Quote:
Originally Posted by RichinRidgewood
Lately, like when I was waiting in line at Costco for gasoline Ive been shutting off my engine instead of idling. I wish my 4R had the automatic engine shutoff/restart feature to save some fuel. My wife’s 2018 TXL has it. Thats a big car with AWD and it gets “great” fuel economy. On the highway it will get 32mpg.
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Well, if you look at the 4Runner on one end of a spectrum, and these 32mpg unibody SUVs on the other, the only significant point in between would be the newest Ford trucks around 25-26 mpg, in my opinion.
And to do that, Ford uses metals that are extremely expensive to replace, and tiny turbo engines.
Now, whether or not 4Runner type customers wouldn’t want expensive panels and tiny turbo engines is a question I can’t answer, but my hunch is that they would not. I do not.
The Japanese makers are having very interesting reactions to the EV craze and everything that is going on with it. They’re kinda all over the place. My point is that it’s hard to tell right now where they’re going, whereas with US makers we all know we’ll it’s going to EV as quickly as possible.
Mazda is really bucking the trend. They’re about to release a new line of straight 6 engines, including a diesel version and a hybrid version, that will be mounted longitudinally like a real performance car. The new engines are going in cars and even SUVs, which should be crazy interesting and compete directly with BMW on all fronts. Mazda is literally going backwards, back to a previous era of developing internal combustion engines and going away from EV as a brand. If you know anything about watches, I liken this to Mazda being like the Swiss and digging their heels in. Not out of surprise or ignorance, but more to have something special that enthusiasts will be able to love in the face of an EV industry that “has less soul”, if that makes sense.
All this said, it’s a very interesting question: what will my Japanese car be like in 5-10 years. Only a few cars do we know the answer right now. Personally I hope Toyota keeps the 4Runner “relatively ancient” and bullet proof with older tech like we have now. It could stand improvements, but keep it simple, rugged, and slightly overbuilt. I think economy could go up to 24-25 mpg, but I would not hope for more yet or the 4Runner is possibly ruined.