![]() The 4Runner interiors vary little from grade to grade, but Sport and Limited variants get leather-wrapped steering wheels with audio and cruise controls. The top-of-the-line model is the Limited, with color-keyed bumpers and cladding illuminated running boards and five-spoke, 17-inch alloys. Expect to pay at least $33,000 for a Sport. Next up is the Sport model, which is pretty much like the SR5 but has a silver-colored grille and roof rails a hood scoop fog lamps color-keyed, heated outside mirrors and six-spoke, 17-inch alloy wheels with 65-series rubber. The lowest grade is the SR5, which comes with gray-metallic bumpers, lower cladding, and 16-inch steel wheels (alloys are optional) with 265/70R-16 tires. Here's the "grade" strategy for the new 4Runner: three trim levels, with either a V-6 or V-8 engine and optional four-wheel drive that is part-time on V-6 vehicles and full-time when teamed with the V-8. The other is Downhill Assist Control (DAC), which works only in low range at an initial speed less than 18 mph when the driver has his feet off the pedals, to maintain a target forward speed of 2 to 4 mph. One is Hill-start Assist Control (HAC), a kind of stability-control offshoot that applies brakes and manages torque for tricky uphill launches. And assisting the usual four-wheel-drive traction hardware are two electronic strategies intended to optimize off-road performance. It can increase rearward torque distribution up to 70 percent when needed, or send up to 53 percent forward when the rears lose grip.Ĭombined with a control-arm front suspension and a solid rear axle located by four trailing links and a Panhard rod, the 4Runner's off-road arsenal looks pretty convincing. The transfer case in both engine variants uses a lockable Torsen center differential and in normal operating circumstances has a rear-wheel torque bias (the planetary gearing splits torque 40/60 front to rear). Lows: A little heavy for serious off-roading, intrusive stability-control systems. Selecting low range with the dash-mounted rotary switch-also used in the part-time system on V-6 models to shift from two- to four-wheel drive-was equally transparent. The 4Runner shifted smoothly and elegantly in every situation through the five ratios of its new automatic transmission. Clearly, though, power isn't a problem in the new 4Runner. We'll have to wait until we test the V-6 model before we'll know whether it can duplicate that achievement. Thus, our V-8-powered 4Runner SR5 test car purred to 60 mph in just eight seconds-no mean feat for a two-plus-ton SUV with full-time four-wheel drive. As you can see from the numbers, the V-6 has more horsepower, but the V-8 has more torque, and it's delivered across a very broad rev range. In this guise it produces 235 horsepower at 4800 rpm and 320 pound-feet of torque at 3400 rpm. The upscale engine is a 4.7-liter V-8 related to the i-Force mill found in the Sequoia, Tundra, and Land Cruiser. As well as being Toyota's first aluminum truck engine, the 1GR-FE (as it's known internally) is the product of 3-D engine-modeling techniques and features chain-driven camshafts, variable valve timing with intelligence, and variable intake geometry. A new 4.0-liter V-6 is now the base motivation for the 4Runner, developing 245 horsepower at 5200 rpm and a hefty 283 pound-feet of torque at 3400 rpm. Two engines are offered in two- and four-wheel-drive configurations. The front crossmember is mounted low enough to engage the bumpers and crash systems of smaller vehicles, and "soft" front-end sheetmetal and a plastic grille are intended to reduce injury to pedestrians. Under the more-spacious bodywork is a new frame with full-length box-section rails and nine fully welded crossmembers. There's 0.4 inch more headroom, and the outboard passengers sit two inches farther apart in an interior that's now four inches wider. Highs: Solid build, good refinement, plenty of power.Īccordingly, the stretched 4Runner offers two more inches of front legroom.
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