2025 Toyota 4Runner First Drive Review: What Took So Long?

You might have heard that the Toyota 4Runner is finally new for the first time in 15 years. It’s a huge deal especially since the outgoing model was the last old-school rig left in the lineup. It was the only vehicle in America still rocking a five-speed automatic before it was phased out, and now, the 2025 Toyota 4Runner comes exclusively with a turbocharged engine and the option of a newfangled hybrid system. The question is: Do people want that?

At this point, the jury is still out. People are buying the new Tacoma, which has a lot in common with this 4Runner including the same platform and engines. Yet we as a country bought more than 90,000 of the previous-gen V6 4Runners last year—far from record sales, but far from struggling, too. Part of me can’t help but think that folks will want that simplicity back, especially as they hear whispers and shouts of Toyota’s recent reliability problems.

But there’s no going back. There’s simply no time for Toyota to try something different with the new 4Runner if this doesn’t work. It’s already committed to building the thing on the same platform as all of its other body-on-frame trucks and SUVs with the tech, the gear, the lux—all of it. So I set out to see if that makes a better 4Runner during a day’s worth of driving every version of the car I could get my hands on.

The Basics

Believe it or not, the Toyota 4Runner has been around for 40 years now. And while the previous generation was introduced in 2009, making it nearly old enough to get a driver’s license in the U.S., the one you’re lookin’ at here is new altogether. The styling is fresh, the powertrains are new to 4Runner, and it rides on the automaker’s TNGA-F platform—just like the Land Cruiser. And the Tacoma. And the Tundra. And the Sequoia. Man.

There’s no confusing a 2025 4Runner with its predecessor, but you might mistake it for a Tacoma if you’re looking at it straight-on. The narrow, single-piece headlights are mighty similar to the pickup’s, as are the front bumper and grille. But there are obvious differences out back since, y’know, the 4Runner doesn’t have a bed. It does have a rear-side glass panel that wraps around the roof ever so slightly, just like on the original, and its taillights are an interesting shape. For what it’s worth, I think the 4Runner looks best from the rear-three-quarter view.

The SUV takes a big technological leap inside, especially on the top trims which get a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 14.0-inch infotainment display. You can’t really paint with broad strokes when describing the 4Runner’s interior because there are so many different versions—seven in total if you can believe that—but the SR5 is still pretty basic with a smaller 8.0-inch center display, cloth seats, and plenty of blank buttons. Third-row seating is available on some SR5 and non-hybrid Limited models as the battery pack takes up trunk space in electrified 4Runners. Even then, full-grown humans will struggle to fit back there, but more on that in a bit.

Toyota’s new infotainment system has been around for a few years now and it’s just as good in the 4Runner as it is in everything else. The 14-inch display is plenty big so you can read whatever info it’s showing you without a problem, and the touch response is pretty quick. I wasn’t crazy about the 14-speaker JBL audio setup, but calling it “bad” would be a step too far and it does have the handy pop-out dash speaker behind the center screen. That’s one of my favorite ideas a car company has had in a while—just don’t lose it.

Every new 4Runner has a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Those without hybrid assist make 278 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque while those with it get 326 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque, which is a pretty healthy jump. In terms of 4×2 or 4×4, you can have it in pretty much any flavor you want as some are strictly two-wheel-drive, others are part-time four-wheel-drive with a two-speed transfer case, and others are full-time four-wheel-drive.

Driving the Toyota 4Runner

Anyone coming from a last-gen 4Runner will notice just how major the changes are on this new truck, whether we’re talking about the interior or the way it drives. It feels like a new machine when you sit inside it, something you couldn’t say about the outgoing one. I spent the first chunk of my day in a Limited hybrid, one that greeted me with power running boards as I opened the door. Fancy.

It’s clear that Toyota is taking the 4Runner upmarket to compete with essentially every other SUV out there that’s doing the same. The car I drove from our hotel in San Diego to Vogt Ranch about an hour away had an earthy brown theme listed on the window sticker as Portobello. It didn’t make me think of a mushroom initially but after reading that, I said, “Yeah, that tracks.” The seats were heated and cooled, wireless Apple CarPlay meant I could crank whatever jams I wanted through the just-OK JBL sound system, and radar cruise was ready to help me through traffic. It was as well-equipped as any new model in that price range.

“What was the price?” you might ask. It was $63,730. And it wasn’t even the most expensive one there!

That’s so much money, particularly for a 4Runner that’s more focused on being snazzy than getting dirty. I know people buy the Limited trims—I see them all the time—but it doesn’t quite line up with what the model is in my head. I guess Toyota can make it everything to everyone when there are so many different variants, but still. 

The temperature was in the 40s at the start of the day and as we set off on the paved side streets, that 2.4-liter sounded cold. It was click-clacky pulling away from each traffic light and the insulation on the firewall couldn’t keep the noise from coming inside. I wouldn’t call it atrocious, but the sequence of climbing in, checking the specs and price, and hearing that noise wasn’t super encouraging.

It smoothed out once we hit California State Route 94 and I was keeping pace with morning traffic. That would have been no easy feat in the old V6 4Runner, and if you think I’m exaggerating, I’ll assume you haven’t driven one. The new turbo four is peppy enough on its own, and the hybrid makes the 4Runner a better highway cruiser than it’s ever been before.

I got more excited once we rolled into Vogt Ranch where Toyota had a whole host of four-wheelin’ 4Runners lined up for different off-road courses. I hopped in a Trailhunter trim first and was quickly met by a 20- or 30-foot stretch of fist-sized rocks packed together. This made for a good test of the 4Runner’s 4LO and throttle modulation as slow and steady wins the race through a patch like that. You don’t need a $68,350 vehicle to navigate your way across some rocks like that, but the tougher suspension test was just ahead.

On media drives like this, automakers love to show off how well their 4x4s can flex. You won’t find a purposely made test trail without these big articulation dips dug into the dirt. The Trailhunter stuffed those 33-inch Toyos way up into the fender wells and I never lost traction driving through them. I did stop so I could snag a few shots, however, and I saw it was three-wheeling a little with the driver-front tire off the ground. Not a big deal, though I thought it would make contact with the ground once I disconnected the stabilizer bar the next pass through. Still no luck. Again, not a huge problem by any means, and I’m not convinced a stock Land Cruiser could come anywhere close to navigating these divots. I’m calling it a win for the 4Runner there.

Maybe the more relevant test was a short jaunt away where Toyota had some 4Runner TRD Off-Road models to hop in. I drove this relatively technical course in a hybrid TRD Off-Road Premium and a gas-only non-Premium for comparison’s sake. 

All the fundamentals are the same, as you’d imagine, and this test showed that the 4Runner is still the right-sized SUV in Toyota’s lineup. It sits up high so ground clearance isn’t a problem, and these mid-grade off-road trims aren’t ridiculously wide either—they’re a full two inches narrower than the Trailhunter and TRD Pro. Sharp switchbacks weren’t a problem as the truck turns fairly tight.

One flaw that I consider fundamental is the length of that dang hood. You don’t think much of it when you’re in a fancy Premium model with the surround-view cameras that pop up on the infotainment screen, but when you’re in a basic TRD Off-Road without those? Good luck seeing what’s on the other side of that steep climb. I don’t have any intel on whether Toyota had to stretch the 4Runner’s nose to fit the inline-four versus the old V6, and I’m not sure you could find out without measuring them side-by-side, but it was a legitimate problem for me on that trail. If you plan on wheeling one like I did, make sure it has the Multi-Terrain Monitor which sends camera feeds from around the truck to the infotainment and really ought to be standard on all TRD Off-Road models.

Finally, I took a 4Runner TRD Pro on the more fast-paced playground course. If there’s one trim that’s lightyears ahead of the old one, it’s this. Toyota applied the same Baja treatment to the 4Runner as it did to the Tacoma TRD Pro last year, making it so much more agile than the last-gen with adjustable 2.5-inch Fox QS3 shocks that make use of remote reservoirs. The TNGA-F platform is just better suited for action like this.

And because the TRD Pro comes standard with the hybrid, you’re never waiting for the engine to wind up like you were with the old V6. It has power whenever you want it, which is still so surprising in a Toyota off-roader. It goes to show how far Toyota has taken the TRD Pro lineup in terms of outright capability in high-speed situations.

Toyota 4Runner Features, Options, and Competition

You can have a new 4Runner pretty much any way you want it. That’s something that sets it apart from the similarly sized, similarly priced Land Cruiser, which only comes in two trims compared to the 4Runner’s seven: SR5, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited, Platinum, TRD Pro, and Trailhunter. 

If you just want the basics, then the SR5 is the one for ya at $42,220 starting off. Just don’t expect much beyond heated cloth seats because it doesn’t even get dual-zone climate control. Or, you could go all the way up to Trailhunter or TRD Pro, which get you off-road suspension focused on trail driving or desert running depending on which you pick, a standard hybrid powertrain, SofTex leather interior, the 14.0-inch infotainment screen, all the speakers, all the cameras, and more for an extra $26,000.

Because the 4Runner has so many different forms, it competes with lots of different models. Someone might cross-shop a Limited trim with a Kia Telluride, for example, or even Toyota’s own Grand Highlander. Meanwhile, anyone in the market for an off-road SUV might be looking at a Ford Bronco or Jeep Wrangler… or a Toyota Land Cruiser. The takeaway is that the 4Runner has so many direct rivals—including several with the same badge on the grille—that it’s impossible to peg it to just one segment of SUV.

The Early Verdict

I think I’d be head over heels for the 2025 Toyota 4Runner if it were three years ago. Had it dropped in 2022 or whereabouts, then it would feel totally fresh and not almost exactly like every other new Toyota 4×4 on the same platform. If this were three years ago, I also would be more optimistic about the vehicle’s longevity because I would have never heard from Land Cruiser owners griping about potential piston slap issues on the 2.4, or Tacoma owners complaining that their eight-speed automatic transmissions are acting up.

It’s probably a good thing we got to see that play out before the new 4Runner launched. Even if it came out a few years back, you could make the logical argument that it would have suffered the same problems as its platform mates. So maybe the best thing would have been for a slightly simplified model to have hit the market before the last 4Runner got to be as old as a high-school sophomore.

Instead of that being the reality, I’m left feeling slightly unenthused about what should be an exciting moment. You don’t get a new 4Runner every decade, you know? It’s good on its own, but tragically, it doesn’t exist on its own and I’m not sure how to feel about it going forward. Here’s hoping they hold up because if they do, I think the 4Runner is a solid machine. One of these listed for about 30% off in five years would hate to see me coming if it’s still in good working shape.

Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com