Anyone went from Truck to 4Runner?

93civEJ1

93civEJ1

New member
So I currently have a 2014 Tundra Platinum with 59,500 miles. I love love the truck, but I dont utilize the bed honestly. Nor do I drive much any more at all, if I do, its usually to travel or to a music gig. I work from home these days, so most days the truck sits.

I found a 4R limited, 2014 at my step dads work. It has 68k miles, and appears to be lifted, one owner, front and rear off road bumpers, wheels and tires, and a snorkel. The car fax shows all maintenance and 1 owner.

I love the room in the tundra, but payments are a little high. I think I can come out with a couple hundred lower payments by trading in on the 4runner. I would still have a loaded vehicle, and room to haul my drum gear when needed.

I love having a truck, but has anyone went Tundra or big truck to a 4runner and regretted it?
 
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93civEJ1 said:
So I currently have a 2014 Tundra Platinum with 59,500 miles. I love love the truck, but I dont utilize the bed honestly. Nor do I drive much any more at all, if I do, its usually to travel or to a music gig. I work from home these days, so most days the truck sits.

I found a 4R limited, 2014 at my step dads work. It has 68k miles, and appears to be lifted, one owner, front and rear off road bumpers, wheels and tires, and a snorkel. The car fax shows all maintenance and 1 owner.

I love the room in the tundra, but payments are a little high. I think I can come out with a couple hundred lower payments by trading in on the 4runner. I would still have a loaded vehicle, and room to haul my drum gear when needed.

I love having a truck, but has anyone went Tundra or big truck to a 4runner and regretted it?
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3 months ago I downsized from a 2002 GMC Sierra 1500 Extended Cab short-bed 4WD pickup to a mid-sized 4Runner and I'm loving it.

I purchased a 2015 4Runner Limited 4WD at a Toyota dealer with less than 13K miles at half the price of a 2019 4Runner.

Instead of being screwed by trading it in, I sold my 2002 GMC pickup to a private party for $1,500 less than what paid for it 5 years ago.

Used pickups are in high demand and you might be surprised at how much you can get for your 2014 Tundra in a private party sale.

The $7,500 that I got for my 2002 GMC pickup with 157K miles on it from a private party sale made a nice down payment on my 2015 4Runner.
 
N6WRV said:
3 months ago I downsized from a 2002 GMC Sierra 1500 Extended Cab short-bed 4WD pickup to a mid-sized 4Runner and I'm loving it.

I purchased a 2015 4Runner Limited 4WD at a Toyota dealer with less than 13K miles at half the price of a 2019 4Runner.

Instead of being screwed by trading it in, I sold my 2002 GMC pickup to a private party for $1,500 less than what paid for it 5 years ago.

Used pickups are in high demand and you might be surprised at how much you can get for your 2014 Tundra in a private party sale.

The $7,500 that I got for my 2002 GMC pickup with 157K miles on it from a private party sale made a nice down payment on my 2015 4Runner.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. Since my step dad would be doing the transaction for me, I would actually do fairly well with trade in since he does us right since we are family. He usually pulls some strings for us as well etc.

Just afraid at some point I would miss the huge crewmax cab, and bed of the truck.

Oh and I also have a fish / ski boat that I would maybe tow at times here and there.
 
Went from a FS Crew Cab Chevy to a 3rd gen (smaller all around than the 5th) I hated parking in the cities... Now I have a 4th gen. I love the handling and the ride is great. Towing capacity is plenty for what I need, and if I need a 'bed' I use a trailer. Also love the storage and protected cargo space. I had a tonneau but they never seal well. My stuff stays dry and clean and out of sight. Truck beds are invaluable if you need them a lot. I looked at what my real needs are 99% of the time and based a decision off that.
 
I have a crew cab 2004 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4 before I owned the 4Runner but decided to keep it anyway. I don’t really daily drive it anymore but it’s hard to part with it because when you need a truck, you need a truck. Not that I do it often, I prefer towing with the truck, it just handles heavy loads better than the 4Runner.

I do prefer driving the 4Runner in the city, it’s a lot more agile than the truck, but you really do get used to it. It’s only when switching between the two it highlights how annoying the truck can be in parking lots or in urban settings.

I think I would regret selling it if I did decide to let it go. It does not off-road nearly as well as the 4Runner, but it’s a better tool when it comes to getting big things done.
 
I went from a Tacoma to a 4runner. For the vast majority of things, I'm happy with the move. But there's no substitute for a truck when you need a truck.
 
I came from a lifted Ford F-150 4x4 Supercrew short bed to a 5th gen 4Runner and I don't regret it at all. I miss having a true truck bed from time to time, but that is about it.
 
I went from a Ram 1500 with the 5.5' bed to a Limited 4Runner last year around October. So far, no regrets.

The 4Runner has some pretty impressive cargo capacity and respectable towing abilities. Earlier this year, I foolishly agreed to help my girlfriend spruce up her landscaping for spring...managed to fit 30+ (I think it was 34) 2cf bags of mulch in the back.

Still trying to decide on a roof rack for when the time comes to move larger lumber / sheet goods.
 
Madmartygan said:
I went from a Ram 1500 with the 5.5' bed to a Limited 4Runner last year around October. So far, no regrets.

The 4Runner has some pretty impressive cargo capacity and respectable towing abilities. Earlier this year, I foolishly agreed to help my girlfriend spruce up her landscaping for spring...managed to fit 30+ (I think it was 34) 2cf bags of mulch in the back.

Still trying to decide on a roof rack for when the time comes to move larger lumber / sheet goods.
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That’s precisely what I don’t want inside my 4Runner…

Mulch, manure, dirty stuff, plants, leaky trash or recycling bags. My family owned a minivan in the early days and it just reminds me of a time when we just made do with what we had.

At least if I did get rid of my truck, id never have to answer the phone worrying if someone needs help moving something.
 
I traded my 2011 Tacoma on a 2016 4Runner, and dont regret it one damn bit.
I like pretty much everything about the 4Runner better than the Tacoma.
I found most the time I used the bed, it was for someone else. I like having all the inside dry clean storage. Plus I sleep in the back when camping.
There have only been a couple times that I missed the bed, and I still hauled what I needed to, it was just a bit more of a pain.
I suggest throwing a couple moving blankets in the 4R so if you need to haul something dirty, or that will scratch the interior, you can protect it.
 
Tundra to 4R here.

Miss the bed sometimes but for the most part I can live without it. I just liked the bed for fishing and being able to spray it down with a hose and be done cleaning.
 
93civEJ1 said:
what is it that you like compared to the truck?
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Night and day. It doesn't feel like a boat on the road. Power to weight ratio is similar, so i feel like acceleration is about the same. Stops quicker though. Its 100x easier to park - the wheelbase and footprint are so much smaller than a full size truck. Getting in and out of parking garages is not an issue anymore, assuming they are at least 6'8". It's narrower on this inside, but the only time I really feel that is when we try to ride 3 adults in the back seat. Overall I have more usable storage space and was able to add more with a ceiling net and window racks.

At this point, the only thing I would trade my 4Runner for is a 4-door Tacoma shortbed with a camper top. But that would be almost 2 ft longer than the 4Runner.
 
Buy what you want or need, and don't look back.


I went from tundra crewman to 4runner for the same reasons as most people...didn't use the bed anymore, and wanted something easier to drive around town.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED THAT TRUCK, but I probably love the 4runner more mainly because of its ease of living with it. Living in San Diego, I came to avoiding driving around town in my tundra because I knew I had to eventually park it somewhere..........lol...

MY modded 4runner can fit in compact spaces still and kinda, sorta fit in underground parking garages (i end up hitting all those caution bars hanging from the ceilings). MY tundra didn't.

The only time I miss my tundra is long road trips and offload camping trips in the desert (endless power, tons of space, good 4x4 system, and toyota reliability).
 
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I agree with what most have said. If you need a truck, you need a truck.

I went from an 03 4Runner to an 06 Tundra to a 19 4Runner. I think both the 03 and 06 were better built vehicles, but that's another story.

The Tundra had 12" of stock ground clearance, which was nice. However, it was 40" longer with a much longer wheelbase, making it quite limited on the trail and a pain in parking lots as mentioned. I miss having the bed to throw big, dirty stuff in and both the 03 and 06 had the V8 which I miss as well.

So, it's a mixed bag and really depends on what you need out of the vehicle.
 
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mrblah said:
Living in San Diego, I came to avoiding driving around town in my tundra because I knew I had to eventually park it somewhere..........lol...
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You ever eat in Kearny Mesa, like at that Crab Hut where the parking lot is just too wild for large trucks?

That's what ultimately wore me down lol.
 
Bumbo said:
ThatÂ’s precisely what I donÂ’t want inside my 4RunnerÂ…

Mulch, manure, dirty stuff, plants, leaky trash or recycling bags.
Click to expand...

Much like many of the replies I also went from a Tundra to 4Runner. I miss having the bed for the same reasons, it's great not having it inside the cab. But I don't miss getting random calls/texts asking to help someone move or pick up a large item, haha.


Madmartygan said:
I went from a Ram 1500 with the 5.5' bed to a Limited 4Runner last year around October. So far, no regrets.

The 4Runner has some pretty impressive cargo capacity and respectable towing abilities. Earlier this year, I foolishly agreed to help my girlfriend spruce up her landscaping for spring...managed to fit 30+ (I think it was 34) 2cf bags of mulch in the back.

Still trying to decide on a roof rack for when the time comes to move larger lumber / sheet goods.
Click to expand...

I definitely miss having a truck bed since we've been doing a reno on our front and backyards for the last year (takes forever when you only got weekends to do it). We got 50 bags of mulch at a time this last sale and did the same. 34 in the 4runner and 16 in my wife's MDX , twice. I also did around 1100 lbs of bagged gravel inside... that was a slow drive. For lumber and long things like PVC I've done the old "on top of the dash and out the rear window" method but I'm still trying to figure out how to get drywall home without cutting it in the parking lot lol.



While I do miss the truck bed sometimes, the 4Runner still can bring home some decent sized stuff (washing machine, water heater). I do like having a "trunk" though for throwing in random stuff that I would have worried about getting stolen out of the bed of a truck.
 
lojack323 said:
Much like many of the replies I also went from a Tundra to 4Runner. I miss having the bed for the same reasons, it's great not having it inside the cab. But I don't miss getting random calls/texts asking to help someone move or pick up a large item, haha.




I definitely miss having a truck bed since we've been doing a reno on our front and backyards for the last year (takes forever when you only got weekends to do it). We got 50 bags of mulch at a time this last sale and did the same. 34 in the 4runner and 16 in my wife's MDX , twice. I also did around 1100 lbs of bagged gravel inside... that was a slow drive. For lumber and long things like PVC I've done the old "on top of the dash and out the rear window" method but I'm still trying to figure out how to get drywall home without cutting it in the parking lot lol.



While I do miss the truck bed sometimes, the 4Runner still can bring home some decent sized stuff (washing machine, water heater). I do like having a "trunk" though for throwing in random stuff that I would have worried about getting stolen out of the bed of a truck.
Click to expand...


I cant really think of a time over this past whole year I have used the bed of my truck for anything. I use the rear cab of the truck all the time to haul a drum set and hardware to and from gigs..and its maxed out in the back cab. I am hoping the length of cargo in the 4runner would help that issue.

I am going to look at the vehicle in a bit...im not a fan at all of the wheels and tires that are on the thing. Who knows I may get there and not like it one bit, and I may hate it when I drive it for sure?
 
93civEJ1 said:
I cant really think of a time over this past whole year I have used the bed of my truck for anything. I use the rear cab of the truck all the time to haul a drum set and hardware to and from gigs..and its maxed out in the back cab. I am hoping the length of cargo in the 4runner would help that issue.

I am going to look at the vehicle in a bit...im not a fan at all of the wheels and tires that are on the thing. Who knows I may get there and not like it one bit, and I may hate it when I drive it for sure?
Click to expand...

My father-in-law used to use his supernatural Tetris skills to pack his drum kit into a Toyota Matrix. I'm sure you'll have plenty of room in the 4Runner!

Honestly at this point in life I love having a SUV again and it has plenty of room for random DIY projects when we need it to. If we weren't currently in the middle of our project I wouldn't miss the truck at all (other than sentimental reasons lol). I also like the smaller form factor of the 4Runner versus my old Tundra. Good luck with the decision!
 
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