Test Drove a trail edition last night...

H

Hugo

New member
First of all, I'm new here.

I had a manual 3rd gen for 8 years, and loved it.

I never liked the 4th gen, but I really like this one, so I test drove one.

Well, something seems to be lacking...

Holy crap this thing is slow.

I wasn't expecting a rocket, and being used to my Legacy wagon (330 hp sleeper FTW), I'm a bit spoiled, but man...

I swear my manual 3rd gen with 183hp felt faster than this thing which has roughly 90 more horses...

Maybe it was because it was cold out and traction in 2wd was sketchy at best (traction control would kick in), or maybe it was because I'm not used to having to mash the gas to get any kind of reaction from a goddamn slushbox, I have no idea.

Overall, the truck is super nice, rides wonderfully, the interior amenities are fine, I could totally see myself in one, but I will definitely have to test drive one when temperature allows for a more thorough evaluation of the powerplant, because so far, I'm not impressed.

An Xterra feels quicker.

Why, oh WHY do they NOT offer it with a shift stick...

At least the salesman gave me the press kit, which is NOT supposed to be given to the public and goes into greater details to explain the various features of the truck (and also explains the key words to «sell» the truck, LOL!).

The brochure itself sucks beyond belief.

Was I a victim of inclement conditions, or is the truck really a slug?
 
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I have had 2010 SR5 for a week and I know what you mean about the quickness. For a vehicle with 270hp, I expected it to feel much quicker than it does. However, I took it out this weekend over I-70 in Colorado and I could really feel the 270hp when driving through the mountains. It never lacked power, which is great for living in Colorado. So for me, the lack of quickness in getting from one stop light to another in the city is okay. It all depends on what you want the power for. Also, remember that it weights 2+ tons, which is a lot of mass to accelerate.

Pat
 
Hugo said:
First of all, I'm new here.

I had a manual 3rd gen for 8 years, and loved it.

I never liked the 4th gen, but I really like this one, so I test drove one.

Well, something seems to be lacking...

Holy crap this thing is slow.

I wasn't expecting a rocket, and being used to my Legacy wagon (330 hp sleeper FTW), I'm a bit spoiled, but man...

I swear my manual 3rd gen with 183hp felt faster than this thing which has roughly 90 more horses...

Maybe it was because it was cold out and traction in 2wd was sketchy at best (traction control would kick in), or maybe it was because I'm not used to having to mash the gas to get any kind of reaction from a goddamn slushbox, I have no idea.

Overall, the truck is super nice, rides wonderfully, the interior amenities are fine, I could totally see myself in one, but I will definitely have to test drive one when temperature allows for a more thorough evaluation of the powerplant, because so far, I'm not impressed.

An Xterra feels quicker.

Why, oh WHY do they NOT offer it with a shift stick...

At least the salesman gave me the press kit, which is NOT supposed to be given to the public and goes into greater details to explain the various features of the truck (and also explains the key words to «sell» the truck, LOL!).

The brochure itself sucks beyond belief.

Was I a victim of inclement conditions, or is the truck really a slug?
Click to expand...

My daily drivers are an 07 VW GTI (200hp turbo) and an 05 MINI S (170hp supercharged, 2600lbs). I thought the vehicle seemed plenty quick for an SUV. You could feel the heft of the vehicle, but the speed ticked off at an appropriote rate, IMO. I've read that the 0-60 is just under 8 seconds, which is probably right there w/ my old GC6 2.5RS.
 
Hugo said:
First of all, I'm new here.

I had a manual 3rd gen for 8 years, and loved it.

I never liked the 4th gen, but I really like this one, so I test drove one.

Well, something seems to be lacking...

Holy crap this thing is slow.

I wasn't expecting a rocket, and being used to my Legacy wagon (330 hp sleeper FTW), I'm a bit spoiled, but man...

I swear my manual 3rd gen with 183hp felt faster than this thing which has roughly 90 more horses...

Maybe it was because it was cold out and traction in 2wd was sketchy at best (traction control would kick in), or maybe it was because I'm not used to having to mash the gas to get any kind of reaction from a goddamn slushbox, I have no idea.

Overall, the truck is super nice, rides wonderfully, the interior amenities are fine, I could totally see myself in one, but I will definitely have to test drive one when temperature allows for a more thorough evaluation of the powerplant, because so far, I'm not impressed.

An Xterra feels quicker.

Why, oh WHY do they NOT offer it with a shift stick...

At least the salesman gave me the press kit, which is NOT supposed to be given to the public and goes into greater details to explain the various features of the truck (and also explains the key words to «sell» the truck, LOL!).

The brochure itself sucks beyond belief.

Was I a victim of inclement conditions, or is the truck really a slug?
Click to expand...

It's definitely not a slug. If you read some of the other posts here, there seems to be a debate regarding power. However, I can tell you (and others here will back me up) that the power is definitely there. This is a VVTi engine, which means the opening and closing of the valves change depending on the power you are trying to achieve.

Do this the next time you drive one ... find a straight stretch of road and watch your tac. Once you hit the 3,500/4,000 RPM range, you will feel the power kick in. The VVTi engine is for conserving fuel. This allows you to drive the vehicle at a normal pace to conserve fuel. When you need more power, the valves change to give you the power you need.

If anyone else can explain this better than me, please do so.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Yeah, I merged on the highway, and the truck went from 60 to 85+ in what seemed like a short amount of time, yet I never «felt» it. Very weird.

My Subaru is a turbo, so you feel the boost kicking in, my other car is an E36 M3, and despite being slow by today's standards, it does pull hard 'till redline.

But from a stoplight... sheesh... it does weigh 2 tons, I'll give you that. But it's only 600-ish lbs heavier than my 3rd gen, yet has .6 liters more displacement and a lot more hp.

I will probably own one, but a little more oomph wouldn't hurt.

I'd give my left nut for a manual diesel one.
 
I had a Stage 2 WRX STi....my 2010 Limited feels obviously slower, but its no slouch. I haven't done any dedicated 0-60 runs or anything, but all the literature is saying 7.5 - 8.0 sec mark....that's Land Rover HSE territory, not bad at all.
 
simonj said:
I had a Stage 2 WRX STi....my 2010 Limited feels obviously slower, but its no slouch. I haven't done any dedicated 0-60 runs or anything, but all the literature is saying 7.5 - 8.0 sec mark....that's Land Rover HSE territory, not bad at all.
Click to expand...

The literature also claimed my 3rd gen would do 0-60 in 9 seconds flat and it never ever did that.

The new 4Runner is also rated at 31 mpg on the highway. Seems very farfetched to me.

Stage 2 STi... yummy.

My car is stage 2 as well. It's cool to mess with STis with a family wagon.
 
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Hugo said:
The literature also claimed my 3rd gen would do 0-60 in 9 seconds flat and it never ever did that.

The new 4Runner is also rated at 31 mpg on the highway. Seems very farfetched to me.

Stage 2 STi... yummy.

My car is stage 2 as well. It's cool to mess with STis with a family wagon.
Click to expand...

31mpg highway? The 4WD models are rated at 22mpg highway. 2WD is rated at 23mpg highway.

Turbos are good at translating acceleration to the driver. I was driving my buddies CTS-V and it didn't feel fast because the torque is all at the lower engine speeds. The speedo confirmed that I was quickly approaching nearly double the speed limit (55mph highway straight stretch).

If you are looking for an SUV that accelerates the way your LGT does, you're going to have to find something from Stuttgart.
 
Quentin said:
31mpg highway? The 4WD models are rated at 22mpg highway. 2WD is rated at 23mpg highway.

Turbos are good at translating acceleration to the driver. I was driving my buddies CTS-V and it didn't feel fast because the torque is all at the lower engine speeds. The speedo confirmed that I was quickly approaching nearly double the speed limit (55mph highway straight stretch).

If you are looking for an SUV that accelerates the way your LGT does, you're going to have to find something from Stuttgart.
Click to expand...

Nah, not looking for this.

I got the brochure in front of me right now.

22 city
31 highway
25 combined

I wonder if I could get a rebate because of this obvious false advertising...

:D
 
Must be that new hybrid version with the gas pedal that only goes down 10% for safety reasons. :biggrin2:

Hugo said:
Nah, not looking for this.

I got the brochure in front of me right now.

22 city
31 highway
25 combined

I wonder if I could get a rebate because of this obvious false advertising...

:D
Click to expand...
 
I drive stupid fast cars all the time and was initially yawning when it came to the power of the 4Runner. Even after a few weeks, it was feeling like a heavy pair of boots. But one night I pulled away from a stop sign, with my foot hard to the floor, taking it all the way to redline in every gear.
Holy smokes. It was like I had awakened the beast within. When you really need to move, the 4Runner will answer the call - not with sports car hyperbole, but definitely enough to motivate a 4,700-lb SUV.
I also suspect that if you were driving with a salesperson, you didn't realize the full potential. All that said, if you still find it lacking, it wouldn't be too hard to extract a few more horsepower with bolt-on aftermarket parts.
 
Hugo said:
Nah, not looking for this.

I got the brochure in front of me right now.

22 city
31 highway
25 combined

I wonder if I could get a rebate because of this obvious false advertising...

:D
Click to expand...
going by what the brochure on the toyota website, the toyota specs on the mpgs for the V6 are:

17 city
22hwy
19 combined

the inline-4 is rated for 18city/23hwy

not sure where you're getting your specs from.
 
SecretAgent said:
going by what the brochure on the toyota website, the toyota specs on the mpgs for the V6 are:

17 city
22hwy
19 combined

the inline-4 is rated for 18city/23hwy

not sure where you're getting your specs from.
Click to expand...

The Toyota official brochure I got from the dealer last night. Which is way out of line obviously.
 
Hugo said:
I swear my manual 3rd gen with 183hp felt faster than this thing which has roughly 90 more horses...
Click to expand...
The 5th gen weighs about 1000 lbs more than your 3rd gen -- curb weight is around 4700 lbs. If you want a faster truck, look for a lightly used 4th gen V8. Yes, I know, you don't like the 4th gen styling.

Why, oh WHY do they NOT offer it with a shift stick...
Click to expand...
Because less than 10% of the buyers would buy a stick. With sales of the 4Runner running about 20,000 units per year, that would be maybe 2,000 sales of the stick shift. And it would require additional EPA testing and likely crash testing as well. So they would spend millions of dollars for 2,000 sales -- in other words, it would never pay for itself.
 
dekeman said:
I drive stupid fast cars all the time and was initially yawning when it came to the power of the 4Runner. Even after a few weeks, it was feeling like a heavy pair of boots. But one night I pulled away from a stop sign, with my foot hard to the floor, taking it all the way to redline in every gear.
Holy smokes. It was like I had awakened the beast within. When you really need to move, the 4Runner will answer the call - not with sports car hyperbole, but definitely enough to motivate a 4,700-lb SUV.
I also suspect that if you were driving with a salesperson, you didn't realize the full potential. All that said, if you still find it lacking, it wouldn't be too hard to extract a few more horsepower with bolt-on aftermarket parts.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what happened to me! I was afraid to push it during the break-in period so I was taking it easy. My first experience was passing someone while pulling onto the highway and I was literally pushed in my seat. Every once in a while, when nobody is around, I step on it to achieve that feeling again! It almost feels like I have a nitros button! ;)
 
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