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 Economic 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 should not replicate Client Information’s impressions of your complete mannequin lineup. | |
| Massive & Tall Consolation | |
| Massive Man | A- |
| Tall Man | B+ |
| Massive & Tall consolation rankings are for entrance seats solely. “Massive” score based mostly on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” score based mostly on 6’6″-tall male tester. | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Engine Specs | 278-horsepower 2.4-liter |
| Engine Kind | Turbocharged 4 |
| Transmission | 8-speed computerized |
| Drive Wheels | 4WD |
Noticed gas financial system: 20.5 mpg
Driving combine: 65% metropolis, 35% freeway
EPA-estimated gas financial system: 20/24/21 (mpg metropolis/freeway/mixed)
Gas kind: Common gasoline
Base value: $57,400 (not together with $1450 vacation spot cost)
Choices on check car: Energy operating boards ($1005), towing bundle ($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),
Value as examined: $62,875
Audio-System Model
JLB
Audio-System High quality
Poor Truthful Good Very-Good Glorious
Professionals and Cons
The nice: roomy and cozy cabin, promise of off-road journey
The great: A lot-improved gas financial system, loads of energy
The not so good: Massive value will increase on some trim ranges for 2025
Assessment
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—at the least not in every day use.
Distinctive DNA
What separates the 2 standard automobiles is structure. Whereas the Highlander (and long-wheelbase Grand Highlander) is predicated Toyota’s TNGA-Okay platform, which it shares with the compact Toyota RAV4 and ultra-refined midsize Lexus RX, the 4Runner is predicated 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’ impartial DNA, it’s price noting how comparable they’re. Each automobiles are…
- Roomy
- Refined
- Comparatively straightforward on the gasoline
- Seat as much as seven passengers
- Supply loads of cargo area
Additionally they price about the identical, equally geared up.
Highlander Professionals
That stated, the Highlander offers…
- Quieter cabin
- Higher experience and dealing with
- Simpler entry that to decrease experience peak
- Nicer cabin appointments
- Higher gas financial 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 internal pragmatist desires buyers to go along with the Highlander, we absolutely respect why shoppers searching for one thing slightly “particular” would possibly go for the 4Runner, as a substitute.
4Runner Redesign
Utterly redesigned for 2025, the 4Runner gained slightly cabin area, and shed itself of its historic 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. Customary-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 seems to be 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 value from $53,985 to $68,895, and doesn’t embrace a base SR5 trim stage. Accessible solely in hybrid guise are range-topping Platinum, TRD Professional, and Trailhunter fashions.
Take a look at Automotive
Client Information lately spent every week behind the wheel of a 2025 4Runner Premium that includes quite a few important choices (see costs and choices above in Specs) in Heritage Blue. All instructed, our check automotive got here to $62,875. Observe: Our tester was geared up with the choice 3rd-row seat.
Cabin Appointments
In Restricted trim the 4Runner cabin presents effectively. Maybe slightly shy of luxurious, the inside is good sufficient, and is seemingly effectively screwed collectively. Cabin supplies are slightly pedestrian, however we respect the tidy design, open feeling passenger space, and normal simplicity of the design. Should you’ve been within the Tacoma pickup truck, the 4Runner cabin will appear very acquainted.
Room and luxury
There’s ample front-row area for giant adults, and moving into—and out of—the 4Runner is loads straightforward. Second-row area 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 advantageous Toyota custom the system works effectively as is simple to grow to be accustomed to. Local weather features are dealt with by a row of actual switches situated beneath the display screen, and audio quantity is dealt with by way of an actual, massive knob. Thanks, Toyota. (Quantity will also be managed by way of 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 respect the firmer, extra exact steering, and normal sense of drive engagement. Likewise, the 4Runner’s turbocharged engine in usually refined, however will be felt and heard greater than the powerplants discovered within the Highlander. That stated, we fairly benefit from the sporty character of the drivetrain, and don’t think about it in anyway crude or coarse.
Gas Economic system
Over greater than 200 miles of testing we averaged 20.5 mpg. This compares to the 18.7 mpg we noticed in a check 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 critical 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 stated, we fairly get pleasure from driving the 4Runner, and discover its driving character refreshing. We advocate you test-drive each—regardless of which you suppose you’re contemplating—and let your seat time be your information. Truthfully, we’d go along with the 4Runner simply because we benefit from the road-feel.
Hearken to the Automotive Stuff Podcast
2025 Toyota 4Runner Restricted Photos
Click on beneath for enlarged pictures
2025 Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter: Assessment, Costs, and Specs
