Having driven both, I'd put my money on the 4th gen by a nose.

It was good meeting you Adam. Hopefully driving my runner was beneficial for your decision. Interesting analysis. As you said, it's certainly hard to compare the handling of my rig vs. a stock 4runner. And I had both sway bars connected! Haha. I'm sticking with my opinion that it's completely worth it. Night and day difference. I think you'd be quite happy with one.

Good to meet you today. Sorry my rig was full of dogs and stuff lol. Hope you enjoyed driving it and maybe I'll see you around Fort Collins sometime.

Yes good to meet you too! I definitely noticed a power difference. And dogs are better than no dogs always!

I think I'm sold. Time to start saving!

Just do it, if you dont like it take it off and sell it

3 year old thread bro.

Definitely worth it! I owned a normally aspirated 2002 Limited 4X4 for 8 years. I got rid of it for my supercharged 2000 Limited 4X4. It's a night and day difference in driving. I put 130,000 miles on the '02. It was constantly downshifting on even the slightest of grades to maintain 65-70 mph. My '00 can hold overdrive on some pretty steep grades. I too noticed no change in fuel economy. Having to run premium fuel would be the only downside that I could see.

These old threads are popping up a lot lately. ... lol

Better than seeing the same topic on a new thread over and over.

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The placebo vs no-cebo effect is evident here as well. Some people dont see anything beyond auto maintence as a good investment. Some dont have the money. i dont have the time to get mine installed. Having owned boosted vehicles in the mountains before....i believe there is no substitute for boost when you need it.

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It means people are using the almighty search bar!


On topic, I can live with my current NA 4runner, but I would be significantly happier if it had a bit more punch. Lots of preventative maintenance and proactive mods to do beforehand to get my car into a condition where a supercharger would be worthwhile though.

I can't believe this thread even exists

I’ve never driven a supercharged 3rd gen, but I think my stock Runner has enough power already. Yeah, on an uphill it drops speed like crazy, but once you press that Overdrive off button on the shift lever, hey, I can keep going at 90 mph on an uphill for couple miles. Once I reach flat surface I just press the button again to get better gas mileage. To me the $3000 kit and having to run premium all the time is just too much money since I only paid $2500 for my Runner and it’s saving me gas money by running regular. That being said, if you were to tow boats/trailers every weekend it should be worth it. I only drive my 3rd gen as a reliable DD and DIY repair subject so I probably wont get it S/C’ed.

You're burning more fuel, trying to get yourself up that hill with O/D turned off. With a supercharger...you will no longer have to downshift. Passing people on the highway is also done with a lot less effort with a S/C. Once you drive one that is supercharged, you will be disappointed with your normally aspirated TR4. This is coming from someone who owned a 2002 naturally aspirated TR4 for 8 years before selling it for a 2000 supercharged TR4. Yes, premium fuel costs a bit more. I like to refer to it as smiles per gallon though. When the supercharger starts whining and pulling...the cost of fuel is the farthest thing from my mind.

Well said! I drove a 2000 4Runner for a couple of weeks that was naturally aspirated and every time I stepped on the gas I was disappointed. Once you're on the sauce you can never go back!

But I do agree about the price of these units new. $3500 + tax for a new Magnuson supercharger system is almost the same price, if not more, of an average used 4Runner. Hard to justify that price tag, even though that's fairly cheap for a complete supercharger assembly. If you can find one with a supercharger already installed they sell for much, much less. I paid about $1000 above the normal price in my area with similar mileage to get one with a supercharger on it already.