The 2015 Toyota 4Runner feels exactly like you would expect a body-on-frame truck to feel - very truck-like. In fact, the 4Runner is one of the few sport utility vehicles left that harkens back to the 1990s possessing loads of utility including considerable off-road prowess. The two other contemporary vehicles in direct competition with the 4Runner that come immediately to mind are the Jeep Wrangler and Nissan Xterra.
For the 2014 model year, Toyota reworked the front-end styling, and modernized the interior with a new instrument panel and a touchscreen audio interface via Toyota’s Entune system. The revised exterior facelift includes a taller hood, a bigger grille, and an angular headlight design with projector beams rather than halogens. The base SR5 has body color grille and bumper, while the Trail edition gets a special front bumper, and the Limited gets chrome plating on the grille and bumper. But left in place are the same body-on-frame platform and 4.0 L V6 engine with 5-speed automatic transmission used since introduction seven years ago on the 2009 model.
This is not to say that the 4Runner, even if used strictly on-road, doesn’t have some winsome qualities including its comforting go-anywhere stance that includes large all-terrain tires not usually found on the standard crossover, rugged exterior styling and considerable cargo capacity measuring nearly 90 cubic feet with the rear seatbacks folded.
Despite the 4Runner’s aging platform and rather anemic gas mileage (17 city/22 highway/18 combined for rear-wheel drive models), as well as its shortcomings as a family crossover, it has proven spectacularly popular. Sales in 2014 were 76,906, a whopping 49 percent increase over 2013 when 51,625 left dealer showrooms. And January 2015 sales of just fewer than 7,000 were nearly double those of January 2014. If this trend continues that portends 2015 sales of nearly 85,000.
