Hey team - great to be here! (and a 4Runner love story).

Hey everyone - finally got around to joining properly and wanted to say a proper 'hello'!

And also, a bit of a story since everyone's journey into the 4runner is probably different...

I'm a UK expat currently in Indianapolis but moving to the Cascade Mountains WA and, when we moved to the US in 2022, I'd never heard of a 4Runner. No idea what one even was. The last version we had in the UK (it turns out) was the Gen 3 marketed as the 'Hilux Surf', which I'd only vaguely heard of since I lived in a Land Rover family.

Day one in the USA we arrived in ORD and drove an Explorer from Chicago to Indianapolis with our dogs, their flight crates and five bags, complaining all the way about how little room there was for such a seemingly big car. On day two I go to the airport in Indianapolis to pick up my rental, which would be my daily until we could get cars sorted here.

I was given a 4Runner (TRD Off Road Premium in Barcelona Red). Before I saw it I called my wife to say I'd got the keys 'to some Toyota thing I've never heard of - I guess some kind of soft roader, like a Rav 4'. When I saw it in the car park I actually had to do a double take and check the number plate. It looked like nothing I'd ever really seen before. Sort of modern, sort of not, difficult to judge the size of and I'd genuinely no idea what to make of it.

Once I got in it I laughed out loud at the toy-like dashboard and controls, the seeming antiquity of it all and the more than passing resemblance to a friend's Land Cruiser that dated from 1998. And then I fired it up. The engine noise was like being transported to a different era; loud with an obvious induction roar and with the working pats of the engine seemingly audible in the cabin. Engaging drive instigated the now familiar rock in the cabin, as the drivetrain torqued up, followed by a quick view of the ceiling as I pulled out of the parking space and the bonnet rose up, then a direct view of the floor when I dabbed the brakes causing the nose to dip straight through 'eyes forward' and down to the ground like it was trying to do a yoga pose. I'd probably moved about 3.8yds at this stage.

I drove the 30 mins to our serviced apartment, which would be home for the next month, with a mixture of surprise, bemusement, slight incredulity and no small horror at the MPG, so cheerfully displayed on the dashboard (on a narrow display between two analogue instrument clusters - how very 2010's) along with the green 'eco' light which I assumed could only have been a wiring error, or some sort of in-joke. When I got it back to the apartment I made my wife come out and look at it (she doesn't care about cars), pointing to it like it was some sort new species I'd discovered. 'I have literally no idea what to make of this!?', I said to her, before heading inside to begin the search for a new car in earnest.

Time, inevitably, went by and routine set in. Daily I'd head to the parking garage and begin the ritual of startling passers by with the sudden, unexpected volume as the 4Runner fired up, the side-to-side, forward, backward, up and down lurching and rolling as I maneuvered it about before emerging into the sunlight - or rain. or snow. or gale force winds. or all three; this is Indiana in April, after all.

I'd take it to work or we'd take it shopping, or to visit new areas, and get to know our new home. We'd load the dogs into it and take them out of the city to hike trails in the Indiana countryside. And every day it would do absolutely everything we asked of it. I began to appreciate how easy it was to live with - and how easily it just powered through the moonscape sized potholes in the road, and how little concern I had if the rain turned to snow, or the rain turned to more rain and there was flash flooding. Basically everything you want in an SUV.

And something else had changed, too. I looked forward to seeing it every morning. It had a rugged charm that I appreciated so I started to pay more attention to it. I became more curious. One day I got underneath it and was surprised by the amount of standard (not exactly expedition spec, but present non-the-less) armour on it. The fuel tank had a skid plate, the transfer box did too. The chassis was a proper box welded ladder frame chassis and the live beam axle on the back looked substantial - as did the control arms on the double wishbone setup on the front.

Having taken some photos I got up and sent them back to a friend of mine back in the UK. 'This', I proclaimed, 'is what the new Defender should have been!'. It was an old school 4x4, I told him, with everything you need and nothing you don't. Manual transfer case, 4H, 4L, all sorts of terrain modes along with the other off-road assistance packages you'd expect, locking rear diff. It even has driver assistance systems and adaptive cruise - but they don't really take over; you're still driving. They seem to work as polite reminders, not wheel grabbing overreactions. And the controls - they're massive and clunky. But who cares? you can mash them with gloves on and they just do what they are supposed to do; control whatever's written on them. There are no screens to swish through. It even has a half decent stereo!

It's f***ing brilliant, actually!

Now, I mentioned earlier that I had grown up in a Land Rover family. And I mean this most sincerely... my grandparents had Land Rovers (series 2s and 3s), my parents had Land Rovers (LR 90, Discovery 1, 2 and 4, Range Rover Classic, P38, L322 and Sport) and I have always driven Land Rovers (90, Defender 90, Discovery 1 and2, Range Rover Classic, P38 and L322). The only car I've ever had that wasn't a Land Rover was an Audi for 18 months before parting it against, you guessed it, another Land Rover.

Naturally, then, you'd expect that as soon as I hit the US I'd be straight down to Land Rover. And I was - but I noticed something strange. Despite coming from a family, an area and a life in the UK that bled green, in the US I wasn't really 'Land Rover' material. And I noticed this as I sat in the dealer being only vaguely entertained by the sales rep. I'd ask annoying questions and I'd furrow my brow at the complexity of the electrical folding system for the seats in the Discovery 5, I'd ask if they had a maintenance record showing some specific recalls on their Defenders... It became clear I wasn't interested in Mall Crawling for three years, before disposing of it for another shiny version of the same, and had every intention of filling it with dust, dog hair, mud, people, equipment, and pointing it to the West. Which was roughly the point it became very clear to Land Rover that I was going to be a nuisance to their warranty department. I'd even worn hiking boots since I popped in, in passing. How terribly 'off brand' these days.

But, above everything else, Land Rover genuinely didn't make a car for me any more. That's why the car I'd been driving before moving was a 2012, run out L322 I'd been nursing for years. It was the last 'proper' Range Rover and I didn't fit anywhere in the line up any more. I didn't need configurable mood lighting, or a cabin ionisation system, or electric soft close doors (or tailgate, frankly - the lifters fill with salt, rain and dust then pack up at about 5yrs old or 'just out of warranty'), electric steps (I removed them from my Range Rover because they broke... well, see comment about tailgate) or any of what is now mandatory on a new car, and I certainly didn't need the price premium that all of this plus the Land Rover badge came with in the US.

But I did need something that would swallow, to my surprise, both flight crates without folding the 2nd row seats when we moved out of the apartment and into the house. I also needed something that would swallow all of the worldly possessions we'd been able to carry with us, plus the dogs and their beds, before the movers arrived with the rest. And something that folded down into, basically, a pick up. And when I needed something to carry the 7 replacement pre-assembled picket fence panels to repair the garden fence, I needed something that could accept being loaded onto the roof, with a careful fork lift operator, using pool noodles to protect the roof bars, and ratchets to secure the load. I needed something Land Rover didn't make any more, and something that was unique in the space...

I needed a 4Runner. And, to my surprise, my wife who cares so little about cars she considers having once run a CR-V out of oil and then refilled it to be 'an oil change' also agreed. We needed a 4Runner.

So, when the rental was returned after two months, we took an uber straight from the hire centre to the local Toyota dealer where our brand new 2022 TRD Pro was waiting. It is Ice Cap white and had the factory black out kit on it which, along with the red and black TRD accents, looked glorious.

In the two years we've owned it we've taken it from Indianapolis across the country and back, to British Colombia, the mountains of Colorado (where it seems to be the State car), the plains of the Dakotas, trails of Montana and countless more adventures. And it's often done this through situations that have required the use of every system available, at different times, and in conditions that would have stopped most, and killed some, lesser vehicles. It's done this without missing a single beat, or throwing a single warning light. We're about to tow a 6x12 U-haul sedately across the country to WA as we move to the Pacific Northwest and that is the one element of the move over which I have absolutely no concerns. The 'Runner will just keep running.

It's just about to hit 30,000miles and it doesn't even have any interior trim rattles.

It. Just. Works.

And, having left Land Rover behind, not only did I find a car that surpassed every expectation and that was everything I didn't know I was looking for, I also found a community of enthusiasts and owners every bit as passionate about the 4Runner and the Tacoma as the community that has sprung up around Land Rovers of old.

I fully intend to keep this 4Runner and if we go back to the UK, I'll be importing it back with me. The biggest difference is that in 280,000 miles time most new Land Rover products will have been scrapped, and the older ones rebuilt almost entirely.

The 4Runner, I suspect, will have had routine and preventative maintenance, little more, and still be clambering mountains and smashing trails with the same ease and ability it does today.

And that is how I went from never hearing of a 4Runner to not being able to imagine a life without one.

It's great to be a part of the community!

 

Welcome from Leavenworth, WA. I hope you add many happy chapters to your love story when you get to the Cascades. Maybe I'll see you out there somewhere livin' the dream!

 

Welcome from Arizona!

 

Thanks! We get there in about two weeks... I'm determined to start something like the 'Jeep wave' and '(old) Defender wave' among 4Runner drivers so if you see someone grinning like a maniac and waving, it's probably me...

 

Hey! Thanks - great to have finally gotten around to joining...

 

Welcome and congrats on your 4Runner purchase from another expat! Enjoyed your intro and have to say the Toyota community has always been a great resource for me going back to my FJ Cruiser forum days and now this 4Runner forum.

 

Thanks mate - same to you! Loving the Terra colour, too.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome! A great first post, nice write up. And don’t worry about “4Runner wave”; we are too old here, for that to catch on

 

Welcome from SoCal

 

Welcome. What a great read! I don't think I've ever read a story about someone who went from never hearing about a 4Runner, to gotta have one always. Your 4Runner was made in the manufacturing facility in Tahara, Japan, like all 4Runners today. They produce a vehicle that has earned the reputation of being the most reliable vehicle you can buy. I think it would be inspiring to meet some of those workers, who seem to take so much pride in what they build.

 

Brilliant choice for a TRD Pro in Ice Cap! Welcome from San Diego.

 

Welcome from Wisconsin!

 

Welcome from Port Orchard to my twin ;-)

 

I'll be looking for you! Hit me up if you're in the Leavenworth area and want to head for the hills. This is my home turf if you want a tour guide. I've also worked on every Ranger District on the Wenatchee NF (except Cle Elum) in my former life so am familiar with other regions too. Have a safe trip!

 

I'd give you a thousand likes if I could

You're alright, man

 

Thanks!

Loving the winch kit on your set up. Great looking rig!

 

Awesome, thanks!

Yeah Leavenworth is on the hit-list so we'll be heading up that way fairly promptly. And we'll definitely take you up on the offer of local intel, thank you! We've spent two years driving away from Indiana to look for trails, hiking and hills so super excited to have so much on the doorstep.

 

Hey, thanks! Great to meet be a part of this... should have joined properly way sooner.

 

Thanks...it’s a “Budbuilt” with a Ironman 9500...love it and use it a lot more than I thought I would...

 

Don’t know if you’ve seen this yet but might be a good way to meet lots of us at once and have a fun weekend:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/nwor.827658/

 

Thanks for the heads up on that - unfortunately I'm out of the country with work that week/weekend so at exactly the wrong time, but really keen to get involved with this kind of stuff in general!

 

Welcome from Arizona!