2010 Toyota 4Runner Trail Test Drive: Is This the Last 4X4?

GM bailed on its mid-size, body-on-frame SUVs last year. There is no Dodge Durango for 2010. The body-on-frame Ford Explorer is doomed. Rumor is that Nissan is even thinking of killing the Xterra. The traditional mid-size SUV may have been the definitive vehicle of the 1990s, but it's an endangered species now. Whistling right past the SUV graveyard is the new, fifth-generation, 2010 Toyota 4Runner. Park the new one next to a 2009 4Runner and they look similar. But every body panel is different and it's a more capable machine than ever before. It's not a wannabe SUV or a crossover done up in rugged duds. The new 4Runner is a full-frame rock crawler. It may still be called 4Runner, but it's not a forerunner of anything now. It's a survivor—maybe the last of its kind.

The Specs

The 2010 4Runner is the result of deliberate, cautious, evolutionary development. Every alteration is moderate, and one of its biggest changes is actually an excision. The most impressive change is actually one of attitude--how the new 4Runner seems much more substantial and adult than before. It's not a Tacoma pickup with a really wicked cool shell, and it doesn't ride and drive like Land Cruiser Jr. either. It drives like, well, a full-grown Land Cruiser. Buy one in white, throw some UN stickers on the front doors, and you're ready for a safari in Africa.

In fact, the new 4Runner is a Land Cruiser. As with the fourth-generation 4Runner, this fifth-generation machine is based on Toyota's Land Cruiser Prado, which is sold in just about every market except North America. (In redecorated and previous-generation form, it's the Lexus GX 470.) The Prado may be slightly smaller than the bigger Land Cruiser, but it's built just as sturdily and with just as much ability. Even though the new 4Runner doesn't change much dimensionally (the wheelbase carries over at 109.8 inches, and overall length is up just 0.7 inches to 189.9 inches), the new one feels heftier and more planted.

The frame under the new 4Runner is a straightforward, fully boxed construction of thick-gauge steel. To this, Toyota bolts a double-wishbone front suspension, which incorporates coil-over shock absorbers, and a four-link system in the back supporting a solid rear axle on coil springs.

Opt for the "Trail" model, and the suspension can be supplemented with Toyota's Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS), which electronically manages the stabilizer bars through hydraulic cylinders and links at the points where the stabilizer bars would otherwise conventionally bolt to the suspension. Introduced on the full-size Land Cruiser, the latest KDSS manages the roll stiffness of the suspension so that during on-road driving the body roll is minimized, and so that off-road it can be loosened to allow as much wheel articulation as possible. The stabilizer bars are never actually disconnected from the 4Runner, but with the KDSS at work they may as well be when the going gets particularly hairy. Does it work? Yeah, it works. And there's even more of this off-road enabling technology aboard.

The major excision from the 2010 4Runner is the V8 engine that had been available since 2003. Rumors are that Toyota's other Prado-based U.S. product will get an exclusive on the 4.6-liter V8 recently introduced on the Tundra pickup.

While a 157-hp, 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine is available on two-wheel drive 4Runner, it will take a determined effort to find a 4Runner so equipped on a dealer lot. Most 4x2s and all 4x4 models will be powered by Toyota's 4.0-liter, DOHC, 24-valve V6, rated at 270 hp and a meaty 278 lb-ft of torque at 4400 rpm. The Four comes lashed to a standard four-speed automatic transmission, while the Six feeds a five-speed automatic. The fuel economy advantage for the four-cylinder engine is so slight (the four is EPA-rated at 18 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway (5.5 gallons per 100 miles city and 4.3 on the highway), compared to the V6's respective 17 mpg and 19 mpg) that the only reason to buy it is pure stinginess.

And, after all, the lightest 4Runner 4x2 weighs in at a portly 4295 pounds. A puny 157 hp hauling that much truck around is a pathetic thing to contemplate.

The Drive

The least interesting thing about the 4Runner is how well it drives on-road. We didn't have a chance to drive the base SR5 model or the range-toping Limited, but even the harder-edged Trail was easygoing on-road. Leave the transfer case in two-high and put the transmission in D, and the 4Runner does a pretty fair imitation of a Highlander. The steering is pretty numb, there's no feedback from the chassis, and the engine is almost character-free, but the 4Runner will putter about amiably with the best of the crossovers out there.

The 4.0-liter V6 is deceptively bland; there's no exhaust note, no induction noise and doesn't so much rev as whirr. But look down at the speedometer, and the 4Runner is building velocity at a solid clip. The V6 is never strained by the 4Runner's heft, the unobtrusive transmission doesn't have to hunt down a couple of gears just because of a slight grade, and it's super-creamy smooth.

Off-road is where the 4Runner is a stunner. While the Limited comes with a full-time all-wheel drive system, the SR5 and Trail use a part-time system operated by making a satisfying tug on a real live lever next to the shifter. With its 33-degree approach angle and sure-footed suspension, the 4Runner is in the same league as the Jeep Wrangler--and that's high praise indeed. Experienced off-roaders will have this thing floating over the Rubicon.

The standard suspension, suitably loosened by engaging the outstanding KDSS system, seems to have significantly more articulation than before. In deference to the rather timid tires that come standard even with the Trail package (P265/70R17 all-season), we didn't fling the 4Runner into any mud bogs, but Toyota's standard A-TRAC does an excellent job of distributing power to whichever wheel has traction. If you're going to get stuck in the 4Runner, you'll have to work at it.

A panel on the ceiling above the rearview mirror houses the controls for two fascinating off-road technologies. The first is "Crawl Control" (CRAWL), which debuted on the current Land Cruiser. Toyota describes it as "an electro-mechanical system than can be tuned to match the terrain by choosing any of five speed levels." What it does is basically manage the throttle and brakes over difficult terrain so the driver can focus on the direction of the vehicle. It's a literal slow crawl, but it could also be an absolute lifesaver for those times when the driver's talent is overwhelmed by the conditions.

The second technology, "Multi-Terrain Select," Toyota asserts, "allows the 4x4 operator to dial in wheel-slip control to match the terrain. In loose terrain such as mud and sand, more-than-normal wheel slip is permitted, allowing more wheel-spin to work in the vehicle's favor. On bumpy moguls, or solid rock, wheel slip is minimized and the system acts more like a limited slip. The Mogul setting is for any extremely uneven terrain, such as V-ditches, slopes, and ridges, uphill or downhill."

In the limited time we had the 4Runner, and the limited conditions under which we drove it, both CRAWL and the Multi-Terrain Select systems worked beautifully. Throw in the Downhill Assist Control (DAC) and Hill-start Assist Control (HAC), and the 4Runner can turn even a novice into a superstar dirt eater.

Experts can turn off virtually all the electronic helpers and just indulge in the fundamental goodness of the 4Runner's chassis. But sometimes the important thing isn't finding ways to challenge a driver's skills. Sometimes the important thing is getting there no matter what--and the 4Runner excels at that.

The 4Runner's new cabin is spacious and practical. Some love Toyota's latest interior themes, and others find them a bit overwrought and self-conscious. But there's no denying that the front two seats are well-shaped, and that there's a good deal of leg space in the second row. And the second row reclines up to 16 degrees.

The Bottom Line

Toyota sustains several traditions with the new 4Runner. It has a great off-road chassis, like decades of Land Cruisers--and 4Runners--before it. It feels well built, like decades of Toyotas. And even though the rear one-piece tailgate is top-hinged, the rear window still rolls down, like a proper station wagon. But it's the additional off-road technology that's been engineered into this beast of burden that makes the 4Runner so compelling.

Prices for the 2010 4Runner start at just under $30,000, and peak at just over $40,000 for a fully loaded Limited model on 20-inch rims. And if you need off-road ability, this is among the best choices possible. Because, increasingly, there's nothing else like it.

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