2025 Toyota 4Runner FULL Tour: It's Finally Here!

This is the new

2025

Toyota 4Runner and it's surprising how long I've been waiting to say those words. I love the Forerunner and I love the current model, but it's been on sale for 15 years and is starting to get a little old now. A new one is

here

and today I'm going to take you on the most comprehensive

tour

yet of the new Forerunner and show you all of its quirks and features. Today's video is brought to you by cars and bids on my online Enthusiast car auction site that I recently sold this and this and this and this and this, the time is right for a comprehensive

tour

of the details and features of the new 4Runner, starting with a little overview.

The Forerunner has been an iconic SUV nameplate in Toyota's lineup since the 1980s, always has been. It's sort of a badass mid-size off-road SUV, and in recent years it's seen a surge in popularity with growing interest in off-road use of the Forerunner, as I mentioned it's now 15 years old in its current form, but it's still getting more popular. and Most desired by enthusiasts who want to take it on the trails, now the new 4Runner will be the sixth generation of this model and is built in Japan with the same Global Truck architecture, the same platform that underpins many of Toyota's new trucks, Sequoia the Land.

Cruiser, the Tundra and the Tacoma and now also the 4Runner, so leaving those basics aside, let's talk about powertrains, the 4Runner will be offered with the choice between two engines, both 2.4 turbocharged four-cylinder L, the output of a V6 from the 4Runner. The lineup is sure to cause some consternation, maybe even some shock and surprise, but before you get upset, listen to the details: The Bas-level powertrain, 2.4L turbocharged 4-cylinder makes about 280 horsepower and about 320 lb. -ft of torque, which are pretty healthy numbers now with this engine. will be standard on the lower and mid-level 4Runner trims and I'll cover all trims

here

in a moment, but if you want more power, Toyota offers the same engine that's available on the upper trims with a hybrid component that increases power to about 325 horsepower and increases torque to 465 lb-ft, which are pretty healthy numbers even though it's just a four-cylinder hybrid that I'm sure some people will complain about;

In fact, Toyota says that engine is the most powerful ever installed in any previous year's V6 V8 4Runner and towing capacity is a respectable 6,000 lbs. despite the 4-cylinder hybrid situation, so it will still be a beast, but not with a V6 Next, let's talk about the exterior with some exterior quirks. and features, but we'll start with the style now. I just saw the new 4Runner for the first time about 20 minutes ago, so I'm still digesting this, as I'm sure you are too, but I have to say my first impression. It looks fantastic, it's unmistakably Forerunner, its profile and overall appearance, but it's also clearly modernized compared to the previous model, which was really starting to look old.

It has exactly everything you would want to see in a 4Runner: toughness and strength. and the overall look and size of the Forerunner, but they don't take any weird risks or do anything stupid with the design. It's really a great redesign in this era of strange and strange style choices by some and very small and subtle evolutions by others. A pretty big change and yet they didn't make a mistake, which is a tall order for such a beloved vehicle, but they did it reasonably well, so we covered the overall exterior styling, but let's talk about quirks and features starting with one of my favorites, this exterior. glass panel for the cargo area, you can see the top is curved to wrap around the roof, which is an old school 4Runner design detail dating back to the first model and the second generation 4Runner they had and now it's been brought back for the newer one which really adds to the overall look of the Forerunner and on the subject of glass, yes the rear window still rolls down automatically like on previous 4Runner models, that's a feature that many People really love it, frankly, I want it a lot. more cars had it but don't have it, but the 4Runner has another interesting quirk on the exterior of the new 4Runner: the lighting starts with the taillights, you can see they have a cool look, they have kind of red stripes when the taillights are on. on and these kind of thin stripes are very distinctive, very interesting and certainly cool, and the turn signal also flashes red and it's a pretty small piece here, just a little horizontal bar built into the taillight stripes on the back. rear, now to illuminate.

On the front there are some interesting quirks and features as well, particularly with this 4Runner as it's the TRD Pro off-road model, so it gets some interesting light touches that I'm sure will be different depending on which version you get, but for the pro you have a great version. new running light signature that you can see here, is this pale orange light that lights up under the normal headlights and is always on as a daytime running light and it certainly adds a distinctive touch to this truck again. I suspect it's probably distinctive to the TRD Pro and also distinctive to the Pro, if you look at the passenger side headlight when you turn it on a little piece lights up that says TRD, if you go to the driver's side and look in that exact same spot , a little piece lights up that says Pro and so if you look at the entire front of the truck and you see those little light up dots that say TRD Pro, of course, to match the finish of this truck, which is cool again.

I'll talk more about the different trim levels in a moment. Size-wise, the new 4Runner is about 3 inches longer than the previous model, so it's a little larger on the outside, and in terms of capability, Toyota says it has an approach angle of about 32° and a exit of approximately 24°, it is not clear exactly which model. that's what it means, but it's a reasonably strong number for off-roaders who want to take their Forerunner to the trail and next we move inside the new 4Runner and first I must apologize for the mud in all the pictures you're about to see.

Look, this truck had been cleaned beauti

full

y by the Toyota people here, but then it rained in this area where we are, everything is muddy, so you will see mud, people often complain that I'm sorry, that's how it works afterwards. of everything. an off-road SUV, so we are off-road, but open the door of the new 4Runner, the first thing you notice is the door panel that has the characteristic hardness of the Forerunner, many right angles and you can see two different layers of storage, one a little higher and one a little lower, of course this is a TRD Pro, you also have that badge there to remind you of your cool off-road work, but open the door, move further in and one of the first things What will you see.

What I will notice is that the seats have the same type of camouflage trim as my Seoa, which I recently complained about in a different video. The seats still have that trim and probably can't be removed like on my Sequoia, which I guess luckily The TRD Pro 4Runner's fenders don't have the same camo trim, which I have to say looks pretty cool and I have I suspect I'll wrap my Sequoia fenders to match the look of these, but anyway, next we move further in and I'm going to start with some of the features here specifically with the off-road equipment, so traction in all-wheel drive you can see that this switch here will adjust between two-wheel drive, four high and four low, and it's a little strange to operate. button on the side to basically unlock it and then you flip the switch to whichever of those things you want, of course high two wheel drive is the default option when you're cruising around town.

Now, interestingly, the new 4Runner will be available in three different drivetrain configurations, you can still get it with basic rear-wheel drive, two-wheel drive only with no four-wheel drive component or you can get it with permanent four-wheel drive which is always available. on or you can get it as this truck is equipped with part time four wheel drive which means it is in two wheel drive until you switch to four wheel drive when you need it now, on top of that you can see that At the top of the four-wheel drive rocker switch there is a large Dial here a very large dial and it is now set to control the drive mode you are in and your Forerunner, but you can adjust exactly what it controls by pressing the buttons at the top, so if you want it to control your multi-terrain selection. system which is MTS, you press it and then the dial has a new purpose and you can adjust the type of surface you are driving on and the truck will respond accordingly.

You can also see that this new 4Runner still has crawl control, which is great for off-roading. type of cruise control Self-driving, take-off feature that Toyota has been implementing on its top-tier off-road models for years and this new 4Runner has it at least on TRD Pro Trims and I suspect other trims as well. Next, we move on to these buttons. here on the center console and you can see that there is a bar marked with a small X next to some wheels that will automatically disconnect the stabilizer bar. This is the first time the 4Runner can do this with the push of a button, and it's nice. of a cool feature that obviously improves its off-road capability, now right next to it you have the rear differential lock that is standard on the TRD Pro and a new version called Trail Hunter that I will cover soon of course, that also improves its off-road capability. -On-Road Capability and right next to it is a button marked View that activates a new feature for the 4Runner, it's called Multi-Terrain Monitor and it allows you to use the camera system to see obstacles coming up on the road. in front of you, this will of course enhance your ability when you're off the pavement to see what's ahead and adjust to conditions accordingly and it will display what you're seeing on this giant center screen in the middle of the center control console and speaking of this giant central screen it really is huge and it is the new infotainment system that is being implemented in basically all other Toyota models.

The Forerunner has been stuck in an old era with old technology, but it now has Toyota's newest and largest infotainment screen. latest technology and, frankly, it's pretty good. I have reviewed it on many other Toyota models. Responds very well. It is very intuitive. Easy to use. Move your finger across the screen. Respond quickly. Apple CarPlay. Standard Android Auto. It is very compatible and easy to use with this system. It really is a great infotainment system and speaking of screens in the new 4Runner, you also get a new gauge cluster screen which is also fantastic. I really love this system, which is an improvement over previous Toyota models.

I didn't like it as much because they were It's not as configurable, now you can configure the left, center and right three panels to show you all the different types of screens, whether it's a map or the music you're listening to or travel data or ecological data or tire pressures or all types. of different things, everything can be configured on this gauge cluster screen so you can display exactly what you want to display directly in your field of view at all times, it's a really great gauge cluster screen and while we're on these screens objective there There is one more type of hidden screen in this car and that would be the rearview mirror that you can see right now.

It's just a traditional mirror, but if you flip this switch, it turns into a camera with a screen that shows what's happening behind you. There will be some Forerunner purists who will say, well, that's just another thing that's going to break, but you'd be surprised how useful this feature is when you're loading your Forerunner with people, dogs, and gear and you can't see out the rear window. Flip that switch and suddenly you have a perfect field of vision behind you. I have this feature on my Sequoia. I love it and really wish other automakers offered it, but right now it's just Toyota and a couple of others and while we're on the subject.

As for technology, it's also worth noting that all new 4Runner models come standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which is Toyota's name for its suite of safety features that basically includes everything adaptive cruise control. and lane following assist so you can take thefreeway curves for you, it's blind spot monitoring, automatic high beams, a long list of safety equipment standard on any version of 4Runner, even if you just get the base level model, that's pretty impressive, but of all modes, next we move on to the technology and move on to the rest of this interior to Discuss well, let's start with how difficult it is here, there are no sweeping curves anywhere, there is no wood or luxury touches, instead, everything is right angles and a vertical dashboard, just as you would expect from a tough Toyota truck in interior and toughness.

This is further emphasized with, for example, the floor mats that have this tire tread pattern that goes over the Earth and on the passenger side of the dash, you have these giant Toyota letters printed on this fiber-look trim. carbon that is cool, resistant and all-terrain. You also have this big handle here on the passenger side that is rubberized so the passenger can hold on when the driver starts doing crazy things. Offroad. Now, next to that handle, you have a pretty useful storage pocket here, this could obviously be a place. where you put your smartphone and it's especially useful because it's directly next to some charging ports, as you can see, so you can charge it there as well and also next to the wireless charging pad in this car where you can put your phone and have it well loaded.

Next, wirelessly, another cool Quirk diagonal slash feature on the inside at the top of the dash. It has this thing that looks like a stereo speaker for the truck stereo system, and it is, but you can also press this eject button and then it comes out and it's a portable speaker that you can take with you to a campsite on a trail, which is a very cool feature, you always have a portable bluetooth speaker with you since it's built into the dash and it's another cool touch on this truck, on the passenger side of the dash of course you have a glove box here, but if you look higher up there's also a small tray where you can store things that doesn't close or lock, but if you're on the go and want to leave something for just a second, that's another good place you can leave it and then it's also worth noting on this inside the dials to adjust things on the central control. stack the dials to adjust the climate control absolutely huge same with the volume dial and basically all the buttons the theory here is that you can use them with work gloves you don't have to take them off you're somewhere inside For the freezing cold, you have big gloves, you can still adjust all of these things, but they also look great and again contribute to the tough feel inside this truck.

Now we move on to the left side of the steering wheel and you can see several rows of The buttons here, the top row, are pretty standard items. Its power tailgate controls the automatic high beams for the usual stuff below. It has some auxiliary switches. You can connect them to accessories if you want to install them on your truck, for example. a winch, if you want to install one of those, has a forward switch and you don't have to hook up a weird looking aftermarket switch that doesn't really fit the look of the truck or other light bar, whatever it is.

If you want, and speaking of light bars, it's also worth noting that you have the control for your TRD light bar right here, you can press it and turn it on and it lights up a giant horizontal LED light bar on the front of the truck, now These only turn on when you turn on the high beams, you can't just drive with the light bar on in normal driving, but it does a pretty good job of lighting up the world when you have the high beams on and you're in the dark. Country Road or a dark off-road trail trying to find your campsite and then we moved into the back seat in the 4Runner.

You can see that this second row rear seat is a

full

bench on this particular TRD Pro and has the same camouflage. treatment like the rest of the interior, which I'm not a big fan of, but at least it's relatively subtle now there are some interesting elements here worth noting, one that you can see in the center is the rear air vents, which is well it has and directly below it has two different USB C ports and also a home charging port next to them where you can connect your usual devices. It's great to have a home port inside the actual seats, not just in the cargo area in case you want to plug in a blender for example, not that you would, maybe you would anyway, you also have the door panels which are great, you've got this little storage compartment down here that's the perfect size for smartphones and you've got a cup. holder that is well integrated and molded into the door pocket many times I see cup holders in the door pocket, but they are vaguely cup holders and you get the feeling that a cup would fall or roll, but not here, that's pretty good. idea, especially if you are on the road and riding in the back.

Another thing worth noting with the second row, it's not exactly huge, you have room here, but I have the front seat about where I would be if I were sitting. in it and my knees are a little against it, my head is kind of against the roof despite the increasing size of this vehicle over the years, you don't have a huge amount of space in the back, you do have a decent space, though in the back. I mean, an adult can sit here comfortably, but if you're looking for a giant vehicle that people can lie down in, you'll want to get something a little bigger, I guess, in the redwood kingdom or maybe of the tundra, however, that being said, One nice benefit of the 4Runner: the second row seat folds down very easily, just pull this latch, the backrest folds down, pull it again and then it folds back Go ahead and mention that this is important because it gives access to the third row.

The Forerunner in particular is not equipped with one, but the new 4Runner will offer an available third-row seat. The 4Runner has opted more and more for third-row seats over the years, but this newest one has one available in case you want to go all out. family off-roader and then we move on to the cargo area in the new 4Runner, but before we get there, let's talk about the pop-up rear window again, now you can open it from the inside with this switch on the roof, you push it down. It rolls down, you pull it up, it rolls up pretty standard, but you can also open it from outside the 4Runner, which is cool.

You've got these two buttons here on this panel above the license plate, they're obviously shaped like arrows, so the top one points up to raise the window, which is great, and the bottom one points down and to lower the window. window, it's pretty intuitive and it's great to be able to do it from the outside in case you have any smaller items you want. For loading, you don't want to open the entire tailgate, you can roll down the window quite easily. Now these buttons also serve to lock and unlock the outside of the car, so if you just quickly touch the top button it locks all the doors and you can drive away, quickly touching the bottom button will unlock the doors, while holding down the buttons, the rear window opens and of course you can also open the full, electrically operated rear door and it opens and reveals the cargo area in the new 4Runner now a big complaint about the new Sequoia has been that the height of cargo area charge is too high and in the case of the seoa apparently that is due to a hybrid component battery architecture under the cargo area which looks like it's going to be the same situation here.

I don't find it a problem in my new Sequoia, but some people do and they may also do it in the Forerunner since it's quite tall, but a nice bonus is that the outside edge of the cargo floor actually rises. Raise. It lifts up and out so you can place smaller items in here. It's like a small extra storage panel at the front of the cargo area. Same on the other side, this panel lifts up and again can be a small storage compartment to place small items. There, if you want, there are now other items worth noting in the cargo area of ​​the new 4Runner, for example, it has another household-style power outlet which again adds to the practicality in which you are on the trails, you want to plug in a air compressor and fill it. your tires you can do it here quite easily.

You also have some storage pockets on the side. Now these pockets will obviously be used primarily by third-row passengers in 4Runners equipped with a third row for cup holders or rear storage, but even if you don't have the third row, it's very useful to have extra little storage compartments on the side of the storage area. cargo that add a little more practicality if you want somewhere you can put your gear and it won't roll up in the bag. and

finally

I want to talk about the market positioning, prices and equipment levels with the new Forerunner, as I already mentioned.

This particular Forerunner is the TRD Pro, which is the rugged off-road version and is one of nine trim levels now offered by the new Forerunner. the equipment levels are there, there is the Bas SR5, as there has always been, the TRD sport, the TRD sport premium, the TRD off-road, the TRD off-road premium, The Limited, the TRD Pro, the platinum and the trail Hunter, now the two big new models. for this year's 4Runner it's the Trail Hunter and Platinum, so let's cover them. The Trail Hunter will be an overland version of the 4Runner, while the TRD Pro is for technical off-road use in the roughest possible terrain, which the Trail Hunter is best suited for.

Going camping and off-roading is the usual overland and as a result, both the Trail Hunter and TRD Pro are heavily equipped for off-roading, but in slightly different ways, specifically the Trail Hunter will have its own suspension setup from the old emu . an ARB rack for your year of camping will of course have a high mounted air intake so when you go to Ford Rivers water won't get into your engine which will be distinctive to the Hunter trail, you will also have rock rails on the sides and more protective plates underneath for added protection and you will have more power availability inside to charge devices and connect other accessories you may need when you are overland and spending days at a time in the middle of nowhere now off the grid As for The other major new version of this year's 4Runner, the Platinum model, which now sits above the Limited, if you're looking for the most luxurious Forerunner experience possible, is offered with blacked-out exterior trim instead of chrome seat trim.

Limited's heated rear seats. a nice touch, a head-up display that will be a nice modern new tech feature for the 4Runner, and automatic wipers. These things aren't high-luxury features for many models, but they certainly are for the 4Runner, and the Platinum will have them. That's the new 4Runner. I am very impressed with him. I think it's a fantastic redesign of an iconic vehicle that's easy to screw up and they clearly haven't, but with all that said and all the praise I've gotten. I think this vehicle deserves it. I'm still a little confused by the whole situation.

I don't understand exactly where this fits into Toyota's off-road SUV lineup. I was thinking Toyota would resurrect the 4Runner as an open-top convertible SUV like the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler, and the original Toyota 4Runner. I thought they would compete with them, but instead, the Forerunner and Land Cruiser seem to share fairly similar positions in Toyota's lineup, let me explain that the new Land Cruiser is 193. in Long the new 4Runner is 194. n, so which are basically the exact same size as the Land Cruiser offers the 4-cylinder turbo hybrid engine that is optional on the 4Runner, which means they are the same size and offer the same powertrain, which is kind of getting a little unusual and Then there's the Land Cruiser price that starts around $57,000 and goes all the way to the mid-$70,000 range.

Now Toyota hasn't announced pricing for the new 4Runner yet, but I imagine it will sit below the Land Cruiser because the current 4Runner It starts around $42,000 and goes up to the high $50,000 range, so you imagine the new one will have a small price increase and has some new trim levels on the higher end, it will cost maybe 44,000 to maybe $60,000 and You can see that that starts to overlap with the Land Cruiser also in size, powertrain and price and interestingly the 4Runner is the only one between the two that offers third row seating, so the 4Runner has extra seats, the same powertrain, same size and it's probably going to be a little less expensive with most of the same off-road equipment,like multi-terrain inching control selection and many of the suspension upgrades offered on the TRD Pro and Trail Hunter models, which further complicates matters.

The Sequoia starts around $660,000 and you can get a seoa TRV off-road for around $67 with a much larger body and a full-size third row seat plus cargo area and the new Lexus GX starts around $65,000 with similarities to the Land Cruiser in terms of size and powertrain style, so if you have around 65 grand to spend on a new Toyota off road SUV, there are plenty of options, Land Cruiser, seo, new 4Runner, Lexus GX, looks like a little crowded and I'm surprised they split their lineup exactly this way, but they have and, frankly, having more options when it comes to Toyota trucks and SUVs isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially as good as this one appears to be.

Now you'll notice that I haven't driven the new 4Runner yet and won't be able to. This is just a pre-production model and we can't take it out on the road, but Toyota says it will go on sale later this year sometime in the fall and I'm sure I'll be able to get behind the wheel. around its on-sale date so I can see the new 4Runner from the driver's seat and see what the driving experience is like, frankly, I can't wait. I'm very excited to do it, but for now, without driving it, this is the most complete information. yet another tour of the new 4Runner and all its quirks and features