My honest 2011 Toyota 4runner review

[JJMAC]

agreed, you are missing the fact that this is a SUV with coils made for comfort not a truck with leafs made for hauling


btw I appreciate the our review, I know you didn't have to post it and appreciate you taking the time to respond and originally post. We are not being brand blind so stop saying that. We would have the same issues if you were talking about a explorer or xterra.......

at the very least it's given us something to BS about:ylsmoke:

Fair enough. And trust me. I enjoy the debates. No hard feelings.

 

[JJMAC]

just curious......why did you sell the frontier? I've always like the 4doors one, the styling is much better than the current taco IMHO

2 reasons.

1) It came up off lease.

2) I was going to purchase it off the lease, but my job provides me a car. So we decided to take our two cars and merge them into one family car that I thought would be a good medium to still be able to do the things we want.

And the 4runner has been up to a point. I mean it got us out and about on numerous camp trip and home safe. And I knew what i was getting into with the V6. I had the fronty for 3 years. It got us around and through the mountains of Colorado for three years and some good boon dock camping. Tight on space so I figured the 4runner would be a good compromise with the 3rd row.

I overlooked alot of little things in the test drive that I know see that really are a disappointment....to me.

Not sure what the next step is. Was looking at the F150 Ecoboost. But the wife LOVES the 4runner. So not sure at this point and I doubt I can get her to get into a truck for a car that she will primarily be driving...

I miss the pickup though. And I agree....I also like the look of the Fronty.

 

[JJMAC]

*OK, sorry JJMAC, but now I'll add a disagreement point instead..

How can you compare the factory 4Runner in the original post fairly against a Double Cab Short Bed NISMO with upped spec and leaf springs? Now if you want apples to apples try at the very least a Trail Edition spec which I don't think yours is.

Moving on..

Agreed. Just comparing the fact that during that trip in the pic the Frontier was WAY OVERLOADED. Leaps and bounds more than we had in the 4runner.

 

[PirateMcGee]

ya the ecoboost is a sweet truck, too big for my tastes but you can't aruge with that much horsepower with over 20mpg........

 

[Redline]

snip...
Really? No need for 3rd row light? No need for lighting in the cargo area? Do you have kids? Do you use the cargo area at night while camping or doing anything at night?
snip...

About the lighting: My 4th Gen SR5 has two interior dome lights, one between front and second seats, and one at the rear of the cargo area (no 3rd row on this car). Both can be set to "off", "door", or "ON", I like this set up. Also have map/reading lights at the windshield.

I think one difference may be that the 4th Gen. was a car that was headed 'upscale', lower to the ground, AWD, etc., and the 5th Gen spread out the features and options a bit more. The focus was redirected but the target was mostly the same.

 

[teotwaki]

Who is Oxi, if you don't mind me asking?

Man you guys are rough on each other!:Wow1:

Sorry about the horse's rear end comment...

Oxi was someone who had strange beliefs about what reality was. Search on "Super Moon"

 

[teotwaki]

Thought i would add some FACT/Tech to this thread:

Clearance of the trailer plug. 2" above spare tires lowest point. Well concealed and nowhere near striking distance for any normal trail unless you are DROPPING your rear on ledges or rocks. I couldnt "scrape" this off on a road if i tried.

Nice factual pictures. Notice that Oxi-Mac has altered his story to say he somehow ripped off His towing harness and blames THAT on Toyota

His first post was a little different since it has not been altered yet so I captured it here. I added the emphasis....

-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.

Now some backpedaling..... :bike_rider:

Its not the outlet that ripped off boys. It was actually the wiring harness.

A 4th Gen 4Runner is only a little different and maybe even more "exposed" than a 5th :ylsmoke:

Back view of Fourth Gen 4Runner tow harness outlet


Side View, Tow outlet is bracketed by lower hanging tire and tow hook on the frame


Trying to tear it off


Still there!!


A properly rigged tow harness (red coily cable) doesn't drag at all. No overloading to cause spring sag and bumper drag either. :jump:

 

[teotwaki]

JJMAC, facts?....... what facts???

As stated above, you gave us opinions.

If you want to give us an "honest review" of YOUR 2011 4-Runner then give us FACTS we can use. As it stands your review is worthless. Nobody knows just how much weight it took to get the car to sag like that and consequently they/we have no useable info to use as a guide to see if it will work for their/our needs.

Motor Trend and Road & Track use the track, a dyno and a scale to give us FACTS that can be used and compared in a review.

How much weight and where would be a good start. If we have numbers (FACTS) to work with then it can be said that the sag was too much. Otherwise, like maxama10 said, it's just YOUR opinion......

YMMV RON

You'll never get an answer... just a friendly warning.....

 

[greg mgm]

Sheesh Jim....let it go already.

 

[RR1]

Side View, Tow outlet is bracketed by lower hanging tire and tow hook on the frame

Still a poor location. Looks like you have to get on your knees to plug it in.

In the bumper behind a beauty panel would of been better.

I have mine just above the safety chain loop.

 

[Bumzo1]

Have you looked any at the Jeep Grand Cherokee? One equipped with the 5.7 Hemi can tow 7200lbs and a 2010 with the off road package has LSDs front and rear. The 2011 body style with the off road package has a rear LSD and a front brake-loc differential. The 2011 with the air suspension can also raise to allow for 12" of ground clearance when off road and lower down to normal ride height for when your wife is driving it around.

 

[teotwaki]

Still a poor location. Looks like you have to get on your knees to plug it in.

In the bumper behind a beauty panel would of been better.

I have mine just above the safety chain loop.

I've definitely seen better locations on something like the Ford Explorer.

 

[teotwaki]

Gorgeous picture!!!! You need to post more like that.

 

[RR1]

I've definitely seen better locations on something like the Ford Explorer.

Much better, still have to wonder who thought of the location on the 4Runner...someone who doesn't tow.:ylsmoke:

 

[Mr. Optimist]

At work I drive a lot of trucks(all 1 tons), the base models, which are all domestic trucks with the big engines. "Base" models come with am/fm radios, roll-up windows, and REALLY cheap plastic. IMHO the base model is a better as an idea.

All trucks have a +2000lbs soil core sampler in the bed. While technically each of these trucks should be able to drive around no problem(within payload), they are constantly blowing out shocks(rancho 9000). I guess what I am saying is that once you add a load, no matter what it is, truck/SUV it is going to behave differently. The trucks with the v8's are dogs in the mountain passes, not able to get up past 55mph on a 7% slope. So 80mph sounds great to me!