Do you remember when Toyota started to reveal some teasers of that bright-red car announced as the new 4Runner, few weeks ago? The latest Stagecoach Music Festival was selected to host the official arrival of what ended being the SUV’s new line. It really wouldn’t be reasonable to expect deep changes on a generation which is only turning four, but it seems that Toyota wanted to perform little proposal changes, rather than investing too much at new parts. This article will show what this runner began to look for.
This nameplate has became so strong over the years due to Toyota’s dedication on pursuing the goal initially set thirty years ago. More than a vehicle’s successive evolutions, 4Runner has become an expression of the automaker’s effort on proving that it was perfectly capable of expanding its qualities on countries with such different cultures. This SUV’s very first appearance was made in 1984, right after Toyota Hilux’s redesign. The intention was to fight the upcoming mid-size level of that category, but the Japanese didn’t invest on a “complete” competitor: unlike Nissan Pathfinder or Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, Hilux’s SUV counterpart debuted essentially as an addition of an one-piece fiberglass top over the pick-up’s short-bed version, besides of the adaptations to create a five-passenger room. It was only the following phase that gave 4Runner an exclusive design, restricting the parts sharing with Hilux to the basic structure. Once again the Japanese model was sold as Hilux Surf, while 4Runner started to invest on the North-Americans by receiving two-door versions. The third generation marked 4Runner’s departure from the initial category, with several improvements on internal space, technology, powertraing and specially safety – abandoning Hilux’s platform in favor of Land Cruiser Prado’s helped it to compete with more expensive vehicles.
That time characterized 4Runner’s first direction change, leaving the tough-SUV construction to become a high-quality family crossover without losing its off-road abilities. That new intention was reinforced with the fourth phase, although it’s impossible not to notice that the SUV managed to only update the original design concepts, rather than changing it; what did change was one of its foreign siblings: Toyota SW4 was created once again as the contemporary Hilux’s SUV to be sold mostly at emergent markets along with the pick-up. The design break-up ended brought by the current phase, debuted in 2009. Sharing platform with FJ Cruiser seems to have had bigger influence, because 4Runner turned into a “modern jeep”, always staying very far from the crossover style but bringing much more aggresive styling. 2014 marks another slight proposal change because it follows this phase’s original intention of giving the car a more modern aspect. The all-new front fascia matches the 17” to 20” wheels and the two-times bigger color palette on composing a nice rival for Dodge Durango, leaving the high luxury market for Highlander and Grand Cherokee. There’s a standard Entune infotainment system with optional 7” touchscreen and a new engine: the 4.0L V6 brings 270 hp with five-speed automatic gearbox and optional all-wheel-drive, making up to 19 mpg.
