I bought a 2021 Toyota 4Runner!

This is a 2021 Toyota 4Runner, and what makes this one so special? It's mine. In this video, I'll tell you why I picked this particular model, compare it to the competition, and then we'll try it out with a challenging off-road exercise at our new test location. That's all coming up right now on Driving Sports TV. When you're talking 4Runners, the differences between the models is actually pretty vast. There's everything from the SR5, which is the entry level that has both two and four-wheel drive options, up to the Limited, which has the full-time all-wheel drive in addition to a low range. It's like a little baby Land Cruiser. Well, the model I went with is the TRD Off-Road, and the reason I went with this one is the TRD models all have MTS and crawl control. Those are the most advanced off-road systems you can get in a 4Runner, and that's something that I really wanted because I want to make videos about that setup, and I figure what better way than to buy one, right? I made a point of buying through AutoNation because they are a long-time corporate client. They did not pay to be in this video, nor did I get a discount from AutoNation or Toyota. I bought this at MSRP, fresh off the truck, just like you. We'll get to price in a bit. When the vehicle was ready, my wife chauffeured me out to Spokane, I signed the papers, and drove it home. So, what exactly do I have here? This is a 2021 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium in Magnetic Gray Metallic. For 2021, all 4Runners were upgraded with brighter LED headlights and fog lights. I did not option the common TRD skid plate since the 4Runner already comes with basic underbody protection, and I still want to research some third-party options here. But I did opt for a sunroof. Prices you see it here, $44,105 including delivery. Under the hood of all 4Runners is a time-tested 4.0-liter V6. It's good for 270 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque. This one came with a part-time 4WD system with A-Track, MTS, Crawl Control, and a locking rear differential. I did not opt for the special KDSS suspension system, which is available as an option on this model. This has standard run-of-the-mill 4Runner suspension. EPA rates economy at 19 on the highway and 16 around town. A tow hitch receiver with hookups is standard on all 4Runners. Max capacity is 5,000 pounds. The back gate is not powered, but the locks support proximity access. Inside is a generous cargo area, 47.2 cubic feet with all seats up. With the second row folded down, that expands to 89.7 cubic feet. One nice feature of the way the seats fold forward is that it prevents cargo from sliding into the driver in the event of a panic stop. In the back is an AC outlet so I can charge gear in the field in addition to a DC port. As my kids are now teens, they'll appreciate the extra second row space compared to my wife's Crosstrek Sport when we take longer road trips. There are a pair of USB ports back here, but no seat warmers available. It's up front where the lower and premium trims really start to stand out. Recently we had a review of the Trail Edition, and that's just based on the SR5, which is the entry-level trim. And the difference between that and one of the premium trims is substantial. First off, we actually have a push-button start here instead of needing to use a key like on the SR5. The fact that any vehicle still uses a key kind of surprises me in 2021. Also, we have this really nice trim inlay, kind of a pseudo-carbon fiber look. And then we have these seats, which are actually more comfortable than those in the Trail Edition and SR5. It's kind of interesting that based on the trim level, you actually have a different way of engaging your low-range gear set. This one has a lever, all the TRDs do. The other trims have a big dial. Do I love the lever? Not really. I would have been fine with the dial, but this is what it has, so I'm gonna live with it. I think, though, for a normal buyer, somebody who's not like, you know, rugged off-road, gotta go get it, the dial is the better choice because they just want to be able to switch without having to like, you know, physically feel like they're moving cogs. The upgrades here are substantial, especially when you're getting in out of a vehicle all day long or driving across the country. It's the little things on the interior of the cabin that just kind of make living with the vehicle that much better. If I'm reviewing a vehicle, that's one thing, but if I own something, I want it to be comfortable. And this is comfortable. It has all the comforts that I want and nothing that I don't really need. Now, there is one option on this vehicle, and that is the sunroof. If I was just buying this for myself and not for this show, I would have probably not gone with a sunroof. I don't particularly like or use sunroofs day-to-day. However, for filming, they're much easier to attach cameras to, and if necessary, we can actually stand up and point out to shoot. So, not going to use it a ton, but when we do need it, it is really helpful to have, so I did go with that option. Now, they have two different sunroof packages. They have just the sunroof or the sunroof with the sliding tray in the back. It uses up too much space back there for the benefit that it gives me, so I opted for just a sunroof with no tray. Other than that, this is a bone stock off-road premium, and you know what? I love this thing. I really, really love it. Is it the most modern? No, definitely not, but I just, it's old school enough to be reliable, and to be fun, and to be capable, but new enough where I have Apple CarPlay. Sure, it's not the best looking thing, but it's there, and it gives me the functionality that I need. In terms of active safety, this has everything I want and nothing I don't. It has collision mitigation for those times where you might be caught off guard. Save you once, totally worth it. It also has adaptive cruise control, which is really good for interstate driving, and lane detection. It's there. It came with the adaptive cruise control. I'm fine with it, but yeah, no blind spot warning. Don't care. I used my head. I was raised to not have that, so I'm used to it. A newer driver may want that, and that's okay. It's just not something that I want on my car. Gauge cluster, traditional dials with a little screen that gives me all the info. I don't particularly love the way that they integrate their screen. It has a lot of windows and stuff that pop up at annoying times that obscure other information that you might be looking at. In that way, it's not great, but all the information that I need is there, and I'm here to drive. I'm not here to look at my screen. Of course, it has a rear locking differential because it is a TRD model. They just get that. With that said, let's take this out and have some fun and see what this thing can do. I already covered why I picked this particular 4Runner compared to other 4Runners. However, you might be wondering why did I pick a 4Runner in the first place? Well, I had some criteria that I set out, and all paths led to this. I didn't want to spend over $50,000. I just didn't think it was necessary to buy a Mercedes-AMG GLE. That's kind of a ridiculous car, and though I love it, it's not something that I really want to take out into the mountains as a work vehicle. And that brings me to the second point. This was going to be a whether it's in front of the camera or if it's working behind the scenes. I needed something that was flexible and capable enough to get where we needed to go, and I also needed something that was mainstream enough that it would be relevant for viewers. I wanted something that I could use as kind of a baseline, like any future overlanding or off-road targeted vehicles would need to be better than whatever vehicle I bought because progress should march forward. So the short list contained a lot of, you know, really obvious choices. There's the Subaru Outback Onyx XT that I've had for a full year. I love that vehicle, but we did just buy my wife a Crosstrek Sport last year, and I didn't think I needed two Subarus necessarily. And yeah, I know I need to get some videos done with that, and I've been so busy with new cars with limited timelines. I've just been having trouble scheduling that one, but I will get to it. The next thing that was on my radar was the Chevy Colorado Bison. I love that thing. We did a review about a year ago, maybe a little more than that, and it was so capable, so comfortable. It looks great from the factory. Really, I can't think of anything I don't like about the Bison. It was close enough to 50 grand that I could have justified it, but at the end of the day, I decided I did not want a truck. I wanted an SUV that I could put camera gear in and feel like it was reasonably secure on location. One vehicle on my short list that you might be surprised about is the new Bronco Sport. The real Bronco is still about a year out if you don't have a pre-order. I don't have a pre-order, and I needed to film stuff this year, so I looked at the Bronco Sport. Actually, I went to the dealer down the street from my office because they got in one of the Badlands editions, which is the overlanding model. Man, it drives like a Focus. Yeah, it has recovery hooks. Yeah, it has kind of the looks of an off-roader, but when you actually get into it, the way that it rides, the way that it drives, it felt like a Focus. I do look forward to a more extended review of it, like actually taking it off-road and see how well that system works in more challenging situations, but in my test drive around town, I just wasn't impressed by it. It wasn't something that I wanted to drive for the rest of the year. In my mind, I was like, is this better than a 4Runner for what I want to do? And the easy answer was no. I also considered a Jeep or a Jeep Gladiator. We have a full video on that, where we took a Rubicon Gladiator and a 4Runner Trail Edition into the mountains. But again, it came down to just not really wanting a truck. And the long distance ride quality of a Jeep just isn't as good as a 4Runner. In the end, I ended up picking the 4Runner. It is an ancient vehicle that has a lot of newer stuff on it that is nicely retrofitted. The display is great. The off-road equipment is great. And when you look at new versus used on a 4Runner, it really makes sense to buy a new one, at least in the Pacific Northwest. I was looking online and I was finding five-year-old models with 60,000 to 80,000 miles on them going for 10 grand less than brand new. And when you buy new, you get adaptive cruise control, which just added two years ago. You also get the larger display with Apple CarPlay, and you get the LED headlights, which were just added for 2021. So it all added up to me getting this vehicle. Now you might be asking, why did I not get a TRD Pro? I didn't want a TRD Pro. And the reason is they always put TRD Pros into the press fleets. I can usually get a TRD Pro if I want one for filming. The off-road premium, which is the more mainstream version of the vehicle, like this is a very popular trim package on a very popular platform with the suspension that is the same as the one that you get on all the other 4Runners. This is the best of the most mainstream 4Runner you can get. And that is why I picked this one. Now let's head into the mountains. And I have a new location that I want to show off, and we're going to try this 4Runner. So it's new vehicle, new year, and new filming location. Just getting into this location is a challenge. Typical transverse mounted engine crossovers probably won't be able to get up here. Simply because the access road is too much of a challenge. It has a lot of back and forths that are pretty deep and do demand ground clearance. Now luckily this 4Runner does have 9.6 inches of ground clearance. And right now I'm trying to go in in two-wheel drive, and I'm not getting there. Try this again. Okay. So you will note I have not switched to four-wheel drive yet. Although clearly I should. So let's go and pull the lever down. And now it's no big deal. Okay. Up here we have all the different courses we need to test advanced off-road machines like this one. Let me tell you kind of what we have up here. There are roughly eight different short courses here with a large variation in obstacles and surfaces including mud, rock, and dirt. In the months ahead we'll try different runs with a variety of vehicles. But as much as I'm sure many viewers would like to see us run a Hyundai Kona through here, this location will be limited to more extreme off-roaders. Standard crossovers will continue to be tested on the rock trail. We're not going to do all the options today. We're going to start with just a couple to have some fun with this vehicle. We'll then bring other vehicles up in the weeks ahead. So I'm not just doing this for fun. I'm also doing it to test this new location to see how suitable it is for various vehicles. Because if the 4Runner has trouble getting up, then I know it's pretty extreme. And I am running all-season radials right now. These are literally the ones that came with the vehicle a few hundred miles ago. And yeah, let's do this one here. That's a... that's a pretty deep hole. To prep the vehicle I'm going to put it into neutral, switch it into 4 low, which it just slides right in. That turns off traction control. I'm going to go ahead and turn on A-Tracks. Because these don't come with a front locking differential, that's kind of the reasonable facsimile. This does however have a rear locker should I need it. All 4Runners do come with basic underbody armor so that's a win. Let's see how this does. I haven't aired down the tires. I haven't done anything. This is as you get it from the lot. It's important to note this obstacle was conquered with just 4 low and A-Track enabled, which is standard equipment on all 4WD 4Runners. Whenever you engage 4WD on a 4Runner, that locks the center differential, which splits power 50-50 front to back. A-Track then manages the available power by applying brakes to individual wheels that lose traction. You can see it in action in this slow motion view. Every time that wheel stops, power is getting shuttled to the opposite wheel. Yeah, I'm not taking the Crosstrek up there. No, definitely not. While it's true that crossovers like the Subaru Crosstrek have adopted a similar brake torque vectoring system in recent years, in my experience A-Track is much more aggressive. And because this is a TRD off-road, it also has the multi-terrain select system, which takes A-Track functionality, and tunes it for even more challenging and specific situations. We'll play with that on future videos. Specifically, you'll want to watch the upcoming Lexus LX570 review, where the 4Runner will make a cameo. I think that's a pretty good introduction to our new test location, and a better introduction to our new 2021 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium. I'm really looking forward to doing a lot more with this in the coming months. For Driving Sports TV, I'm Ryan Douthit. Thanks for watching. Be sure to subscribe, leave a comment. Hey, tell us, what should we call this new off-road test area? I was thinking maybe Powerline Park, or maybe Really Tough Hills, or I don't know. You come up with a name. Post a comment below. We'll see you again right here next week.