Trailhunter 4Runner Review After 3 Weeks Ownership & 4000 Mile Road Trip

[Stormie_SS]

I've owned my trailhunter for 3 weeks today with 5200 miles and I'm loving it! As I've said before, I purchased it out of state and drove it home 500 miles. Two days later, I packed it up for a road trip to Colorado.

On the way to Colorado, I tested out driving in Eco, Normal and Sport mode to see which one got better gas mileage. You would think Eco would get better mileage but that was not the case. My worst gas mileage was 12.4, and that was in 30mph winds with 40+mph gusts for several hundreds of miles. The best mileage so far is 22.1 with an average of 18.1. I am using premium grade fuel.

I used adaptive cruise control for a little bit at the beginning of the trip which was ok but, I ultimately turned off all of the assists. I like to be able to control everything myself, even if I'm constantly turning cruise control on/off. At one point when I was using the adaptive cruise, I notice when I stopped that the back wheels were covered in brake dust, just like the front. I've noticed on other vehicles that have adaptive cruise that the rear brakes wear out before the fronts do and after using it, it makes sense as I felt like it was constantly riding the brakes especially going through the mountains and down steep passes. One thing that annoys me is when you turn on cruise control it doesn't remember if it was on adaptive or not. Just a minor annoyance, I just wish you could completely bypass having adaptive cruise as an option.

Initially my apple car play worked flawlessly, but when I started my trip home my radio would freak out if I was playing spotify and tried giving siri a command to send a text message. Siri wouldn't respond and the music would sound like it was playing through a tin can. If I tried to change from spotify to any other input, whether it was local radio or siriusxm, it would say there was a phone call in progress and wouldn't let me change it. The only way to get it to play music again was I had to turn the vehicle off and back on and give it a fresh connection. It did this for the first 1200 miles of my trip home which was super annoying however it worked just fine yesterday when I finished my last leg of the trip.

It is comfortable to ride in long distance as my back usually starts bothering me and I get super uncomfortable around the second day of driving. I did not have any troubles at all with this which is a huge plus. There was one morning that it was in the upper 30's and I used my heated steering wheel and seats. The heated seats get warm real fast and I had to turn them off. The cooled seats work great too! I used them a few times to cool my dog off as his breed tends to overheat easily, and he loved it.

I really wanted to take it out on a few trails while I was there, but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. I did at least drive it up to Estes Park and Central City for a couple of drives. My dad is a hard core Ford only owner and he drove it and was impressed how well it drove "for a Toyota". He has a 6th gen Bronco that's lifted with King suspension on 37's and my trailhunter rides so much better than his Bronco does (even when it was stock). Every time we would go somewhere, he would want to take mine instead of his Bronco. I'm hoping to find some where to take it out here in Virginia, but I don't know of any yet.

I do have a little bit of a vibration that is most noticeable around 70mph. It almost feels like there's a wheel off balance as you can feel it in the seat and not the steering wheel. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that were the case as the roads in Colorado suck as well as across Illinois and Indiana. There's also a squeak inside somewhere but that could also be from having all my stuff loaded up and rubbing on something. Now that I'm home and unloaded I will have to see if it's still there.

Overall, I love the 4Runner! This is my first one and I was a little nervous about having a hybrid but so far all is good. For now, it'll remain stock until I need new tires and then I plan on getting different wheels.

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[Nodak]

I've owned my trailhunter for 3 weeks today with 5200 miles and I'm loving it! As I've said before, I purchased it out of state and drove it home 500 miles. Two days later, I packed it up for a road trip to Colorado.

On the way to Colorado, I tested out driving in Eco, Normal and Sport mode to see which one got better gas mileage. You would think Eco would get better mileage but that was not the case. My worst gas mileage was 12.4, and that was in 30mph winds with 40+mph gusts for several hundreds of miles. The best mileage so far is 22.1 with an average of 18.1. I am using premium grade fuel.

I used adaptive cruise control for a little bit at the beginning of the trip which was ok but, I ultimately turned off all of the assists. I like to be able to control everything myself, even if I'm constantly turning cruise control on/off. At one point when I was using the adaptive cruise, I notice when I stopped that the back wheels were covered in brake dust, just like the front. I've noticed on other vehicles that have adaptive cruise that the rear brakes wear out before the fronts do and after using it, it makes sense as I felt like it was constantly riding the brakes especially going through the mountains and down steep passes. One thing that annoys me is when you turn on cruise control it doesn't remember if it was on adaptive or not. Just a minor annoyance, I just wish you could completely bypass having adaptive cruise as an option.

Initially my apple car play worked flawlessly, but when I started my trip home my radio would freak out if I was playing spotify and tried giving siri a command to send a text message. Siri wouldn't respond and the music would sound like it was playing through a tin can. If I tried to change from spotify to any other input, whether it was local radio or siriusxm, it would say there was a phone call in progress and wouldn't let me change it. The only way to get it to play music again was I had to turn the vehicle off and back on and give it a fresh connection. It did this for the first 1200 miles of my trip home which was super annoying however it worked just fine yesterday when I finished my last leg of the trip.

It is comfortable to ride in long distance as my back usually starts bothering me and I get super uncomfortable around the second day of driving. I did not have any troubles at all with this which is a huge plus. There was one morning that it was in the upper 30's and I used my heated steering wheel and seats. The heated seats get warm real fast and I had to turn them off. The cooled seats work great too! I used them a few times to cool my dog off as his breed tends to overheat easily, and he loved it.

I really wanted to take it out on a few trails while I was there, but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. I did at least drive it up to Estes Park and Central City for a couple of drives. My dad is a hard core Ford only owner and he drove it and was impressed how well it drove "for a Toyota". He has a 6th gen Bronco that's lifted with King suspension on 37's and my trailhunter rides so much better than his Bronco does (even when it was stock). Every time we would go somewhere, he would want to take mine instead of his Bronco. I'm hoping to find some where to take it out here in Virginia, but I don't know of any yet.

I do have a little bit of a vibration that is most noticeable around 70mph. It almost feels like there's a wheel off balance as you can feel it in the seat and not the steering wheel. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that were the case as the roads in Colorado suck as well as across Illinois and Indiana. There's also a squeak inside somewhere but that could also be from having all my stuff loaded up and rubbing on something. Now that I'm home and unloaded I will have to see if it's still there.

Overall, I love the 4Runner! This is my first one and I was a little nervous about having a hybrid but so far all is good. For now, it'll remain stock until I need new tires and then I plan on getting different wheels.

1. adaptive CC : this is a known problem that was seen in the 2022+ tundra's, they were going thru rear brake pads in 20k-40k miles

2. CC : it will always reset to adaptive after ignition off, hold the CC button and it will switch to constant speed CC

3. head unit : hold the power button 5-10 secs to do a soft reset instead of hard reset (ignition off)

4. tire balance : check to ensure that are not still in transport psi setting (50+ psi)

 

[kekecarioca]

Thanks for the write up! I'm 200 miles in on pure day to day hustle and Love every bit of it! The best part is how good it drives! Smooth, powerful, planted yet agile.....eons away from my 3rd gen...

 

[Mudbath]

I know you had to be turning some heads?!

 

[jrenzag]

Love your little hippo's cameo in one of the pics!

 

[Stormie_SS]

I know you had to be turning some heads?!

I had a couple people stop me and ask about it for sure. Another 6th gen owner followed me to the gas station just to say hi and comment on the color and then realized it was a trailhunter and freaked out as they hadn't seen one yet.

 

[Stormie_SS]

Love your little hippo's cameo in one of the pics!

He was a great passenger! He's 6 months old and this was his first road trip and did great. I had been taking him every where I could to get him used to being in the car for this trip.

 

[Stormie_SS]

1. adaptive CC : this is a known problem that was seen in the 2022+ tundra's, they were going thru rear brake pads in 20k-40k miles

2. CC : it will always reset to adaptive after ignition off, hold the CC button and it will switch to constant speed CC

3. head unit : hold the power button 5-10 secs to do a soft reset instead of hard reset (ignition off)

4. tire balance : check to ensure that are not still in transport psi setting (50+ psi)

1. Good to know.

2. I just wish it would remember which setting you use for next time instead of resetting it each time.

3. Did not even think about that, thank you for the reminder .

4. I have them set to 33 psi. When we picked it up from the dealer and drove home I was telling my hubby that it felt like it was driving on balloons and sure enough the dealer hadn't really let enough air out and were 41psi.

 

[SoCalChick]

Awesome way to give a solid review.
Gas mileage....you said eco was not the best, but also tested out normal and sport. How was the gas mileage with normal and sport? I have been moving mine back and forth between the two trying to figure it out.

 

[g-rant]

I've owned my trailhunter for 3 weeks today with 5200 miles and I'm loving it! As I've said before, I purchased it out of state and drove it home 500 miles. Two days later, I packed it up for a road trip to Colorado.

On the way to Colorado, I tested out driving in Eco, Normal and Sport mode to see which one got better gas mileage. You would think Eco would get better mileage but that was not the case. My worst gas mileage was 12.4, and that was in 30mph winds with 40+mph gusts for several hundreds of miles. The best mileage so far is 22.1 with an average of 18.1. I am using premium grade fuel.

I used adaptive cruise control for a little bit at the beginning of the trip which was ok but, I ultimately turned off all of the assists. I like to be able to control everything myself, even if I'm constantly turning cruise control on/off. At one point when I was using the adaptive cruise, I notice when I stopped that the back wheels were covered in brake dust, just like the front. I've noticed on other vehicles that have adaptive cruise that the rear brakes wear out before the fronts do and after using it, it makes sense as I felt like it was constantly riding the brakes especially going through the mountains and down steep passes. One thing that annoys me is when you turn on cruise control it doesn't remember if it was on adaptive or not. Just a minor annoyance, I just wish you could completely bypass having adaptive cruise as an option.

Initially my apple car play worked flawlessly, but when I started my trip home my radio would freak out if I was playing spotify and tried giving siri a command to send a text message. Siri wouldn't respond and the music would sound like it was playing through a tin can. If I tried to change from spotify to any other input, whether it was local radio or siriusxm, it would say there was a phone call in progress and wouldn't let me change it. The only way to get it to play music again was I had to turn the vehicle off and back on and give it a fresh connection. It did this for the first 1200 miles of my trip home which was super annoying however it worked just fine yesterday when I finished my last leg of the trip.

It is comfortable to ride in long distance as my back usually starts bothering me and I get super uncomfortable around the second day of driving. I did not have any troubles at all with this which is a huge plus. There was one morning that it was in the upper 30's and I used my heated steering wheel and seats. The heated seats get warm real fast and I had to turn them off. The cooled seats work great too! I used them a few times to cool my dog off as his breed tends to overheat easily, and he loved it.

I really wanted to take it out on a few trails while I was there, but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. I did at least drive it up to Estes Park and Central City for a couple of drives. My dad is a hard core Ford only owner and he drove it and was impressed how well it drove "for a Toyota". He has a 6th gen Bronco that's lifted with King suspension on 37's and my trailhunter rides so much better than his Bronco does (even when it was stock). Every time we would go somewhere, he would want to take mine instead of his Bronco. I'm hoping to find some where to take it out here in Virginia, but I don't know of any yet.

I do have a little bit of a vibration that is most noticeable around 70mph. It almost feels like there's a wheel off balance as you can feel it in the seat and not the steering wheel. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that were the case as the roads in Colorado suck as well as across Illinois and Indiana. There's also a squeak inside somewhere but that could also be from having all my stuff loaded up and rubbing on something. Now that I'm home and unloaded I will have to see if it's still there.

Overall, I love the 4Runner! This is my first one and I was a little nervous about having a hybrid but so far all is good. For now, it'll remain stock until I need new tires and then I plan on getting different wheels.

Congrats! I have the exact same truck and also love it. Mine is only 2 weeks old so I’m still breaking it in. On Mother’s Day I drove two hours to see mom and got 19mpg. On the drive home I encountered some wind and it dropped the mpg down to low 18’s (using 87 octane). I’m hoping that after break in I’ll get closer to 20. I haven’t had any of the Apple car play issues so I wonder if that happens in remote areas? Cheers to all you new 6th gen owners. I absolutely love my Trailhunter.

 

[Stormie_SS]

Awesome way to give a solid review.
Gas mileage....you said eco was not the best, but also tested out normal and sport. How was the gas mileage with normal and sport? I have been moving mine back and forth between the two trying to figure it out.

I may try eco again now that I'm back home since it was windy for most of the trip but the majority of the miles are with it in normal mode. At my next fill up I will switch it for the tank and see how it does in my normal area and habits. So far it's staying around 19-20 in normal.

 

[LARIN]

All cars wear out rear brakes faster than the fronts now. Nothing to due with cruise control this is due to ABS and stability control apply more brake bias than the fronts brakes

 

[John2112]

I've owned my trailhunter for 3 weeks today with 5200 miles and I'm loving it! As I've said before, I purchased it out of state and drove it home 500 miles. Two days later, I packed it up for a road trip to Colorado.

On the way to Colorado, I tested out driving in Eco, Normal and Sport mode to see which one got better gas mileage. You would think Eco would get better mileage but that was not the case. My worst gas mileage was 12.4, and that was in 30mph winds with 40+mph gusts for several hundreds of miles. The best mileage so far is 22.1 with an average of 18.1. I am using premium grade fuel.

I used adaptive cruise control for a little bit at the beginning of the trip which was ok but, I ultimately turned off all of the assists. I like to be able to control everything myself, even if I'm constantly turning cruise control on/off. At one point when I was using the adaptive cruise, I notice when I stopped that the back wheels were covered in brake dust, just like the front. I've noticed on other vehicles that have adaptive cruise that the rear brakes wear out before the fronts do and after using it, it makes sense as I felt like it was constantly riding the brakes especially going through the mountains and down steep passes. One thing that annoys me is when you turn on cruise control it doesn't remember if it was on adaptive or not. Just a minor annoyance, I just wish you could completely bypass having adaptive cruise as an option.

Initially my apple car play worked flawlessly, but when I started my trip home my radio would freak out if I was playing spotify and tried giving siri a command to send a text message. Siri wouldn't respond and the music would sound like it was playing through a tin can. If I tried to change from spotify to any other input, whether it was local radio or siriusxm, it would say there was a phone call in progress and wouldn't let me change it. The only way to get it to play music again was I had to turn the vehicle off and back on and give it a fresh connection. It did this for the first 1200 miles of my trip home which was super annoying however it worked just fine yesterday when I finished my last leg of the trip.

It is comfortable to ride in long distance as my back usually starts bothering me and I get super uncomfortable around the second day of driving. I did not have any troubles at all with this which is a huge plus. There was one morning that it was in the upper 30's and I used my heated steering wheel and seats. The heated seats get warm real fast and I had to turn them off. The cooled seats work great too! I used them a few times to cool my dog off as his breed tends to overheat easily, and he loved it.

I really wanted to take it out on a few trails while I was there, but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. I did at least drive it up to Estes Park and Central City for a couple of drives. My dad is a hard core Ford only owner and he drove it and was impressed how well it drove "for a Toyota". He has a 6th gen Bronco that's lifted with King suspension on 37's and my trailhunter rides so much better than his Bronco does (even when it was stock). Every time we would go somewhere, he would want to take mine instead of his Bronco. I'm hoping to find some where to take it out here in Virginia, but I don't know of any yet.

I do have a little bit of a vibration that is most noticeable around 70mph. It almost feels like there's a wheel off balance as you can feel it in the seat and not the steering wheel. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that were the case as the roads in Colorado suck as well as across Illinois and Indiana. There's also a squeak inside somewhere but that could also be from having all my stuff loaded up and rubbing on something. Now that I'm home and unloaded I will have to see if it's still there.

Overall, I love the 4Runner! This is my first one and I was a little nervous about having a hybrid but so far all is good. For now, it'll remain stock until I need new tires and then I plan on getting different wheels.

Great write-up thanks. Just a thought on using premium fuel, there is no benefit whatsoever in using it on a vehicle that does not require it and it does not increase your gas mileage. No reason to pay more for no results.
I'll be driving to California from Central Texas, I've been using the adaptive cruise control 100% of the time I'm in the vehicle and I'll be curious to see how it works out on the open road. I wasn't that impressed with the lane assist features and turned them off, on my way back from Conroe Texas where I purchased it the Lane assist tried to take an exit that it shouldn't.

I've had similar experiences as you with my Android auto freaking out every once in awhile and rebooting the head unit seems to fix it. Currently I'm tearing out all the speakers and replacing them with some good ones since sound quality in the trail Hunter is awful.

 

[Allison]

I've owned my trailhunter for 3 weeks today with 5200 miles and I'm loving it! As I've said before, I purchased it out of state and drove it home 500 miles. Two days later, I packed it up for a road trip to Colorado.

On the way to Colorado, I tested out driving in Eco, Normal and Sport mode to see which one got better gas mileage. You would think Eco would get better mileage but that was not the case. My worst gas mileage was 12.4, and that was in 30mph winds with 40+mph gusts for several hundreds of miles. The best mileage so far is 22.1 with an average of 18.1. I am using premium grade fuel.

I used adaptive cruise control for a little bit at the beginning of the trip which was ok but, I ultimately turned off all of the assists. I like to be able to control everything myself, even if I'm constantly turning cruise control on/off. At one point when I was using the adaptive cruise, I notice when I stopped that the back wheels were covered in brake dust, just like the front. I've noticed on other vehicles that have adaptive cruise that the rear brakes wear out before the fronts do and after using it, it makes sense as I felt like it was constantly riding the brakes especially going through the mountains and down steep passes. One thing that annoys me is when you turn on cruise control it doesn't remember if it was on adaptive or not. Just a minor annoyance, I just wish you could completely bypass having adaptive cruise as an option.

Initially my apple car play worked flawlessly, but when I started my trip home my radio would freak out if I was playing spotify and tried giving siri a command to send a text message. Siri wouldn't respond and the music would sound like it was playing through a tin can. If I tried to change from spotify to any other input, whether it was local radio or siriusxm, it would say there was a phone call in progress and wouldn't let me change it. The only way to get it to play music again was I had to turn the vehicle off and back on and give it a fresh connection. It did this for the first 1200 miles of my trip home which was super annoying however it worked just fine yesterday when I finished my last leg of the trip.

It is comfortable to ride in long distance as my back usually starts bothering me and I get super uncomfortable around the second day of driving. I did not have any troubles at all with this which is a huge plus. There was one morning that it was in the upper 30's and I used my heated steering wheel and seats. The heated seats get warm real fast and I had to turn them off. The cooled seats work great too! I used them a few times to cool my dog off as his breed tends to overheat easily, and he loved it.

I really wanted to take it out on a few trails while I was there, but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. I did at least drive it up to Estes Park and Central City for a couple of drives. My dad is a hard core Ford only owner and he drove it and was impressed how well it drove "for a Toyota". He has a 6th gen Bronco that's lifted with King suspension on 37's and my trailhunter rides so much better than his Bronco does (even when it was stock). Every time we would go somewhere, he would want to take mine instead of his Bronco. I'm hoping to find some where to take it out here in Virginia, but I don't know of any yet.

I do have a little bit of a vibration that is most noticeable around 70mph. It almost feels like there's a wheel off balance as you can feel it in the seat and not the steering wheel. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that were the case as the roads in Colorado suck as well as across Illinois and Indiana. There's also a squeak inside somewhere but that could also be from having all my stuff loaded up and rubbing on something. Now that I'm home and unloaded I will have to see if it's still there.

Overall, I love the 4Runner! This is my first one and I was a little nervous about having a hybrid but so far all is good. For now, it'll remain stock until I need new tires and then I plan on getting different wheels.

Great review. Looking forward to my first road trip after the break-in period.

 

[SC4Runner]

Solid review! I’m so looking forward to getting my ORP in Heritage Blue.

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