Well, I currently have a leased 2017 Elantra Sport, and a 2006 Volvo XC70.
I am thinking of consolidating and trading them both in for a 4Runner. Why? Reliable, seats for the kid(s), comfortable, hold value well.
So, does anyone have a 4th or 5th gen 4runner they could talk about?
Two guys at work have 4th gens. No problems, very reliable, room for dead deer in the back, kids, hold value, comfortable, wives can drive them, etc. They are both very happy with them. One has a V8 and the other has a V6.
I have a 5th gen 4Runner Limited that replaced an Envoy Denali. Sadly I have to say it was a downgrade in every way except resale. Mind you, it is used as a minivan avoidance vehicle and has rarely left pavement. I am a Toyota fan but clearly I should have spent more time in one before buying.
Pros
-Good eyeball
-Comfy
-Safe
-Resale
-Decent third row and passenger space
-Mechanically indestructable - so I'm told as it only has 35k miles on it
Cons
-6300lbs of underpowered 4x4
-Sub 14mpg avg mileage
-Turning radius of a school bus (not the short one)
-Odd ABS - could be a function of weight and only 245's from factory
-Terrible to do oil changes on
In retrospect I would have picked up a Tahoe as they seem to be similar or better in every way if you buy second hand.
My FIL is on his second 4th gen (2007 and 2011); my parents just sold their 2007 to my brother this week. I wanted to buy it a year ago, but my wife didn't like the color.
All 3 that I've had experience with have been V6's; in total there have been about 400k miles on all of them from my family or my FIL, and all were bought used. I think FIL sold the first at 215k miles, the second is sitting at 175k, and my brothers now has about 180k.
Have there been issues in those 400k or so miles? Yeah, some. Charcoal canisters seem to go out. My parents just replaced axles 6 months ago, then had to do it again as the shop used non oem parts and the seals blew. My FIL had a transmission issue that seems to be uncommon. So there are some. But in any case we've been very happy with them. Never left us stranded, both have towed, very, very good vehicles. Small interiors though, the ones with sunroofs have very little headroom.
We have a '17 as my wife's daily driver. In the 18 months or so of ownership and roughly 14k miles it has been flawless. My wife would like to change it out for a smaller CUV as it is large, and thirsty, but damn after every test drive of CUV's we get back in the 4Runner and wonder why we would replace it. It really is that solid, and nice.
We leased ours, and I am not a huge fan of that, but it made it more affordable as it is a very pricey truck. I love the looks of it as well. Even though it is my least favorite color(silver). Ours is the TRD Off Road or the same as what they would call a Trail in years prior. It has all sorts of off-road stuff like locking rear diff, and crawl control that my wife will never use. It also uses a real shifter for the transfer case instead of the electrical switch that the other trim levels use. I like that, but my wife wishes it was just a switch as she struggled with the shifter last winter.
I had a 4th gen V8 and loved it. I’ve also owned two land cruiser and they would be worth looking at as well if you needed more room.
Thanks guys! in the future could be towing a small trailer and a Miata, whats the tow rating like of the v6?
In reply to tjbell :
I think it’s 5,000 for the v6 and 7,000 for the v8 (4 gen specs).
tjbell said:Thanks guys! in the future could be towing a small trailer and a Miata, whats the tow rating like of the v6?
5000. You shouldn't have any issue with miata and small trailer, but we're about at the limit towing our boat which is a 22 foot fiberglass with an OLD, heavy steel trailer from a 25 foot boat.
I've got seat time in a friend's 2017 Limited. They drive like leather-lined, outdated tractors to me. I'm tall, so Toyota truck ergonomics generally don't work for me, either. Unless you're going to be off-roading with it a lot, I can't imagine why it'd be a top contender given your needs are street driving and occasional towing.
In reply to Brake_L8 :
Most others in this segment arent terribly reliable, lets say 20k OTD TOPS.
Tahoe? Explorer? Silverado? Grand Cherokee?
tjbell said:In reply to Brake_L8 :
Most others in this segment arent terribly reliable, lets say 20k OTD TOPS.
Tahoe? Explorer? Silverado? Grand Cherokee?
My uncle put 400k on his Tahoe. What he used it for you could have used a minivan instead if it wasn't for the need for 4WD (rural Upper Peninsula). He traded it in on a new Silverado.
For 20k you might want to look at the last generation expositions. I rented an ecoboost version and saw 25 mpg from Chicago to northern Michigan (on the stock computer thingy). I’m thinking about getting one this spring.
$20k tops? Reliable, can seat the family and tow the Miata?
I'd forget a Toyota product as they don't depreciate. Toyotas are for buying new or really, really old!
You'll have to prioritize one use of the vehicle over the other. A pickup will be the best value, but you'll have to deal with the open bed and bad gas mileage. An explorer is a good family truckster but without tons of cargo room and a relatively weak towing ability.
I was looking for the exact same needs as you and wanted to get a Suburban...but I ended up with a Silverado!
Well, I havent heard good things about the newer Chevy engines with the active cylinder management or whatever its called. But then again, I dont know much about anything 
Anyway, I guess I can go a little more in depth as to what I want/need :
Reliable as gravity
4X4
Room for 2 adults and 2 children 4 and under
Reliable
18ish MPG (80% highway)
can tow a small trailer with a Miata on it/ small camper
comfortable for super long road trips
can be repaired without factory scan tool / unobtainable factory tools
This will be something I will most likely drive until it rots out. I am extremely tedious about maintenance and a little OCD when it comes to keeping up with my vehicles.
Sounds like any 1/2 pickup or SUV will do.
GX460/gx470
Explorer and Grand Cherokee both have independent rear ends. Better for in town driving, not towing. The Lexus siblings the GX470 and GX460 don't hold value as well. They have a 6500lbs towing capacity and all of the gizmos you could want as well. Tahoe and Silverado are not bad choices either.
Yeah a 1/2 ton crew cab sounds perfect. The Ford/Chevys get better MPG, Tundra is Toyota reliable.
I bought my wife a gen 4, v6 2wd, then after it was rear ended and totalled, replaced it with a gen 5 2wd v6.
Both are rock solid, (aside from an evap issue in the current one), both tow small trailers great, (5k lb tow rating) and I'd trust either to drive to Alaska tomorrow.
Honestly though, I prefer the gen 4. It's the perfect size and is full of small details that suggest it was built to a higher standard than the gen 5. I can't put my finger on why, but there's plenty of places where the gen 5 shows obvious cost cutting, where the gen 4 surpassed it.
Of course,my wife loves the newer one because it's bigger and roomier, but I'd take the gen 4 all day long.
In reply to jrh2009 :
I really prefer the look of the 44thtg gen too...and the v8.
80sFast said:In reply to jrh2009 :
I really prefer the look of the 4th gen too...and the v8.
I'd go gen 4 again all day long if I were starting over. No regerts.
Not that anything is "wrong" with a 5, but I definitely prefer 4th gen.
We had an 08 4Runner. It was great. It was a SportEdition, so it has the XREAS crosslinked dampers, which really made for much better street handling than the non-XREAS models. Other than the interior being a bit dated (it goes back to 2003 or so), it was really great, zero problems in the 4-5 years we owned it, and it drove, rode, handled, and braked well (Sport Edition has bigger brakes than the others too, FYI).
Only real complaint is that the SE seats are kind of flat, and it's a pretty small interior for the size of the vehicle. Probably no biggger than your XC70. Not an issue if you're not a heavy packer, but we ended up bumping up to a Sequoia since we have a couple kids, a dog, and a wife who grossly ovepacks for every trip lol.
I still miss the 4Runner - one of the best-looking SUVs ever made late in that generation (08-09).
Note: V6 (which we had) can be had in part-time 4WD. V8 is either full-time 4WD, or 2WD. Can't go wrong with either, depending on your weather and off-roading intents (if any). Both will tow 5K without drama.
Since this thread needs some pics...
I have a 2004 V8 Sport. It is closing in on 300K miles. I recently had to replace an original power steering hose, since it started leaking a little. The general feel and experience is "do the maintenance according to the book and drive it." I did replace the original XREAS when I bought it, but it had over 250k miles on it. I used an Old Man Emu kit. I use it to tow a 19' boat a few times a year without issue, other than gas mileage dropping down around 10 MPG or below during the tow.
I was looking at Tahoes when I bought it, but the 4Runner popped up for a great price and I went with it instead. I'm glad I did. I love the thing.
If I were going to get one today, the one I'd be looking for is a 2009 Trail edition. It's V6 only, but the tow rating is the same as my V8. I could tow 7000 with my V8 if I had a weight distribution hitch and trailer brakes.
Since Irish added some pictures.
Featuring the GRM Sticker on the beach!
My sister has a 4th gen v8 with over 300k and other than oil changes it hasn’t needed anything.
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