Hi Guys. Just joined. My wife and I bought one of the first Nightshades 10/2018. Metallic Grey with 3rd row option. Fully loaded even with power running boards and full time 4x4. One of the best looking and best built Toyota vehicles ever made.
Its important to note we traded our super white 2016 TRD Pro 4Runner and 2010 FJ green on black 4x4 with manual trans for the nightshade. I still miss the FJ...good beater/daily driver. The Pro was rugged and reliable but we hardly ever offroaded in it. Plus the TRD Pro brand is played out now. I mainly bought a TRD Pro and before that a Ford Raptor not for offroading but so I wouldn't have to visit my service deptartments very often minus oil change AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED AND IT WAS AWESOME. However, I can say hands down my wife and I do Not miss the Pro.
There are so many reasons we like the nightshade over our old TRD Pro 4Runner:
1. Looks awesome. Toyota finally nailed it with all the black trim. Taken them years to do it right.
2. The chrome is smoked, looks almost black. Very cool. Not just black paint with silver chrome.
3. The black trim has a blue flake. Looks good.
4. Our nightshade has AWD vs Pro had crawl control. We take AWD or Full-Time 4x4 any day over 2wd chassis with 4x4 crawl control. The nightshade is way more stable around turns or high winds on hwy, and rain. Its also faster off the line. The AWD mixed with the X-REAS suspension really rides good. We know AWD is not exclusive to nightshade but glad it was borrowed from the original Limited trim offering.
5. Comfort. The ride and more important the SEATS are WAY more comfortable!! The seats in our Pro were terribly hard, smaller, and not comfy. Our Nightshade seats are bigger, softer, and both heated and cooled!! The middle row seats slide and recline vs pro they did neither. Middle row seats also bigger than pro. We bought our nightshade sight unseen. So this and many other features were nice surprises for us after giving up our Pro for "some shiny black wheels and black trim". The nightshade is thankfully much more than an appearance package.
6. Our nightshade has 3rd row seating and a storage compartment in back. Pro only had 2 rows with tailgate pullout which we rarely used. Some nightshades dont have 3rd row so check this out before buying. You will know quick if you see seatbelts hanging in the very back. The new cargo mat in back also comes up high on the sides so you wont scratch your plastic molding as much in rear but it will need to come out if you use 3rd row.
7. Came with sweet 4runner embroidered rubber floormats, nice black door guards, nice embroidered rear cargo trey, and clear bra on hood. All toyota products installed before reaching dealer lot. Even clear bra has toyota emblem embedded/hidden. Note, my neighbor nightshade came with different tires more A/T looking, no front clear bra, no door guards, and no rear cargo mat. *We lucked out.
8. Stereo. Our nightshade has the JBL stereo. Its awesome! Our Pro had a junk stereo that we always had to turn to max to hear. Not anymore!!
9. Memory seats. Our Pro didn't have memory seats. Huge plus if married!! Lol
10. Sunroof. Our Pro didn't have a sunroof.
11. Different heat shield under hood. Pro model looked better (no yellow shards) but nightshade heat shield looks higher quality.
12. One item carried over, the black sparkle dash. Which we loved in our Pro. Thankfully it carried over into our nightshade. It can be a pain to clean but it looks best. We also like the shift knob in our nightshade more than the pro, its more secure and easier to grab.
13. One simple knob controls 4x4 + 2 buttons up top. Our Pro had two shift knobs + 5 more knobs and buttons for 4x4. Too much. I was raised on floor mounted shifters and they work but the nightshade 4x4 knob is just right. Note, its not a stupid terrain select knob like in most new 4x4 SUV...its just a knob that says 4wd, 4hi, 4lo. How it should be. Will I ever use it since we have AWD and shiny black wheels..not likely. But its nice knowing its there if needed.
14. The stitching is white vs red. We loved the red in our Pro but white goes really good.
15. Power running boards!! My fam loves the power running boards. They work great, hold plenty of weight, hidden when not on, and you can turn them off if not needed if tall. Our Pro didnt have running boards bc they were too bulky etc. It was kinda tough to get in/out of. Not on the nightshade.
16. Parking sensors front and rear. These really help and not in our Pro. You can turn them off too.
17. Toyota Safety Connect. Our nightshade has TSC so if stolen or accident help is on the way.
18. The 2019 nightshade is the only 5th gen model year to have nightshade option. It will be rare and already collectible since its the 35th anniversary 4Runner vehicle.
19. We only paid 1K more for our nightshade and got so much more vs TRD Pro 4Runner. Thankfully we bought ours before dealers knew about them. We actually didn't have to special order it and it was traded to our dealer so no one knew what was coming. They thought I was crazy selling my mint low mile TRD Pro and FJ for nightshade. Then the dealer saw nightshade and everyone crapped pant. So awesome. Now for 3rd row metallic grey nightshade with 4x4...some dealers adding 5-10K mark up. Yuck.
20. It still has the tiny nav screen same as our Pro. However, this system works much better than Toyota's new nav system. Toyota kept the good and ditched the bad. Its like they took our Pro and fixed everything we didn't like and called it a nightshade. Its our forever car.
I drove it 5k miles roundtrip cross country earlier this year for work. Drove perfect. Everyone loved it!
Overall our least favorite thing about the nightshade is keeping it clean (ESPECIALLY THE WHEELS!). That's one thing I can say about our old Pro that was better...its wheels were easy to clean and keep clean. But when clean the nightshade is a show stopper. People think we are either famous or law enforcement. Hahaha!! Ya right. We're just regular folks. Oh and adding front license plate cover and license plate really hurt the look of the car IMO. I finally added front plate Today...8 months later. Wish I could take it off. O'well.
Note, I dont like the White nightshade as much. My neighbor bought a white one right after me and it looks good but not awesome. Plus it reminds me of our pro but not. Suggest if you buy a nightshade only go with black or grey colors. Some of the black ones have silver chrome trim to help balance all of the black which looks good but a lot to keep clean on the black one. The grey one comes with all black trim...even roof racks.
Advice: BUY ONE NOW IF YOU CAN FIND ONE!
Nightshade mods installed thus far:
Sprint Booster V3 (Required!)
Pedal Lock SBV3
TRD Air Filter
USA Flag decals rear windows (matte black)
0% Tint front windows
Limo tint all rear windows
Remote access dash cam with GPS tracking
Headrest tablet holders mfg by Toyota
Toyota tow hitch cover (rubber type)
Few other minor things
Wish list:
Id like to swap exhaust and widen the tires but for now keeping as is.
