imagine this is not a forest but a very highly detailed computer rendering of an outdoor toyota
showroom and you've got two choices if you want a midsize suv for about 45 grand highlander or
the 4runner now they're not directly comparable for most shoppers but at that price well you
can either get a glorified minivan or something that is a tough old truck that can go anywhere
but you have a choice don't just listen to me do you want to feel cool or do you want something new
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the forerunner is exactly as i remember it growing up in the 90s go back to 1984 which
was the first model year or skip to 2004. it doesn't matter a forerunner is the swiss army
knife of toyota trucks not the swiss army knife with the wine opener or the magnifying glass
that's too fancy the forerunner is everything a sport utility vehicle should be and absolutely
nothing more the highlander is a lexus in everything but name it cuts through the air with
the greatest of ease it sits lower for the same money the highlander is faster handles better and
has no capability off-road this is a car a modern car next to the 4runner it feels like a bentley
this 4runner generation was new in 2010. 12 years later well not much has changed there's
radar sensors on here now there's led high beams in addition to low beams that's new for 2022.
what's really interesting though is this paint it's a flat greenish kind of gray it's called
lunar rock and it's not on every four runner trim but it is on this one it's the trail special
edition you got this big yakima rack up here nice and sturdy 17 inch dark gray painted wheels those
are exclusive to this model and everything else about this truck you've seen before but it is cool
you gotta admit it even if you don't off-road or even know what that means and you've only
seen the parking lot of a neiman marcus come on you gotta love vehicles like this because it's
classic it's always in style even though this is not the trd pro model it's pretty spiffy
next to that 4runner the highlander looks like it's slammed to the ground like some
kind of sports car it is not but this is the xse that was a brand new trim for 21
continues now and it's very different than regular highlanders because of that grill
totally different treatment you get all these big streaks in the front more air intakes nice
silver trim everything is blacked out there's no more chrome and you get these nice silver and
black 20 inch wheels and where do you see the interior of this thing it's pretty flaming red
real talk about four by fours this one can go anywhere this one looks like it could go
somewhere but it stops right here as you can see the approach angle is only 17 degrees where on the
4runner it's 30. that's a massive difference and it's not just ground clearance 9.6 inches
on the 4runner and only 8 here that means you're going to be able to navigate obstacles like this
keep going if there wasn't all these trees here and the difference also is the actual all-wheel
drive systems the highlander behind me is more like a front-wheel drive system and only activates
the rear when it detects slippage up to 50 percent whereas the 4runner that is always in four wheel
drive if you lock it that way and you can also get locking dips detachable sway bars all the good
stuff to go off-road engines both have a v6 the 4runner makes a good amount of power but because
it's dated about 20 years ago it doesn't really make the same power as this direct injection a
whole host of other modern technologies to let the highlander deliver more power with less
displacement now fuel economy not really a contest right and plus the highlander hybrid can do 35
plus mpg combined that's really impressive for a vehicle this size now towing capacity that's
a bit of a surprise because to me this is based on a truck chassis which really in theory should be
stronger than this but they pull the same weight back here you'll find two standard features on the
4runner that you will not find on the highlander one of them is a tow hitch receiver and the other
is a power glass window you don't see this on any other brand new suv and i really like that now
cargo space as you can see the 4runner actually has slightly more maximum and on this model
voila cooler comes with it matches the paint i like that it supports up to 440 pounds
i wouldn't advise stepping on it with your friends but it's there and if you check out
the back of the highlander this one is of course powered you can't get that on the 4runner but the
numbers are similar and just if you thought that you couldn't get a third row over here
you can let me open this again try to imagine a third row of seats back here it's available
on the sr5 and the limited the space is pretty tight back there but it is available if you want
here's what a new car looks like pretty nice right nice finishes good materials spiffy
design especially in black and red leather here's what a 12 year old car looks like hard plastic
cheap vinyl knobs that came off a washing machine a clock from a motel 6. it's not about being
charming or retro toyota just doesn't care there's no luxury inside of 4runner and there's not
supposed to be it's all utility it's all spartan it's meant just to be functional and i get that
but when i get materials like this this that you got to do better and let's put it this way this is
a 45 000 vehicle and it sure doesn't feel like one the back seat in the forerunner isn't much
better than the front it's kind of flat in here there's not a ton of support but they do recline
it's actually pretty significant if they just updated the interior a little bit more
this mouse for headliner especially they'd have something better this tiny display between these
analog gauges just crams all this information here it's not very easy to adjust on the move but when
you're stopped you can see active safety features like lane departure and forward collision warning
the climate controls have no indication of the actual temperature just red or blue this 8 inch
screen is the best part of the 4runner interior and overall the interface is quick it's easy to
actually use change settings but it is outdated if you compare it to other suvs toyota is going
to update it i keep saying that because i've seen the new system in cars like the tundra
and the lexus nx it's so much better but for now well this is about all you're gonna get
other than that there's nothing at all to look at which may be the best thing
a forerunner doesn't distract you it won't bog you down when you're doing your thing off-road as an
older vehicle you're not getting the latest safety in all the crash tests the 4runner doesn't score
that well for a modern suv and you're not getting evasive steering assist no lane centering none of
the other features you'll find in the highlander the highlander's worst part is the best part on
the 4runner the infotainment this is simple and it's really easy to use i'll give it that
but everything else pretty old for example the app suite you have to have a connected smartphone with
the toyota app and other apps installed there's nothing saved on board here and that doesn't make
it as user friendly as newer systems now toyota is going to replace this system across its lineup
you can find it in the new tundra it's not here yet unfortunately like this map really rudimentary
this thing looks super old that's the really one big drawback about the highlander but with the
forerunner and the highlander they're sharing the same system but when you get away from the screen
the rest of the highlander has a lot of useful features for modern tech say for a phone you
can use that shelf here you can route the cables here so it's nice and clean there's another shelf
over here usb c ports my driving modes are right here electric parking brake great but this is not
a charging pad you got to put it in here that seems like it's fine right except this always
gets in the way so if you want to grab stuff out of here that's what happens not the best design
the display in the instrument panel is really useful there's a lot of information and it's
easy to read like all the safety systems that are on board toyota safety sense is now at version 2.5
plus that means you get auto braking with pedestrian detection evasive steering assist
adaptive crews and lane centering that will work like a semi-automated system it's pretty good
the highlander is like a living room in here it's comfortable it's spacious all the materials
are nice you can just lay back and i just might sit here for a nice long time three zone climate
is standard and as nice as this car is it's not even the most luxurious thing that toyota makes
there's just enough snarl with this v6 where i actually like hearing it
and when you back off it quiets down it's smooth i like that
and there's significantly more power than in the forerunner maybe not on the number
sheet because this is making you know 295 horsepower versus the 4runner's 270.
but with three more gears it's amazing what you can do because anytime you put your foot down
the transmission knows where to shift there's also a sport mode and there's good pickup in this car
and i like hearing that v6 even though there's no turbocharger these extra gears the way the
highlander is just set up from the start it's fine it's a good engine and it's the same engine you'll
find in the lexus rx so it's a tried and true engine it's smooth you know it's reliable it's
going to last forever so is the one on the 4runner so you're not going to get the you know world's
best output not with these engines but they're sufficient the highlander sits lower and because
of that it handles better this is an actual car it is not a truck in any single way even though
i've got some multiple drive modes for off-road use it says mud and rock and no you're not going
to do things like that with the highlander but when you try steering it on pavement
you actually have a good connection to the road the chassis feels tightened down the xse
actually brings some real hardware the steering is re-tuned the shock absorbers the springs even
the rear stabilizer bar are all different they're stiffer than the regular highlander
but not too much where you don't feel comfortable because that's the main goal of the highlander
unlike the 4runner the highlander has a conventional all-wheel drive system
that's primarily front wheel drive paste until it needs to send power
to the rear axle on the xse it can send up to half of the torque to that back axle
it's good and on the road that's what you want because the xse also like the limited and the
platinum trims has torque vectoring on that rear axle it can distribute torque left and right
to basically tighten up the trajectory around turns that's not something you'd normally
do in a highlander because you shouldn't be taking fast turns but you kind of can
i like that toyota is actually tuning the xse trims you can also find that on the rav4
on the camry they're tuning it to actually be sporty so it's not just an appearance package
i like the increased feel in this highlander it just corners just a little flatter
doesn't roll as hard as before the xse is really what i think the default choice should
be on the highlander but regardless you're still getting that lexus type
ride it's cushy it's comfortable you could drive this thing with one finger
though i don't suggest you do that's just how light all the controls on the highlander are
it just relaxes you you could be in this car for one hour or 10 hours and feel the same way
in the forerunner well you'd want to get out after about 10 minutes
now we're coming up to one of my favorite trails and we'll see if we can
yeah i don't think so not with this car no
i'm talking louder because this is a really old v6 dates back to sometime in the 2000s
it makes a good amount of power but wow you really have to put your foot down just to move
it's loud it roars whoa and it's not all that fast but it kind of sounds good or would sound
better if it didn't have this trd sport exhaust to me that just sounds like a busted muffler on the
road this v6 is pretty loud it's pretty coarse and it jumps around a lot because there's only
five speeds in this automatic transmission i don't know of any other brand new vehicle that still has
a five-speed gearbox manual automatic whatever this thing is basically the same as it was in
the early 2000s i graduated high school that was a good time but why hasn't this vehicle changed
so once you put your foot down it actually does move pretty well because there's 270 horsepower
this thing is pretty heavy though it's almost 4 500 pounds
so there's a lot of forerunner to be moving it doesn't exactly
run on the road all that nice softness you get off-road on-road translates to a lot of roll
oh my goodness i'll get seasick pretty soon
this is the way old school suvs handle because this is based on a pickup truck
that's what it is so the springs are designed to soak up big bumps big ruts
they're not really designed to have any sort of road control the highlander feels like a
supra it feels like a sports car it really does when you compare these two side by side
they are definitely from different eras if you're a truck guy a truck girl you want to get into one
of these you'll appreciate this because you know what you're getting into it's like a jeep wrangler
everybody knows that vehicle cannot drive itself on road with any more than just turn
the wheel like this you can't really point that vehicle straight not even the brand new one
that's okay because you make concessions to be an off-road vehicle and on-road is just not where
the forerunner truly belongs however i would say that the steering is actually tracking pretty true
a lot better than i thought it's pretty straight i don't actually have to correct it that much
so even though the steering there is okay there's not a lot of feel there's not a lot
of grip there's not really a lot of anything in the forerunner except noise wind noise and roll
so you deal with all that stuff maybe that is a what do you say endearing is it character
that's what real estate agents talk about when they're trying to sell you a really old house
that hasn't been fixed up in a while it's got character now you could call this the same thing
whoa
it's loud oh now we gotta slow down it's about to enter the trail i feel like my head's gonna
go straight into the pavement all of this very soft suspension tuning ah once you're off the
road that's why they designed it that way this is where i should have started now the forerunner is
in its element i'm on a rutted rocky road not the ice cream just the road and this is
where it belongs because the soft suspension just soaks up all the bumps the steering is
slow which is good off-road because you don't need any quick reactions you want nice steady
pacing the throttle is nice and lazy all wonderful things when you're driving at 5-10 miles an hour
the 4runner is just tough as nails and this one is not even the toughest because this is not a trd
off-road it's not the trd pro so that means i don't have a locking diff i don't have
the upgraded fox racing shocks that have remote reservoirs all that awesome stuff
i do have a skid plate and i do have a low range that's really all you need plus toyota has
something called a track now what that is is it kind of is like a virtual locking front and rear
differential it'll basically apply the brakes when you're stuck and only works in four low
so kind of we'll help you get around that without having the mechanical lockers mechanical lockers
are the real deal and that's what really pulls you out but this is a nice feature
and it's cheaper toyota has some other fun features that this one doesn't have
crawl control which is like a low speed cruise control you don't really have to do anything
you only have to touch the brakes so that's pretty cool there's also multi-terrain select which will
adjust the throttle and a bunch of other settings to the type of terrain you want and those have two
dials that are up in the overhead console they're pretty fun to actually turn they have a nice
detent i've been in other trd models that do have that so you don't get that with this trail edition
do you need it it's up to you but it also costs a lot more but every 400 costs a whole lot this
one's still over 46 thousand dollars and we still don't have all the options on it but you'll find
that most any forerunner except the limited will get you through basically anything the limited has
permanent four-wheel drive that's at a fixed split it's 40 and 60 rear so that means that it does not
have part-time four-wheel drive or a low-range transfer case so that's not the one that you
want to be taking off-road but it's still going to be a heck of a lot better than the highlander
a new 4runner runs 37 605 to start a new highlander is 35 405.
loaded they're both over 50 grand here's the prices of both of my test vehicles but only the
4runner holds its value like a porsche especially when it's a trd model the 4runner really competes
against the jeep wrangler and ford bronco the highlander has a dozen or more competitors between
these two the forerunner is cherished and beloved for what it is it's an off-road champ there's not
much else like it on the market it's analog and people don't really care about its faults because
they know exactly what it is but when it comes to normal everyday life the highlander proves
that modern technology and performance really do make a better overall suv the highlander is just
everything to everyone and in this xse trim it's actually kind of hot looking so what do
you guys think what vehicle would you choose and what vehicles do you want to see us review next
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