2022 Toyota Highlander vs 2022 Toyota 4Runner _ Toyota's $45,000 Question

Imagine this is not a forest, but a very highly detailed computer rendering of an outdoor Toyota showroom. And you've got two choices if you want a midsize SUV for about $45,000. Highlander or the 4Runner. Now, they're not directly comparable for most shoppers, but at that price, well, you can either get a glorified minivan or something that is a tough old truck that can go anywhere. But you have a choice. Don't just listen to me. Do you want to feel cool? Or do you want something new? We ask the hard-hitting questions here at CarGurus, and we give you equally dependable and hard-hitting answers. So subscribe to our YouTube channel and go to CarGurus.com. The 4Runner is exactly as I remember it growing up in the 90s. Go back to 1984, which was the first model year, or skip to 2004. It doesn't matter. A 4Runner is the Swiss Army knife of Toyota trucks. Not the Swiss Army knife with the wine opener or the magnifying glass. That's too fancy. The 4Runner is everything a sport utility vehicle should be, and absolutely nothing more. The Highlander is a Lexus in everything but name. It cuts through the air with the greatest of ease. It sits lower. For the same money, the Highlander is faster, handles better, and has no capability off-road. This is a car, a modern car. Next to the 4Runner, it feels like a Bentley. This 4Runner generation was new in 2010. Twelve years later, well, not much has changed. There's radar sensors on here now. There's LED high beams in addition to low beams. That's new for 2022. What's really interesting, though, is this paint. It's a flat greenish kind of gray. It's called Lunar Rock, and it's not on every 4Runner trim, but it is on this one. It's the Trail Special Edition. You got this big Yakima rack up here, nice and sturdy. 17-inch dark gray painted wheels. Those are exclusive to this model. And everything else about this truck you've seen before, but it is cool. You've got to admit it, even if you don't off-road or even know what that means, and you've only seen the parking lot of a Neiman Marcus, come on, you've got to love vehicles like this because it's classic. It's always in style. Even though this is not the TRD Pro model, it's pretty spiffy. Next to that 4Runner, the Highlander looks like it's slammed to the ground like some kind of sports car. It is not, but this is the XSE. That was a brand new trim for 21, continues now, and it's very different than regular Highlanders because of that grille. Totally different treatment. You got all these big strakes in the front, more air intakes, nice silver trim, everything is blacked out, there's no more chrome, and you get these nice silver and black 20-inch wheels. And when you see the interior of this thing, it's pretty flaming red. Real talk about 4x4s. This one can go anywhere, this one looks like it could go somewhere, but it stops right here, as you can see. The approach angle is only 17 degrees, where on the 4Runner it's 30. That's a massive difference, and it's not just ground clearance. 9.6 inches on the 4Runner and only 8 here. That means you're going to be able to navigate obstacles like this, keep going if there wasn't all these trees here. And the difference also is the actual all-wheel drive systems. The Highlander behind me is more like a front-wheel drive system, and it only activates the rear when it detects slippage, up to 50%. Whereas the 4Runner, that is always in four-wheel drive if you lock it that way. And you can also get locking diffs, detachable sway bars, all the good stuff to go off-road. Engines. Both have a V6. The 4Runner makes a good amount of power, but because it's dated to about 20 years ago, it doesn't really make the same power as this. Direct injection, a whole host of other modern technologies that let the Highlander deliver more power with less displacement. Now, fuel economy, not really a contest, right? And plus, the Highlander Hybrid can do 35 plus mpg combined. That's really impressive for a vehicle this size. Now, towing capacity, that's a bit of a surprise, because to me, this is based on a truck chassis, which really, in theory, should be stronger than this, but they pull the same weight. Back here, you'll find two standard features on the 4Runner that you will not find on the Highlander. One of them is a tow hitch receiver, and the other is a power glass window. You don't see this on any other brand-new SUV, and I really like that. Now, cargo space. As you can see, the 4Runner actually has slightly more maximum. And on this model, voila! Cooler comes with it, matches the paint. I like that. It supports up to 440 pounds. I wouldn't advise stepping on it with your friends, but it's there. And if you check out the back of the Highlander, this one is, of course, powered. You can't get that on the 4Runner, but the numbers are similar. And just if you thought that you couldn't get a third row over here, you can. Let me open this again. Try to imagine a third row of seats back here. It's available on the SR5 and the Limited. The space is pretty tight back there, but it is available if you want. Here's what a new car looks like. Pretty nice, right? Nice finishes, good materials, spiffy design, especially in black and red leather. Here's what a 12-year-old car looks like. Hard plastic, cheap vinyl, knobs that came off a washing machine, a clock from a Motel 6. It's not about being charming or retro. Toyota just doesn't care. There's no luxury inside a 4Runner, and there's not supposed to be. It's all utility. It's all Spartan. It's meant just to be functional. And I get that, but when I get materials like this, this, that, you got to do better. And let's put it this way. This is a $45,000 vehicle, and it sure doesn't feel like one. The back seat in the 4Runner isn't much better than the front. It's kind of flat in here. There's not a ton of support, but they do recline. It's actually pretty significant. If they just updated the interior a little bit more, this mouse for a headliner especially, they'd have something better. This tiny display between these analog gauges just crams all this information here. It's not very easy to adjust on the move, but when you're stopped, you can see active safety features like lane departure and forward collision warning. The climate controls have no indication of the actual temperature. It's just red or blue. This AIDEN screen is the best part of the 4Runner interior. And overall, the interface is quick, it's easy to actually use, change settings, but it is outdated if you compare it to other SUVs. Toyota is going to update it. I keep saying that because I've seen the new system in cars like the Tundra and the Lexus NX. It's so much better. But for now, well, this is about all you're going to get. Other than that, there's nothing at all to look at, which may be the best thing. A 4Runner doesn't distract you. It won't bog you down when you're doing your thing off-road. As an older vehicle, you're not getting the latest safety. In all the crash tests, the 4Runner doesn't score that well for a modern SUV. And you're not getting evasive steering assist, no lane centering, none of the other features you'll find in the Highlander. The Highlander's worst part is the best part on the 4Runner, the infotainment. This is simple, and it's really easy to use. I'll give it that. But everything else, pretty old. For example, the App Suite, you have to have a connected smartphone with the Toyota app and other apps installed. There's nothing saved on board here. And that doesn't make it as user-friendly as newer systems. Now, Toyota is going to replace this system across its lineup. You can find it in the new Tundra. It's not here yet, unfortunately. Like this map. Really rudimentary. This thing looks super old. That's the really one big drawback about the Highlander. But with the 4Runner and the Highlander, they're sharing the same system. But when you get away from the screen, the rest of the Highlander has a lot of useful features for modern tech. Say, for a phone. You can use that shelf here. You can wrap the cables here so it's nice and clean. There's another shelf over here. USB-C ports. My driving modes are right here. Electric parking brake. Great. But this is not a charging pad. You gotta put it in here. That seems like it's fine, right? Except this always gets in the way. So if you want to grab stuff out of here, that's what happens. Not the best design. The display in the instrument panel is really useful. There's a lot of information, and it's easy to read. Like all the safety systems that are on board. Toyota Safety Sense is now at version 2.5+. That means you get auto braking with pedestrian detection, evasive steering assist, adaptive cruise, and lane censoring that will work like a semi-automated system. It's pretty good. The Highlander is like a living room in here. It's comfortable. It's spacious. All the materials are nice. You can just lay back, and I just might. Sit here for a nice long time. Three-zone climate is standard. And as nice as this car is, it's not even the most luxurious thing that Toyota makes. There's just enough snarl with this V6 where I actually like hearing it. And when you back off, it quiets down. It's smooth. I like that. And there's significantly more power than in the 4Runner. Maybe not on the number sheet because this is making, you know, 295 horsepower versus the 4Runner's 270. But with three more gears, it's amazing what you can do because anytime you put your foot down, the transmission knows where to shift. There's also a sport mode, and there's good pickup in this car. And I like hearing that V6. Even though there's no turbocharger, these extra gears, the way the Highlander is just set up from the start, it's fine. It's a good engine. And it's the same engine you'll find in the Lexus RX. So it's a tried-and-true engine. It's smooth. You know it's reliable. It's going to last forever. So is the one in the 4Runner. So you're not going to get the, you know, world's best output not with these engines, but they're sufficient. The Highlander sits lower, and because of that, it handles better. This is an actual car. It is not a truck in any single way, even though I've got some multiple drive modes for off-road use. It says mud and rock, and no, you're not going to do things like that with the Highlander. But when you try steering it on pavement, you actually have a good connection to the road. The chassis feels tightened down. The XSE actually brings some real hardware. The steering is retuned. The shock absorbers, the springs, even the rear stabilizer bar are all different. They're stiffer than the regular Highlander, but not too much where you don't feel comfortable, because that's the main goal of the Highlander. Unlike the 4Runner, the Highlander has a conventional all-wheel drive system that's primarily front-wheel drive paced until it needs to send power to the rear axle. On the XSE, it can send up to half of the torque to that back axle. It's good, and on the road, that's what you want, because the XSE also, like the Limited and the Platinum trims, has torque vectoring on that rear axle. It can distribute torque left and right to basically tighten up the trajectory around turns. That's not something you'd normally do in a Highlander, because you shouldn't be taking fast turns, but you kind of can. I like that Toyota is actually tuning the XSE trims. You can also find that on the RAV4, on the Camry. They're tuning it to actually be sporty, so it's not just an appearance package. I like the increased feel in this Highlander. It just corners just a little flatter, doesn't roll as hard as before. The XSE is really what I think the default choice should be on the Highlander. But regardless, you're still getting that Lexus-type ride. It's cushy. It's comfortable. You could drive this thing with one finger, though I don't suggest you do. That's just how light all the controls on the Highlander are. It just relaxes you. You could be in this car for one hour or 10 hours and feel the same way. In the 4Runner, well, you'd want to get out after about 10 minutes. Now we're coming up to one of my favorite trails, and we'll see if we can... Yeah, I don't think so. Not with this car. Nope. I'm talking louder because this is a really old V6. Dates back to sometime in the 2000s. It makes a good amount of power, but wow, you really have to put your foot down just to move. It's loud. It roars. Whoa, and it's not all that fast. But it kind of sounds good, or it would sound better if it didn't have this TRD sport exhaust. To me, that just sounds like a busted muffler. On the road, this V6 is pretty loud. It's pretty coarse, and it jumps around a lot because there's only five speeds in this automatic transmission. I don't know of any other brand-new vehicle that still has a five-speed gearbox. Manual, automatic, whatever. This thing is basically the same as it was in the early 2000s. I graduated high school. That was a good time, but why hasn't this vehicle changed? Now, once you put your foot down, it actually does move pretty well because there's 270 horsepower. This thing is pretty heavy, though. It's almost 4,500 pounds. So there's a lot of forerunner to be moving. It doesn't exactly run on the road. All that nice softness you get off-road, on-road, translates to a lot of roll. Oh, my goodness. I'll get seasick pretty soon. This is the way old-school SUVs handle because this is based on a pickup truck. That's what it is. So the springs are designed to soak up big bumps, big ruts. They're not really designed to have any sort of road control. The Highlander feels like a Supra. It feels like a sports car. It really does. When you compare these two side-by-side, they are definitely from different eras. If you're a truck guy, a truck girl, you want to get into one of these, you'll appreciate this because you know what you're getting into. It's like a Jeep Wrangler. Everybody knows that that vehicle cannot drive itself on-road with any more than just turning the wheel like this. You can't really point that vehicle straight, not even the brand-new one. That's okay because you make concessions to be an off-road vehicle, and on-road is just not where the forerunner truly belongs. However, I would say that the steering is actually tracking pretty true, a lot better than I thought. It's pretty straight. I don't actually have to correct it that much. So even though the steering there is okay, there's not a lot of feel. There's not a lot of grip. There's not really a lot of anything in the forerunner except noise, wind noise, and roll. So you deal with all that stuff. Maybe that is a, what do you say, endearing? Is it character? That's what real estate agents talk about when they're trying to sell you a really old house that hasn't been fixed up in a while. It's got character. Call this the same thing. Whoa! It's loud. Oh, now we've got to slow down. I'm going to injure the trail. I feel like my head's going to go straight into the pavement. All of this very soft suspension tuning, once you're off the road, that's why they designed it that way. This is where I should have started. Now the forerunner is in its element. I'm on a rutted, rocky road. Not the ice cream, just the road. And this is where it belongs because the soft suspension just soaks up all the bumps. The steering is slow, which is good off-road because you don't need any quick reactions. You want nice, steady pacing. The throttle's nice and lazy. All wonderful things when you're driving at 5 to 10 miles an hour. The forerunner is just tough as nails, and this one is not even the toughest because this is not a TRD off-road. It's not the TRD Pro, so that means I don't have a locking diff. I don't have the upgraded Fox Racing shocks that have remote reservoirs, all that awesome stuff. I do have a skid plate, and I do have a low range. And that's really all you need. Plus, Toyota has something called A-Track. Now what that is, is it kind of is like a virtual locking front and rear differential. It'll basically apply the brakes when you're stuck and only works in 4-low. So it kind of will help you get around that without having the mechanical lockers. Mechanical lockers are the real deal, and that's what really pulls you out. But this is a nice feature, and it's cheaper. Toyota has some other fun features that this one doesn't have. Crawl control, which is like a low-speed cruise control. You don't really have to do anything. You don't even have to touch the brakes. So that's pretty cool. There's also multi-terrain select, which will adjust the throttle and a bunch of other settings to the type of terrain you want. And those have two dials that are up in the overhead console. They're pretty fun to actually turn. They have a nice detent. I've been in other TRD models that do have that. So you don't get that with this Trail Edition. Do you need it? That's up to you. But it also costs a lot more. But every 4Runner costs a whole lot. This one's still over $46,000, and we still don't have all the options on it. But you'll find that most any 4Runner, except the Limited, will get you through basically anything. Now, the Limited has permanent four-wheel drive that's at a fixed split. It's 40 and 60 rear. So that means that it does not have part-time four-wheel drive or a low-range transfer case. So that's not the one that you want to be taking off-road. But it's still going to be a heck of a lot better than the Highlander. A new 4Runner runs $37,605 to start. A new Highlander is $35,405. Loaded, they're both over $50,000. Here's the prices of both of my test vehicles. But only the 4Runner holds its value like a Porsche, especially when it's a TRD model. The 4Runner really competes against the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco. The Highlander has a dozen or more competitors. Between these two, the 4Runner is cherished and beloved for what it is. It's an off-road champ. There's not much else like it on the market. It's analog. And people don't really care about its faults because they know exactly what it is. But when it comes to normal, everyday life, the Highlander proves that modern technology and performance really do make a better overall SUV. The Highlander is just everything to everyone. And in this XSE trim, it's actually kind of hot looking. So what do you guys think? What vehicle would you choose? And what vehicles do you want to see us review next? For more details, you know where to go. CarGurus, CarGurus.com, and subscribe. See you next time.