Even with a new Tundra, Sequoia, and Tacoma out this year, the fifth-generation Toyota 4Runner will live on through 2024.
It appears that the current Toyota 4Runner will stick around unchanged for 2024. Yes, the same truck that has been in production for 15 model years, with its five-speed automatic transmission and 4.0-liter naturally aspirated V6, will live to see another year of adventures.
Toyota reports no changes for the 2024 model year except for two new colors: a 4Runner TRD Pro exclusive color called Terra, shared with the new Tacoma, and Underground. While it gets the aforementioned 270-horsepower drivetrain that feels like 1995 again, all seven trim levels come standard with a full advanced driver’s assistance suite, including adaptive cruise control. This is just a guess, but this might be one of the oldest powertrains ever paired with something as new-school as adaptive cruise.
The 4Runner is one of the world’s last and greatest examples of not fixing what isn’t broken—right up there with the Dodge Durango. And it doesn’t really suffer for it. The folks who still want to buy a new 4Runner in 2024 are deliberately looking for something simple and rugged and might even lament that it will become much more complicated after its long-awaited update. There’s much to be said for 15 years of aftermarket development and proven reliability, too. Hell, folks who buy this will even love the simple and plasticky interior with a tiny touchscreen–a time machine back to 2009.
Age doesn’t hurt its offroad capability, either. This is still the same 4×4 rig that defined much of the last two decades in off-roading and still has the moves to keep up with new stuff. You can still get the Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS), essentially active sway bars, and off-road oriented trims still get the brilliant off-road traction control systems and a locking rear differential. Best of all, Toyota has had a long time to figure out and refine them.
A render of what the 2025 Toyota 4Runner might look like. 4Runner6G.com, used with permission
In all seriousness, a 2024 4Runner in one of the two new colors might be a desirable machine in a few years, but the new one is coming right up. So this is a crossroads: Do you buy the last of the old-school 4Runners, or do you let the old hound dive headfirst into Valhalla and buy a new one in a year?
