IMO it's a mixed bag.

5th gen has better styling, better interior layout and front cabin, softex is superior to leather, the 8.2 rear axle is a significant improvement over the 8", better off-road features incl. MTS and rear locker (I know there's a unicorn 2009 Trail edition with a rear locker), and KDSS option. And bigger brakes IIRC.

4th gen had better powertrain options. Door layout and switching on the 4th gen was much nicer than having the switches up on the door sill area. Not a fan of that.

Chassis is basically carryover.

For me - the stronger rear axle, locker/MTS, and KDSS are still preferable over the v8 option. But I could argue in favor of either. A 5th gen with a 4.6v8, awd transfer case, KDSS, and rear locker would be the ultimate 4Runner IMO. Toyota should have had one from day 1 and should make it as a send-off model. Basically just a GX with a 4Runner body and rear locking diff. All stuff they already have on the same assembly line. Just put it together in the right order.

If someone could capture mass market share by showing the way with hydrogen, they would.

Hydrogen has huge problems for car applications, in my opinion problems more costly and difficult to solve than battery electric. Energy intensive to transform into a usable car fuel, difficult to store, and would have to create an effectively brand new infrastructure for mass use--unlike electricity, where most US residences can charge a car without any service upgrades, or pay for a usually modest upgrade to get their speeds up. Here in Utah, I could charge a 300 mile EV from empty to full at home for less than $10 in electricity. Gas can't compete with that cost per mile, and I doubt hydrogen can.

I would not expect hydrogen to enter the consumer automobile realm in massive quantities. Car companies like profit, and so far nobody has been able to profit going after it.

There WILL be a 6th gen 4Runner. Toyota just keeps delaying it. Wouldn't you? 4Runner sales are out the wha-zuuuu. Next gen will have a turbo 4. From what I gather and remember, they continue to tweak it (seeing how the Bronco/Jeep are highly successful......... and butt ugly...... whatever), who knows when it will appear, best guess is next year. Meanwhile, who cares, if you want "old reliable tech", get a 5th gen while you can. When the 6th gen comes, face it, you will love it even if its gerbil powered, LOL. I was hoping that Toyota rebadges a Prado and throw a 4Runner badge on it, but apparently that won't be happening (Land Cruiser is coming back which is basically a Prado).

Someone mentioned Hydrogen powered cars (Toyota and Honda were working on cars like that). Pretty sure you can still purchase a Honda Clarity. Anyway, that would be awesome (mass produced), but someone else mentioned the difficulties in implementing it, oh well.

Cheers

Hydrogen fuel is elegant and has an obvious appeal but comes with issues as has been discussed.

It doesn't exist on its own in nature. Molecular hydrogen escapes the atmosphere and is lost to space forever. it's always bonded to something else, requiring significant energy to isolate. Then you have to put it under extreme pressure to create enough energy density to make it useful in the space allotted within a car. Then you have to figure out how to hold on to that tiny molecule under extreme pressure, safely.

All of that is doable, but not easy to accomplish economically.

The Sequoia is a V6 turbo. Chevy are the only ones putting 4cylinders in full size trucks (for now)

edit: grammar

There will be a 6th Gen 4Runner.
I just put down a deposit on one.
Karl Malone Toyota, Draper UT has been taking deposits/orders for at least a week.
The sale manager says the release date will be late fall with deliveries starting in May '24.
My deposit holds my place in the que. As soon as the order book opens I can configure the vehicle and they will order it. If this schedule holds I'm figuring delivery will be about a year from now.

Anybody else in line?

Personally I'd never put a deposit down for a vehicle that doesn't even exist yet, especially given the redesign for the 4Runner almost certainly doesn't land until MY2025.

If a dealer wants money to be put on a "list," go find another dealer.

The deposit is 100% refundable. You put your name on a list and they call you in the order the names were entered. If you're not interested you pass and get your money back. I also get the chance to spec the truck the way I want it. I figure this is the best way to get an early delivery.
I specifically want a hybrid, I know, heresy to many. We have a '21 Sienna AWD and love it. Yes I know the 4Runner will be a different hybrid system. The 4Runner will be an addition to the fleet becasue we need towing and more ground clearance.

World ends at 10 o'clock, details at 11..

Your dealer is smoking some good stuff, but then again, dealers never lie, right?

The current SOP for the 2025 6th gen 4Runner is Q2 July 2024, but this could slip into Q3 2024. So customer deliveries would start between Q3 and Q4 2024.

A Plano grapevine source says the 2025 6th gen 4Runner reveal is in Q1 2024. Why is this important, the reveal is typically 6 - 7 months prior to SOP and customer delivers, again, the dates line up.

Could this slip more, it's possible with Japan having to produce four new models within one year, the GX, the US LC250, the International LC250 and the 4Runner, however the current dates would have been set knowing all of the challenges.

Your sales manager is confusing the 4Runner with the new Land Cruiser 250. It will be revealed in the first part of August 2023 with first customer delivers by spring 2024.

But then again, dealers never lie, right, or he is trying to sell you the last year of the old 5th Gen model.

There will be one as the demand is huge. They just know they cannot F it up in ANY way out of the gate design wise etc.

I suspect there’s a 50/50 chance that the new Land Cruiser “replaces” the 4Runner in the Toyota lineup. It’s smaller and cheaper than the old Land Cruiser which makes it closer to a 4Runner.

I’ve been planning on buying a 6th gen when it comes out, but now I’m thinking I’ll just buy the Land Cruiser. And if enough people make that same decision, maybe Toyota just sells the 5th gen for 5 more years and then retires it? This would also make sense from a global perspective since the 4Runner is only sold in the US.

Zero chance based on statements from Toyota corporate that a new 4Runner is definitely coming. Land Cruiser is up market in price and also does not have a third row available (two things working against it considering the 4Runner rules suburbia with a lot of folks using the third row for kids).

5th gen is a dinosaur. 2024 should be it's last hurrah.

You realize there are no “statements from Toyota corporate” on the 6th gen, right?

(You also realize that “zero chance” means it’s completely, 100% impossible that an event happens, right? As in, even if the world blows up tomorrow, Toyota will still produce a 6th gen 4Runner next year.)

For every point in favor of keeping the 4Runner, there are also counterpoints for getting rid of it.

My fear is that Toyota has potentially cannibalized a good portion of the 4Runner market with the new Grand Highlander on one end and the new Land Cruiser on the other. If Toyota WANTED to get rid of the 4Runner, I’m not sure how else they would go about doing it. And since the 4Runner is ONLY produced in the NA market, that makes it possible that Toyota May bail on it entirely. I know we all love it but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be around forever.

And getting back to the original post, there’s a good chance that any new 4Runner will follow the Land Cruiser model and be hybrid only. Otherwise, it makes even more sense to drop it in order to increase the average MPG of the fleet to meet new regs.