Other SUVs you've owned compared to your 4runner

[bigskyeric]

Wondering what other SUVs you've owned. (no trucks) How have they compared? I've only owned a 2002 Xterra. It was solid and reliable, but rode awful, jerked all over the road and felt cheap compared to a 4runner. It was cheap to buy compared to my 4runner but not worth the savings.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

1993 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer with that pathetic anemic pile of crap they call the 4.3L Vortec V6

It was the single most depressing pile of automotive excrement I have had the displeasure of owning... but it got me from point a to point b and held an engine and transmission in the back for a while while working on the RX7... it also made me realize I will never buy a mid-sized truck or SUV with anything less than 8 cylinders.

 

[awdjunkies]

1994 Nissan Pathfinder SE-V6 4x4(Bought new).. Talk about a Turtle!!! (At least it was a manual)..

1992 Isuzu Rodeo LS top of the line(Manual as well, but the v6 was Craptastic at best.. Made by Chevy I believe)..

The rest have been multiple 4runners.. Nothing like a YOTA!!!!

 

[ebg18t]

My 04 LandRover disco was great. It was very needy with regard to maintance so i was always tinkering with it. It was a beast off road and if the lockers were engaged it would get up any obstical. Had a little more space than my 4Runner worse milage and super comfy seats.

My 4runner is less needy, slightly less capable and more fuel efficient. Overall very happy with the 4runner, but I miss my rover.

 

[hikenbike]

89 Ford Bronco II - first truck. Underpowered but loved it. Zero problems. Had it until 2002.

98 Dodge Durango - 1st model year. Strong and powerful with 5.2 v8. Had it til 2007. Again, no problems, no repairs other than normal maintenance. Wife loved it.

99 Pathfinder - bought used in 03-ish time with 27k miles. Son drives it now to college with about 90k miles. Had to replace entire exhaust system (rusted out), front shocks, and front axles only about 1 month ago. No other issues.

07 Honda Pilot - great SUV. Just runs like new and I barely give it any attention. It's black - don't EVER get black. Just do normal maintenance. No problems. Quick, quiet, and comfy truck.

07 4runner - my current and favorite truck. Only 34k miles. Powerful, well-built. My zombie apocalypse truck. Perfect in every way IMHO.

All in all, I've had good luck with every truck I"ve owned but I don't Offroad and I'm generally easy on them.

 

[gshadow325]

trucks i have owned:

Bought a 2004 Nissan Armada new sold in 08 when gas hit $5.50 per gallon. loved the size and space of it. turned it into a urban cruiser 24's tv's everywhere(7total) you get the idea.

by 2010 i had owned at least one of each style of volvo produced except their so called suv. Bought one on a whim, ended up lucking out and getting a decent one. it was a maintaince hog. since i bought it at the right price, i spared no expense repairing it. after 35,000 miles and $5000 of maintaince. i sold it to only end up loosing $2200 over 2 years (net cost of ownership was less than $100 per month).

In March of 2013, not having a SUV for 1 year i wanted antother SUV.
Considered:
Rav4's with v6's (too expensive, too small)
pathfinders
tacomas (wanted 4 full doors, so thats a 06+, too expensive)
frontiers

Really considered, since i test drove these and took time out to go see them:
92-97 land cruisers, pigs when it came to power area. then i realized i didnt want a 20 year old truck, that feels and drives like a 20 year old truck

98-05 land cruisers, more powerful, more creature comforts
98-05 LX470 these were expensive

again on a whim, right before i was going to another land cruiser..i emailed a guy selling a 4runner. guy only responded after i came back from test driving another land cruiser. lucky for me the cruiser turned out to be a turd.

within 45 minutes i ran, carfax, check the vin on toyota care, looked up issues with it. looked up recommended maintainence on it. and armed with that info. i went to look at it.

compared to the land cruiser that has a 4.0l v8 this 4.7l v8 was much more powerful and smoother. this trans shifter better(dealer replaced at 145k). overall i liked it over the land cruiser. i was surprised on how much space it had in it. downfall was no third row. ended up getting it and loving it.

my v8 4runner compared to my armada, smaller but more powerful
my v8 4runner compared to my 03 xc90 with the 6 cylinder, more spacious, less seating capacity, more fuel efficient than my volvo, and much more reliable(less maintaince)

I say to my wife all the time, wished we could have skipped the volvo xc90 in our lives, we would have had more free time(fixing stuff), more money and more space.....we didnt really need a third row, just nice to have.

 

[Barefoot]

Had a '94 Explorer V6 that I got new, then a '99 with the 302 V-8 new. Never had a big problem with either, but lots of little ones. I handed the '99 down to my daughter when she got her license and got my '07 SR5 V-8 new.

I just got the '99 back, she has now graduated from college and bought herself a new RAV4 yesterday.

Other than the Explorers having a little more room in the back, the 4R is better in every way.

 

[rebelbowtie]

1993 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer with that pathetic anemic pile of crap they call the 4.3L Vortec V6

It was the single most depressing pile of automotive excrement I have had the displeasure of owning... but it got me from point a to point b and held an engine and transmission in the back for a while while working on the RX7... it also made me realize I will never buy a mid-sized truck or SUV with anything less than 8 cylinders.

At only around 200hp the 4.3 is anemic by today's standards but it was and still is one of the best and most reliable v6 engines ever produced and in 93 with a TBI it wasn't a true vortec but only vortec in name. Everything else in the S-series trucks is an absolute embarrassment to automotive engineering but a lot of GM vehicles that aren't Silverado and Corvette seem to suffer that fate.


As for me the only SUV other than the 4Runner I have owned has been an XJ and a TJ if you count Wranglers as SUV's. I prefer driving my Jeep most days just because its a manual transmission and gets better fuel economy believe it or not. If I compare the T4R to all the other trucks and cars I have owned its arguably the best I have had the pleasure to call my own. The fit and finish is miles ahead of everything I owned except my B7A4 and the v8 is extremely powerful for its size and feels compatible to my old 6.0 Silverado in terms of power:weight ratio.

 

[rebelbowtie]

1994 Nissan Pathfinder SE-V6 4x4(Bought new).. Talk about a Turtle!!! (At least it was a manual)..

1992 Isuzu Rodeo LS top of the line(Manual as well, but the v6 was Craptastic at best.. Made by Chevy I believe)..

The rest have been multiple 4runners.. Nothing like a YOTA!!!!

Rodeo had a great drive train too and came with D44 axles

 

[awdjunkies]

Rodeo had a great drive train too and came with D44 axles

About the only thing going for it.

 

[rebelbowtie]

A true enthusiast sees the strengths in any vehicle.

 

[AJColorado]

Only SUV I used in the past for wheeling was my '72 K5 Blazer that I sold when we moved from Colorado to Maryland this past March. Now you want to talk about needy....my old beast was a constant labor of love.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

At only around 200hp the 4.3 is anemic by today's standards but it was and still is one of the best and most reliable v6 engines ever produced and in 93 with a TBI it wasn't a true vortec but only vortec in name. Everything else in the S-series trucks is an absolute embarrassment to automotive engineering but a lot of GM vehicles that aren't Silverado and Corvette seem to suffer that fate.


As for me the only SUV other than the 4Runner I have owned has been an XJ and a TJ if you count Wranglers as SUV's. I prefer driving my Jeep most days just because its a manual transmission and gets better fuel economy believe it or not. If I compare the T4R to all the other trucks and cars I have owned its arguably the best I have had the pleasure to call my own. The fit and finish is miles ahead of everything I owned except my B7A4 and the v8 is extremely powerful for its size and feels compatible to my old 6.0 Silverado in terms of power:weight ratio.

It was anemic in comparison to the 3.4L, that seemed to get up and go better on the freeway than the 4.3L and it really didn't have the guts to maintain 80mph very well let alone pass anyone going 70mph on the freeway without planning about five miles ahead.

 

[rebelbowtie]

It was anemic in comparison to the 3.4L, that seemed to get up and go better on the freeway than the 4.3L and it really didn't have the guts to maintain 80mph very well let alone pass anyone going 70mph on the freeway without planning about five miles ahead.

Yours might have been on its last leg or improperly geared, GM was I famous for putting 2.73 and 3.07 gears in things. I had a full size K1500 with a 4.3 and nv3500 combo and it would bury the speedo and turn 33" tires all day long and do spectacular high kid burn outs (my first truck 10 years ago) all the way through first gear and chirp second.

 

[awdjunkies]

A true enthusiast sees the strengths in any vehicle.

Hence why my flavors have been too many to count. :biggrin1:

 

[rfuree11]

I had a 95 Explorer. I really loved that thing. It had 230k miles on it when I sold it and it didn't really have any issues until 185k when the transmission went out on it (common weak point on them). I beat the crap out of it offroad (stupid teenager). For the year, it was pretty well refined (they sold it unchanged right up to 2001). I feel like the 4Runner is the same thing only slightly larger.

 

[awdjunkies]

I had a 95 Explorer. I really loved that thing. It had 230k miles on it when I sold it and it didn't really have any issues until 185k when the transmission went out on it (common weak point on them). I beat the crap out of it offroad (stupid teenager). For the year, it was pretty well refined (they sold it unchanged right up to 2001). I feel like the 4Runner is the same thing only slightly larger.

Thanks for reminding me, I had a 91 Explorer(Boxier type than yours) Eddie Bower edition 4x4, loaded to the max. Comfy leather seats.. and it went everywhere.. The only thing that was bad was, in the end it developed some electrical gremlins(Sunroof would open or close by it itself) Other than that, I miss it..

 

[zimdba]

2001 Dodge Durango. I had it for a 3-year lease. I'm glad I got rid of it, because it sure felt like the transmission was slipping and I didn't want to be on the hook for that repair. It drove like a true body-on-frame SUV. It had a big V8 and trailer-towing gears, which meant that it was plenty quick off the line but only got about 12mpg despite me towing nothing, ever. There was one time coming down from the mountains that I nearly lost my brakes and ended up sailing halfway through an intersection. Thankfully no one was coming in the other directions.

I bought the 4Runner either right before or right after I returned the Durango. The T4R is the far superior vehicle IMHO.

 

[Antman]

I had a Jeep TJ with the 6 speed and 4.0 and loved it. Drove around most of the year with no doors- awesome. Never had a problem with it-sold it when first kid was on the way.

My wife owned a GMC Envoy and she loved it. I thought it was OK. The 4.2 inline 6 was silky smooth and it had 4:10 gears so it ran pretty good. As soon as the warranty expired the front diff started leaking. Then the power steering pump went out. Then the thing started randomly engaging 4wd at speed; 50+ MPH and bang bang BANG, that was fun. Both rear power window motors broke with the windows down- THE SAME DAY. Talk about planned obsolescence! I took the door panels apart and discovered that the windows were operated by a steel cable that wound around a plastic drum. Plastic drums both chewed to hell. I cut the cables, pulled the windows up, wrapped the cables around a self tapping screw in the door, to hold the window up, and sold it to Carmax.

Bye Bye GM.

 

[NJshadow93]

2005 RAV4 4WD. Most reliable car in the family. Drove it/beat on it for a year before I got my first 4Runner. My dad bought it brand new late 2005 when the 3rd gen RAV4s started coming out and it was daily driven by him until I got it when I was 17 before my senior year in high school. I got it at 116,000 miles and my sister got it at 129,000 miles. In the time I had it, I drove it hard, took it out in every snow storm to play, even took it on some trails (it did great too, minus the ground clearance. I knew it's limits). My sister still drives it with over 154k miles today and it runs like a champ. Never any issues with it and only routine maintanance, and she drives it hard too. It's been in 3 accidents since she's had it (2 deer, one car) so it's had it's share of front end body work. I love to drive it when I get a chance because it's actually a really fun car to drive, very quick and handles great. Obviously can't compare it to my 4Runner because of the size difference and overall class of vehicle (truck-based body on frame 4Runner vs compact unibody RAV4). Overall a great car, it's a Toyota.