How Does the Toyota 4Runner Handle Snow? We Found Out

Owning a 4Runner makes sense about five days per year. We had it for one of them.

Published February 18, 2022

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I love the Toyota 4Runner. It’s brash. It’s old-school. It has a ton of space. I would happily drive one daily — if it weren’t expensive for what you get and the thought of the planet my children will inherit warming didn’t keep me up at night.

Even so, there are about five or six snowy days per year where I kick myself for not owning a 4Runner. This year, however the fates aligned — and the press fleet dropped off a 4Runner just as a snowstorm was about to hit.

The storm didn’t end up being the Great Blizzard of 1899 that the media prepped me for, but my kids missed two days of school, and I got a $50 ticket for not moving my VW out of the street in front of my house. So it was enough snowfall to get a taste of the Toyota 4Runner in winter.

Toyota equipped the 4Runner well for winter…on paper

On the face of it, the 4Runner has pretty much everything you want for suburban wintering. You get proper four-wheel-drive high and low gears shifted with an easy-to-use knob. You get about nine inches of ground clearance, which is all you need if you’re not climbing the Rubicon trail. And you get excellent visibility with large, vertical windows and (now standard) LED low beams, high beams and fog lamps.

I had the new TRD Sport trim, which had some 20-inch rims. I would have preferred smaller wheels and the fatter tire, but it was a solid setup nonetheless.

But you must outfit your 4Runner correctly

There are a few options you want if you’re driving a 4Runner in winter. The TRD Sport trim had no automatic climate control. I found this out the hard way after setting it to defrost for a bit, coming out to bring my daughter to daycare and realized I had not turned the fan up for the defrost. The TRD Sport trim also had no heated steering wheel and no heated seats. And the heater didn’t do a great job getting down to my cold, wet, sneaker-clad feet in the footwell.

One option I would not choose for winter running would be the automatic running boards, which my tester had equipped for an extra $1,500. These running boards are bound to collect patches of snow and boot sludge in winter. I had that happen. Then it got colder at night…and that snow and boot sludge turned to ice, which was impossible to remove short of wearing it down with boiling water — and had me driving around the rest of the week with a warning light.

Four-wheel-drive doesn’t do everything for you

The 4Runner has no trouble getting going in four-high. I reversed out of my unplowed driveway into the unplowed street without any issues, and was able to get going multiple times with half the car parked on a sheet of ice. The 4Runner can live up to its reputation and get you home — indeed, probably at a higher rate of speed than the conditions would warrant in most cars.

That said, four-wheel drive does not make a difference helping you stop in the snow. And the heavy 4Runner can build up a head of steam. I had a few minor skids on some slick spots where I lost traction and the ABS kicked in.

So, the 4Runner, while capable, is not some mythical rig not subject to the laws of physics. You have to be cautious like everyone else.

And, yeah, the Toyota 4Runner is still expensive.

The 4×4 TRD Sport trim 4Runner starts at $42,025. Options — including $1,585 to upgrade to an 8.0-inch touchscreen. Add-ons and the $1,215 delivery, handling and processing fee brought the total to $48,631 for an SUV without automatic climate control. And, of course, that’s just the MSRP. The average Toyota is now leaving the lot with a $1,015 dealer markup, and the 4Runner is more popular than the average Toyota.