Help deciding trim...

[fur_runner]

Yes get the hybrid. The big difference is the onboard power. I agree with Mad Ghost - get the ORP for the screen, the cooled seats, and the liftgate - if you own this car long term you're gonna have a hard time putting those things on later.

Once you're starting there, the hybrid is like 3k more, gets you slightly better gas mileage, way more power, and the onboard inverter is gonna be the thing you didn't realize you always wanted

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[glocke12]

Hey guys. Currently in the market for a new 6th gen. Test drove an SR5 recently and was shocked by how well it drove. Felt very punchy and athletic with nice steering. Great size, ample cargo room (non-hybrid), surprisingly comfortable seats, sliding rear window, off-road capability, decent mpg and good resale. Switching over from driving mainly full size trucks so the size difference will be a nice change.

Now for my conundrum. I'm back and forth on what trim to get. I've basically narrowed it down to either an SR5 or an ORP/Sport Premium. As far as my use case, I doubt I will do serious off roading. I’m too deep in the city and might make it out to a trail once a year or so. Mainly I drive around town and occasional road trips.

I went ahead and reserved an inbound SR5 4X4 for now. With the SR5, I am getting about 8% off. If I were to get a similar discount on an Off Road Premium, it’s still at least an extra $10k that I have to cough up. Same with a Sport Premium. I can still switch and get a different one- that's what I am trying to figure out if I should do or not.

Would love to hear from owners what made them decide on their trim and if they have any regrets/advice. Has anyone gotten the SR5 and then felt they should've spent the extra $? My main gripes would be lack of power seats, no heated seats, no homelink, and having cloth. It's been a long time since I haven't had those features but I can't get excited about the idea of spending an extra $10k+ for them whether it be limited, ORP, Sport prem, etc. Seems like an SR5 Premium would’ve have been the sweet spot for a lot of folks…

How old are you ?

If you are below 45 and not doing serious off roading I'd get the SR5 and call it a day. I consider that trim model to be the best value in an SUV that is capable of doing a lot of off-road traveling that non-rock crawling people will do and will also handle inclement weather pretty well, even unplowed snowy roads.

I was ~ 45 y/o when I got my 2011 TE and and all that extra stuff that was in that vehicle I never ended up using except maybe the locking diff when I would get stuck in my muddy yard by accident. I easily could have gotten by with the SR5.

Now that I am 58, and have gone through rotator cuff surgery there are some things that are important to me in a vehicle. I no longer want to deal with opening and closing the rear hatch manually so the power rear hatch was essential, and my arthritic hands want the heated steering wheel.

All that other stuff you mention, lack of power seats, cloth seats, etc..etc..I can guarantee you will not miss once you get used to the vehicle.

If you think you MUST have any of those things than it is a no brainer and I would wait until you have that extra 10k for the ORP or just go ahead and finance it.

When I was looking for a new vehicle, I initially set a budget in the 35-45k range, which put me in the ballpark for an SR5 which is really all ( and most people ) really need/require. When I found out that the power lift gate option had finally arrived for the 6th gens it was a no brainer and I did what I had to do to get myself into that vehicle. I've had to make some lifestyle adjustments and curtail spending in other areas but it is well worth it.

 

[HVLA]

Back when I was younger I did serious off-roading. It taught me things, like how to set up a ring an pinion on a Toyota axle, that I probably will never use. I even put a super charger on a 22R engine. There's no way I would do any serious off-roading in a modern vehicle. So that's off the table as far as my decision on which trim goes.

So it really comes down to the options I will use. For example, a rear locker, is a must. A snow fall of over a foot isn't out of the question so getting up my driveway can get tricky after a long day at work. That makes the added clearance of the Pro get moved to the top of my list. I could upgrade a lower trim to match it but I'm not sure if I would save money.

There's other options that I don't need but would like. The PVM or Multiview cameras comes to mind. It's not often that I would need it but I have had enough times in the past where having it would have been nice. Even the air compressor would be nice. It's not that unusual to lose a bit of air in the tires when the temps drop in the fall. Usually it's years down the road when the rim of the wheels start to get age on them. Firing up my 10hp compressor to top off a tire seems like overkill.

OTOH hand most Pros I've seen have the roof rack that I will not pay for. If a dealer wants to remove it and sell it on another 4Runner I'm ok with that. But I'm not going to leave it on and I don't want to have another large useless item sitting in the back of my garage.

It really comes down to budget vs desires. List everything you want, everything you would like, and then your budget. Now start crossing off what you don't need to see if you can come in under your budget. You may need to cross off a few wants because they will blow your budget.

The rear locker for snow is a good point. It can and will snow a decent amount here and I will need to use it.

 

[duke]

All right guys, appreciate all of the help and suggestions. I ended up taking delivery of a TRD Off Road Premium! Non-hybrid model. I found a deal where it ended up being a much smaller gap in price than I had originally thought compared to the SR5. That made it a no-brainer.

Initial thoughts- the drive is great. It's maneuverable, light on its feet, punchy and overall just fun to drive while still being comfortable.

I'm sure I would have been just as happy in an SR5, but the extra features are just nice to have. If I didn't get the deal I found, I would've stuck with the SR5.

As for the Hybrid, I was very close to getting a non-premium OR hybrid. Ultimately, the cargo space was more important and the performance difference wasn't as noticeable to me as it may have been to others. Not to mention in most of my research the fuel economy is not really any better in the real world.

Here it is, black on black ORP. Only things I may do is taking off the running boards and the air dam. For taller people the running boards seem to just get in the way.

It has the moonroof and the tow tech pack (digital rearview) which I'm glad to have.

 

[rallytime]

Woohoo! Congrats and looks great!

 

[Everybodyduck]

You made a good decision. That's a nice truck. That said, I love the hybrid.

 

[ECK]

I think you made the right choice in selecting the ORP with more features. A) you’ll get to enjoy them, B) you’ll get a higher resale value when you move on.

Back in the mid-2000’s when I got my gen 2 Taco I opted for just the SR5 trim. Price was part of it, but my main rationale: I was going to rebuild the front/rear suspension anyway, so I felt it was better to save the diff between SR5 and OR trim. I didn’t feel like I needed the locking diff. However when I sold the truck the buyer wasn’t all that impressed with all the mods I did to it, and the sale price reflected it.

Skip forward to the 20-teens when I bought my gen 3 Taco, I went for the OR trim and added the tech pkg (this was back when you could build out the truck like you wanted from the factory). I sold it recently and the buyer geeked out over all the OR features (locking diff, crawl control, multi-terrain select) as well as the tech pkg features (dual climate, faux leather seats, powered sunroof and rear slider, adaptive cruise, etc.), all of which led to me asking/getting a good price.

So when it came time to get the 6G4R, I opted for the ORP trim for many of the reasons above. Plus I’m 20 yrs older now, and I like my creature comforts.

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