Good reasons to get one. Before they’re gone.

I couldn't find much, hence the question.

 

Stop pumping the YouTuber who declares quality by measuring body gaps and paint thickness

 

Ah, but you’re forgetting that he also gropes the panels…that’s key.

Kidding aside, albeit his style is 100% cardboard, substantively he’s also a well-regarded engineer with access to industry insiders and factories, who is particularly knowledgeable about Toyota/Lexus products and lean manufacturing. Relevant to us is that he just so happens to believe 4Runner is pretty damn good.

I wouldn’t watch him for off-roading tips, but regarding vehicle longevity as it relates to production & build quality, he’s likely a more credible source of info than dudes with handles like TRD Jeff or Toyota Jon, and most of the other slop we find floating in the YouTube trough these days. Either way, as always, grain of salt.

 

Is there anyone we should be keeping our attention on YouTube? And yes, there is a LOT of slop on YouTube. Whenever I hear the word "influencer" I want to cringe.

 

The Car Care Nut is highly rated and has very informational videos.

 

Tinkerer’s Adventure is also very informational. Especially if you want to understand suspension related things on Toyotas. You kind of need to have some coffee before watching some of his videos, as they tend to be densely packed. I’ve had to use the pause button frequently to let the information sink in lol.

But I swear, if I see him start doing jazz hands thumbnails like everyone else, he’s dead to me lol.

 

Possessing a valid drivers license, the ability to purchase a vehicle, and some decent drone footage way too often qualifies someone as a “Toyota expert” on YouTube. Most don’t even clear those basic hurdles and are good for 10k views.

Frequently I find the least polished end up being the the most credible, or at least entertaining. Wizard’s a good example of that.

 

Absolutely. I miss the old gems you could find easily. Searches now tend to only show results for professional “content creators.”

More and more it seems highly “polished” channels are just good at making “content.” Just fill it up with good looking crap, make a thumbnail with a big red arrow pointing at anything, and get people to click lol.

More people are wanting to make a living on youtube, and with it getting easier to buy quality cameras/mics/lights…you’re gonna get an increasing number of channels that can look really good while having nothing much to say. This is especially true with videos that do reviews, and “lifestyle” videos.

And then there are the AI videos…yuck.

 

Tinkerer and the subset of automotive videos from Engineering Explained are probably two of the best mainstream sources for info as someone who has built race trucks and turned wrenches professionally. They have a few gaps here and there but excellent for a mid-tier understanding. Car Care Nut is generally ok but has some hot takes.

 

I was born in Syracuse at Strong Memorial Hospital, we moved out to the Marcellus suburbs when I turned 5, then out to beautiful Cayuga Lake/Romulus for High School and went to college at Delhi.
Upon graduation drove my rusty 69 Pontiac LeMans to CA Bay Area in 1975 for a draftsman job and NY became history.

 

Strong Memorial is in Rochester.

 

nope I talked to a Toyota engineer who’s on the trucks team project and he confirmed

 

The panel gap and paint thickness bit stops at the 2:50 mark. The rest of what he said in the next 23 minutes may be old news to us but are nevertheless well presented and better information than 95% of automotive youtubers.

 

Nah dude just regurgitated the same talking point.. tahara, paint thickness. Etc

 

You’re correct and I’m senile.
I had the name in my head as my sister was a nurse anesthetist at Strong in Rochester.
It was Syracuse Memorial Hospital prior to the merger/name changes to Crouse Hospital.

 

We see plenty of mid-‘90’s 4R’s around so declaring this one’s good for 30 years does state the obvious. Besides which, we already have 15 years of solid field testing combined with Toyota’s continual improvement. Vegas odds of 30 years would have Gen5 barely under a 200 series LC.

Moving forward, Toyota has to finance development of both additional hybrid platforms and straight EV, so sharing platforms & squeezing money out of every single part is a clear priority. A skilled engineer could point out areas where costs are cut that are invisible to the naked eye, but for the rest of us, a lot of that cost cutting is hiding in plain sight, with prop rods, donuts, and deleted items like engine covers.

Toyota cheaping out on Gen6 doesn’t mean it’s won’t be a measurably better performing truck than a ‘24, or even that it won’t clear 200k mi w/o major trouble. But…from what we’ve already seen from TNGA-F, you could make a very strong case that Gen5 is the last of the best. Or, best of the last…whichever.

 

I guess I don't really see the problem with prop rods.
Are they cheaper? Sure.
Do I care? No.
Personally I see them as less to go wrong. I had them on my 1st and 3rd gens and never had a problem with them.
Ditto engine covers, never had 'em on those rigs and never missed them.
I wish we could still get old fashioned crank up windows but that ship sailed 20+ years ago.
I'm happy to have that budget go into making these newer and more complicated systems work better and more reliably. (if that is where it's going...)

Donut spares? Yeah, we can agree to hate them until the end of time. Or until we have flying cars.

 

Maybe there’s a little more to it. Perhaps the 5th Gen has gas struts because the hood is so heavy. I.E. stout. And perhaps the 6th Gen has a prop rod because the hood is lighter/ flimsier.

The last vehicle I owned befor the 4Runner was a ‘97 Defender. The only thing I don’t miss about it is the hand crank windows.

 

I think the funny part about cost cutting claims is that there is the underlying assumption the price wouldn't be higher if they had included them.

I'll never own a 6th gen, but the fucking thing isn't even out yet and people are just looking for a reason to hate. Be happy with what you've got and be happy that others are happy even if you disagree. If it turns out to be a turd, be happy with the increased value of your 4th/5th gen.

 

Ha! While the urge to pile on to a quality topic with a British product is strong, I don't have any firsthand experience so I will defer the snark to others.

To give the automakers their due, I will have to admit that some of these parts do hold up better than we might like to admit.
My ex broke the driver side window regulators in both her '91 Camry and '98 Acura within 4-5 years. They cost about $300 and were a bitch to replace. My '98 4Runner and my current wife's '05 RX have had no issues. The manual regulator on my 1st gen didn't break, but got fudgy enough after 20 years that I decided to replace it. I think it was like 30-50 bucks and took an hour at most to replace. Easy.
As I write this, I'm thinking the window regulators could have been user related. I wouldn't be surprised if she (the ex) used power up and power down exclusively.
And speaking of gas struts, the RX hood struts are still fine going on 20 years now. (knocking on wood that I haven't just jinxed myself) and just had to replace her rear hatch struts a few months ago.

 

Well, I'll never say never, but with luck my '19 is my last car and I bought it with that in mind.
I was lucky to find it in the first place, low miles and non-premium Off Road. Now I just have to keep being lucky to not do something stupid with it or have some other knucklehead do something stupid to it...

We may or may not have to do something with my wife's RX before we go to the grave, but it won't be a 4Runner. She likes trucks so maybe we can to see if this Stout rumor ever pans out.

 

Haha. Happy to provide the snark myself. I would characterize the Defender as well designed but indifferently built. Thus requiring a wringing-out period when new. But it was fairly trouble free afterwards. And off road it was awesome.

In college I had a well used 1958 Austin Healy 100-6 that I purchased for $500. It was a really fun car to drive. I must admit I did freak out a bit the first time there was an electrical fire under the dash. By the third time it happened I would just tamp out the flames with a rag without even stopping. After a year and a half I sold it for $500.

 

I like this guy but I have often wondered why he goes straight to body panel seam measurements. It is a bit confusing given the complexity of an automobile and the thousands of points of failure.

 

Body panel seams are an obvious indicator of design precision and quality control.

 

How did that go on dates?
Were you perceived as brave and capable? Or reckless and idiotic?

 

I’ve never cared about body panel gaps, paint quality, etc. I’ve never even looked at the gaps on my current vehicles. No idea if they are consistent or not. A car could have the greatest body ever but if the drivetrain is a POS I want nothing to do with it.

 

It’s an indicator is all. Nobody here is likely to say the powertrain is less important than panel gaps or that it isn’t possible for a stellar powertrain to be dumped into a pile of a body but you’d ideally want a vehicle that was assembled with a modicum of care.

A Tesla buyer may not care about the panel gaps themselves but the company’s attitude and engineering shortcomings don’t end at uneven panel gaps.