Tough call in your situation as you won't be offroading much. I also considered and drove both and ended up with the 4runner. Mainly because of the one I found and timing. But, happy I did as it's probably better for my situation. More cargo space, better offroad, and I love the simplicity and look of it. I also didn't need the 3rd row as we have a 3rd row car already for the wife. Fuel costs and maintanance on the GX are higher with the air bag suspension, timing belt, etc. Don't have to worry about that on the 4Runner.

But, man that GX sure drove incredibly. That 4.6 is a gem. Now that the 14+ are getting to reasonable prices used I may consider one for my wife when the lease is up on her current car.

We went through this same decision process before we bought our 2016 4Runner SR5P and again recently before we bought our 2021 ORP with KDSS. As has been touched on, there are some great and terrible things about the GX. What finally pushed us to the 4Runner (again) was the cost, lack of even simple technology features (no car play??), and resale value of the GX vs the Toyota. I don't care to have every bell and whistle, but I also don't feel like paying ~$50k or more for a car that has fewer features than my 2001 Infiniti QX4 did.

I think it odd that people are assuming the GX is not as good off road when the Prado is what off roaders use in markets where there is no 4Runner and many Aussie lifts are retroengineered from GX hardware.

Shit, if you have the balls, you can cut and remove most of the plastic body work off of the US-spec GX and make it as capable as the 4Runner.

1) Choose 4Runner ORP if mileage and resale value is important. 2021 Mileage is 16 city/19. 4Runner ORP 5 year depreciation is between 30 to 40%.
2) Choose GX if more power and creature comforts are important. Mileage is 15 city/19 Highway. GX depreciation is between 50% to 60%. GX460 is basically a LandCruiser Prado in disguise.

Both are equal in terms of Daily Driver and Off-road capabilities.

GX ground clearance is 8.1" and 4runner ground clearance is 9.6". 4Runner default setup makes it ready for Off-road.

I went with Toyota 4runner for its resale value and price.

For me it's mostly the plastics and lack of rear locker. But the plastics make it a lot more work to get back to just the body clearance that a stock height 4Runner has. Especially the 14+ version - it's pretty hard to make something look decent on the front and rear bumpers that also has decent clearance for the trail. Obviously Toyota designed the body kit without any real intention of offroad use. It's just plastic - but it still is something you'd have to deal with.

The weight is another issue. All that leather and stuff adds a fair bit. I'd like to see both on a scale side by side to see how much. Depending on what model year you compare sometimes Toyota lists the GX nearly 1,000 lbs heavier, sometimes is closer to 300lbs. So who knows without weighing them in real life?

The only other thing I'd throw in favor of the 4Runner is the spare tire area. 4Runner is apparently about 1-1.5" longer and so a 34" spare will fit. Only about a 32.5" tire fits under a GX.

All this is true, but I've always been one to mercilessly hack up every 4x4 I've owned.

Will say the Prado redesign has none of the aero shit on the GX, at least on the trim I drove. Can't speak for the spare tire.

We aren't saying it's bad offroad, but with no rear locker, less ground clearance, and lots of aero plastic you can't really say its as good as the 4Runner. In a sea of watered down, MPG hungry, rounded, and boring unibody SUVs across a land of regulation, having something like the GX still coming off the production line is a win. A luxery SUV with some real offroad ability is great to see. I mean, even Jeep is a bunch of watered down nonense now outside the wrangler and Gladiator. You can "maybe" throw in a Trailhawk GC, but otherwise its crap designed to convince the masses that they are cooler than they actually are.

Where I’m from, it’s starting to get popular...seeing heavily lifted GXs.

At first, I thought people were getting onboard for the reasonable used prices in comparison to the more popular 4x4-purposed counterparts.

I am starting to realize it’s more of a trend as I witness a used car dealership near me go from carrying luxury Europeans to mostly carrying GX and LX variants.

Though I do appreciate seeing an older modified GX, I’m a little shocked when a brand new one is hacked up for the trail. Unless that person is keeping it forever, it seems like they’ve really narrowed their resale market if the trend takes a downturn.

I've only seen one gx460 on the trail ever. That was in Moab. And I've seen one GX 470 as well. I seen a lot of LC200. So, while I see quite a few lifted GXs driving around town, I never see them out on the trails. I'm sure they're perfectly capable. But I think very few at the dressed up GXs ever see more than a dirt road. The same is probably true for 4Runners. But I do see quite a few of them out in the field, and by far the most common is a Tacoma around here. Second is probably a Jeep Wrangler.

I think we're seeing the GX prices getting really close to 4Runners. In the used market the GX is often cheaper. I think this is the main reason we're starting to see more of them become off-road vehicles. When the difference was $20,000 it was pretty hard to justify the extra cost for the engine upgrade. When the price difference is 0 or $5,000, then it starts to look like a more compelling choice.

True.

I'd also point out that a minority of 4Runners are factory locked with many either being SR5s and some not even having 4WD... so the fact that the GX lacks proper lockers could be easily addressed by a corporate decision to include an "off road" model if the Prado was to ever be seriously marketed in the US.

Most of its shortcomings are based on marketing and packaging decisions someone on another planet makes--probably the same person who doesn't want to drop the V8 and 6AT into the 4Runner, despite the parts being essentially plug and play with some minor mapping differences for vehicle weight and use.

I would have a GX with the off road package if it didn’t require 93 octane. I am not going to run a lower octane either just to have one.

But wait, there's more, the ORP is only available on the highest trim, can't get it on the cheapest GX.

Which sucks.

My local Lexus and Toyota dealers are side by side, I brought home a GX, wanted to be away from the dealership so I could make a non biased decision. I really liked the GX, it was $10K more, I hated the swing out rear hatch, didn't like the dash layout, no Apple Car Play. The V8 in the Lexus was awesome but ultimately I ended up with a 4R TRD ORP, W/KDSS I like the rear window roll down feature, also used GX's seem to be everywhere and do not sell that great, the Used 4R's bring premium price and every time I saw a new 4R I liked someone bought it, I had to wait a little until dealer had one on order to show up. Gave them $500 deposit to make sure It was mine, the day I went to pick up the 4R there where two couples looking over and wanted to buy it. The GX just seemed a little too glitzy for my taste, I would have been afraid to get it dirty. Also I have no use for the third row sets.

Totally agree. It's ridiculous that we can't get a V8 4Runner or an off road version of the gx. They're built on the same chassis, on the same factory production line. It's just a simple plug-and-play. The mileage is probably the same. I think the only reason there's no V8 4Runner is because it would have killed the LC 200 that was on is death bed anyway. I bet half of the sales of LC200s over the last decade would have ended up in V8 4Runners if it were still available.

It would be nice if Lexus would offer an off-road model. It would basically just be the kakadu prado. Adding locking differential is just a matter of grabbing the different parts out of the parts bin.

Where I'm from in Montana, there are no Lexus dealers - so the only choice is 4Runner or LC200. And that's pretty common throughout rural America. Lexus is very limiting in allowing dealerships to open. There's no Lexus dealer in a number of states. For all of those people, the GX isn't really a viable option. Warranty, service etc. You can do them all at a Toyota dealer, but it's pretty hard to convince those people to drive 800 mi or something just to test drive one. I wouldn't.

I don't think Toyota can get away with the same situation in the next generation forever. The new bronco offered with the twin turbo v6 is going to eat its lunch. And the same is true with the Wrangler now offered with a V8 and a diesel option. Toyota has to do better. I think the competition will force Toyota to offer better drive train options in the 4Runner. I don't know where that leaves the GX though. If we could buy a trd 4r with a v8 locker and kdss - the gx isn't so compelling.

2020+ 4Runners at least got slight infotainment upgrade. Lexus still has the same one from 2010. The infotainment and rear barn door are the two things that kept me from purchasing the Lexus over the 4Runner.

Drivetrain of the Lexus is a lot nicer, and if you are using the car for what you say you are the Lexus is the better (in terms of creature comforts and ride quality) choice.