2017 Toyota 4Runner Road Test and Review

2017 Toyota 4Runner Limited exterior front view ・ Photo by Toyota

There was a time when all SUVs were built like pickup trucks; today, most SUVs have switched to car-style unit-body construction. The Toyota 4Runner, however, is an SUV for purists, with old-school body-on-frame construction. Is that a good thing? That depends on what you need. Let’s drive this traditional Toyota SUV and explore.

Why SUVs changed: Why the 4Runner didn’t.

A quick history lesson to help you understand what makes the Toyotoa 4Runner unique. Early SUVs (including the 4Runner) were basically pickup trucks with station-wagon bodies, giving them the same off-road ability as those trucks—and giving them the go-anywhere capabilities that the marketing departments loved to feature in their advertisements. But the market would take a different turn: Buyers loved SUVs for their cool looks, tall driving positions, and foul-weather traction, but they rarely drove them off the pavement. With SUVs coming under attack for their terrible fuel economy and clumsy handling, the automakers devised a new solution: Build 'em like cars. This new breed—often called crossover suvs or CUVs—used car-style unit-body construction, with a strong body shell that doubles as a frame. This made them lighter, more agile, and provided more interior space, and their car-like suspensions traded unneeded off-road ability for better emergency handling. Today, most SUVs on the market are really CUVs.

Photo by Toyota

An SUV for purists.

Toyota was a pioneer in the crossover segment with the RAV4 and Highlander, but the company has always known there was (and is) a buyer base for a rugged go-anywhere SUV, so the 4Runner was kept in production. Even when stalwarts like the Nissan Pathfinder and Ford Explorer switched to unit bodies, the 4Runner retained its body-on-frame construction and its substantial off-road abilities—and yet Toyota also did a great job of taming out some of the genre’s worst behaviors We found the 4Runner we tested to be comfortable and competent. That said, the nature of its 4-wheel-drive systems and a lack of active safety features give us pause. We’ll talk more about that in a little bit.

Photo by Toyota

Hey, good lookin’!

We’re very fond of the 4Runner’s styling, particularly the latest generation, which received its last major redesign for the 2014 model year. We think this is the best-looking 4Runner in decades, with purposeful, truck-like styling that clearly indicates its role as Toyota’s off-road SUV. The theme continues inside, where the 4Runner’s dash is dominated by a silver-trimmed center stack with chunky (and glove-friendly) dials for the stereo and temperature controls. Toyota’s interior designs have leaned toward the bizarre in recent years, but the 4Runner is a classic, with a logical dash layout and plenty of storage space, including a gigantic center console bin under a padded center armrest.

Photo by Toyota

Surprising Passenger Space

Though body-on-frame SUVs generally don’t offer as much space as a unit-body crossovers, the penalty in the 4Runner is minimal. Compare the interior dimensions of the 4Runner with the similarly-sized Highlander CUV, and the 4Runner has less width in the second row seat, but more legroom. Like the Highlander, the 4Runner offers an optional third-row seat, and like the Highlander, it’s tiny and best suited to small kids, and then only in a pinch. But the first- and second-row seats are very comfortable, and we like that Toyota has fitted assist handles at all four doors, though they are located on the ceiling, which means they won’t be much assistance for really short people.

Photo by Toyota

Great Cargo Space, Too!

The 217 Toyota 4Runner has a conventional top-hinged tailgate that opens on 46.3 cubic feet of cargo space. The second-row seat bottoms can be flipped forward and the seatbacks folded down, yielding 88.8 cubic feet of cargo space with a flat floor. These numbers grow slightly if you skip the third-row seat and the optional “slide deck” (a slide-out floor that makes a great surface for picnicking). Optional 12- and 120-volt power outlets located near the back of the cargo bay are handy.

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Short on technology for both stereo and safety.

In terms of technology, the 4Runner trails the competition. The stereo is not compatible with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, though the optional EnTune system does have some Internet-enabled apps. More importantly, the 4Runner is lacking in advanced driver aids: There is no collision detection system, no automatic braking, and no lane-departure warning system. The 4Runner can’t even be had with adaptive cruise control (which Toyota has offered in other models for ages) or a blind-spot warning system.

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Lots of power, high fuel bills.

All Toyota 4Runners are equipped with a 270-horsepower 4.0-liter V6 engine that drives either the rear or all four wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission. Power is more than adequate, but with all the weight the 4Runner carries around—it tips the scales at nearly 5000 lb.—fuel economy isn’t great. The EPA rates the 4Runner at 17 mpg city/22 mpg highway with rear-wheel drive and 17/21 with 4-wheel-drive. (For comparison, the V6-powered Toyota Highlander crossover is rated at 20/27.) Our 4WD test 4Runner averaged just 18.2 mpg over a week of driving. The 4Runner is rated to tow up to 5,000 lb., but if you have a trailer that heavy, you’ll be better off with a large SUV like the Toyota Sequoia or, better yet, a fullsize pickup truck.

Photo by Toyota

Ride and handling: Good, not perfect.

Drive the 2017 Toyota 4Runner hard and you’ll understand why most manufacturers have abandoned body-on-frame SUVs (and why Toyota makes the Highlander). Once again, Toyota has done an exceptional job minimizing the disadvantages of the body-on-frame format, but there’s only so much it can do. The 4Runner generally drives well and rides comfortably, and it’s certainly miles ahead of SUVs of yore. But compare it to a modern-day crossover, and you’ll find the 4Runner leans more in the corners, bounces more on the bumps, and dives more under braking, and it doesn’t respond as crisply to the steering wheel, especially in an emergency swerve. Of all 4Runners, the Limited, with its wider tires, “sport” suspension, and full-time 4-wheel-drive, is arguably the most car-like—but still doesn’t drive like a car.

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Great for off-roading. but what about rain and snow?

Toyota offers both full- and part-time 4-wheel-drive systems, both with a low range for serious boulder climbing. Most 4Runners are equipped with the part-time system, which must be manually shifted to 4-wheel-drive (4WD) when extra traction is needed. There’s an important caution here: This system is not intended for four-wheel-drive on dry pavement—it must be manually shifted to 4WD, which is only intended for use on loose surfaces (dirt, mud, snow, etc.). In 2WD mode, the 4Runner drives the rear wheels, a less-than-optimal setup for rain (and terrible for snow and ice).

This is in stark contrast to the fully-automatic all-wheel-drive systems found in most crossovers, which drive the front wheels and automatically send power to the rear when the vehicle starts to slip. Toyota offers a full-time 4-wheel-drive system only as an option on the top-of-the-line 4Runner Limited. This system drives all four wheels all of the time, and therefore provides much greater traction in rain and snow without the need for driver intervention.

Photo by Toyota

The problem with RWD and part-time 4WD.

Allow us to editorialize: One of the reasons SUVs are so popular is that they provide great traction on slippery surfaces, and it’s important to note that 4Runners with part-time 4-wheel drive don’t do that without driver intervention, and the rear-drive versions don’t do it at all. For this reason, we recommend the Limited model with full-time 4-wheel drive for people in areas where it rains and snows. The part-time system is fine for those who wish to take advantage of the 4Runner’s off-road abilities and have the experience to know when to manually switch to 4WD. As for the rear-drive version of the 4Runner, we’re not sure why anyone would want one at all. Such a 4Runner lacks the off-road chops that set this vehicle apart, and will actually be worse in snow and rain than a front-wheel-drive crossover. If you live somewhere where the weather is always nice, a rear-drive 4Runner might make sense, but for everyone else, either a Highlander or a different crossover is a better and safer choice.

Photo by Toyota