From the November 2002 issue of Car and Driver.
According to Toyota senior vice-president and general manager Don Esmond, mid-size SUVs now account for 10 percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S and are the biggest sellers in the SUV category.
So it doesn’t seem unreasonable for Toyota to have two players in that category: the Highlander, which is a car-based monocoque vehicle, and the 4Runner, which is a body-on-frame vehicle with truck DNA and better off-road potential.
The 4Runner got here first, having played the market for 18 years in three successive generations. Make that four. The new 4Runner is here as a 2003 model, and it’s bigger, heavier, and more powerful than ever before.
Seeking improvements in comfort, on- and off-road handling, safety, performance, and economy, Toyota has completely reinvented the 4Runner. Based on the Prado (a sort-of seven-eighths-scale Land Cruiser not sold in this country) rather than the Tacoma, the new vehicle has a wheelbase that is 4.5 inches longer (109.8 inches), as well as an equal increase in overall length (now 187.8 inches).
Accordingly, the stretched 4Runner offers two more inches of front legroom. There’s 0.4 inch more headroom, and the outboard passengers sit two inches farther apart in an interior that’s now four inches wider.
Under the more-spacious bodywork is a new frame with full-length box-section rails and nine fully welded crossmembers. The front crossmember is mounted low enough to engage the bumpers and crash systems of smaller vehicles, and “soft” front-end sheetmetal and a plastic grille are intended to reduce injury to pedestrians.
Two engines are offered in two- and four-wheel-drive configurations. A new 4.0-liter V-6 is now the base motivation for the 4Runner, developing 245 horsepower at 5200 rpm and a hefty 283 pound-feet of torque at 3400 rpm. As well as being Toyota’s first aluminum truck engine, the 1GR-FE (as it’s known internally) is the product of 3-D engine-modeling techniques and features chain-driven camshafts, variable valve timing with intelligence, and variable intake geometry.
The upscale engine is a 4.7-liter V-8 related to the i-Force mill found in the Sequoia, Tundra, and Land Cruiser. In this guise it produces 235 horsepower at 4800 rpm and 320 pound-feet of torque at 3400 rpm. As you can see from the numbers, the V-6 has more horsepower, but the V-8 has more torque, and it’s delivered across a very broad rev range.
Thus, our V-8-powered 4Runner SR5 test car purred to 60 mph in just eight seconds–no mean feat for a two-plus-ton SUV with full-time four-wheel drive. We’ll have to wait until we test the V-6 model before we’ll know whether it can duplicate that achievement. Clearly, though, power isn’t a problem in the new 4Runner.
Nor is driveline refinement. The 4Runner shifted smoothly and elegantly in every situation through the five ratios of its new automatic transmission. Selecting low range with the dash-mounted rotary switch–also used in the part-time system on V-6 models to shift from two- to four-wheel drive–was equally transparent.
The transfer case in both engine variants uses a lockable Torsen center differential and in normal operating circumstances has a rear-wheel torque bias (the planetary gearing splits torque 40/60 front to rear). It can increase rearward torque distribution up to 70 percent when needed, or send up to 53 percent forward when the rears lose grip.
Combined with a control-arm front suspension and a solid rear axle located by four trailing links and a Panhard rod, the 4Runner’s off-road arsenal looks pretty convincing. And assisting the usual four-wheel-drive traction hardware are two electronic strategies intended to optimize off-road performance. One is Hill-start Assist Control (HAC), a kind of stability-control offshoot that applies brakes and manages torque for tricky uphill launches. The other is Downhill Assist Control (DAC), which works only in low range at an initial speed less than 18 mph when the driver has his feet off the pedals, to maintain a target forward speed of 2 to 4 mph.
Here’s the “grade” strategy for the new 4Runner: three trim levels, with either a V-6 or V-8 engine and optional four-wheel drive that is part-time on V-6 vehicles and full-time when teamed with the V-8. The lowest grade is the SR5, which comes with gray-metallic bumpers, lower cladding, and 16-inch steel wheels (alloys are optional) with 265/70R-16 tires. Figure $26,000 to open. Next up is the Sport model, which is pretty much like the SR5 but has a silver-colored grille and roof rails; a hood scoop; fog lamps; color-keyed, heated outside mirrors; and six-spoke, 17-inch alloy wheels with 65-series rubber. Expect to pay at least $33,000 for a Sport.
The top-of-the-line model is the Limited, with color-keyed bumpers and cladding; illuminated running boards; and five-spoke, 17-inch alloys. The 4Runner interiors vary little from grade to grade, but Sport and Limited variants get leather-wrapped steering wheels with audio and cruise controls. The Limited is also fitted with an anti-theft engine immobilizer, a HomeLink transmitter, silver-colored trim in various places, power-adjustable heated front seats, dual-zone climate controls, and a novel double-decker shelf in the cargo compartment for more efficient storage. Loaded up, the Limited should top out at about $40,000.
An option we have not yet mentioned is the X-Relative Absorber System (X-REAS) that is standard for the Sport model and available as an option on the Limited. We like this one. It’s an installation that links diagonally opposed front and rear shock absorbers via a nitrogen-charged center damper as in Audi’s RS 6. The effect is much like that of the diagonal jacking systems found in CART race cars, and it provides additional roll and pitch damping to such an extent that a 4Runner equipped with X-REAS steers into bends with a discernible lack of roll motions.
Despite its greater size and mass, this largish SUV steers precisely, with no corruption of the line from bump steer, roll steer, or any other shifts in geometry. It eases into bends with nicely cushioned body motions and takes a set that a driver can lean on with real confidence. A new hollow steering rack contributes to the plot with smooth and accurate responses.
No wonder the VSC is so cautious. Relying on feedback alone, a 4Runner driver would soon be exploiting the full handling envelope on the basis of this sense of stability. X-REAS can be coupled with an optional rear air suspension (available only on V-8 Limited 4Runners) that replaces the steel coils with reinforced air bladders. These provide automatic load leveling, a switch-selected ride-height increase (up to 1.5 inches) for rough going, and about three-quarters of an inch of height reduction for loading or trailer hauling. Consistent with the 4Runner’s heritage of off-road capability, ground clearance is listed at 9.1 inches.
Toyota’s professed ambitions for the 4Runner were to improve roadgoing stability and comfort without compromising the off-road potential that many consumers treasure, while upgrading the power, space, and safety of the vehicle. In its attempt to do so, the company has added about 350 pounds to the 4Runner. That may be regrettable, but the new 4Runners are nonetheless better in every way than their predecessors. What’s 350 pounds between friends, anyway?
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Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
