What would you say if we told you that outside of Jeep and
Land Rover, the best brand for those who want to go off road is Toyota? Sounds
remarkable, eh? But the truth is, Toyota's history of providing vehicles for
the rougher bits of our blue marble dates back to 1950, barely a decade after
Willys built the first Jeeps and only a few years after Land Rover made its big
debut with the iconic Series I.
In fact, Toyota's start in off-roaders was with a small
contract for providing the US Army with vehicles, during the Korean War. From
that, the BJ was spawned. This Jeep-like vehicle evolved into the 20 Series and
then into the iconic 40 Series Land Cruiser in the 1960s.
So yes, Toyota knows its way around the trails. While the
Land Cruiser, deservedly, gets all the attention thanks to its impressive
longevity, we're partial to the 4Runner, which is a far more affordable entry
that serves as Toyota's challenger to the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
For 2014, Toyota issued a light refresh of the
fifth-generation 4Runner, which originally arrived back in 2009. You'll recall
that we already have a test of the off-road-oriented Trail trim level, thanks
to our man Michael Harley. For this test, we're driving the top-of-the-line
Limited model.
The 4Runner is not a pretty car. It's not even an
okay-looking car. Some might go so far as to call it ugly. It's got a snout.
But it sort of charms you with its unattractiveness, like a mud-covered mutt.
That blunt face, with its large, dominating stack of grilles, wears a pair of
chrome strips, the bottom of which runs nearly the width of the vehicle. The
headlights are narrow, angrily canted towards the center of the body, giving
the impression that the Toyota always disapproves of whatever it casts its gaze
on.
This is a slab-sided brute, with its biggest bit of flair
running along the wheel arches and side sills. The C-pillar angles forward
rather aggressively behind the quarter windows, while a rather substantial rear
spoiler pokes out from the roof. The rear of the 4Runner is perhaps the most
under-styled aspect, with nothing more than some glitzy, rectangular taillights
and eye-catching "4Runner" badging. It's quite simple, in contrast to
the front.
If you've looked at the images we've posted of the Trail
model, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the 4Runner's cabin is a simple,
plain place. In the top-end Limited trim, the high-quality leather of our
tester's Sand Beige seats contrasts nicely with strips of (faux) wood and
bright, painted plastics. Despite the artificiality of some of the materials,
the cabin feels like a very solid, durable environment. The dash is largely
plastic, with a soft-touch upper and a harder, more solid lower section.
The large knobs for the HVAC and audio systems are
delightfully easy to work with, like Toyota designed them specifically for
drivers that enjoy wearing a heavy pair of gloves. It's a similar story with
the HVAC buttons, located below the touchscreen display – they're large and
difficult to mix up. The steering wheel, meanwhile, is plucked straight from
the Tundra. That means it's a fairly large tiller, but it's finished in nice
leather and isn't overly encumbered by buttons.
As this is a family hauler at its core, space in the second
row and in the cargo area needs to be ample, and it is. Kind of. The back seat
has plenty of legroom, although for your six-foot, one-inch author, headroom
was far too limited. Considering that, the second row will work in a pinch for
adults, but is far better suited to children or those of a shorter stature.
Headroom may be in short supply, but cargo space isn't, with 46.3 cubic feet on
offer in our two-row tester. That's ten cubic feet more than the 4Runner's main
competitor, the Grand Cherokee. A foldable third-row is optional, although with
the extra pair of seats up, cargo capacity diminishes to just nine cubic feet.
From behind the wheel, the 4Runner is a decent companion.
The seats are wide and comfortable for the long haul, while there's enough
lateral support that the driver feels pretty nicely cossetted. The
tilt-telescopic steering and eight-way power seats provide a solid degree of
adjustability, although those that don't enjoy a higher seating position might
not be too fond of the 4Runner. Most everything seems to be in easy reach,
aside from the very furthest knob on the infotainment system, which is a minor stretch.
Speaking of that infotainment system, it's Toyota's Entune
setup, complete with a 6.1-inch touchscreen display. As touchscreens go, it's a
solid mid-pack contender, held back largely by its relatively small size.
Still, if you aren't bothered by screen real estate, it's a smooth operator,
with the responsiveness, capability and graphical prowess to serve as an
informative companion. Outside of Entune, tech is limited in the 4Runner.
Although it offers parking sensors and a rear-view camera, it's lacking when it
comes to some active safety features. It's quite unlike Toyota to refresh a
car, but pass on offering items like blind-spot monitoring and the like. Still,
the 4Runner boasts a roll-down liftgate window, which we suppose is cool enough
in the world of SUVs for us to forgive its lack of safety technology.
The 4Runner gets around with the help of a 4.0-liter V6,
with 270 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque. It's a fairly simple engine,
all things considered, lacking things like forced induction or direct
injection. Suitably, then, it's mated up to an old fashioned transmission – a
five-speed automatic. In our Limited trim, the standard 5AT distributes power
to a full-time four-wheel-drive system, which is paired up with a Torsen
limited-slip, locking center differential. Active Traction Control is standard,
while the 4Runner's towing capacity lags behind its rival, the Grand Cherokee,
at 4,700 pounds – with four-wheel drive and the Pentastar V6, the Jeep can
manage 6,200 pounds (it should be noted, though, that Toyota adheres to SAE
J2807, a towing standard that will be adopted by domestic manufacturers in 2015
and likely result in lower tow ratings).
Despite being saddled with 4,805 pounds of Japanese SUV,
this engine felt largely adequate. The engine's torque peak may sit up at 4,400
rpm, but it feels reasonably quick off the line. Mid-range punch is lacking,
although we'd place most of that blame on hesitation from the transmission,
rather than any shortage of oomph from the engine. Throttle response is sharp
when digging in quickly, but it's quite linear and easy to modulate when trying
to make careful inputs (a must-have when off road).
Pairing this engine with this much weight and a mere five
gears isn't exactly a recipe for refinement. The 4Runner doesn't make a great
noise at higher engine speeds, although we found it easy enough to keep the
revs low. As we said, the five-speed auto is really the weakest link here. It
changes up quickly enough, but it spends a fair amount of time sifting through
gears before locking one in on downshifts. This gearbox has been in service
since 2003, and has been sold in the four-wheel-drive variants of not just the
4Runner, but the Tacoma, Tundra, FJ Cruiser and even the Euro-spec Hilux – it's
solid and reliable, but these vehicles, especially a passenger-minded
off-roader like the 4Runner, would be better served by a newer transmission
with at least one more gear for highway duty.
As for the four-wheel-drive system, you'll be happiest
reading Mike Harley's brief test on the trails. Southeastern Michigan was a
relative paradise during our week with the 4Runner, offering bone-dry weather
and the warmest temperatures we'd seen in all of 2014. We simply weren't left
with much chance to really put the full-time four-wheel-drive through its
paces. The one niggle we can comment on, though, is that the Limited trim
ditches the old, manually-shifted transfer case that's still sold in the Trail
model (which retains a part-time system), in favor of a dial. We know this is a
bit of an analog-versus-digital argument, but we can't help but prefer the
satisfying sensation of working that notchy shifter, rather than turning a
knob.
With a large-displacement V6, a five-speed automatic, the
aerodynamics of a barn and a 4,800-pound curb weight, one might think the 4Runner
isn't hugely fuel efficient. Well, at 17 miles per gallon in the city and 22
mpg on the highway, it isn't. But – and this is a pretty big "but" –
the 4Runner is able to match the city fuel economy rating of the Jeep Grand
Cherokee, which boasts three more gears, 20 more horsepower and a
smaller-displacement six-cylinder engine. The Jeep does offer a two-mpg
advantage on the freeway (it's three mpg better on the 2WD model), which we can
likely chalk up to the transmission's extra gears. Our mileage fit in well
enough with the projections – an extended, 130-mile freeway run saw us return
just under 20 mpg, while our week-long average sat closer to 17.
Courtesy: Autoblog
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