Glad To Be Here - A Few Questions...

[DSnoopy]

Hey guys, happy to be here. Always a fan of these types of forums as they provide so much and varying perspectives on a shared passion. I see that the love/hate relationship is strong between the TRD Pro and non TRD Pro crowd, which reminds me of so many other sibling rivalries in other cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

As you can see, I purchased a 2017 TRD Pro with 13 miles on it. My dream baby and barring a major event, it will be in my garage for decades to come. I had a 2009 FJ that I just passed to my son after nearly a decade of offroading, snowboarding, camping, and commuting.

I do have a few questions if anyone with knowledge or experience would like to chime in. Some of these are minor, some major, and some I am just curious about:

- Auto Transmission - This is my first car with an automatic. I absolutely hate that portion of it, and it seriously almost kept me from ever buying one. Any idea why they no longer offer the manual? I could go on about lack of acceleration and deceleration control, as well as less control in weather conditions, but I won't. lol

- Stock Audio - Holy crap it is not that great. Is the Toyota upgraded system worth it, or aftermarket? Any suggestions? PS - I do like the interface better than my Ford though.

- Rust - How has this 5th Gen series been in the rust department? I am in CO, so not sure if any local opinions.

- The offroad technology - I have been offroading a lot in my life and had a lot of fun with my wife and family. I don't do anything too crazy (in my mind anyway), and am more in it for the fun of going places otherwise not seen. You won't catch me taking the hardest line up a trail just to see if I can, for instance. That said, I do things like Red Cone pass, some of the trails around Breck and Telluride. I have never had a vehicle (Jeep and FJ prior) that offered anything other than 4L and locking rear diff. I assume that this TRD Pro will run just as fine as those by putting it in 4L and locking the rear. Are the dials really needed? Do they help or hinder? Looking for any experienced feedback. I am excited to try them out TBH.

- Last - And this is really silly, but how do the 4Runner rear windows do with stickers on them? Any problems rolling them down and up?

The above stated, I absolutely love the vehicle, and will embrace the Storm Trooper vibe a bit. haha Off to Telluride this weekend for some late season fun while I can, and then some very minor upgrades over the winter until next season. Thanks again guys.

 

[T4 Leaf]

Hey guys, happy to be here. Always a fan of these types of forums as they provide so much and varying perspectives on a shared passion. I see that the love/hate relationship is strong between the TRD Pro and non TRD Pro crowd, which reminds me of so many other sibling rivalries in other cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

As you can see, I purchased a 2017 TRD Pro with 13 miles on it. My dream baby and barring a major event, it will be in my garage for decades to come. I had a 2009 FJ that I just passed to my son after nearly a decade of offroading, snowboarding, camping, and commuting.

I do have a few questions if anyone with knowledge or experience would like to chime in. Some of these are minor, some major, and some I am just curious about:

- Auto Transmission - This is my first car with an automatic. I absolutely hate that portion of it, and it seriously almost kept me from ever buying one. Any idea why they no longer offer the manual? I could go on about lack of acceleration and deceleration control, as well as less control in weather conditions, but I won't. lol

- Stock Audio - Holy crap it is not that great. Is the Toyota upgraded system worth it, or aftermarket? Any suggestions? PS - I do like the interface better than my Ford though.

- Rust - How has this 5th Gen series been in the rust department? I am in CO, so not sure if any local opinions.

- The offroad technology - I have been offroading a lot in my life and had a lot of fun with my wife and family. I don't do anything too crazy (in my mind anyway), and am more in it for the fun of going places otherwise not seen. You won't catch my taking the hardest line up a trail just to see if I can, for instance. That said, I do things like Red Cone pass, some of the trails around Breck and Telluride. I have never had a vehicle (Jeep and FJ prior) that offered anything other than 4L and locking rear diff. I assume that this TRD Pro will run just as fine as those by putting it in 4L and locking the rear. Are the dials really needed? Do they help or hinder? Looking for any experienced feedback. I am excited to try them out TBH.

- Last - And this is really silly, but how do the 4Runner rear windows do with stickers on them? Any problems rolling them down and up?

The above stated, I absolutely love the vehicle, and will embrace the Storm Trooper vibe a bit. haha Off to Telluride this weekend for some late season fun while I can, and then some very minor upgrades over the winter until next season. Thanks again guys.

Welcome DS....can't speak to many of the questions, but I did buy a used T4R this year (2014 ) so I could afford the 4x4 and Premium sound system...and from my moderately limited sound system experience...it is awesome.

 

[e60ral]

unnecessarily using your rear locker will cause you more problems than it helps, if your rear is locked on an offcamber surface that is slick it will be really easy for the back end to slide downhill. Wait till you are about to need your rear locker to engage it

 

[Laurich]

Proper prep work is the key.

- Last - And this is really silly, but how do the 4Runner rear windows do with stickers on them? Any problems rolling them down and up?
uys.

Lots of people here are using them here without problems. Proper prep work is the key.

2014 Rear window decal question?

Stickers on Rear Window

Back Window Graphics

Hope these help.

 

[b407driver]

- Auto Transmission - This is my first car with an automatic. I absolutely hate that portion of it, and it seriously almost kept me from ever buying one. Any idea why they no longer offer the manual? I could go on about lack of acceleration and deceleration control, as well as less control in weather conditions, but I won't. lol

I've learned to embrace "S" mode (I won't call it 'Sport', even though that's what it's called). The power being high up in the RPM range drove me crazy for the first 6 months, but I've gotten used to how it needs to be driven to perform more similarly to my 2003 Sequoia. It might actually beat it 0-60, though I like the low-end torque in V8s better.

- The offroad technology - I have been offroading a lot in my life and had a lot of fun with my wife and family. I don't do anything too crazy (in my mind anyway), and am more in it for the fun of going places otherwise not seen. You won't catch me taking the hardest line up a trail just to see if I can, for instance. That said, I do things like Red Cone pass, some of the trails around Breck and Telluride. I have never had a vehicle (Jeep and FJ prior) that offered anything other than 4L and locking rear diff. I assume that this TRD Pro will run just as fine as those by putting it in 4L and locking the rear. Are the dials really needed? Do they help or hinder? Looking for any experienced feedback. I am excited to try them out TBH.

It will indeed run just as well, and most of the dials aren't 'needed' by most. As far as help or hinder, I'd say it depends entirely on your experience level. Quite a few anecdotal stories out there of people getting stuck and not getting out 'manually', then using an MTS mode and crawling right out. The technology is a pretty impressive use of ABS brakes to control wheel spin, and it does work quite well in some scenarios.

A-Trac can be useful for mimicking a locker up front. Google 'YouTube TRD Pro digging out of sand', and you'll see one very valuable use of the fancy dials. The ability to automatically control your speed downhill can also be a useful, albeit useless feature (though one that admittedly might preserve brake pads compared to riding the brakes to slow down). Most of it I could do without, but then again I don't frequently go out in all the different conditions and do A:B comparisons to see if I could do it better than the computer. I certainly prefer having the options compared to an SR5-type of setup.

Go find some marginal conditions and lap a short section and try different settings, see if you discern any differences.

 

[wfo9]

- The offroad technology - I have been offroading a lot in my life and had a lot of fun with my wife and family. I don't do anything too crazy (in my mind anyway), and am more in it for the fun of going places otherwise not seen. You won't catch me taking the hardest line up a trail just to see if I can, for instance. That said, I do things like Red Cone pass, some of the trails around Breck and Telluride. I have never had a vehicle (Jeep and FJ prior) that offered anything other than 4L and locking rear diff. I assume that this TRD Pro will run just as fine as those by putting it in 4L and locking the rear. Are the dials really needed? Do they help or hinder? Looking for any experienced feedback. I am excited to try them out TBH.

The same old stuff still works just the same. 4Lo is your friend. Rear locker is your friend when needed. Coming from an FJ you should be familiar with ATRAC.. which is the only other thing you will really need to use. It is basically brake activated limited slip front and rear and only works in 4lo and can be combined with the rear locker so you get ATRAC front, mechanical lock rear. The rest is pretty much gimmicks that you won't ever use besides playing with them for fun. Crawl control is basically cruise control for 4Lo... It has a vary narrow use case.. super annoying and noisy to use very often and not very functional overall, but something to try out since there are a few unique scenarios where it may be something to try out for shits and giggles. The rest of it is all just tweaks the ATRAC behavior and throttle response. Not really worth spending much time messing with it and definitely won't ever make the difference between making it and not making it...

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Welcome aboard!

I had the same feeling as you about automatic. I've previously owned four different 4WD SUVs, and the 4Runner was the first I'd ever had with automatic. Only reason I bought it was because there are so few other choices, and the 4R was the best overall for off-road and to fit my needs. I've gotten used to it and have no complaints about the 4Runner's abilities off-road.

Using "sport" mode makes all the difference. It lets you select the gear and stay in it until you decide to change it, just like driving a stick. And you can switch from automatic to sport, and back again, at anytime.

As others have said, Atrac and rear locker are definitely helpful. So far I've not really used the fancy dial stuff, but from the videos I've seen there are times when they can be handy.

 

[DSnoopy]

Hey thanks for the responses and recommendations. I did check out those videos of being stuck in sand and that makes a lot more sense regarding the traction options.

The "S" mode is hardly sport and very sluggish in response. However, it does feel just like my manual FJ when it comes to downshifting in the mountain passes to save the brakes.

 

[Laurich]

Automatic Slug Control

- Auto Transmission - This is my first car with an automatic. I absolutely hate that portion of it, and it seriously almost kept me from ever buying one. Any idea why they no longer offer the manual? I could go on about lack of acceleration and deceleration control, as well as less control in weather conditions, but I won't. lol

Having all of your previous vehicles equipped with standard transmissions; most new automatics are going to make for quite an adjustment for you. Your 4Runner will "wake up" once you begin to understand how it's programmed. The throttle is electronic and won't respond much until you're pretty far into it. The trans upshifts come quickly and downshifts come slowly; both for better fuel economy.

- The "S" mode is hardly sport and very sluggish in response.

Glad someone said that... Toyota doesn't do "Sports" mode on our transmissions. It's not manual shifting, it's selective. You don't select 4th gear and the transmission stays in it like a manual; you're telling the TCM that you do not want to shift above 4th gear and it will decide what gear to shift into from 1st to 4th.

- On a side note, one thing that really bothers me is everybody complaining about how slow the 5th gen is, and think that a supercharger or V8 would make a big difference. The 5th gen feels slow because of it's poor (economy based) shift points, not because of it's lack of power. If a V8 would solve the problem, then the GX460 guys wouldn't complain about how slow their GXs feel. If toyota put a V8 in the 4runner, the 4.6L V8 in the GX460 would be what we would get. Why do you think a 4th Gen V6 feels faster then the higher powered 5th Gen V6? It is because when you press the accelerator on the 4th Gen 15%+ it will downshift, and stay in the lower gear longer. The 5th Gen requires 50-75%+ throttle before it will downshift, and once it downshifts, it will almost immediately put you back in 5th gear, unless you hold the throttle down at that high percentage.

This is one of many little characteristics that can be annoying about our 4WD A750F tranny (or A750E for 2WD). On the flip side it's incredibly reliable. So I for one have no big beef with having some "character" issues. I've learned to make good use of the S-mode. It largely negates most of the "strange" shifts the are so often brought up here on this forum. And as far as any extra fuel consumption, well if it's that important to you why do you drive a 4Runner in the first place:crybaby:

Play around a bit with S-mode and get into the throttle more and you're more likely enjoy a better driving experience. The graphic shows how Flex Lock-up is setup. Just use S-mode and use the skinny petal a bit more. Hope this helps. If not, maybe someone else reading this will find something helpful. Best of luck with you new 4Runner regardless of how you choose to use it.

 

[mscot]

Look into a Sprint Booster. It makes a huge difference in throttle response.

 

[GearJunkie88]

RE stock stereo: check out TacoTunes. They have a system that has some good reviews. Also check out the OEM plus system. Here are some other posts that may help:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/211541-new-maestro-radio-solution.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/228799-speaker-replacement-sub-addition.html#post2530188

 

[flyrv9]

Just an FYI here - if your rear window is not All the way up - then rear wiper won't work. It can look like it's all the way up and not be. Don't ask me how I know this!

One other thing I need to check out is some vehicles will auto lock if the engine is running and nobody is in the vehicle and all doors are closed. I have a 2013 SR5. A friend who had a rental had this happen up in Canada in the winter. She got out (after starting the vehicle to get heat on) to scrape the windows. After a short time all the doors locked; locking her out.

I don't know if 4Runners do this or not; but I thought I'd mention it so you - and others - won't possibly be stranded.

 

[philsey]

.... One other thing I need to check out is some vehicles will auto lock if the engine is running and nobody is in the vehicle and all doors are closed. I have a 2013 SR5. A friend who had a rental had this happen up in Canada in the winter. She got out (after starting the vehicle to get heat on) to scrape the windows. After a short time all the doors locked; locking her out.

I don't know if 4Runners do this or not; but I thought I'd mention it so you - and others - won't possibly be stranded.

Your post is confusing. Are you suggesting this can/could/did happen to a 4R?

If not, why the post? I've never heard of this happening to a 4R.

 

[LandCruiser]

- Auto Transmission - This is my first car with an automatic. I absolutely hate that portion of it, and it seriously almost kept me from ever buying one. Any idea why they no longer offer the manual? I could go on about lack of acceleration and deceleration control, as well as less control in weather conditions, but I won't. lol

Toyota MTs have a bad habit of shitting the bed with the T/O bearing and you really don't need an MT off road. Plus fuel economy with the gearing of the AT. I replaced two T/O bearings on my FJ Cruiser before selling the damn thing. I would still have it if not for the f###ing bearing.

- Stock Audio - Holy crap it is not that great. Is the Toyota upgraded system worth it, or aftermarket? Any suggestions? PS - I do like the interface better than my Ford though.

Replacing the speakers works great, there are dozens of threads. It's cheap and easy to do.

- Rust - How has this 5th Gen series been in the rust department? I am in CO, so not sure if any local opinions.

I haven't had serious rust issues after 4.5 years in Colorado. There is surface rust everywhere on the frame and in rock chips on the body. People in heavy salt areas complain about liftgate rust.

- The offroad technology - I have been offroading a lot in my life and had a lot of fun with my wife and family. I don't do anything too crazy (in my mind anyway), and am more in it for the fun of going places otherwise not seen. You won't catch me taking the hardest line up a trail just to see if I can, for instance. That said, I do things like Red Cone pass, some of the trails around Breck and Telluride. I have never had a vehicle (Jeep and FJ prior) that offered anything other than 4L and locking rear diff. I assume that this TRD Pro will run just as fine as those by putting it in 4L and locking the rear. Are the dials really needed? Do they help or hinder? Looking for any experienced feedback. I am excited to try them out TBH.

Crawl control is awesome. Multi terrain select with the KDSS I've never really been able to tell if it's doing anything. ATRAC is excellent.

- Last - And this is really silly, but how do the 4Runner rear windows do with stickers on them? Any problems rolling them down and up?

Stickers get cut up by the window seals.

 

[DSnoopy]

Hey thanks guys! I did make it up to Telluride this weekend, which is about 6 hours from Denver. Got a chance to play with the Sport shifting and downshifting through the mountain passes and got a much better feel for it. It also seemed that the engine started opening up a bit or I am just getting more used to it haha.

Also had a chance to play (a small bit due to snow) up Bridal Veil Falls and Last Dollar Road. It was snow and mud so I took the chance to play with and learn the crawl control and terrain selectors in a more easy environment before I end up not knowing how to use them in a more emergency situation. Must say that I am impressed and even blown away. Smoothest and funnest little jaunt I ever had.

It may be because I never took my prior vehicles out of first gear when in 4L before, but I was surprised how fast the 4Runner will let you go in 4L in regular D. I used the Sport shift to throttle and I hate to admit it seemed a lot nicer and more manageable than clutching.

On count down for next July, going back to Telluride for a week. Thanks again.