Oh no...bye bye Pathfinder

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What did Chevy get rid of? Why am I drawing a blank here.... I really hope the 4Runner is safe, I mean there is a cult for them. I realllly don't want a crossover or sequioa type-upgrade one day.
 
Hold on! Let's not forget the Pathfinder went unibody in 1996!! At least until 2004. Then it went back to BoF. As someone stated in another thread (Thai, I think), the Pathfinder lost its way long ago.

What's good about the 4Runner, it's based on the Lexus GX which is based on the Toyota Prado which is hugely popular overseas. Bad news is that 4Runner's twin cousin, the HiLux Surf, is no longer on sale in Japan :( I hope the 4Runner lives on!
 
"No plans to drop the 4runner or the FJ Cruiser in the near future" - Quote Jan Kreider, Toyota engineer.

He goes on to say, "The 4runner and FJ have become the off-roading division of the company, the 4runner being the slightly more civilized off-roader, while the FJ has been tailored to more devoted enthusiasts. Though the FJ has not been a very big seller, we do not plan to drop it, we only plan to make a new generation of the SUV. For now, the two are safe, who knows about the years after that though"
 
Honestly, I think they should have just retired the Pathfinder name if they were going to do this. This is like Toyota throwing the 4runner name on the Highlander. Just doesn't make sense to me. After looking at the Pathfinder concept, I just realized its basically the poor mans version of the Infinity JX concept.

Infiniti-JX_Concept_2011_800x600_wallpaper_02.jpg
 
It is not like Nissan needed another crossover: the Rogue and Murano clearly covered small and medium sized crossover markets. There really is no place for the new Pathfinder.
 
My co-worker is a Dodge guy and he showed me what the 2013 Dodge Dakota (midsize pickup) is going to look like.

Needless to say, I don't think he likes it very much. Why even call it a Dakota?

From this 2011...
2011-dodge-dakota.jpg~original


To this 2013, gross...
2013-dodge-dakota.jpg~original
 
It is interesting that the Pathfinder changed to no frame a few years ago then went back to a frame. As far as the 4Runner goes, I would think the biggest fear of it changing was in 2001 when the Highlander came out. I was thinking the 4Runner may be dropped. They kept it and came out with the 4th and then 5th generation. One thing we have to remember is that the 4Runner is bulit for not just the USA, but for different parts of the world. Back in it's hayday, the 4Runner was the best selling Toyota SUV , now it is more of a extra add on, but different parts of the world still need a 4Ruuner like vehicle. My feeling is that it is safe for quite a few years to come. It will just be more of a smaller market, still a important market for Toyota, IMHO.
 
The midsize Toyota "UTE" will probably continue on with the Highlander, it is highly doubtful that they would change the 4Runner from a BOF vehicle when they already have the Highlander filling that void. At least I hope :wow:
 
The 4runner sales are to high for them to want to even think about changing it i mean i live in the Chicago suburbs and i see at least 3 every time i go out and the FJ i see at least 1 so in Chicago its looking pretty dam good for the 4runner and FJ but i see where you guys are going with this
 
2007toyota4runners said:
The 4runner sales are to high for them to want to even think about changing it i mean i live in the Chicago suburbs and i see at least 3 every time i go out and the FJ i see at least 1 so in Chicago its looking pretty dam good for the 4runner and FJ but i see where you guys are going with this
Click to expand...

I drive often from NY to Washington DC and I lose count at how many 4th and 5th gen 4runners I see along the 10 hr drive. Sometimes it looks like we are driving in convoy.
 
I really hope the 4Runner stays true to its roots but sometimes change is inevitable. Following the herd to a unibody design would be a mistake in my opinion, but Toyota is going to move with market trends in order to sell as many vehicles as possible, even if it leaves the purists like us out in the cold.

I really wish I had a crystal ball and knew what Toyota would do at the end of the 5th gen 4Runner life cycle. Will the FJ be abandoned leaving only the 4Runner and the Land Cruiser as the only true 4x4 Toyota mid-sized SUV's? Will the 4Runner be retired leaving only the FJ's? Or will the FJ and 4Runner merge into some sort of 4-door FJ/4Runner hybrid like the concept photo we saw floating around a couple of years ago?

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/all-other-vehicles/53024-2010-fj-runner.html

As others have mentioned, Toyota already has the Highlander to fill the mid-size crossover market. I wouldn't see them making the 4Runner into a crossover to compete with one of their own models. Unfortunately, I suspect they would nix the 4Runner all together before they turned it into a crossover.

I'll have my '07 paid off within the next few months. With 77k miles currently, I'm planning on driving my 4Runner for at least another 5-6 years. However, if I hear credible rumors that their would not be a 6th gen 4Runner or that it would go to a unibody platform, I would consider picking up a later model 5th gen. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.....
 
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