They have nothing. Toyota has decades of turbocharged engines going hundreds of thousands of miles. They just sold them overseas so the American populace is not familiar with them.
Keep in mind you're in a forum whose demographics is largely 5th gen owners. It's natural for people that are financially and emotionally invested in a vehicle to feel displaced by something new.
I see this behavior all the time in Toyota/BMW/Porsche circles. The running joke is the last "real" BMW M3 is the current generation - 1. Every time a new M3 comes out, it's awful and BMW lost their way and suddenly the previous one that was hated is now the benchmark.
People should really go back and read the threads when the 3rd gen Tacoma, 5th gen 4Runner and 200 series Land Cruiser came out. A combination of, "camry V6 aint going to be reliable in a truck", "5th gen lost the V8??? Toyota lost their way.", "200 series Land Cruiser is too big and too soft. It's not a real Land Cruiser compared to a 80 and 100".
It's a combination of Toyota fans having shorts memories and also Toyota taking 15 years to update their vehicles so they can't remember the initial reaction of the last gen
Toyota can't seem to keep the main bearings lubricated in the GCC spec LC300, the Tundra, or the LS. Maybe the T24A will be better. But the V35A has a global reputation developing for eating main bearings. It's not turbo specific, but the V35A has not been a winner. And toyota does not have a history of long lasting GASOLINE turbo engines. That doesn't mean the T24A is going to be less reliable than the 1GR. But I think it's worth considering that the GCC spec LC300 chose the 1GR over the T24A. I like the power curve of the T24A. I do think it's undersized for the application.
The loss of the v8 was a mistake. It was an intentional downgrade by Toyota who at the time intended to kill the 4Runner making the 5th gen its last generation. And - do you remember the 2.7L 4Runner? Toyota engineers actually thought a 150hp 4cyl in a 4700lb SUV with a 4 speed was a good idea. It's not all roses and butterflies. Toyota screws up a lot of products. look at the Sequoia for a great example. Or the new Tundra - in many ways it got measurably worse than the outgoing model. Smaller cabin, smaller bed, lighter duty running gear, less reliable, poor outward visibility, poor assembly quality. I turned down the Tundra that came in I was going to buy because of build quality after the test drive and bought a clean prior gen instead. It wasn't good enough to have a spot in my driveway.
I personally like the new powertrain options. But I also think Toyota made a major strategic mistake in not making an I6 with the V35A. Toyota should have done a Toyota version of the B58 - that would allow Toyota to have only 2 engine blocks (4cyl and 6cyl) that could range from NA 2.7ish 4cyl, Turbo 4, and single and twin turbo 6cyl options. That allows every horse power segment to be covered. 200, 250, 300, 350. And it could be supplemented by hybrids in every step along that ladder. Plus both engines are diesel compatible base designs, so they could use the same blocks for the 2.8 diesel and a new 6cyl inline diesel in both turbo and non-turbo applications across the range of products for global markets. All with shared engineering, parts, etc. of only two basic designs.
The biggest issues I see are the body - it sucks. There is too much real estate wasted by the new "cab back" design. The roof is too low - head height is already an issue in the prototypes without sunroofs. It'll be unusable for full height adults in the middle row. The rear door is tiny. So it's also not kid friendly. There's no longer a seat pass through, so you can't put skis inside with 4 seats up. The rear cargo area isn't a fold flat. How is that possible? They have a clean sheet re-design, build a SUV that's pretty clearly targeted at having only people in the front seats most of the time, yet don't make the cargo area fold flat? Hopefully the rear seats are at least easy to remove.
And the nonsensical restrictions Toyota uses to make sure there's no way to spec the most desirable combinations. No way to combine awd with off-road features. Not offering the hd powertrain in either the LC250 or 4R. Not offering a v6 in the LC250. Not offering the LC250 or Sequoia w/o the hybrid option. No awd in the sequoia or tundra. The list of hard to explain exclusions is pretty long.
I think the new 4Runner will sell well for the first few years at least. It's just not for me. I'm too tall by the looks of the journalists sitting in them. And I'd opt for the LC250 just for the more moderate styling and outward visibility. And I hope they move on from CALTY for the next generation of GA-F designs. Almost everything coming out of CALTY is sub-par.
