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2014 Toyota 4Runner Review - Video

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Tough and rugged, can the 4Runner please all parties
by Steve Elmer

Many storied names in off-roading have changed course in recent years, and now serve better as family haulers because, frankly, that is where the money is.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder, and even the Range Rover now use unibody construction, a move that Toyota refuses to make with the 4Runner, for better and worse.

Not to say that unibody vehicles can’t hack it when the pavement ends, but the simple truth is unibody vehicles will never offer the reliability and dependability of a body-on-frame off-roader. That’s something Toyota is banking on.

Marshmallow Inpired Ride

So what are the differences? Well the most obvious trait of a body-on-frame vehicle, and the one sure to be noticed first by families cross-shopping these vehicles with their unibody competitors, is body roll, and the 4Runner is no exception. On SR5 and Trail models – the two lower trims – the 4Runner tips like its riding on marshmallows, not offering a smooth ride.

However our tester was outfitted in Limited trim, and Toyota knows that to keep its top-tier buyers happy, the ride has to be smooth, which is why the 4Runner Limited gets special treatment. This model forgoes the proper two-speed transfer case in favor of a center limited slip differential and most importantly, it gets a system Toyota calls X-REAS that automatically adjusts damping force and uses a central control absorber that cross-links the shocks to keep the ride as smooth as possible. It does a fairly good job of keeping the 4Runner Limited flat in the corners, but the body-on-frame dynamics still seep through.
Read the complete 2014 Toyota 4Runner Review at AutoGuide.com

 
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