Well, having owned many many 4R's and GX's - I have to say my experience with the 5th gen was far from stellar. We bought a 2011 limited 4wd with 7k miles, BWP, loaded up except no nav. Seemed perfect but so far I can say that it was by far the worst 4R we've owned.
Overall I feel the build quality was far inferior to both our 08 GX and our 07 limited 4R, the 5th gen had terrible acceleration, poor towing rating and sub par gas mileage. Everything from the panel gaps to the interior quality seemed to have been downgraded, just not the toyota I'm used to
Honestly I'm a bit shocked, I'm a huge fan of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in general - I'm a 3 toyota car family, but this 4runner was the worst we've ever had.
We only had one real PROBLEM with her, the drivers power seat stopped functioning, so it wasn't so much that we had issues with the car I just didn't love it the way I did my other 4runners, something always felt off about it. At the end of the day I think the lack of power for an SUV that grew substantially in size and weight was disappointing. I found myself having to make excuses or modify/"fix" things to compensate for things I could do better in other 4Rs.
I kept telling myself as soon as a TRD super charger were available I'd do that and be happier, I installed air bags to up the towing rating to something slightly better than a minivan - net net I wish we had kept the 08 GX, or the 07 limited v6 - Both of which were far more capable in my opinion.
I even went and drove the GX460, and felt it too lacked any real improvement over the previous generation, I can't put my finger on it but I'm sadly disappointed with this generation 4R...
The straw for me was after 6 months, we had averaged about 14mpg, and the 4runner could barely tow my supra in an open trailer - 4800 lbs total - I'm not trying to tow a 12k lb camper, just 4800 lbs, and the 4runner struggled with every uphill or onramp - in our 07, we regularly towed 6000+ lbs with little issue.
In the end we have chosen to go back to the land cruiser family and settled on a 2010 L200, the extra power is welcome for towing for sure - and so far we're averaging better gas mileage (15.6 vs 14.2) - I fully acknowledge there is a huge price difference in the vehicles, not trying to compare them apples to apples but the L200 is the experience I wanted out of the current generation 4runner, it's the quality I've come to expect from Toyota and the capability I need... (although I'd argue our 07 LC was a far tighter vehicle in terms of tolerances than the 2010 is)
I wanted to share my experience, but certainly am not bagging on or discouraging anyone from ownership, it just wasn't right for us.
I will say their resell is staggering, I bought the car 6 months ago for 36, put 14k miles on it, and sold it for 35,300... so it cost me 700$.
-Z
Overall I feel the build quality was far inferior to both our 08 GX and our 07 limited 4R, the 5th gen had terrible acceleration, poor towing rating and sub par gas mileage. Everything from the panel gaps to the interior quality seemed to have been downgraded, just not the toyota I'm used to
Honestly I'm a bit shocked, I'm a huge fan of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in general - I'm a 3 toyota car family, but this 4runner was the worst we've ever had.
We only had one real PROBLEM with her, the drivers power seat stopped functioning, so it wasn't so much that we had issues with the car I just didn't love it the way I did my other 4runners, something always felt off about it. At the end of the day I think the lack of power for an SUV that grew substantially in size and weight was disappointing. I found myself having to make excuses or modify/"fix" things to compensate for things I could do better in other 4Rs.
I kept telling myself as soon as a TRD super charger were available I'd do that and be happier, I installed air bags to up the towing rating to something slightly better than a minivan - net net I wish we had kept the 08 GX, or the 07 limited v6 - Both of which were far more capable in my opinion.
I even went and drove the GX460, and felt it too lacked any real improvement over the previous generation, I can't put my finger on it but I'm sadly disappointed with this generation 4R...
The straw for me was after 6 months, we had averaged about 14mpg, and the 4runner could barely tow my supra in an open trailer - 4800 lbs total - I'm not trying to tow a 12k lb camper, just 4800 lbs, and the 4runner struggled with every uphill or onramp - in our 07, we regularly towed 6000+ lbs with little issue.
In the end we have chosen to go back to the land cruiser family and settled on a 2010 L200, the extra power is welcome for towing for sure - and so far we're averaging better gas mileage (15.6 vs 14.2) - I fully acknowledge there is a huge price difference in the vehicles, not trying to compare them apples to apples but the L200 is the experience I wanted out of the current generation 4runner, it's the quality I've come to expect from Toyota and the capability I need... (although I'd argue our 07 LC was a far tighter vehicle in terms of tolerances than the 2010 is)
I wanted to share my experience, but certainly am not bagging on or discouraging anyone from ownership, it just wasn't right for us.
I will say their resell is staggering, I bought the car 6 months ago for 36, put 14k miles on it, and sold it for 35,300... so it cost me 700$.
-Z
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