I'm currently a 3rd gen owner. I've beaten the living hell out of it, offroading, snow driving, and commuting, over 50k miles in the last 2 years. I'm looking at buying a 5th gen because 4runner, and I'm sitting here thinking...man these things look great, but...I don't think I want to offroad a $40k+ vehicle I'm making payments on. I'm talking real offroading. like 5, 6, 7/10 difficulty scale, with 10 being full on rock crawling on 37's. Not driving fire roads to go camping in a designated camping spot. deep backcountry, high elevation, locker actually necessary kind of trails.

anyone here do it? I'm thinking I might just buy a little commuter car and build up my 3rd gen so I don't roll a financed $42k daily.

**** no

I just want my 4Runner to look cooler than everyone else's

Sure, tons of people do. Good armor helps protect the vital bits, and you just have to accept that at some point, you'll put a dent in it somewhere.

We don't usually get many photos when on the hard stuff (usually because we're focused on getting through the obstacles and not taking photos) but this is from a recovery we did last year on one of our guy's vehicles after he slipped off the line trying to climb the rock ledge and nearly flopped.



Nothing wrong with not wanting to do harder wheeling in one. If you give me the choice I'd usually rather go spend the day exploring around some forest roads than spending the day on one trail crawling over obstacles and bashing things. Successfully navigating a hard section though is still really rewarding at the end of the day, and these vehicles can definitely handle it.

ETA disclaimer: All our 5th gens are personally owned, not company owned.

I would freely admit that I'm not getting as gnarly as you're talking. At the same time, I'm not hesitant at all to go off pavement, and given the opportunity, I'd try to test the limits. But... if I really wanted to do the extreme stuff, I would outfit my rig to protect it as much as possible. I'm not going to take my mostly stock guy off on a rampage across a boulder field. My limits are based on my pocket book, and my plans, not the fact that it's a gorgeous 5th gen rig. I bought it to have fun, and I'm getting 20K+ miles per year doing that.

I do wheel mine aggressively. I will admit though that before I paid it off (earl at 24 months) and before I got some dings and pin striping I did keep it a bit milder. However, at this point I don't feel like I hold back.

That is what insurance is for....

i mean it's insured, so why would it make a difference if you paid cash or if you are taking advantage of ridiculously low interest rates and keeping your money somewhere more profitable?

I agree, why get something and not use it? There are limits to what I want to tackle but if anything does goes wrong, that's what insurance and the 25k warranty is for. Might as well break suspension stuff while it's stilled covered. I don't see myself doing any serious rock climbing and like another member stated, I want to explore more and go places where I was unable to go before getting my first 4Runner.

Insurance doesn't cover all "off-roading"

my farm bureau plans have no exclusions for anything offroading, neither did my geico or nationwide plans

the closest thing is "exhibitions of speed" so i guess if i was desert racing, but i'm on the east coast and can't think of anything offroading that would apply

read your actual policy, not the summary, if it isn't listed as an exclusion then you're covered

Had mine for less than 24 hours and 250 miles and I took it off road (see my profile photo). Been taking it off road ever since. No crazy rock crawling because I’m in FL. No use buying a 4x4 if you’re not going to use it.

I feel your concern. I do not beat the hell out of my 18 ORP. It’s my nice reliable, long distance exploring and adventure vehicle.
Maybe buy a new commuter and keep the 3rd Gen for real abusive off-roading.

Here’s a recent pic where I rescued a stuck Suburban in a deep sand uphill in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, in UT-AZ. After I had them dig the wheels out, and I drove it for them out of the way, my 4R handled that same section just fine. The stock configuration is very capable.

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I'm not going to buy a 4x4 and not use it. that's my point. If I buy one, i'll be doing Moab, Ouray, whatever, ASAP. I assumed there was no way insurance would cover trail damage. That would change things.

Great photo, always fun to get a photo of a good recovery, even better when one of our mid size SUVs help recover something larger. I pulled out a Raptor and I'm still mad at my son for not getting a photo.

The first pinstripe is the one you'll never forget.