At long last, after no less than 15 years on the market, the N280 fifth-generation Toyota 4Runner mid-size off-road SUV is getting a new iteration – and the Japanese automaker has opened the floodgates to the teaser bonanza.
Toyota USA flaunted all five generations on social media and included a quick capture of the sixth-generation 4Runner's rear end in the attached gallery. For now, the details are scarce, but we know that it's not going to be the only teaser if we judge the situation by what happened with the 2024 Tacoma mid-size pickup truck sibling.
Everyone and their mother is also fully expecting the all-new 4Runner to share more than a trait or two with the N400 fourth-generation Taco, including the TNGA-F body-on-frame platform, design traits, many of the interior goodies, as well as the 2.4-liter T24A-FTS turbo inline-four gasoline engine – with or without the hybrid option.
The first to arrive will most likely be the base 228-hp variant and the higher 278-horsepower tune, complete with the six-speed manual transmission and the eight-speed automatic gearbox. Don't count on the 326-hp hybrid to appear during the first model year of the new iteration – Toyota has the 2024 Tacoma with the gasoline-only versions up for grabs, but the Tacoma i-Force Max doesn't even show up in the 'upcoming vehicles' tab alongside the 2025 Camry and 2025 Crown Signia of the online portal anymore.
Anyway, that's something to ruminate a little bit later because now we have to deal with the impatient and imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Immediately after the teaser dropped, some of the pixel masters hurried to present their take on the matter – including Vince Burlapp (aka 'vburlapp' on social media or burlappcar.com) and the resident CGI expert from the AutoYa info channel on YouTube.
Vince's design project, frankly, looks more prepared to envision a rugged and more adventurous next-generation RAV4, but the best-selling compact crossover SUV may not receive an all-new generation this year – or at least Toyota will reserve it for the second part of the year to allow the five minutes of glory under the red carpet's spotlight to the 4Runner this spring.
Moving on to the good folks at AutoYa, their vision is a lot more detailed and compelling. The unofficial design project of the 2025 Toyota 4Runner includes all of their ideas and renderings they have cooked up every time, so there's a fair share of POVs – from the rear with the doors open to see the interior, directly from the cockpit, and – of course – the front-three quarters. Naturally, they didn't forget about the traditional color reel, and every POV is associated with a bundle of shades. So, which is your favorite, and do you think the 4Runner will look like this?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News