By that logic, Toyota could have just made one body style - the first generation - and still sell it today because it "works."
AKA what you're saying doesn't make any sense.
There are a lot of external forces at play here - beyond Toyota's control - like CAFE regulations, safety regulations and competition, that Toyota has to react to.
Toyota has to put out a competitive product with a solid business case --- period. At this point, Jeep and everyone else is offering 300+ horsepower, blind spot monitors, big nav screens, 8 speed automatics, collision avoidance, upgraded infotainment, etc.
If Toyota keeps building 4Runners like they are now, the entire line will simply go away because people will stop buying them.
We are an enthusiast community and we probably make up 3% of the people who actually buy these rigs. There aren't enough of us for Toyota to bend to our every whim and sell "bare basics" 4Runners in the face of Grand Cherokees, Wranglers and whatever else you want to compare it to.
It sounds to me like you are very happy with your TEP, which is great. That's why you purchased it, I assume. But Toyota is quite simply going to have to do and offer more going forward. If they don't, the 4Runner name will be history.