Thinking of trading in the 4R...

Definitely not lying there.
Honestly I love XJ's lol.

But one of my buddies has a SAS'd 1st Gen with a Tacoma engine, doubler, and 37s. F*cking guy outwheels everybody and keeps the top off for extra fun having

 

I agree. I think trying to run any new vehicle to high mileage is asking for trouble. Trading in before 80K while there is still a decent trade in value probably makes the most sense now.

 

@Lc200 , here's some interior pics. Keep in mind that this is based on the Tradesman, the base model. The Warlock package adds a few things, most notable on the interior is a larger screen in the instrument panel. It's got regular gauges for the speedo and tach but everything else is digital with a configurable center screen. I actually really like it compared to the full LCD dash which can be problematic.

 

It's very interesting so many Toyota people have gone to Ram. I bet poor reliability on new Tundra, Tacoma, GX550, LX600 contributed this trend.

 

I think the SR5 TRD OR is a nice package. My biggest issue with the Tundra is that it's fugly. If I liked the looks I may have rolled the dice on it, but after 3 years the look still hasn't grown on me. With reliability a crapshoot, there was just nothing there for me.

I realize a Ram is a gamble too, but at least I like to look at it. It also has a massive cab, with a completely flat floor in the rear, which is important to me.

 

That's a nice, inoffensive interior that has buttons where they should be buttons and a screen where they should be a screen. I am digging these new RAMs. It does have a lot of grey though. Any sunroof/heated seats and are the front seat adjustments all manual? Also how is the driving impression, highway speed, merging in traffic etc?
These trucks are huge from inside. Just the sheer width compared to the 4runner.
I like the look of the new Tundra actually. But my problem is, Toyota is not being transparent about the whole engine debris mess. They recently recalled vehicles from 23 and 24 also and I personally know 2 people that had their engine seize in a 2025. That is unacceptable to me that Toyota knowing the problem is still sending out vehicles with faulty engines.
Toyota is literally the reason I am not buying the Toyota Tundra right now.

 

Nice truck, @Trail Runnah !

 

Same with me. Also for the wife too. She was thinking of getting either a Highlander or LandCruiser but the Honda Passport Trailsport is currently at the top of the list.

 

Honda pilot was not on my list when buying new for Mrs.

1. Direct injection only. Injector failures extremely common.
2. Cylinder deactivation
3. Ground clearance. Regular pilot clearance is like a minivan 7.3. The new trailsport 1in lift make it 8.3. Slightly better clearance than a GX460/highlander.
4. Rear diff is fixed and turning is allowed my loosing 2 clutches on each side. (I prefer open diffs and let the traction & abs do the work when needed, like Subaru symmetrical awd.

 

Yes, I believe the new Honda Passport Trailsport should be a very nice vehicle to own. Beautiful to look at plus Honda realibility.

 

Thanks, I also like that it's fairly basic. It reminds me of the 4Runner a lot actually, knobs and physical button/switches to do all the functions, the only reason I need to mess with the screen is for nav or infotainment, and it's wireless Android as well. I've already driven it wearing gloves and was able to control all the functions without taking them off. It's also like the 4Runner in that most surfaces are hard plastic. I'm okay with that, because it's easy to clean and it will be durable. I have a couple dogs that will be riding in this thing, and that's probably better for them.

I actually really like the smaller 8.4" screen. Just a few years ago this was a big upgrade. Resolution is great, and it seems quick and responsive. You can get up to a 14-in screen in some trims, and I think that's a little ridiculous. You lose a lot of the physical controls to the screen, but you only get camera views on the top half of it. Seems silly. The salesman I was talking to called it the slot machine, and also said he preferred the smaller screen in these trucks. Another neat feature, you can operate the rear view camera even when in drive up to 25 mph. I guess that's good for checking on your trailer.

No sunroof, after the one in my 4Runner leaking like a sieve I''m done with sunroofs. Also no power seats, which concerned me at first, but once I actually sat in one and drove it, I'm completely fine with that. The seats are very comfortable, and for me personally, the driving position is perfect. I like to sit up high in a truck, and this is a fairly high seating position. At 5:10 I have plenty of headroom, a good view over the hood, and a ton of elbow room. And with no sunroof, headroom is massive in the rear as well. Big windows all around, very easy to see out of. I watched multiple reviews comparing all the full size pickups, and one thing that was brought up a few times about the Tundra was that it was very tacoma-like in its seating position, and one reviewer pointed out that the top of the windshield was pretty much at eye level.

I absolutely love the way this thing drives, the test drive was what really sold me on it. The 3.0L twin turbo straight 6 is smooth as silk, and very quiet. Hit the gas and you're just met with thrust, not a lot of noise like in the Hemi. It also makes more power than the Hemi, the standard output 3.0 makes 420 horsepower and 469 foot pounds of torque. It's new so I've been babying it, I haven't gotten it much past three grand yet, but even then it throws you back in the seat. Merging and passing is no issue at all, it's effortless. It has the ZF8 speed which is supposed to be bulletproof, so far shifts like butter.

This has Bilstein shocks, 4600s I think, and a coil spring rear with a sway bar. Very little nose dive under braking, and it corners very flat. The ride is very smooth, I've ridden an late model high-end Silverados, and this rides better. I've hit some terrible pavement and choppy concrete with it, and the ride is very tight and composed. I've had it up to 75, and at that speed it's very smooth and quiet, no wind noise at all, just very slight noise from the Duratracs.

So far it's showing 18.5 MPG lifetime, and this tank under my ownership is up to 19.5. I've driven 430 something miles on this tank, and it's still showing another 160 till empty. 33 gallon tank for the win!

Like I said, it's pretty much a base model, but does have some nice features. It has keyless entry with remote start on the fob, push button start, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic monitoring, lane keep assist, and front and rear parking sensors. It also has LED headlights and fog lights, and a power sliding rear window. One cool feature I noticed the first time I drove it at night, is when you put on the turn signal or turn the wheel past a certain point in a certain direction, the fog light on that side lights up while you're turning. It also has auto headlights and auto high beams.

This one has the bed accessory group as well, which is the factory bed liner, 400 w outlet, auxiliary cargo rails, fold out bed step, and a damped and assisted tailgate. It also has an integrated trailer brake, and some towing modes that I'll probably never use. I didn't buy it as a tow rig, but it is nice to have some of that equipment. It also came with a class IV hitch and the wiring plug right in the bumper.

Like I said before, the test drive was pretty much what sold me on it. Originally I was a little skeptical about Ram, but I saw so many people say that it drove the best, and they weren't wrong. The only other one I was thinking of was the F-150, and I feel like this offers more for the money without really sacrificing on reliability. Every time I turn around there's a new Ford recall, and I have a friend that has one and he doesn't like the way the transmission acts. He likes the truck overall, but when I asked him about it first thing he said was that the transmission kind of sucks.

Hopefully Toyota gets to the root of the problem. I've seen it theorized that what happens is the crank twists a little bit under load, which then destroys the bearings which leads to engine failure.

 

It won’t be kept to high mileage and it won’t see any real off roading.

 

Thank you!

 

Keep us posted on how you like it. That I6 sounds kick-ass.

 

It was little in convenient to get the injector failure around 33K - 35K miles. One friend got it again around 60k miles. But it's a good thing the injector failures covered for 150k likes 10years or something like that. The inconvenience was there's no loaner vehicle provided. Only shutter service to and from here in Denver CO.

I think down the line timing belt is not a big deal.

 

Thank you for taking the time out to give us your first impressions. I hope you ownership experience is rewarding.

Yes, the smaller screen should be better suited and does not look like the dash built around the screen. Or the hideous floating screen trend.
I have sunroof on my current 4runner. I have opened it only to clean it. But I like the idea of having one. I am of similar height so head room is not really a problem for me.
Most of my friends are much older than me, early 70s etc and are ranchers and chicken farmers and almost all have RAMs. So RAM must be doing something right for these folks to be driving one.
With the numbers you are mentioning, this should be fun to drive. At least it would not struggle to get to 75 from 40 just to keep up with fast moving traffic. The mpgs sound decent as well. And that 600 plus tank range should be a massive relief compared to the 350 limit in the 4runner.
Do you plan to do anything to the truck or keep it stock for a few years? Fluid filming it etc?

Those are some nice and useful features included . I had a Skoda Superb that had a similar feature when the indicator/blinker also activated the fog light of the side. Infact, it also had a feature where if you are parked on the side of the road, only the parking light of the side facing the road would lit up.

How are the stock lights in terms of lumination? And can you hear the engine while acceleration inside the cabin?
I need to get a full size pick up truck. But I normally do not buy new vehicles. A few years old of the current model is my sweet spot.
For Toyota, I have heard that certain machining debris was not cleaned during the manufacturing process resulting in loss of power, engine knocking, limping, etc. I am told Toyota Japan is now involved to sort this mess out but I think the damage is done and only a new iteration of the Tundra or a new engine can do some damage control. 1 wrong iteration is all it took to damage decades of Tundra reputation.

Stick around, though we would still be fighting over the 5k and 10k oil changes but every now or then there will be a thread that could use your years of Runner experience.

 

I actually really wanted a Tundra when i was looking at 1/2 tons. Toyota butchered the new Tundra so I ended up F150. Love it so far. Still have my 4runner

 

Passport is really sharp looking and performs decently enough for me........and it's a Honda. Saw them when we were buying our new CRV.
It's that push button shifting that really bugs the shit out of me, though. But stats are the same or above the 4R, even pricing.

 

I don’t know why they went with the dumb push button shifting. Do any other Honda vehicles have that instead of a real shift lever?

 

Dude, 100!
The pilot has it also that I saw on the lot. I did not check out the van or civics or anything.

It was the one of the 2 reasons we got rid of the Lexus (having to completely stop to shift into drive)

 

That might be a deal breaker. So if you are backing up you have to come to a complete stop before it will let you push the button for drive? That will be annoying backing out of my driveway into traffic.

 

That was the exact question actually to the salesman, and the answer was "yes". And me being one the likes to be in neutral or reverse and just slap it down into drive, NOPE.
The Lexus had that little joystick shifter that you had to come to complete stop to shift into drive. Backing up and reversing sucked. And coming out of a packed car wash was a nightmare, thought we would get hit multiple times.

 

We’re going to need to try that out on the test drive. My wife is always throwing it into drive while sill rolling backwards. Im surprised she hasn’t killed any transmissions.

 

That always grinds my gears.

 

LOL, me too honestly.

 

No problem, was glad to give you my insight on it so far. I I plan on keeping it mechanically stock for the foreseeable future, though I've already ordered accessories like a hood protector & bed mat. I also plan on adding a tri-fold hard tonneau cover, and side steps, though I haven't made the decision on which. There's Black Friday deals going on right now, so I'm going to decide this week. I also want to get it woolwaxed, it hit 700 mi yesterday and so far I haven't driven it in the rain, I'm hoping to get that done this week if I can find a place that will fit me in. I think I have a few more weeks before they start laying down road salt, but want to get it done well ahead of that.

This engine is really quiet. It is slightly audible when accelerating, but it doesn't sound labored or struggling like the 4Runner. Seems like they've spent a lot more time on NVH than Toyota did with the 5th gen. One thing I never liked about the 4Runner was how downshifts seem to bring more noise than anything else, this is the opposite. Acceleration, merging, or climbing hills are just not an issue with this, and it does it with zero drama or excess intrusive noise in the cab. Once it's broken in, I'll try to make an acceleration video.

I've only driven it in the dark a few times so far, but coming from the 4Runner the lights are fantastic. I think I mentioned that they are LED, the fog lights are as well. To be fair though, I haven't driven many "modern" vehicles, so I don't know how the lights stack up to its competitors. I'm also really happy to be back in a vehicle with Auto lights. It's such a small thing, even my 97 Grand Cherokee had it, but I always missed it in the 4Runner.

I typically only buy used cars as well, this is my first new vehicle. Originally I was planning on going used, but they've gone up quite a bit over the last year, and when I looked at the price of used versus new, it just made sense to go new in this case. Also, the the Ram was updated for 2025, so there really aren't a lot of used ones out there yet.

I started thinking about a truck last year, and at that time I was thinking of a 21 or 22 F150. Around this time last year you could find a 22 F150 XLT with 30k or so miles on it for 33k-ish, now that same truck is 40K. Also, when looking at them over the last couple months, any F-150 that looked reasonably priced, I would check the Carfax and find it was a Canadian vehicle, had a fleet or rental history, or had prior damage. Apparently buying Canadian vehicles at auction and flipping them in the US is a good business.

I actually use the sunroof in my 4R quite often, it's not something that I would pay extra for, but I do really like the feature. All the windows down, back window down, and sunroof open is a really nice feeling on a nice spring or fall day. I think the smaller roofs like in the 4Runner are less trouble prone, I've heard horror stories about these new giant panoramic sunroofs when they have issues. Perhaps it was my own fault for not cleaning the drains more frequently. On the other hand, my '07 Volvo also had a sunroof, and I had never cleaned those drains at all, and the sunroof did not leak.

I took two more pictures yesterday that shows how much space is in the cab. I could easily sleep back here when camping, and it has built-in storage boxes in the floor on either side of the truck. The inner bins are removable, some guys have said they fill them with ice and use them as coolers. They're not lockable from the factory, but I do believe that aftermarket locking mechanisms are available. Oh, and the floor liners came with the truck. They're part of the Warlock package.

 

New Mazdas will go high mileage, no problem. The sky activ motors are well built and they are still using the bullet proof 6 speed automatic when everyone else is trying to milk out 10 gears. Mazdas skyactiv 6 speed is genius and bulletproof

 

The Passport should not be crossed shopped with a 4Runner. You either want a body on frame construction, and are aware of the pros and cons, or you do not. Comparing specs. of these 2 would be ridiculous. Passport is a Front Wheel Drive based vehicle, built on a car platform. 4Runners are cross shopped with Jeep Wranglers and Ford Broncos (not Bronco Sport). The only body on frame competition midsize SUV. Passport is grouped in with the cars acting like trucks segment.

 

Why not? Most 4Runner owners only use them for soccer mom duties.

 

Yep. Ask 10 4R owners and see how many of them know if their vehicle is unibody or not, the response will...not shock anyone.