Had my '18 Limited 10 days ... not enough power for me...

[Engineer]

Just not enough power for me. Can't even imagine how the engine would sound pulling two jet skis up a long grade with 4-5 adults and a week's worth of food and drink in the back. Around town it was a pleasure, though. Decided to keep my old V8 4WD beater as the vacation hauler and replaced the 4Runner with a car. I wish I had been able to test drive the 4Runner up some serious hills. It would have helped me avoid some headache. Time for Toyota to up their game and give these beautiful and functional trucks another 50hp or more.

Good story and thanks for sharing the feedback, it seems you missed the many threads on Towing with a 5th gen and the various other threads discussing perceived (and somewhat true) lack of power.

You have valid points but they are nothing new and if you really want to make sure people get feedback, title the thread something helpful that would actually grab someones attention if they were interested. Maybe " Towing experience with 5th gen" or " 4Runner towing".

 

[Liquidmantis]

It's nothing like the V8, and many complain about the downshifting. Hauling people can be done, or light towing, but both is probably asking too much. Hope you like your sedan (and it has a nice key fob

Here is what I've done, with 6 people and a week's gear. Best of luck to you.

Talk about green, this guy travels with a hitch-mounted composter.

 

[kaikaikai]

I agree with the OP, recently picked up a 4Runner and it's without a doubt the slowest car I've ever owned. Including my old Camrys I drove through college, etc. You have to stomp the gas so hard from a stop just so you don't get honked at when the light turns green, and then you're relegated to like 13mpg.

But I guess the difference is that I pretty much knew this going in from my research, and was willing to accept these issues for long term reliability, overall build quality, and all weather and all terrain capability.

I looked at a bunch of cars before picking up the 4Rrunner; my wife was pushing me towards a Porsche Macan S or a Mercedes GLC43, I gave these SUV's serious consideration and they certainly would've solved my horsepower problem, but looking long term both of those cars will probably be in a landfill somewhere when this 4R is still alive and kicking, that was the difference for me.

 

[WallyT4R]

Take the pedal on the right, you know the skinny one, and push it down, 4Runner has plenty of power. :vader:

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

Wont help on the highway towing stuff or highway driving in general. But the Sprintbooster solves all the around town issues with weak acceleration. Best mod I have done to my 16.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

Take the pedal on the right, you know the skinny one, and push it down, 4Runner has plenty of power. :vader:

Yours must be different than mine. I am not feeling the plenty of power even floored. This does solve one problem for me. In almost any other vehicle when I floor the gas from a stop my wife would always complain about the acceleration pushing her back in the seat and asking me if this is necessary. She never has to complain with the 4runner, she thinks I have matured and no longer need to do this. Wrong, it just can not do it.

 

[WallyT4R]

Yours must be different than mine. I am not feeling the plenty of power even floored. This does solve one problem for me. In almost any other vehicle when I floor the gas from a stop my wife would always complain about the acceleration pushing her back in the seat and asking me if this is necessary. She never has to complain with the 4runner, she thinks I have matured and no longer need to do this. Wrong, it just can not do it.

Power is always subjective. Maybe it's those heavy tires you have, I don't know? My KO's are stock size and C rated so not as heavy. I also have a Trail...I wonder if the tuning is different between the different models??? I tow a 5x10 utility loaded with dirt bikes often and you can tell it's back there but the truck has enough power. Taking off from a stop with full throttle, I feel it moves out pretty well for how heavy this thing is. When it hits around 4000 rpm it comes to life. Again it's all subjective but this has a ton of power compared to my last vehicle....a 1989 FJ62 Landcruiser.

 

[CRSTX]

2007 4Runner - The base model is also available with a more powerful 4.7-liter DOHC 32-valve EFI VVT-i V8 engine that puts out 260 hp @ 5400 rpm and 306 lb.-ft. of torque @ 3400 rpm. The engine is paired with the 4Runner's universal five-speed transmission.

2018 4Runner- 4Runner's standard 4.0-liter V6 engine pumps out 270 @5600 horsepower and 278 lb.-ft. of torque @4400.

 

[Off-choader]

cya bruh i will miss you

 

[03_4x4Runner]

Power is always subjective. Maybe it's those heavy tires you have, I don't know? My KO's are stock size and C rated so not as heavy. I also have a Trail...I wonder if the tuning is different between the different models??? I tow a 5x10 utility loaded with dirt bikes often and you can tell it's back there but the truck has enough power. Taking off from a stop with full throttle, I feel it moves out pretty well for how heavy this thing is. When it hits around 4000 rpm it comes to life. Again it's all subjective but this has a ton of power compared to my last vehicle....a 1989 FJ62 Landcruiser.

It is about the same with either tires. The problem is it is to lazy getting to 4000 rpm from a stop where the power comes on.

 

[rzgkane]

So just curious how big of hit did you take owning a truck and trading it after less than 3 weeks?

Not much. But for reasons I won’t get into here. Rolling into a loss leader helped as well.

 

[Rmack]

OP, you did the right thing and it will pay off for you. I have considered doing the same with my wife's 15 Limited almost every time I drive it, but it is hers and she loves it.

I will say that once I get on the interstate and set the cruise the lack of power is not as noticeable, but I do not have a lot of hills.

I do like the dependability and old school design of the engine and transmission. Even if a little noisy, it works well. Having built engines since I was a kid the noise is easy to understand with the camshaft and timing chain design.

You made a quick decision and did what you needed to do instead of trying to act differently, good on you.

 

[UncleRico]

It's nothing like the V8, and many complain about the downshifting. Hauling people can be done, or light towing, but both is probably asking too much. Hope you like your sedan (and it has a nice key fob

Here is what I've done, with 6 people and a week's gear. Best of luck to you.

What size Thule is that? Does it interfere with your satellite radio?

 

[MrJux]

I bought a Camry

 

[Toffees]

What size Thule is that? Does it interfere with your satellite radio?

Force XXL, it's the largest I could find. I thought I could push it forward enough to provide rear hatch clearance, but not with the crossbars I have, although some have said it may work.

On the satellite, I don't use it any longer but I remember testing it out when I first got the box and I thought it worked fine. Next time i use it loaded I'll see if it picks up the demo channels.

 

[rzgkane]

Awesome setup. He needs airbags in the rear, though.

 

[Superjet]

I used to tow 2 stand up jetskis on an aluminum trailer with my 2001 Camry. It got the job done.

 

[Jayhawk5G]

Just not enough power for me. Can't even imagine how the engine would sound pulling two jet skis up a long grade with 4-5 adults and a week's worth of food and drink in the back. Around town it was a pleasure, though. Decided to keep my old V8 4WD beater as the vacation hauler and replaced the 4Runner with a car. I wish I had been able to test drive the 4Runner up some serious hills. It would have helped me avoid some headache. Time for Toyota to up their game and give these beautiful and functional trucks another 50hp or more.

Ultimately it comes down to personal preference and taste, however, my response would be:

1. The 4Runner certainly has enough power... you may not like what is takes to access that power but see below that the power is not the issue.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/225546-5th-gen-4runner-0-60-time-comparison.html

2. When moving to Chicago from Kansas City, I towed a 2008 Seadoo Speedster 150 which I believe with fluids and trailer was around 3,000 lbs. It was no problem, didn't really notice any difference compared to towing it with my prior vehicle 05 Grand Cherokee 5.7 with the exception of much improved gas mileage with the 4Runner. I kept the transmission in sport mode on the highway, and selected between 4th and 5th gear to keep the transmission from hunting on grades.

3. Despite what I just said if you didn't enjoy the driving dynamics then you did the right thing getting rid of it.

 

[Jayhawk5G]

Yours must be different than mine. I am not feeling the plenty of power even floored. This does solve one problem for me. In almost any other vehicle when I floor the gas from a stop my wife would always complain about the acceleration pushing her back in the seat and asking me if this is necessary. She never has to complain with the 4runner, she thinks I have matured and no longer need to do this. Wrong, it just can not do it.

You aren't talking about horsepower, you are talking about torque... torque is what pushed her back in the seat.

 

[lunchboxtheman]

I really, seriously do not get this...

My wife and I have 4 kids, 14, 13, 11 and 6. So we ALWAYS have 5-6 people in our 4runner, we live in an area that has some decent hills, nothing like Colorado, but decently steep and long uphill drives, and we regularly go over Cajon Pass, and never once have I needed it to have more power.

Would I like 50HP more? Sure! as long as they can keep the reliability there.

We've done camping trips in Angeles NF with 7 people, a hitch rack and the roof rack FULL of stuff and still had no issues going up into those mountains.

So I don't get it.

I get it.

I picked up an 18 TRD ORP a few months back and drove it from Missouri to Miami and back with 4 people (including myself) and a mostly full cargo area. No trailer. Stock everything. It really struggled even on flat highway. It would downshift into 3rd at the drop of a hat. I had to keep a diligent eye on my speed to make sure I kept going the speed limit. If I didn't pay close attention I would be doing 5-10mph under. It just doesn't keep up with normal highway driving speeds. Not to mention how vague on center and unsettled it felt.

Going up the "mountains" in Tennessee was even worse. I had to keep the pedal floored just to keep up. It was stuck in 3rd for 5-10 minutes at a time going up a hill. The engine sounded like it was going to explode and got really annoying and drone-y. Even the slightest amount of grade would cause it to downshift and rev really high.

I have a few short, mild hills on my drive to work. It downshifts into 3rd going up those hills at 40mph with just me in it.

I like my 4runner, but the lack of power absolutely is a big problem. There are enough threads on this forum about it that I don't understand how people can continue to deny it...

What's interesting is that I tend to see the two extremes. Some people such as yourself say they have zero problems whatsoever. And for every one of those, there's someone else like me that has nothing but issues. I wonder if there's a reason? Maybe there is some manufacturing that's going wrong and a large portion of them have something wrong that results in a lack of power?