I have extremely mixed feelings about this. As a new vehicle for Toyota, I suppose they have aimed to lower the price and hit a broader audience, aiming mostly for the "scion-graduate" types that want something bigger and better but still want that "cute" boxy kinda "city" look.
Still though, judging the thing as a 4Runner, this isn't what I would call "returning to roots" at all. Not even close. This thing looks the most unlike any 4Runner ever built. There are definitely some performance improvements and engineering upgrades under the hood, but this is not the trail machine that I've come to know and love from Toyota. It's still got enough to scrape by with, and the Trail Edition may indeed offer up an enhanced capability, but this thing is just ugly and awkward and far and away not something I'd want to be stuck with out on a tough trail. Now I've heard similar comments made about the FJ being ugly and all that, but I LIKE the FJ, the FJ despite it's fender issues, is an outstanding off-road machine - this though, this seems too "homogenized" for my taste. At least the FJ doesn't resemble a "big kids xB" for god's sake.
It would seem the markets just aren't catering to the off-road enthusiast much any more and we're being left with fewer options all the time. Hell, granted Jeep makes stupid decisions all the time, but I never thought the Grand Cherokee would look like something Lincoln put out, and I sure as heck never saw the 4runner resembling a scion xB mated to a Ford Flex, but at least in the looks department, that seems to be what we've got here.
Lets hope the mid-cycle refresh is a hell of a lot more refreshing than it was in 2006, and lets hope this thing doesn't put the final nail in the casket for our beloved off-road machine.
