Toyota 4Runner
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Toyota 4Runner review
Buy the old one. That's the review, but since you asked for 800 words: the 4Runner is two completely different trucks wearing one badge, and only one of them has earned the reputation.
The 5th gen (2010–2024) is the last of a dying breed — a 4.0L V6 with a five-speed automatic, a combination your grandfather would recognize and your mechanic will weep happy tears over. It makes 270 horsepower, gets fuel economy that would embarrass a full-size pickup (figure 16–17 mpg in the real world, per owners who stopped lying to themselves), and accelerates like it's thinking about it. Nobody buys one for the powertrain. They buy it because 200,000 miles is a maintenance schedule, not a miracle. In the big 5th-gen Facebook groups — 51,000 members strong — the dominant vibe isn't complaint threads, it's people buying their second and third ones. A guy gifts his wife a 2016 SR5 while dailying his 2012. Another does a transmission drain-and-fill at 136k and reports it shifts better than before. That's not marketing. That's what a solved vehicle looks like.
The 6th gen (2025+) is the opposite bet. Toyota threw out the V6 and the five-speed and gave it a 2.4L turbo four — 278 hp, or 326 hp with the i-FORCE MAX hybrid — plus an eight-speed and a cabin that finally left 2010. The hybrid's 465 lb-ft is genuinely monstrous off-road, and owners who've switched say the Platinum is the most refined 4Runner ever built. But the forums are doing that thing they do with every new Toyota powertrain: cataloging the teething problems. Rough shifting. Jerky transitions between electric and gas. Turbo lag. A hair-trigger throttle that breaks traction when you're trying to feather up a hill. A transmission oil-temp warning on a tame off-road course during a media drive. Two recalls already — one for blank instrument displays, one for wrong weight labels. None of it is catastrophic. All of it is first-year stuff, and Toyota is charging you $41,570 to $67,900 for the privilege of beta testing.
What's genuinely good about the 6th gen: it's the best-looking 4Runner ever, the TNGA-F platform shares bones with the Tacoma and Land Cruiser so the aftermarket will be enormous, and the hybrid's low-end torque is a cheat code on trails. What's wrong: the 19-gallon tank replaced the old 23-gallon one, so range on the trail actually got worse; the hybrid battery eats cargo space and raises the load floor; rear legroom is still tight; and the whole thing costs about $10,000 more than the truck it replaced while asking you to trust a turbo four with your overlanding dreams. The community's V6 grief is emotional, not rational — the 1GR-FE made 270 hp in 2024 and nobody called it fast — but emotions write checks, and right now they're writing them for used 5th gens. The 2024 model year is up 6% year-over-year on the used market. The last V6 commands a tax.
The social pulse is split down the middle. The 5th-gen crowd is a cult of reliability — OTT tune threads, lift kit photos, oil debates, zero panic. The 6th-gen crowd is excited but defensive, modding brand-new trucks while quietly watching the transmission behavior. YouTube's car-market doomers claim dealers are drowning in unsold 6th gens; the truth is softer — dealers are discounting hybrids ~$4,000 under sticker, which means demand cooled, not collapsed. If you want the new one, that discount is your leverage. Don't pay sticker. Ever.
Value call: a used 2022 or 2023 5th gen — CarPlay, Toyota Safety Sense, every bug ironed out over a decade — runs roughly $37–44k on the national market. That's the smart money, full stop. The 2024 costs $5–7k more for the identical truck with a "last of the V6" halo; skip it unless the price is right. The 2025 6th gen is the one to avoid for now — first-year recalls, calibration complaints, and the steepest depreciation in the lineup (−6.8% year-over-year) as early adopters discover the teething issues. If you must have the new platform, wait for a 2026 at a discount or buy a certified 2025 in another year when the TSBs are done. Against the nearest alternatives — a used Lexus GX 460 (the V8 cousin) or a new Ford Bronco — the 4Runner's case is resale and the aftermarket. Nothing holds value like it, and nothing has this many people making parts for it.
The honest tradeoff, in the community's own words: you'll forgive the MPGs and the slow acceleration, and you'll still look back at it after you park. Just make sure it's got six cylinders.