Which leads us to why the TRD Pro was initially underwhelming. Driving about town, the body-on-frame Toyota handled like a crate on wheels; the 4Runner weighs 4,750 pounds, and you feel every ounce of it when stopping or turning. Brake response felt delayed by a whole precious second, scaring me just as much as it did drivers in front of me. Under the hood, the 4Runner TRD Pro packs a 4.0-liter V6 that musters up 270 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque, which means it doesn’t go anywhere in a hurry. I often found myself switching from Eco mode to Sport for overtaking and merging, in spite of the hit it would mean to the already-poor gas mileage.
Since daily driving the TRD Pro left me a little cool, I took the 4Runner on a little excursion to Monticello Motor Club’s off-road course in upstate New York to seek out the sort of challenges the 4Runner was built for. The course there is a mixture of rough, narrow paths, steep hills and drops, mud traps, rocks and ruts; while I was confident the 4Runner could tackle what lay ahead, off-roading demands a lot of trust in your vehicle. If it underperforms, you’re not slow, you’re stuck.
The multi-terrain system in the 4Runner, however, proved more and more handy the further we crawled into the woods. The dirt paths were easy going, but the loose boulders that followed were mildly intimidating. Selecting the setting that matched the terrain meant the Toyota kept its wheels from spinning needlessly, instead directing power where it needed to go.
Then came a deeper-than-anticipated mud pit, which overcame the truck’s momentum and left stranded just shy of dry dirt. Utilizing the five-level crawl control, the TRD Pro worked to find some traction underfoot; with a little finesse, the Nitto Terra Grappler tires found some purchase and heaved the SUV out of the muck.
The 4Runner emerged from the trails victorious, leaving me with a wholly different view of the TRD Pro: there’s value in being particularly good at one task rather than trying to make everyone happy.
Verdict: The Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro proved itself in the mud and on the trails — not as a spectacular SUV, but as a damn good piece of equipment. It’s one that any serious overlander or off-roader should be happy to include in their adventure kit.
