vehicular obsession

With all the hype about the revamped Toyota trucks like the Land Cruiser and the Tacoma, along with the news about the twin turbo Tundras grenading, time has been silently passing as we approach the end of production for the last naturally aspirated Toyota truck. The 2024 4Runner is truly the last of an era – or should we say the last of the traditional, simple truck – for Toyota.

Redesigned in 2010 for US markets, some might have already said ten years ago that the 5th gen 4Runner was getting long in the tooth. And to add to that, the 2010 model wasn’t much of a departure from its predecessor. But with its primative V-6 and 5-speed automatic transmission, what the truck lacks in power and fuel economy, it makes up for in its reliability and resale value.

Historically, whenever Toyota comes out with a largely redesigned model, it’s greeted with a great deal of skepticism and criticism, with some of the common comments being to the effect of, “mine has three quadtrillion miles and all I’ve done is oil changes and it’s still worth what I paid for it new. Why would you change it?” Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but the traditional appeal of Toyotas to consumers has largely been reliability and resale value. Not driving excitement or the latest tech.

Unfortunately, like it or not, all good things must come to an end at some point and someone must have decided we can’t be driving turn-of-the-millennium technology vehicles forever. But who’s to blame?

First, consumers are probably the biggest ones to blame. it’s human nature to want it all – power, torque, fuel economy, handling and all the latest tech. When the other manufacturers are making vehicles that surpass Toyota in all of these categories, it can be assumed that Toyota has felt pressure to keep up. But, as evidenced by the new Tundra, keeping up can come with costs.

Secondly, emission regulations have continually pressured Toyota to modernize their truck lineup and reduce carbon emissions. By integrating turbocharged engines and exploring hybrid and electric options, Toyota is addressing regulatory challenges.

Image source: Toyota USA

Like it or not, come 2025, all of Toyota’s body-on-frame trucks and SUVs will now exclusively have turbo, or turbo-hybrid drivelines. Over the next few months, traditional Toyota fanboys and girls will still be able to secure a naturally aspirated Toyota truck for the last time (for now anyway). As of writing this, cars.com still shows over 2,600 new 4runners in dealer inventory across the U.S., which can be expected to sharply drop over the coming months as 2025 production ramps up and the new models begin to hit lots.

Looking at a similar model shift, the lack of demand for the 2022+ Tundras has driven up the price and demand of the pre-2022s substantially. Will the 2024 4runner follow the same pattern as we’re seeing with the 2021 Tundras now? Time will tell.

If FOMO is whispering in your ear about getting a 2024 4runner before the traditional Toyota trucks are gone, you might want to act sooner than later!