direction is up hill

 

[O.R.C.A.]

Allow me to chime in... we have a '15 TE, and it meets our needs and then some. We're a family of 4, and Papou (grandpa) comes along camping with us too. I have a 6 year old (who rides in a simple booster) and a 4 year old (who rides in a Britax Frontier booster/harness), a Labrador and a Redbone Coonhound, and I have been able to get ALL OF US and our gear into the truck by using a small cargo box on the roof (10 CF), and a simple shelf I made for the back.

By gear I mean:
5 folding camping chairs
2 Coleman 48q coolers (the cheapo ones)
2 Tents (a 4 person and a 2 person)
5 sleeping bags
5 sleeping mats
camp stove & mini propane
Dutch oven
Dry goods
shovel
hatchet
Water Cans
Small recovery bag with a snatch strap, some shackles, gloves and stuff
Small air compressor
Flashlights/headlamps and other misc gear.

Now... this is enough for a developed camp site (like a place with a picnic table, vault toilets, and other stuff like that) for an overnight, but we could go up to 3 nights without too much difficulty at a developed site.

We then get Me (6'4" 275), my wife (5'7"), my father-in-law (He's 5'9"), my boys and their boosters, 2 medium dogs (one weighs 75lbs the other 45LBS), and all that stuff in the truck.

The shelf I built rises up a few inches from the wheel wells inside the cargo area, and is partially supported by the coolers. The Dogs ride on top of that (We have a cargo divider to keep them from nosing into the seating area, but they are secured in the back with harnesses attached to the tie downs in the back, which will hopefully secure them in the back in the event of an accident. They can get up, move around as they like, but for the most part just lay down and chill. They usually have the boys sleeping bags in their stuff sacks up on the shelf with them, but that's it, and they have plenty of room.

Under them go the coolers, and everything else that will fit. In the cargo box on the roof we keep the camping chairs, sleeping mats, a couple of sleeping bags and so forth (so we don't get top heavy). We will put a few things in the foot well area in front of my youngest, and other snacks/car entertainment in the cabin, but that's pretty much it.

Now, like I said - I only have a 10 CF cargo box on the roof, and the shelf in the back. That's it as far as mods go. It takes time to pack which I will admit does kind of suck (imagine playing tetris outside... while it's raining), but we have space enough to get out there.

If my F-I-L didn't come, or if we didn't bring the dogs, we could REALLY get all we needed for more primitive camping or a longer trip.

As far as offrodabilty... the platform is solid. ATRAC is remarkable, and my Trail Edition also has a terrain management system, crawl control, and a rear locker... so yeah, she does fine. The only thing that could out perform it from the jump would be a JKU Rubicon, but the JKU is nowhere near as spacious inside and it's cargo area is a joke.

As for mods on the market... I'm not sure where you're looking, but there are TONS. Full length roof racks, aftermarket bumpers F and R, skids, rock sliders, lifts and long travel suspension kits, you name it. The only thing that isn't there for it is a snorkel, but Safari reportedly has one in development.

I say do it. I LOVE this thing. It's a great truck and should serve us for a long time.

That was a lot of input thanks, man that is a load in the 4Runner we will almost have as much. We have me ,my wife! 2 little kids (one 3 and one 6) and my 16yr old. I've found a lot more Bolton parts lately but I don't like cheap eBay crap so I'm looking at name brand stuff like I'm looking at the gobi roof rack, not sure about any thing else yet.

 

[O.R.C.A.]

I agree with others. Bumpers, winch, off-road LED light bars--that's the new "mall crawling junk". Black is the new chrome. Sure, some mods are useful at times, but for what you're looking to do, I would just maybe get some AT tires and head out. You'd be surprised what the stock 4Runner can do.

I understand that, that's why I said I wanted to stay away from the mall crawling look. I'm not looking to just bolt stuff on. I've got a 2000 XJ now that we have out grown, and yes it has black bumpers front / rear but they are not just on there for looks they have their use in protecting the rig as well as good tie off points for by hammock😇. And I hate people who have a roof rack and never use it. Mine gets loaded every time we go out. I'm not looking to bolt stuff on to get noticed I just don't want to drop 40k on a rig and tap a tree and be driving a busted up truck around town, thin sheet metal and plastic don't hold up to much.

A winch is a must as we don't travel with another rig mist of the time and being solo in the woods I don't want to get stuck wishing I had one

 

[O.R.C.A.]

As for as what I was talking about not finding bumpers and stuff it seems ARB has not caught up to the 2015/16 years yet with the 4Runner

 

[p nut]

Just one word of unsolicited advice. We've got 2 kids, and it would've been tight with a mid-size SUV. Others seem to do ok, but for me, the cargo was filled to the brim along with the roof rack with just one kid going on a 3-day outing.

Consider going full size. We had a 100-series Landcruiser, which we absolutely LOVED. So much more comfortable on road trips, lots of storage, plenty of accessories available, and a very robust platform. If I didn't "need" (READ: want) a truck bed, we'd still have it.

Negatives were the MPG and it was also a bit much for a daily driver (although some love driving it daily). Just an alternative you may consider, from one father to another.

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

As for as what I was talking about not finding bumpers and stuff it seems ARB has not caught up to the 2015/16 years yet with the 4Runner

No... but there are other options, including the Southern Style Slimline Hybrid

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

Just one word of unsolicited advice. We've got 2 kids, and it would've been tight with a mid-size SUV. Others seem to do ok, but for me, the cargo was filled to the brim along with the roof rack with just one kid going on a 3-day outing.

Consider going full size. We had a 100-series Landcruiser, which we absolutely LOVED. So much more comfortable on road trips, lots of storage, plenty of accessories available, and a very robust platform. If I didn't "need" (READ: want) a truck bed, we'd still have it.

Negatives were the MPG and it was also a bit much for a daily driver (although some love driving it daily). Just an alternative you may consider, from one father to another.

This is pretty solid advice, can't deny that. I know I've wanted more space at times. And truth be told, if we were going to do anything resembling a proper expedition, we would have to address our rack system, and also get a trailer. But for now, this works