Why The 2025 Toyota 4Runner Is The SUV For Every Occasion

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know the highly-anticipated Toyota 4 Runner made its debut earlier this week. It’s an all-new model, riding on an all-new platform, powered by an all-new engine. It’s one of the biggest departures from the traditional 4Runner formula, and we don’t think that’s a bad thing. The outgoing model was on sale for 14 years, so it was time for something new. And as we discovered while researching the history of the 4Runner, it’s not the first turbocharged four-pot powered model either.

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Instead of dropping the available trim levels, which is a trend in the automotive industry, Toyota added two more models to the range. It may seem like an odd choice, considering every 4Runner essentially does the same job, and there’s a new, smaller Land Cruiser doubling duty in this off-road space. But if we look at the trims available for the final model year of the outgoing model, we’ll see this is not actually the case. Let’s explore the older trims before diving into the new models that debuted alongside the all-new model.

The 2024 4Runner Had Fewer Trims Than You Thought

Basic Trims, But With Added Luxury

Technically, the 2024 Toyota 4Runner range consisted of the SR5, TRD Sport, SR5 Premium, TRD Off-Road, TRD Off-Road Premium, Limited, and TRD Pro. But if we look closer, we can see that the differences between these trims are not vast. The SR5, SR5 Premium, and TRD Sport are basically the same car. The SR5 Premium simply added a few luxury items, while the TRD Sport was an SR5 with a few cosmetic enhancements. It didn’t even come standard with a part-time 4WD system. For that, you had to upgrade to the TRD Off-Road or the TRD Off-Road Premium, which, once again, simply added some luxuries.

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The Limited was the most luxurious model, while the TRD Pro was the most hardcore off-roader in the range. We’re not criticizing the previous 4Runner’s range, however. Sales were high right to the end, which means it must have been sufficient for most buyers. In fact, all of these trims have been carried over to the new model. Still, there were some gaps left to be filled.

The previous range consisted of seven models, which Toyota has now extended to nine. Let’s take a closer look at these new trims and how they’ve finally transformed the 4Runner into an SUV for every occasion.

Platinum – The Perfect Trim For The ‘Burbs

4WD Grip With All The Luxuries

The Platinum builds on the success of the Limited, which was the only previous-generation 4Runner available with a permanent four-wheel drive system. To understand why this is important, you need a basic understanding of the difference between a part-time and a full-time 4WD system. The short explanation is that a part-time system does not have an open center differential, which means the power is constantly split in a 50:50 ratio between the front and rear axle. If you drive it on a grippy or even semi-grippy surface (such as a wet road or even a hard gravel road), it can cause damage to the drivetrain.

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A full-time 4WD system constantly sends power to the front and rear axle, which means it has an open center differential. You can keep driving on wet tar without worrying about putting extra strain on the rest of the drivetrain. Now, people have argued that a complex system like this is no longer necessary because of traction and stability control. We respectfully disagree because we’d rather have enough grip on a slippery road to not cause problems, rather than have an electronic nanny sort the problem out after the fact. Therefore, it’s the perfect system for the new Platinum trim because it will spend most of its time in the suburbs, doing the school run.

We also like the idea of a more luxurious 4Runner, as it now also competes with a host of unibody SUVs like the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride. The Platinum adds to the Limited’s impressive list of standard features with nice-to-haves like model-specific black exterior styling elements, heated second-row seats, a head-up display, rain-sensing wipers, and a standard tow-tech package to make the most of the improved 6,000-pound tow-rating.

Extensive Safety Features To Keep Your Family Safe

As a family vehicle, safety is a primary concern. Each model in the range gets Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 as standard, which consists of the following features:

• The Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection
• Lane Departure Alert
• Dynamic Radar Cruise Control will have Full-Speed Range
• Lane Tracing Assist
• Emergency Driving Stop
• Road Sign Assist
• Proactive Driving Assist

The Platinum trim adds even more safety features, such as blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert that will let you know if a vehicle is approaching when reversing out of a parking space. But wait, as the beloved Billy Mays said, there’s more. Toyota didn’t provide exterior images of the Platinum, but we expect it to build on the design of the Limited, which is a little less aggressive than the rest of the range. It just looks at home in a more picturesque setting rather than in a mudbath.

A Rise In Overlanding Popularity

Off-roading is a term that covers many kinds of driving. The basic definition is driving over unpaved surfaces, which means it covers everything from battling through Zambia’s thick mud to driving down a nicely kept gravel road to a lovely tea garden/art gallery. Unfortunately, hardcore off-roaders don’t agree with this definition, which means off-roading has become a day or weekend adventure where drivers tackle a set route full of challenging obstacles that test their cars to the limit. There’s nothing wrong with this kind of off-roading, but personally, I despise it. On every single short off-road adventure I’ve been on, there’s always one moron who cracks a Bud Light at 10 AM and doesn’t stick to the basic rules of off-roading.

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Overlanding falls under the banner of off-roading, but it’s an extended trip to remote destinations. The purpose is not to stress the car, though you might encounter some tricky obstacles along the way, like rocky and muddy terrain, and river crossings. Overlanders also have to be completely self-sustaining, which means they have to take a bed, food, water, and everything else they need to survive. An overlanding trip is not so much about the destination, but more about the experience. It’s about getting off the grid and enjoying nature. There are several cars perfectly suited to this kind of adventure, and the Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter and the all-new 4Runner Trailhunter are the latest vehicles to join that list.

Trailhunter – Overlander Straight From The Factory

The interest in overlanding has spiked over the last decade, but the cost of building the perfect rig has traditionally been expensive. But the Trailhunter trim takes care of all the mechanical changes you need. To give you the best possible chance of surviving an overland expedition, Toyota partnered with experts in the field. That’s why the Trailhunter is equipped with ARB’s Old Man Emu 2.5-inch forged shocks, an ARB roof rack, and 33-inch Toyo Open Country A/T tires that provide an extra two inches of ground clearance and the front, and another half-inch at the rear. The air intake is mounted higher, and you get rock rails and high-strength steel skid plates, and a 20-inch integrated light bar at the front. To power all your equipment, it also comes standard with a 2,400W AC inverter. These are the most expensive traditional upgrades, now worked into the price of a 4Runner you can buy from the dealer floor. This means you get to pay for the equipment as part of the financing deal, so you don’t need to go out and make expensive one-off purchases, and it’s all covered by a manufacturer warranty.

As if that’s not cool enough, Toyota also has a range of accessories you can also add to the price, including an electric freezer to keep your meat frozen, robust cargo cases to protect your stuff on the roof rack, an ARB premium recovery kit, sand boards, ARB recovery hooks, a tire inflator, camp chairs, camp tables, and portable solar panel kits. These are just a few of the hundreds of items available. And all of them can also be added to the price of the car, so you can finance everything all at once. In fact, the only thing we couldn’t find was a rooftop tent, but you can get a rather luxurious one for $2,000.

Conclusion – Success Depends On Price

Toyota doesn’t break its 4Runner sales figures down into trim levels, but if we look at used car websites, the TRD Pro appears to be the most popular model. This is fairly unusual, as top-spec models tend not to be top sellers. Usually it’s the mid-spec cars that get the most attention. This bodes well for the Platinum and Trailhunter, which sit at the top of the 4Runner pile with the most powerful engine. In case you haven’t seen the figures yet, here’s how the new 2.4-liter i-Force Max compared to the outgoing 4.0-liter V6.

Since 4Runner owners are perfectly happy to pay for the top-spec models (probably because Toyota’s don’t lose that much value over time), we can see both the Platinum and Trailhunter selling well. There will always be a market for luxurious high-riding SUVs that never see anything more treacherous than a mall parking lot, and the demand for overland vehicles is growing rapidly. Covering both these bases was a smart move and will likely result in Toyota selling even more 4Runners than it already does.