is this a complete redesign or a refresh

 

It's a refresh. Current truck came out for 2016 so we're only 4 years into the current one.

 

Toyota knows its target market much better than you. If you want a truly rugged AWD go anywhere vehicle it's almost impossible to beat. If you want tons of electronic nannies and a unibody that folds in half then look elsewhere.

 

 

Basically I agree with your point of view, but that itself is part of the very problem....it's difficult to look elsewhere. Unless you go up to the full-size SUV class (the 4Runner is considered a mid-size), true body-on-frame vehicles like the 4Runner are getting harder and harder to find in the American market. Manufacturers have all but given up on them, and/or converted them to crossover unibodies.

 

The only competition the 4Runner has is the Wrangler.

 

sure... like any facelift.

 

The 4runner/taco owners club is blind to what is out there, and being smart Toyota has capitalized on that front. They realize these prospective owners only care about just enough engineering to make these vehicles last longer then any other competition, hence why in 10 years the 4r/Taco crowd will still be running, while the Ford or Chevys will need something or the third in $$$ maintenance. Reliability over performance and goodies.

To be honest the taco/4R should have equally validated and futuristic parts in the future due to the refresh, and its corporate cousin the LandCruiser Prado has now been refreshed with some goodies such as Safety Sense and entune udpate, but, I bet if you asked a prospective owner whether that matters to them, they will apologize for toyota and say it`d probably would make the vehicle less reliable even though the LC Prado already has them.

 

15-20 years

You can get the highlighted in bold in the Tacoma, GX, LX and LC.

I don't think anyone would apologize to Toyota, the appeal to the 4Runner is that it lasts a very, very long time. So there is a tremendous value proposition. If safety sense and entune and blind spot monitoring is important, then there always is the Highlander.

 

Yes, loosely, but the 4Runner is still somewhat more family-oriented than even the 4-door Wrangler. The Wrangler is more or less a cult-vehicle.

 

I see lots of built off-road 4Runners out here in the west. When it comes to having a capable off-road SUV, there are really only 2 options in the market right now. The Wrangler or the 4Runner. I guess the Land Cruiser works if you want to spend a lot of money. Every other automaker has completely abandoned their off-road capable body-on-frame SUV's(exceptions being the Tahoe/Suburban or the Expedition which are a bit on the large side for serious off-roading) in order to offer lineups of 30 redundant and overlapping CUV's which are trash off-road. I'm hoping the new Bronco shakes up the market.

 

Exactly what I mean. Why apologize for Toyota forgetting key options like BSM, entune etc. if the entire roster has it, and your mission statement to offer TSS standard on all vehicles offer it. Before I jump the conclusion of whats to come, I`d honestly give the 4runner till 2020 to get it (as per the reports on T4R.org). If it still has not gotten yet....I stand by statement. I wanted to also add that the platform as a whole is not bad, its just the constant, good enough updates of the 4R that are bad.

Side note: Safety Sense is standard on the Taco from MY18
LC got Safety Sense std on MY16
LX got Lexus Safe Sense std on MY16
GX is the same as the 4R, nothing on sd Safety Sense and the only platform yet to receive it. For instance the GX can get an older version of that tech but only after adding special order Drivers Assist which basically increase total cost to north of 65K.

LC Prado (corp identical cousin to the GX) 2018 was the First MY with Safety Sense.....Waiting on that refresh I guess.

 

I wonder how the colorado and ranger are going to play out

 

 

Not precisely. The increase in Lexus is just astronomical for the oldest hardware that they equip the Luxury trim with. Probably the best margin ever on safety hardware. (As I say the GX has got to have one of the highest margins in the entire Lexus family).

The reason behind this is from MY17 to My18, the tacoma which got the std TSS packs, on the high end bumped up sticker price by 4.5%. Mind you that the cost of TSS is not 4.5% since smaller cab vehicles were up about 1.5% sooo it dosnt cost Lexus astronomical figures to equip a 4runner/GX with TSS. Nor did it affect sales in any meaningful way.