A good place to start thinking about which 4Runner model is best off-road is Toyota's own words: "The 4Runner Limited, though certainly off-road capable, places extra focus on everyday comfort and pavement handling with an exclusive Cross Linked Relative Absorber System (X-REAS) suspension, which automatically adjusts the damping force of shock absorbers when driving over bumpy surfaces or when cornering." By comparison: "The 4Runner TRD Off-Road models can be outfitted with ToyotaÂ’s Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) that allows extended wheel travel at slow speeds for greater off-road capability and control. On pavement, KDSS provides a nimble sporty handling feel by reducing body lean when cornering."
That's just the suspension and clearly Toyota intends the Off Road models to be better suited to off road performance, specifically, and nimble driving, in general. The Limited emphasizes comfort. As for off road mechanics and technology, start with AWD. I've got a Mazda with AWD and, in everyday use, the 4Runner Limited's AWD is no different. Power can be distributed back and forth between the front and rear axles, when slippage is detected in one or the other.
What the 4Runner Limited can do is lock the center differential, so that 50% of the power goes to the front, and 50% to the rear, axle. Once the power gets there, it can still end up going to the wrong wheel because the front and rear differentials are set up to give more power to the wheel that is spinning fastest of the two. The intent of that is to give more power to the outside wheel going around a curve or making a turn, when the outer wheel has to "run faster" than the wheel that has the inside track. If the front wheels are slipping while the vehicle is turning, the Torsen® differential changes the split to 30:70. If the rear wheels slip while the vehicle is turning, the differential changes to a 53:47 split.
But if one of the front or back wheels is spinning faster because it has lost traction, it will "mistakenly" get the most power anyway. What a locking rear differential does for the Off Road 4Runners is give 50% (of the power going to the rear axle) to the left wheel and 50% to the right wheel, so that if one of them is spinning due to lost traction, the other one can power the vehicle forward anyway. What the Limited has is a locking center differential, activated by switching into H4L (4WD-HI, which means that the center differential is locked). In my experience, this is really designed, for example, when I'm driving up into the mountains and I go from dry pavement to snow and slush. I flip into H4L, on the fly, and get more traction. It's not going to be enough to pull me out of a deep off-road rut, the way a locking rear diff and/or crawl control will. With the Off Road's transfer case shifted into low range, CRAWL regulates engine speed and braking force to propel the vehicle forward or in reverse at one of the five driver-selectable low-speed settings. The driver can focus on steering without having to also modulate the throttle or brake pedal.
Brief review...the Off Roads have
• Part-time 4WD system with Active Traction Control (A-TRAC)
• Hill Start Assist Control (HAC), Multi-terrain Select and Crawl Control (CRAWL)
• Locking rear differential
While the Limited has
• full-time 4WD system (that is, AWD) with Active Traction Control (A-TRAC) and Torsen®33 limited-slip center differential with locking feature
So, both the Limited and the Off Roads have A-TRAC, but the Limited has to rely on it more, since it doesn't also have Multi-terrain Select, Crawl Control, and locking rear differential. By distributing drive force to any one wheel in contact with the ground, A-TRAC can help maintain traction when it senses wheel slippage occurring on terrain irregularities and slippery patches. In other words, A-TRAC detects when one or more wheels have lost traction and automatically applies the brakes to the wheel with no traction, allowing it to send power to the wheel with traction. That will help in many off road situations, but it makes no sense to me to claim that the Limited's locking center diff + A-TRAC will allow you to handle more terrains off road than the Off Road models, which also have A-TRAC, but in addition have the more traction-reliable locking rear-diff, and also have Hill Start Assist Control, multi-terrain select and crawl control.
Just my take on a complex issue, of course.
