Textual content by Tom Appel
2025 Toyota 4Runner Restricted 4WD
Specs
Class: Midsize Crossover
Nation of Manufacture: Japan
Miles pushed: 207
| CG Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Room and Consolation | B |
| Energy and Efficiency | B |
| Match and End | B |
| Gas Financial system | B+ |
| Worth | B |
| Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus different automobiles in the identical class. Worth grade is for particular trim stage evaluated, and will not mirror Client Information’s impressions of the whole mannequin lineup. | |
| Huge & Tall Consolation | |
| Huge Man | A- |
| Tall Man | B+ |
| Huge & Tall consolation scores are for entrance seats solely. “Huge” score primarily based on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” score primarily based on 6’6″-tall male tester. | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Engine Specs | 278-horsepower 2.4-liter |
| Engine Sort | Turbocharged 4 |
| Transmission | 8-speed computerized |
| Drive Wheels | 4WD |
Noticed gas economic system: 20.5 mpg
Driving combine: 65% metropolis, 35% freeway
EPA-estimated gas economic system: 20/24/21 (mpg metropolis/freeway/mixed)
Gas kind: Common fuel
Base worth: $57,400 (not together with $1450 vacation spot cost)
Choices on take a look at automobile: Energy working boards ($1005), towing package deal ($400), LED tailgate mild ($200), Third-row bench seat ($1330), tow-ball mount ($65), black roof-rack rails ($420), TRD air filter ($90). chrome wheel locks ($90), cargo mat ($130), LED lantern ($160),
Worth as examined: $62,875
Audio-System Model
JLB
Audio-System High quality
Poor Truthful Good Very-Good Wonderful
Professionals and Cons
The good: roomy and cozy cabin, promise of off-road journey
The great: A lot-improved gas economic system, loads of energy
The not so good: Huge worth will increase on some trim ranges for 2025
Overview
Toyota has been blessed with not one, however two, well-regarded and highly regarded midsize utility automobiles. One is the refined and household road-trip pleasant Highlander, the opposite the rugged-but-functional 4Runner. And although the 2 Toyotas serve completely different masters, they’re in the end not all that completely different—a minimum of not in each day use.
Distinctive DNA
What separates the 2 in style automobiles is structure. Whereas the Highlander (and long-wheelbase Grand Highlander) relies Toyota’s TNGA-Okay platform, which it shares with the compact Toyota RAV4 and ultra-refined midsize Lexus RX, the 4Runner relies on the maker’s TNGA-F structure, which additionally underpins such off-road-ready rides because the Toyota Tacoma and Lexus GX.
The distinction comes all the way down to the Highlander’s carlike “unibody” design versus the 4Runner’s truck-based “body-on-frame” basis.
Highlander and 4Runner Similarities
Really, given the 2 automobiles’ unbiased DNA, it’s price noting how related they’re. Each automobiles are…
- Roomy
- Refined
- Comparatively straightforward on the fuel
- Seat as much as seven passengers
- Supply loads of cargo house
In addition they price about the identical, equally outfitted.
Highlander Professionals
That mentioned, the Highlander supplies…
- Quieter cabin
- Higher trip and dealing with
- Simpler entry that to decrease trip top
- Nicer cabin appointments
- Higher gas economic system
4Runner Professionals
Whereas the 4Runner boasts…
- Sportier character
- Higher off highway functionality (together with deep snow)
- Better most towing capability (6000 kilos versus 5000)
- Arguably higher design (we just like the look higher)
And whereas our inside pragmatist desires customers to go along with the Highlander, we totally recognize why customers in search of one thing slightly “particular” may go for the 4Runner, as a substitute.
4Runner Redesign
Utterly redesigned for 2025, the 4Runner gained slightly cabin house, and shed itself of its historical and inefficient 4.0-liter V6 engine. For ’25, the 4Runner is fitted with both a 278-horsepower turbocharged 2.4-liter 4, or Toyota’s branded i-Drive Max turbocharged and hybrid 2.4-liter 4 rated at 326 horsepower. Commonplace-engine 4Runners include both rear-wheel drive or 4WD, whereas i-Drive Max editions are fitted solely with 4WD. All 4Runners comes with an 8-speed computerized transmission.
Trim Ranges and Costs
Toyota roughly thinks of the usual and hybrid 4Runners as separate product strains, treating the hybrids as premium trim ranges. For 2025, the non-hybrid 4Runner lineup appears like this:
- SR5 ($42,795)
- TRD Sport ($49,245)
- TRD Off-Highway ($51,185)
- TRD Sport Premium ($54,605)
- TRD Off-Highway Premium ($56,965)
- Restricted ($59,395)
The 2025 hybrid lineup ranges in worth from $53,985 to $68,895, and doesn’t embrace a base SR5 trim stage. Out there solely in hybrid guise are range-topping Platinum, TRD Professional, and Trailhunter fashions.
Take a look at Automobile
Client Information not too long ago spent every week behind the wheel of a 2025 4Runner Premium that includes plenty of important choices (see costs and choices above in Specs) in Heritage Blue. All informed, our take a look at automobile got here to $62,875. Notice: Our tester was outfitted with the choice 3rd-row seat.
Cabin Appointments
In Restricted trim the 4Runner cabin presents properly. Maybe slightly shy of luxurious, the inside is good sufficient, and is outwardly properly screwed collectively. Cabin supplies are slightly pedestrian, however we recognize the tidy design, open feeling passenger space, and common simplicity of the design. In the event you’ve been within the Tacoma pickup truck, the 4Runner cabin will appear very acquainted.
Room and luxury
There’s ample front-row house for large adults, and stepping into—and out of—the 4Runner is a lot straightforward. Second-row house is equally beneficiant, and even taller people will discover all of the room they want. The obtainable 3rd-row is much less accommodating, however will simply match youthful—and extra agile—passengers. Simply don’t anticipate adults to be glad within the final row on longer journeys.
Controls and Connectivity
Most in-cabin operations are managed by the 4Runner’s massive console touchscreen, and in tremendous Toyota custom the system works properly as is simple to develop into accustomed to. Local weather features are dealt with by a row of actual switches positioned beneath the display screen, and audio quantity is dealt with through an actual, massive knob. Thanks, Toyota. (Quantity may also be managed through the steering wheel.)
Experience and Dealing with
And whereas the 4Runner is louder and slightly extra rigid-riding than the Highlander as soon as underway, we recognize the firmer, extra exact steering, and common sense of drive engagement. Likewise, the 4Runner’s turbocharged engine in usually refined, however may be felt and heard greater than the powerplants discovered within the Highlander. That mentioned, we somewhat benefit from the sporty character of the drivetrain, and don’t take into account it in anyway crude or coarse.
Gas Financial system
Over greater than 200 miles of testing we averaged 20.5 mpg. This compares to the 18.7 mpg we noticed in a take a look at 2025 4Runner Trailhunter with the i-Max engine, and the 17.3 mpg we averaged in a previous-generation 2022 4Runner TRD Sport fitted with the outdated V6.
Worth
Except you reside someplace that suffers from severe snow-sourced entry points, otherwise you’re a doomsday prepper, it in all probability makes extra sense to go along with the wonderful Highlander as a substitute of the 4Runner. That mentioned, we somewhat take pleasure in driving the 4Runner, and discover its driving character refreshing. We suggest you test-drive each—irrespective of which you suppose you’re contemplating—and let your seat time be your information. Truthfully, we would go along with the 4Runner simply because we benefit from the road-feel.
Hearken to the Automobile Stuff Podcast
2025 Toyota 4Runner Restricted Footage
Click on under for enlarged pictures