Just arrived at the Ports of Los Angeles

[nglayton]

The 2019 guys are going to be so jealous with their dumb sunroofs :biggrin1:

Hot Damn! I'm in for that baby! Even if it does remind me of a dune buggy......

 

[eyerolleddapiece]

Your super salesman is wrong on this one - the 2019 TRD Pros DO come with a sunroof.

Not likely. At least not in the US

 

[jwkilgore]

Would people NOT want a hybrid electric drive train in a truck? Imagine the torque curve. It would be damn near straight.

Chevy tried it. No one bought them.

It wasn't a full hybrid, though, just a regular V6 with electronic "assist" motor(s) to improve torque. Only gained like 2mpg with a huge price bump.

So yeah, a really cool concept, but poor execution.

 

[jhguth]

Chevy tried it. No one bought them.

It wasn't a full hybrid, though, just a regular V6 with electronic "assist" motor(s) to improve torque. Only gained like 2mpg with a huge price bump.

So yeah, a really cool concept, but poor execution.

Lol, that was not a hybrid electric

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[YetiX]

Not likely. At least not in the US

The OP's friend went back and verified it has a sunroof, so . . .

 

[Jdhertz11]

I’m from the Porsche world and those guys would happily pay $18,000 to order that shade of blue as a “Paint to sample” color. Mexico blue, Gulf blue, Golf blue, Riviera blue, etc. Those guys are addicted to pastel blues. I used to have an Oslo blue 356. I know of two guys that ordered PTS cars in that color after seeing my car!

 

[docsnavely]

I’m gonna laugh when either OP’s friend or OP himself is just straight pulling people’s chains and there’s no sunroof. Wonder how that $3k bump will be explained?

I honestly won’t believe it until I see production units in the US with sunroofs. If it did actually have a sunroof it could be preproduction for a show or Canada, especially if it truly is the first sighted truck in North America.

 

[jhguth]

 

[1996_Valencia_Owen]

It will have a damn sunroof.

I've already seen some 2019 youtube reviews with official Toyota staff on hand.

 

[jhguth]

videos can be edited, it's fake news

 

[eyerolleddapiece]

The OP's friend went back and verified it has a sunroof, so . . .

Good point, because there have never been unreliable sources on the internet. Why no pictures to seal the deal?

 

[eyerolleddapiece]

It will have a damn sunroof.

I've already seen some 2019 youtube reviews with official Toyota staff on hand.

Source?

 

[TEN613RPro]

Liking my 2018 purchase more and more.

 

[LawnDart]

Oh my god are people still talking about sunroofs?!

 

[jhguth]

everyone is upset about sunroofs but not one peep about how you can't roll down the rear window

 

[LawnDart]

everyone is upset about sunroofs but not one peep about how you can't roll down the rear window

huh? TRD pros have always had a roll down rear window.

 

[mynameistory]

Every Runner since the dawn of time has a roll down rear window.

 

[jhguth]

that's why it's such a big deal for 2019!

I mean, have you seen the 2019 roll down the rear window? No, you haven't!

 

[thennen]

Buckle up, this is gonna be a long reply. And I apologize to those who hate when I bring up the Raptor, but we're gonna Raptor here.

I think what frustrates me, and please keep in mind I'm not actually mad, just kinda annoyed, is that there seems to be a renewed push by Toyota on the 2019 models to really promote them as these super duper off road capable, feature packed, SUVs. And for anyone who's owned a 4Runner since oh...2009 when the 2010 model (5th gen) came out, there's really not much different.

The difference from the 2015 TRD Pro to the 2019 Pro is frankly...zip. It's not like a sunroof is something they had to design for the 4runner. It's something they've had for a long time, and decided to add it to the build sheet. I'm scratching my head at the demand for a sunroof since well, they add weight, usually break, leak, rattle, etc. They're awesome for those 3-5 days a year where you want that feeling of breeze running through your hair. But whatever. The color doesn't bother me, some people feel like Inferno wasn't a great color (those people are wrong), and think Quicksand looks anything other than baby shit brown (they're wrong too).

What bugs me about Toyota is that the 2019 push represents what is confirmation that the 6th gen is either way off, or probably won't be as off road capable. Toyota is going to milk the 5th gen till all that comes out is dust and little bits of blood. Look at the marketing push they've been doing, especially the stuff with Expedition Overland, going from Moab to Ouray. Anyone who's done Ouray/Telluride more than a few times knows it's terrain that stock vehicles have no issues on. They're labeled as county roads for a reason. This isn't the rubicon back in the day before it was neutered. These are basic trails. And yet they bring auto journalists out there to take stock vehicles on, let them go over their first rock, and go "wow this toyota sure is capable!"

The rest of us know better. But the issue is we're all enthusiasts here by default. If you go to a dealership, or a bunch of dealerships, and start asking 4Runner owners there if they're on this forum, I bet you'd get almost zero people raising their hands. Most people buy these vehicles, never touch them, take them to run errands, or on road trips, and never hit dirt or engage 4WD. We are a very very vocal minority, a minority that Toyota just doesn't care about, because the 4Runner prints money.

I've said it before on this thread; there's not a lot of heavy lifts that Toyota could do to make the 4Runner better, and worthy of the price increase. 3500 is a ridiculous price hike for a vehicle that's almost 10 years old. TEN YEARS OLD! Put a 6 speed gearbox in there, update the instrument cluster to at least have something akin to the Tacomas (why don't I have an inclinometer or PSI readout?!), give me a good head unit with carplay, give me cooled seats as an option, legitimately better shocks (fox makes them, quit being cheap), active cruise control and blind spot monitoring, LED headlights, basically shit that's in a damn RAV4.

It's ultimately not that I think the 4Runner is bad, I think it's like someone giving you a less than prime cut of meat, but charging you top dollar for it.

So I mentioned the Raptor, and a lot of you guys will know I talked a LOT about it last year. I've spent time driving against them, and a lot of time driving in them. Obviously we're comparing a fullsize truck to an SUV, and I know this isn't a tundra forum, but the comparison still stands. It's a premium off road version of an existing product. F150 vs 4Runner.

But the difference is that the Raptor justifies it's price increase by being a legitimately upgraded off road version of the base vehicle. Whereas the 4Runner is some badges, a skid plate that's pretty useless, a front grill valence, shift knob, and some eh...shocks (the new fox ones are better but not really anything to write home about).

I give Ford a lot of credit because they built something that on paper doesn't make much sense, it uses a different frame, engine, suspension, and electronics, it's a huge heavy lift effort wise to build. But they've been rewarded for 2 years because the damn things sell faster than anything else I've seen. People love to give the Raptor shit because their local dealers add 5K markup to them (I've seen them now at MSRP more places than those that add markup, go figure), but those same people conveniently ignore dealers marking up TRD Pros for 5-6K for what is a "unique" color (Toyota is just recycling colors they've already had). Inferno and Quicksand may have been the only colors that could be defined as UNIQUE, before they just rooted around in their stash of old cans of paint from the FJ Cruiser trail team editions.

In the end it's really tough to sit there and watch journalists geek out over the 2019 TRD pro lineup, when I walk down to our garage, and there's a 2015 TRD Pro in my parking spot, and a few spots down is a white 2015 TRD Pro that's bone stock that someone else owns, and I'm like, "wtf are you guys raving about, it's the SAME thing 4 years later!" If a band re-released the same album 4 years later, changed the name, we'd all call them on that shit. Toyota has basically put the same burrito that's been sitting out on the counter for 2-3 hours back in the microwave, zapped it for 30 seconds, and served it up as "fresh from the kitchen."

I get what you're saying, sort of.

I think economics is the real driver here. In the U.S. in 2017, Ford sold 900,000 F-series pickups - it's their top-selling vehicle. Toyota sold 128k 4Runners - nowhere near their top vehicle, and 2017 was their second-best sales year for the T4R. (In fact, Ford sold more F-series LAST YEAR than Toyota has sold 4Runners in the past TEN years). When you sell almost a million copies of something, you can spread your tooling costs and other costs much more thinly across them all. And then when you make a vehicle as special and capable as the Raptor, it's less expensive to build per unit.

A small aside on price - if Toyota raises the PRO price by $3500 and it sits on the lots, shame on them, and the price will eventually be lowered again to move them. But if it sells out, their marketing department knew something. It's all about demand, as is the $70k+ price for a Raptor. In my world, $70k for a pickup is insane, but that's my budget speaking. If Ford sells all of them, how can the price be wrong? By comparison to the F-series, the 4Runner is hardly printing money, but the ROI looks better every year.

Regarding the PRO, it's absolutely dated, and I haven't seen anyone disagree with that. That fact actually attracts me personally. I'm on my second 4Runner (1988 and 2001), and the fact that they last SOOO long is partly because they rarely have cutting-edge ANYTHING, and their engines can't beat up their drivetrains. It's apparent to me that people who are still buying these off the showroom floor don't have goodies and perks very high on their must-have lists. From what I read here and there, Toyota and Jeep are pretty much by themselves with BOF SUVs, and at least the T4R doesn't have the mechanical failures reported by Jeep owners.

So just a different perspective here.

Thanks.

 

[aa.allen]

I really like it. I wouldn’t mind having it in my driveway