Future first time 4R owner

[T4R_Finally]

Hi, first post here. My wife and I are in the process of finding our new 2011 4Runner. It will be her daily driver and our family excursion vehicle. She'll be moving from a loaded 4x4 Jeep Liberty, which she loves, but just doesn't quite cut it for our whole family in addition to being 7 years old now. She has always liked 4Runners so we've decided that it will be our next vehicle.

We're locked in on a dealer and a salesperson, who is also a friend, but aren't quite sure of the exact options we want. This vehicle will rarely see anything other than pavement but needs to be snow and beach sand capable when we need it to be, so 4 wheel drive is a must we believe. We will probably go with the SR5 vs. the Limited trim and we've narrowed our colors to either blizzard white or metallic silver. But there are a few questions I'd like to ask those that know or have an opinion, so here they go:

We can't decide on leather vs. cloth seats. We were never leather fans before but the Jeep has heated leather seats and we've gotten used to that. Any thoughts on how one might hold up over time vs. another? And, is there such thing as factory installed heated leather or is that all done after they are built? We seem to be able to find some white ones with leather but rarely see a silver with leather and, when we do, it's a dealer installed option.

Any opinions on the color - white vs. silver?

We keep going back and forth on the 3rd row seat. We wouldn't use it much but it would be nice when we need it. But the catch 22 is, room for more people, room for less stuff, and vice versa. Anyone consider this and have an opinion or thought process on one vs. the other?

Any other thoughts or strong feelings one way or another on certain options as far as must haves vs. don't needs?

Thanks in advance.

 

[angrydog]

I have the factory heated leather seats which came heated from the factory. As for the durability of the leather, My 4Runner is 10 months old and the leather still looks new, hence I do condition it when I do my monthly wash. Some people do get the cloth seats and add leather seats afterward and I believe you can add heating mechanism while at it. I just prefer the factory quality leather. Although I have heard zero complaints from people who did install after-market leather.

The third seat option is only for kids, adults will suffer back there in long drives. I hope you find your dream 4R, It's a great rig and awesome in snow even in the part-time AWD SR5. I can't comment about driving on the beach as I have never done so.

 

[DaveS]

If you are debating over trim levels make sure you drive the SR5 and the Limited before deciding - the ride on the Limited is more refined on-road because of XREAS. Quite a few people posting here have bought the SR5 then wished they had the upgraded suspension - that's a lot harder to fix after the event than seat coverings.

 

[1engineer]

I drove all three and bought the SR5 this past weekend. I came from a Honda ridgeline with leather and navi and did not want these features this time around. The SR5 gave me what I want: A good interstate ride, decent handling around town and the features to go off road occasionally. Make sure you drive 'em all because only you can decide! I also took into account what new rubber was going to cost in a year or two and features that are cool (trail edition) but I would never use. When I drove the Limited with leather the seats were harder than the cloth seats. Coming from a leather shod vehicle I really appreciated the soft cloth seats. Then again my children are almost grown so I don't need the leather for spill protection like I once did. No matter what though I know I picked the right SUV for me: Toyota 4Runner.

 

[RECDOG]

I just got a LMTD Blizzrd

The cornering is top notch for a big truck and interior is great...the leather is a must if u have kids.

If you think you may complain a lil later about the suspension on "on road driving" then get the limited. to me it was a huge difference...toyota's xrears
is really awesome

i wrote a first driving impression thread u may want to check out good luk

 

[Johnny Utah]

Welcome-

I used to hate heated seats, but, i decided to get them this time. Man, is it sweet. My lady loves the heated seats as well. I think leather is a must, it looks good and is comfortable, it might be a little sticky in the summer. but, eh, f it.
1
One option i really like the is iPod interface. There is a USB port in the glove box, so you can plug in an iPod or a external hard drive and play songs through that. Also, you can stream via bluetooth songs from your iPhone or droid to the car, That is a really cool feature, that i just found out about.

what else..It does drive like a truck, as far as the ride. But, thats not a problem for me. I like it. The car is not as smooth as my parents luxury sedan, but, i don't want that. I also feel like the 4runner is pretty quiet.

i had no use for the 3rd row seating, i dont have kids, and i want the room in the back for a dog or for storage, etc. I also, thought the pull out tray was kinda stupid. My 4runner has neither. It's just empty, and thats the way i wanted it. Whatever you feel is right. The 3rd isn't for adults btw, its for kids.

When i bought my 4runner last week, they tried to sell me the "protection" package, where they apply certain chemicals to the outside and inside of the car. I think it was like $550.00, they tried and tried to get me to do it. I keep saying no. Finally, after the last time i said no, the finance guy just gave it to me for free. I was kinda surprised by that, but, i'll take it!

 

[scanny]

I like factory leather in SR5. Seats heat up quite fast - in about 5 min in extreme cold weather like -20C. The only catch is that rear seats don't go with a heater, so if you have passengers they better to have long coats when it's cold. I'm not sure what packages i for SR5 are avaliable in US but would definetely recommend to get sonar parking sensors with rear view camera, heated wipers and USB port in glove compartment. Hands free bluetooth is a nice thing too, helps a lot if you are getting phone calls when you drive. If I could I would trade stock tires for better ones at the dealership, stock tires are not the best one as always with new vehicles.
Speaking about colors I would pick Red or Blue, but if you have choise between white or silver I would pick silver because dirt is not as visible on silver.

 

[Maji]

Welcome aboard... you will surely enjoy the beast when you get it.

My suggestions is to get the SR5 4x4, Blizzard Pearl. It is a little more expensive, but I like that color more than Silver on a T4R. Also, get the Premium Package (heated front seats, all leather, Blue tooth etc.). I don't like the third row because it is all but useless for the limited space. If you really want an usable third row, go with the Pilot or the Sequoia. I think you should also get running boards to help the kids and your lady hop in. My wife is short and she loves it.

The other item you can enjoy is a moon roof, which is fun in my opinion.

Good luck.

 

[T4R_Finally]

Thanks for all of the thoughts and responses. If we ever used a 3rd row seat, it would certainly be for kids. We've basically decided that, if we go with cloth, and what we find has the 3rd row seat included, we'll take it. If not, that's fine as well. If we go with leather, the 3rd row would probably be cost prohibitive given our expected lack of use. But if we go with leather, heat for the front seats, at least, is a requirement. Our sales friend is telling is he can put leather on anything and the resource he works with uses the OEM leather and we would never be able to tell it wasn't factory leather. He claims the dealership has about 4 vehicles a week leatherized and has been working with the same resource for years.

We definitely have our minds made up to get the moonroof and running boards. I think the boards add to the look but would also be functional for my 5' tall wife. The one my wife test drove did have the backup camera and that was nice. We would like that if we can get it. We also definitely want the radio with the usb ipod port. My wife notoriously keeps CD's scattered everywhere. It would be nice to have it all on an ipod and leave the CD's at home. My daughter and I both have that as an aftermarket add in our vehicles and it's great.

As far as the colors, we love them all. But we have 2 silver and 1 white vehicle now and find they don't look as dirty when they are dirty and we aren't as good as we used to be about keeping them clean. So, white or silver it's going to be for that reason.

 

[RECDOG]

This is how i just got mine set up Blzzrd LMTD

 

[gmoney2626]

I was shopping for a while for options and needed something that did good in the snow with some beach driving as well. I chose the SR5 since my wife and I own a luxury sedan that has more bells and whistles then Toyota offered. I wanted cloth seats since I plan on taking the dog in it at some point, Bluetooth was a must and found you pretty much had to look hard to find one without it. I ended up with the upgraded radio that had USB and Bluetooth in an SR5 with cloth seats and the backup camera. I did notice with cloth seats that I deal with static electricity more then my wife's Jeep Liberty. I am happy with it but then again I haven't seen my 4runner for a week now because it has been in the shop...which leads me to my next piece of advice.

Make sure when you are accepting the vehicle that you drive the car at 60 - 70 mph on the interstate, smooth road and make sure the car doesn't feel like it needs an alignment or tires rebalanced. If it does... do not accept the vehicle until they have that issue addressed. If you don't have a highway with smooth road available ... find it and take the car to it. Lots of people are having this vibration issue, myself included, and are having varying experiences with their local dealer getting the issue resolved. It appears that most of it is due to the crappy stock tires.

Another piece of advice that helped me was people commenting about the running boards. Some people felt that when getting out of the vehicle there wasn't enough space to put your foot down to make it useful. They also complained that it was very slippery in the rain and snow. I took this advice and tried another one and agreed with it.

Good luck.... make sure you update when you get it.