My honest 2011 Toyota 4runner review

[JJMAC]

I have had my ups and downs with this car since we purchased it. I know that I will get a ton of grief for posting this review on a 4runner lover forum to those that don’t take criticism to the vehicle very well. But….

My motivation is that those that are looking at this vehicle get an honest review of 2011 Toyota 4runner SR5 from the perspective of one that uses a vehicle to haul a family of 4 off the beaten path while towing an offroad camper.

After hauling my off-road camper with a family of 4 through the forest roads on the Arizona Strip of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I give it a 7.5 out of ten.

Pros:
-Wife likes it.
-Decent SUV, moderate offroad family car.
-3rd row
-controls are located in comfortable locations.

Cons:
-Engine is not very responsive. I find myself practically flooring the vehicle to get it to get up and go. Prior vehicle was a Nissan Frontier and that engine was much more responsive but equally as poor on its towing capabilities.

-Towing is horrid on this vehicle. First the rear sag is absolutely terrible. We are only towing a Fleetwood Cobalt camper. Its tiny and should be easily handled by this vehicle. A 3 day camping trip and the rear bumper was practically dragging. The tow harness plug is in the worst possible place to be on a vehicle. Especially on a so-called off-road vehicle. Its practically under the spare tire. Ours ripped off on a forest road. Not technical at all.

-Interior lighting is terrible if you have children. No driver controlled dome light. No 3rd row dome light. Terrible rear cargo lighting. Especially if you are using this vehicle to camp.

-Stock radio on SR5 is garbage.

Overall it’s a decent vehicle for SUV, Family Fun and moderate offroad use. This is not the vehicle that you want to have to get you up and down mountain roads or offroad camping loaded with the family. Its just not rugged enough from the engine to the shocks to handle certain activities required by those that want to get away from it all with an offroad camper..and for a 5th generation vehicle you would think that most of the little things like lighting, sag and towing would have been taken care of by the engineers.

 

[nwoods]

Not to mention it has a face only Darth Vaders mom could love

What I really wish is that mfr's souls take all the good ideas from the past 110 years in autos and put it all together into one vehicle. Wouldn't that be awesome! N o more massive design oversights like interior cabin lights.

 

[NorCalBorn]

..additionally you cannot get a base SR5 in 4wd without their mandatory "Convenience Package" which includes their mandatory sunroof. While the wife likes the idea it kills visibility for me as with this model I needed to lower the seat all the way down (oh yeah, mandatory 6 way electrical on driver's seat) which in turn makes it harder to see past the edge of the hood. Sorry, but I'm only 5'8" and I shouldn't have my head hit the headliner drop for the sunroof backing out of the driveway. Then there's the choice of either 3rd row seats or a slide-out..no option to not have either for a little extra cargo room or ability to put in a decent sleeper/storage system unless you goto the limited which is more $.

An additional $3500-$6000 worth of crap I'd rip out the first week of owning one anyhow.

Literally the only way I could get a newer version of what I now have is to build it like I did my '95, out of a 2wd and source the pieces to make it 4wd..lame.

I looked at Tacoma's but liking the box frame I am stuck with just deciding if I pull the trigger it'd be far smarter to not care so much about a factory warranty and source a pristine 3rd-4th-Gen 4Runner instead and have $ for equipping it and even more left over to either baseline one or have the engine and trans rebuilt for good measure.

Way to impress a loyal Toyota shopper?? I might as well do body work and swap in a 3.4, who needs the newest of new anyhow when this is our choices.

*One thing that hopefully will come out of the tragic events in Japan causing production to stop as well as their loss in profits over the whole stupid gas pedal drama will be maybe considering addressing what the market actually wants versus what they want to tell us we want to make it easier to be profitable. Just like pushing vinyl/leather, who needs or wants all that for something that's gonna see dirt? They listened to demand for the FJ_C but didn't do it quite well overall, same for this 4Runner.

It's like you got all ready for a date with this girl you really like and you're at this really posh restaurant..and she didn't bother to shave her legs and is wearing a t-shirt with a really nice dress.

**Anyone have any lingering doubts still why Toyota got/gets irritated when I open my mouth?? Honesty can hurt, but it helps. Thanks so much for posting this topic, I am glad it isn't just me feeling these things.

 

[RR1]

Most (all?) modern SUV's are sprung for comfort not for towing, of course for the price of those new 4Runners it should be already "done" by the factory.

Too bad the V8 isn't available any more, even better would be the 4Runner with the 5.7.

One cure would be simply sell it for something else, (like a Chevy Tahoe) or re-spring and a toss on a super charger. Not cheap fixes though.

 

[NorCalBorn]

One cure would be simply sell it for something else, (like a Chevy Tahoe) or re-spring and a toss on a super charger. Not cheap fixes though.

..and go through rotors and pads once every two years and have something bigger that just won't fit or work for most people living, working, or parking in the city? Been there with that thought myself last week. Besides, their "box frame" is only wax coated, not sealed and wax coated like Toyota's. Tough call to have to make..

Try regearing and see if that'll help is what it boils down to..hopefully he doesn't have KDSS and can lift it easily too..there's options out there, check the toyota120.com board for some tech hints. It's just sad they are going this route with their vehicles..

 

[Degrey]

Good to hear some honest opinions about the new 4runner.

 

[Applejack]

7.5 out of 10 isn't bad and I'm sure my 3rd gen wouldn't have towed nearly as well, has worse lighting, worse fuel economy less comfortable and less room. But I still love it.
Yes I've had to mod it to get it the way I wanted it, but I had that in mind when I bought it.

Besides what new SUV could you have bought that wouldn't sag with a camping trailer, or sits too low to the ground within a comparable price range?

I doubt anyone on here will give you much grief for your review, I think most understand how compromised general purpose vehicles are. People like us explorers/adventurers know this and that is why there are very few stock vehicles on this site, and the ones that are, are merely awaiting their transformation.

What I take from your review is that it sounds like a fantastic platform to build off of, but in it's stock form we shouldn't expect too conquer the Kalahari. No surprise there.

 

[keezer37]

But if they made a vehicle you wanted to keep for ten years, you'd keep it for ten years. Now, where's the profit in that?

Sounds like Toyota is getting worse with the packages. Don't you love having to buy crap you don't want to get what you do?

Thanks for the honest review.

 

[xcmountain80]

I'm utterly confused, the 5th Gen 4Runner comes with a tweaked version of the 1GR-FE offering more power and better economy than the unit in the 4th gen 4Runners and 2nd gen Tacomas right? I have an 06 Tacoma with that motor and it does fine towing 2-3k, now this could be because of the transmission I'm guessing as my 02 4Runner and 04 Tacoma seemed to be two different beasts.

A

 

[trump]

Did you move from a Frontier with the 4.0L? If you did and you weren't happy with the performance, it's time to move up to a full size.

 

[JJMAC]

Did you move from a Frontier with the 4.0L? If you did and you weren't happy with the performance, it's time to move up to a full size.

yes. I actually loved that truck. It could have used more power and torque, but the lease came up and then we decided to buy the 4runner for the family car. I got rid of the frontier.

I agree. It appears that a full size is in the future for us. Problem with that is we only have the need for one car in our family as work provides me with another and we need the family car to be economical for what its used for 90% of the time....moving kids and shopping etc.

However.....I like the full size and comfort that it would bring to a 3-5 day camping trip.

 

[Redline]

snip.....


Besides what new SUV could you have bought that wouldn't sag with a camping trailer, or sits too low to the ground within a comparable price range?

I doubt anyone on here will give you much grief for your review, I think most understand how compromised general purpose vehicles are. People like us explorers/adventurers know this and that is why there are very few stock vehicles on this site, and the ones that are, are merely awaiting their transformation.

snip.......

I appreciate the critical review, but think the above comments (and many others not quoted) are right-on. Simply put, most vehicles, particularly utility vehicles, have many design compromises in 2011. Many of the design compromises we like, as most wouldn't be happy with a factory 1968 Ford Bronco in 2011 We have all become spoiled, and I have lots of saddle time in older 4x4s to compare old and new. It seems the vast majority of people that buy 4x4 vehicles simply don't use them for off-highway travel at all. Maybe a little snow in the winter, but mostly as a versatile wagon with which to haul people and stuff around towns, not the backcountry.

I was surprised to read that the headroom was lacking because I thought the higher roofline of the 5th Gen. would offer more (I like to call it the FJ-Runner because of the styling). I intentionally purchased a 4th Gen without a sunroof because I needed the headroom (I'm tall). Most factory SUVs and even pickups are pretty softly sprung these days, good for ride and for most people that don't load them much.

If the same 750F 5-speed transmission is being used with the 3.52:1 first gear I'm surprised that it feels so sluggish starting off. I love this tranny, but I agree lower gearing would be nice. The 3.73 diff ratio is a compromise and if loaded, at altitude or driving up inclines, I can see it lacking. Mine was, so I changed it. Agree with everyone that the loss of the V8 is sad, no substitute for torque.

Not everyone wants to drive a big pickup, but full-sized trucks still have the most options of engines, axel ratios, and packages allowing us to start out with much more of what we want/need if we shop & buy carefully.

Having said that, there are some very strange options/features that are hard to get away from on new vehicles. For example, when recently shopping for a new pickup, the Ford F150 Fx4 ('off-road' package) with V6 EcoBoost engine, 4.10:1 axles w/ rear locker, only came with 20" wheels and black interior. What ???????????????? Similarly, the Toyota Tundra Rock Warrior package (closest thing to an 'off-road' package in the Tundra) also only comes with black interior. Since when do people like black interiors in white trucks that might go off-highway? In favor of the Tundra is that at least they sell this RW package with special 17" wheels, as they apparently know that off-highway we would like more tire sidewall and not more wheel, which Ford clearly doesn't understand or care about. Wait, I forgot, these trucks are for the masses and it's more about styling and the idea of off-highway use.

P.S. I love my 4th Gen., but it's heavily modified to be what I want, not what Toyota intended.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Thanks for the review. I was initially excited about the 5th gen but the more I see them the more I like the 4th gen!

I know it sounds like blasphemy but to me the 5th gen looks almost exactly like the Highlander. They both have adopted the "fat" look with a big, bulky body and a small "greenhouse" on top which I think looks hideous. I also think it's sad that they deleted the V8 option and the center diff that the 4th gen had. For $40k you should be able to expect things like that!

I'm not in the market for a new SUV but if I was the Xterra would probably be my weapon of choice. Either that or a 4 door Taco shortbed with a 6 speed manual tranny.

 

[RR1]

..and go through rotors and pads once every two years and have something bigger that just won't fit or work for most people living, working, or parking in the city? Been there with that thought myself last week. Besides, their "box frame" is only wax coated, not sealed and wax coated like Toyota's. Tough call to have to make..
..

The new 4Runner is not that much smaller than the Tahoe, plus the Cheby has better towing capacity and more cargo room. I know hard core Yota fans cringe at domestic vehicles, but there are other options out there.


I run into them in the back country all the time, they are used by the Border Patrol.

 

[RR1]

. Many of the compromises we like as we would't be happy with a 1968 Ford Bronco in 2011

Actually...some of us would love a brand new 1968 Ford Bronco.

Icon 4X4, hit the nail on the head, utilitarian but with modern drive train and "conveniences" :ylsmoke:

Now if they weren't so darn expensive. Since they are hand built the price isn't that bad, as a brand new 4Runner (mass produced) isn't cheap either, especially if you add another $10-20K of mods.

http://www.icon4x4.com/