Jim Bray's Car & Tech rants - publishing online exclusively since 1995
Toyota adds hybrid option to its new generation of 4RunnerBy Jim Bray One of the original Japanese sport utility vehicles is back with a new edition, and it's a very nice step forward from the previous inSUVnation. The 4Runner, which seems to have been around forever, has been a truck-based based SUV since day one (back then it was based on the Hilux, which is now the Tacoma) and it still manages to compete in a market dominated by the car-based units that make up the lion's share of today's SUV's. This means the thing is nearly indestructible, as evidenced by the Toyota pickup Top Gear tried to kill unsuccessfully multiple times. That's a good thing in any vehicle, but it's especially important if you're leaving the beaten path and heading for the outback (no Subaru pun intended. Okay, it was…). They also last forever, as evidenced by my son's 20-plus year old 4Runner Sport Edition that runs as well today as it did when he bought it used many years ago. Toyota claims the new 4Runner is "all-new from the ground up" and is now using the same global truck platform as the Tacoma, Land Cruiser, Tundra and Sequoia. It uses a high-strength boxed, steel-ladder frame with a multi-link coil rear and double wishbone front suspension. The maker says this platform not only is stronger, but also allows for better ride comfort and "on-road manners". I can attest to its on-road manners. While obviously truck-based, the new 4Runner drives nicer than I can remember other recent generations did. In fact, it was sportier than it had any right to be, especially once you tweak its settings to access the sport and/or sport plus modes. Though it's still bigger than I like, and more robust than I need, I really enjoyed driving it. 
The V6 is gone now, alas, but I have to admit this turbo four (2.4 litres' worth) with the hybrid is a peach. The base, non-hybrid uses the same engine rated at 278 horsepower and 317 lb.-ft. of torque, but the hybrid adds to the mix a 48-hp electric motor integrated right into the eight-speed transmission. And that ups the oomph ante to a very nice 326 horsepower and 465 lb.-ft. of torque (Toyota says "up to" these specs, so keep that in mind). Toyota says it's the most powerful powertrain ever offered on a 4Runner. That eight-speed transmission works very well, too. For 2025, 4Runner has expanded its trim levels to include SR5 (which used to indicate a five-speed manual transmission, but that was a long time ago), TRD Sport, TRD Off Road Premium, Limited, Platinum, TRD Pro, and Trailhunter, the latter of which – as its name suggests – is aimed particularly at the off-roading crowd. Toyota says it collaborated with a number of off-road component companies for the Trailhunter, which features "ARB's Old Man Emu (OME) 2.5-inch forged shocks with rear external piggyback remote reservoirs, along with a uniquely co-designed ARB Roof Rack." The tweaks add two inches of clearance up front and an inch and a half in the rear. Trailhunter also adds rock rails and high strength steel skid plates, a heritage grill with bronze "TOYOTA" lettering and an integrated 20-inch LED light bar with colour-selectable RIGID LED fog lamps. If comfort and toys are more your bent, there's also the new Platinum grade, which the company says gets you a high-end, luxury experience "with all the capability you expect in a 4Runner." To distinguish it from the Limited, you get black exterior styling elements, heated second-row seats, a standard tow tech package, Head-Up Display and automatic rain-sensing wipers. Canadian-spec 4Runners can be had with either part-time or full-time 4WD, both versions of which come with an electronically controlled two-speed transfer case with high/low range, Active Traction Control (A-TRAC) and an automatic limited-slip differential. TRD Off-Road, TRD Pro and Trailhunter grades also get an electronic locking rear differential as standard equipment, while the Limited can be ordered with an available full-time four-wheel-drive system with centre locking differential (this is standard on the Platinum). And of course, as a serious off-roader, the 4Runner's Multi-Terrain Select system now works in both 4WD-High and 4WD-Low modes, though I must admit I never used low range. There's also a new, supposedly quieter CRAWL Control function that acts kind of like a low-speed, off-road cruise control so the driver can keep his/her/its eyes on the, er, off-road. Technology abounds and I have to admit that, while I have issues with their centre stack-mounted LCD screen's interface (busy and distracting smart phone-like, like so many others from so many other carmakers these days), the 4Runner didn't have me yelling at it in frustration like many other vehicles – including Toyota's – do. This one, for example, didn't offer the really annoying front cross traffic monitor I hated so much in other models (though to be fair, I can think of some limited times when the feature could be more useful than merely cuss-inducing). The new 4Runner gets new screens, such as an eight-inch one or an available 14-inch multimedia touchscreen that displays Toyota Multimedia stuff. Naturally, at least for now, it also supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A seven-inch gauge cluster screen is standard but a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster is available on higher grades. Toyota Canada's sample 4Runner hybrid Platinum positively bristled with stuff, starting with its Supersonic Red exterior and Semi-Aniline leather, dark navy interior. Both treatments look classy and the red, which I'm not usually a fan of, helps highlight the new generation's handsome exterior. 
The base price of Toyota's sample was $67,336, but it also came with nearly seven grand worth of optional upgrades such as:
Naturally, you also get all the safety stuff that's pretty well standard across the industry, and you can shut most of them off. And as a sop to Big Brother, there's this: "As part of Toyota's diverse portfolio approach toward a carbon-neutral future, 4Runner is the latest hybrid offering in the lineup to wear the Beyond Zero badge. Very soon, Toyota will offer 19 electrified vehicles for customers to choose from. With the additions of Land Cruiser and Tacoma, Toyota will offer 15 hybrid models, two plug-in hybrid models, the bZ4X battery electric vehicle (BEV), and the zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell Mirai". Toyota appears to be very proud to offer more of such Gaia-friendly choices "than any other automaker for customers to reduce their carbon footprint." Just when I thought we were getting away from this madness. Still, that's an individual choice as long as we don't keep electing people who intend to rule us rather than work for us. That said, I really liked the new 4Runner and were I looking in this market segment it would be my first choice. I wouldn't be shopping in this segment personally, of course, but I can certainly understand its appeal. The 2024 4Runner starts at $57,940 CAD and you can option up the trim levels and stuff to about $87,941. Copyright 2025 Jim Bray |