5th Gen / 6th Gen Comparo

The 3rd gens have the best angles of any generation, best ground clearance (for 1999), and they can actually fit down a trail without having to constantly pinstripe.

If I got a penny for every time I barely squeezed through a trail in my 3rd gen that a 4th, 5th or 6th gen wouldn't dream of doing unscathed (or without it becoming a trail widening campaign), I'd be able to afford a wrap. Width is the enemy of off road vehicle, that and length.

New 4runners are faaaaaaat, Toyota should have put the 6th gen on a serious diet, but they did the opposite. If it was smaller they'd have an easier time getting the amount of power necessary without using high tech computers and turbos. But nooo, CAFE ensures we progressively get larger cars.

 

I'm new owner of a 6G TRD ORP. I'm also on the 6G forum but I find this forum much more entertaining and has lots of good information. My previous vehicle was a 23 Honda Ridgeline RTL-E and have never owned a 4R before so cant compare. But compared to the Honda the 6G is in another league with respect to the drivetrain. The Honda had a V6 but you had to rev the crap out of it to produce any power. At 65 mph my 6G is running at 1500 rpm which is pretty impressive, at least to me. And it can easily speed up to overtake slower cars.

Regarding styling, it always hard to adopt to radical changes. I love the looks of the 5G and actually looked to buy one but finding a low mileage CPO was next to impossible and to me the prices were insane. So I went 6G and love it (and yes the 6G prices are equally if not more insane). I do agree the 14" screen is a bit much, and maybe 10" would have looked better.

I'm 65, retired and have no plans to off-road. I just like the way the 6G looks and rides. A friend of mine has a 5G TRD PRO, hopefully in the near future we can do a comparison.

 

We love both 2025 4 Runner TRD Off Road and 2022 4 Runner Limited.

 

Good to have you here.

 

I'm not sure how CAFE ensures progressively larger cars but I can see how the NHTSA would.

 

CAFE uses footprint rule to determine target mpg on a more or less sliding scale. So even for cars with same length and width, the one with the biggest wheelbase x track width gets a more lax target.

That's why <8500 lb vehicles of the same make and model all have continually grown in wheelbase each iteration as mpg rules got more strict, and as a consequence length, width, height have all grown to keep up with the lengthened wheelbases.

 

I’m sure it can get complicated fast but in a nutshell, fuel efficiency standards are steeper the smaller the footprint of a vehicle is and are more lax the larger it is.

So smaller vehicles that can’t be made small-car-efficient are penalized but making them larger adds slack.

anything that would be both compact and body-on-frame or otherwise not as efficient has a steeper uphill battle.

It’s not the only reason of course, the RAV4 grew each generation after all despite efficiency gains and I’m sure a lot of that is consumer sentiment or what Toyota believes a buyer wants.

 

There is definitely the popular notion that smaller cars are less crashworthy. Although crash tests don’t bear that out necessarily.

 

That makes sense, but aren't we also dealing NHTSA mandates for larger crumple zones and space needed to include side impact air bags, thereby lengthening and widening vehicles?

 

Just not feeling it. To me... there is no "wow factor" its more like "WTF factor".

 

(Shhh. I’ve always had kind of a secret crush on the Suzuki Samurai.)

 

I don’t mind the vehicles growing as long as it equates to more useable space. Making the outside bigger but the inside smaller like the latest Toyotas is silly. I rode in the back of an Explorer the other day and the interior leg room was awesome. The materials were nice too. Too bad it’s made by Ford.

 

I've always had a fascination with the 2 door first gen Rav4. They come up for sale once in a while near me and I'm always tempted to get one. I'm getting to the age where I just don't care what others think anymore. LOL

 

That is how I feel about the majority of their lineup lol

 

Saw this at a restaurant in Florida a few years ago. Looks like fun!

 

Ram says they screwed up and are bringing back the Hemi to the 1500’s. Will Toyota do the same and bring back the V6 to the 4Runner and Tacoma and the V8 to the Tundra? The old V8 in a new Tundra would be pretty awesome.

 

I doubt it. Toyota is stubborn as hell and not likely to reverse their decision as long as they sell a number of units. I doubt most v8 tundra/LC/GX buyers even know if they have a pushrod engine or OHC engine.

 

The Smart car passed euro safety test just saying. Bigger can be made safer than a small one, but that doesn't make bigger ones automatically safer. A big car 50 years ago is definitely more dangerous to crash than a small one today.

Also it's a myth that modern consumers are buying bigger cars because they're safer, I've heard people claim they did but that was 20 years ago. The average age of a car is nearly 13 years old, if the average American really cared that much about safety that number would be a lot lower.

 

I doubt they will also.

But look at Ford and the Ranger. For years they only had a 2.3 4 cylinder and now in 2024 and 2025 you can get the optional 2.7 V6.

The videos I watch say the V6 is solid engine proven in the F150. Every reviewer I’ve seen compliments the peppiness, torque and mostly lack of whiney sound and more muscle sound from the V6.

 

Maybe Toyota will at least give us the option of picking between two engines like they used to.

 

The 5th gen’s 4 cylinder option only lasted 1 year.

 

The 4Runner used to have a V8 option and the Tacomas and Tundras always had two options.

 

So would you buy TTV6 6th gen?

 

I would be much more inclined to look at it with a V6 back in the line up for sure. Some of us are old school. I read where Ford keeps the 5.0 V8 as an option for the old school F150 guys. Makes sense to me offer maybe one more choice.

Obviously manufacturers face a bit more cost but I would think get some market share back. How many people are by you by Frontiers and Rangers with V6s?

At least they don’t sound like a whiney kid when you step on the gas. They sound more refined and masculine. It’s a truck and while not a race car it’s supposed to sound good too.

 

Not for the 5th gen.

 

I'm sorry to say guys, but Toyota already gave us our engine options: 4 cylinder and 4 cylinder hybrid. Why would they do a V6? That would be stupid. If anything would get that option it'd be the Landcruiser, but even there you start eating away at the Lexus version that is using that V6.

I don't think we're going to see any other engine options that what we have now

 

I was expecting better mpg's. Comparing the 25 4runner to the 24 & 23 4runners and the Landcruiser, there isn't much difference.

 

The 4Runner going from 17.8 mpg to 20.6 is an increase of 15.7%. That ain’t nothing.

 

18.3 is the least and 21.8 is the best I have gotten with my Pro. Going to a 4cyl I would have expected better.

 

If you can get 21.8 in a 5th gen, I'm willing to bet you can get 24+ in a 6th gen.