Car & Driver Offroad Review - 4Runner is 5th of 6!

Here's the link to this Car & Driver article which really blew me away. They took 6 SUVs over a course, and our 4Runner came out 5th! The SUV's were (in acending order) Explorer, 4Runner, Toureg, Montero, Pathfinder & Jeep Gran Cherokee.

What I found to really be funny is that while they clearly extolled the virtures of the 4Runner (a V8 Sport 4x4) - said it was the most comfortable, highest quality, and was on par with the #1 Cherokee (with Quadra Trac) in offroading & rock climbing, they relegated it to 5th place! 5th Place!!!!

The reasons? They didn't like the A/C controls. They didn't like the hood scoop blocking view. They didn't like the lower seat position. That's pretty much it!

Yes, I'm majorly biased, but these complaints are almost non-sequitors! Did Toyota do something to piss them off!?

Anyway, read it & weap & let's see your thoughts.

Car & Driver SUV Comparo

"Toyota rarely flubs an assignment, but it happens!"

FROM CAR & DRIVER:

Fifth Place
Toyota 4Runner 4WD Sport Edition

This is not the expected rating for Toyota's extremely capable SUV. Blame it on this truck's people skills, and on the contrary packaging. The 4Runner has a high floor, not uncommon with body-on-frame construction. But why is the roof low, closer to the floor? And why the low seats, barely off the floor, down at sports-car elevation? Toyota thinks this arrangement adds sport to its sport UV.

The low roof doesn't make entry to the second row easier, either. Once you're seated, comfort is quite good. Hurray for cloth. It almost always feels better than leather. The result is an enveloping, no-sliding-around bench that earned our highest comfort marks for two passengers.

The 4Runner has sophisticated machinery below. The 4.7-liter V-8 is exceptionally refined in its sounds and vibrations. The test truck had full-time four-wheel drive with a Torsen center differential that's lockable by dash switch. Left to its own, it sends 40 percent of driving torque to the front, up to 53 percent if the rears spin, and reduces front drive to 29 percent during steering.

The suspension seems ready for every challenge. It has a surface plushness that impresses on the road, with no bouncing-bobbing in the rough. Good leg muscles. That's the feel. And it's there on the trail, too. The 4Runner flexes and extends over the eroded surfaces with a trained dancer's control of motion.

Throttle calibration is perfectly ramped, too. It's easy to get just the right torque for the task. Too bad about the nonfunctional hood scoop; as you ascend steep crests, the windshield fills with blue sky. What perils lie beyond? Dunno, the damn scoop blocks the view.

For our off-road tasks, we preferred to shut off the hill-descent control, which seemed annoyingly jerky in its interventions. The transfer-case control is a knob; your choices are H4 or L4. All very modern. Old-fashioned, however, is the way the system beeps in protest if a change is attempted in anything but neutral.

In acceleration the Toyota was second best at 15.7 seconds and 88 mph in the quarter. Braking was best of the bunch at 170 feet from 70 mph. Both on- and off-road, however, the brakes felt overboosted, particularly at low speeds.

Toyota rarely flubs an assignment. But it happens.

This was found in the Montero section

The Montero spends more time with one or more wheels off the ground than the others, with the Pathfinder a close second. The Grand Cherokee and the 4Runner maintain the best contact with the ground.

Click to expand...

In the Jeep GC section

The Grand Cherokee's front seat and driving position are especially agreeable. You sit more "arms out" than in most trucks, a sharp contrast from the 4Runner and its bus-style angling of the wheel. The dash is also quite high, so your gaze needs to drop only a few degrees as it moves from road ahead to the instruments below. The hood ramps down, opening the view before you. The dash is shrewdly shaped to put the center-mounted radio and HVAC within easy reach. Taken altogether, the Jeep earned top marks for ergonomics.

Click to expand...

This page gives you the raw numbers to look over.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=9264&page_number=9

Hmmm - what's missing here?

We'd just about gotten everyone around here calmed down about this.

Car and Driver's been beaten repeatedly about the head and shoulders on <a href="http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?threadid=9251&highlight=car+driver" target="_blank">this</a> <br /> thread.

JB. said:

We'd just about gotten everyone around here calmed down about this.

Car and Driver's been beaten repeatedly about the head and shoulders on <a href="http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?threadid=9251&highlight=car+driver" target="_blank">this</a> <br /> thread.

Click to expand...

Opps! Guess I'm a little in back of the curve on this one. Just saw the mag at my local grocer.

Everyone said pretty much what I thought too. :arrow:

TerryT - Just wait a couple months till you find the Truck Comparison to see how the Tacoma did. But if you can't wait, check out this link: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?threadid=10432&highlight=tacoma+car+and+driver

# beer cases
behind
f/m/r

This was a nice touch....

Too bad the TourEGG looks like an oversized station wagon... the Jeep's interior sucks and I wouldn't be caught dead in a Mitsubishi Montero or Exploder.

Problem with the mags is you can't believe anything they write. Truck Trend just did the final write-up on their long term 4runner. They said stuff like 2004 was the introduction of the new 4runner. That the V8 VVTi engine was introduced in mid year 2005. That they loved the rear window rolling down, wow that's a real biggey. The stats they quote are normally wrong. Just a waste of time, I am not renewing any mag subscriptions and sticking with sites like this where you learn all of the facts not BS.

I just got done watching the C&D test drive on TV comparing compact pick-ups (5). Just after the Honda commercial they announced the Ridgeline as the best. Then told how it was the worst off-road because of the lack of ground clearance and NO low range. They need to pull their heads out of their asses.

Koz

Car and Driver does not like the 4Runner or the Tacoma pickup. In C&D's opinion they are just not up to the task at hand. When you drive off road with a 4Runner Sport you can't see over the hood scoop. Well, they had to pick the hood scoop, what else was there to pick at, with nothing left, the hood gets it. They said the Tacoma was too much like a truck. You know this was a tough test. They figured out right away that when driving a Tacoma, you're dealing with a truck. With the tone of both articles there is one message that is clear from C&D. The 4Runner and Tacoma are not going to make it as long term products. Neither one has what it takes to last through a production run of several years. And they certainly can't be called class leaders or credited with starting a class. These flyby night models are not up to C&D standards, nope. If you want a tough rugged SUV then C&D wants you in a Jeep GC. And if you want a tough pickup, there's no better choice than a Honda Widget in C&D's opinion. These guys are right on top of this. There's no sneaking a truck into a truck comparo and expecting them not to notice. They caught those Toyotas right away. And if Toyota does not get rid of that scoop on the Sport, C&D is going to get lost, every time they climb a hill.

Well I know I better not go off-roading untill I tear that scoop off! C&D must know best! Why? Cuz they're C&D, that's why.

No wonder the 4Runner lost. It is hard to be the high tech 2 valve per cyl pushrod engine getting 12MPG and to top it off you get the reliability Jeep is famous for. :bs:

Car & Driver states,

Car and Driver is right about one thing: This seat on the floor design really SUXS! It takes away from the truck feeling and makes you feel cramp in the cab.

I can't wait until the next generation Seqouia comes out. If it does NOT have the seat on the floor design; then I'll trade my Runner in for a new Seqouia!

fo'runner said:

Car and Driver is right about one thing: This seat on the floor design really SUXS! It takes away from the truck feeling and makes you feel cramp in the cab.

I can't wait until the next generation Seqouia comes out. If it does NOT have the seat on the floor design; then I'll trade my Runner in for a new Seqouia!

Click to expand...

Seat-on-the-floor!? Wassat?

A couple of you hit the nail on the head - it's "CAR and driver" magazine, not "SUV and driver" or "TRUCK and driver". That's why they rated the Ridgline as the best truck and F'ed up the SUV ratings. I love the quote "the ride is too truck like".
:goinposta