The Toyota 4Runner: A Unique Driving Experience

As we stepped into the driver's seat of this beast of a vehicle, I couldn't help but think that it was Toyota's response to another rugged off-roader on the market. It's not quite a badge of honor, per se, but rather an effort to offer a more affordable and raw alternative to its competitors. And in many ways, it succeeds.

One notable feature of this vehicle is its 4L V6 engine, which is a big deal for a car that doesn't look particularly large on paper. The wheelbase may not be the longest, but the height and square shape of the 4Runner make it appear much bigger than it actually is. And one thing's for sure: you don't feel like an insignificant speck in this vehicle - it's a big, bold presence that commands respect.

Of course, with great size comes great responsibility, and safety is undoubtedly top of mind when driving this behemoth. The turning radius is incredible, making it easy to navigate tight parking spots without feeling like you're going to get stuck. And the brakes feel solid, providing plenty of stopping power even when faced with rocky terrain.

But it's not just about brute force - the 4Runner also has a sporty feel to its steering, which is a welcome change from the often-loose wheel bases found in other Toyota vehicles. The feedback is crisp and responsive, making it easy to carve through corners or navigate tight switchbacks. And with its unique bolt upright windshield and squared-off interior, this vehicle offers a spacious and comfortable driving position that's hard to find in modern cars.

Speaking of which, the interior of this car is a true standout feature. The dash is adorned with an impressive magma orange color scheme, which adds to the overall sense of ruggedness and adventure. And while the visibility out the back may not be the best, especially when you're trying to change lanes, the massive interior provides plenty of room for passengers and gear alike.

When it comes time to hit the road, the 4Runner's acceleration is impressive - though not exactly lightning-fast. But with its sloshy suspension, which Toyota has wisely chosen over tighter, more conventional suspension setups, this vehicle handles corners at a pace that's more suited to crawling through rocky terrain than carving through twisties.

One area where the 4Runner truly shines is in its practicality. This is most definitely not a car for those who plan on taking it off-road regularly - but for cruising around town or tackling light off-roading adventures, it's hard to find a more capable vehicle at this price point. And with its reliability and durability built-in, you can bet that this 4Runner will be in your family for years to come.

Finally, we took the opportunity to test out the sound system, which proved to be surprisingly good - especially considering the base model's budget-friendly nature. With a user-friendly interface and decent audio quality, this is definitely not just a cheap, tinny afterthought. And with its big speakers, you can bet that your tunes will come through loud and clear.

In conclusion, the Toyota 4Runner is an impressive vehicle that checks all the boxes for those looking for a rugged off-roader at an affordable price point. Whether you're cruising around town or tackling light adventures, this car has plenty to offer - and with its unique driving position and impressive capabilities, it's hard not to be drawn in by its charms.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday we review the 2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser special thanks to Navado Toyota and Kia for letting us drive the car this car looks like nothing else on the road short of a Mercedes G Wagon and with the G-Class $113,000 base price this FJ is one hell of a bargain the car comes equipped with a 4 L V6 producing 260 horsepower and 271 ftlb of torque it weighs 4300 lb when equipped with the optional four-wheel drive package and actually feels pretty quick with a 16 m per gon City and 20 m per gon Highway rating it's not the most fuel efficient car on the planet but that's a small price to pay for a mean looking ride all right so we are in this 2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser and it is enormous and manly and awesome you do not feel embarrassed to be in this car it's pretty awesome the whole interior is just built like a like a construction looks Industrial does it's a really industrial grade yeah um it's not fancy or elegant it doesn't want to be fancy or elegant um it looks exactly how it should yeah and I really dig it yeah the leg room in the back isn't great um and the blind spots are terrible but those the blind spots are terrible this is the only two real downfalls to this interior so head room's great uh room in the back for cargo is excellent got side VIs visor FR um it's got a USB and Ox input for easy connection with your iPhone that's awesome it has huge speakers I want to say 8 in 10in speakers 10 in um that we'll test out so I would say this is Toyota's response to Land Rover and maybe I just say it's Toyota's response to badass yeah yeah I I wouldn't say response so much as it's it's their effort and it's cheaper and it's a little more raw and uh and badass yeah 4 L V6 in this thing kind of a big engine one thing to note is the turning radius getting into this parking lot was incredible for a car that um maybe it it looks bigger than it is I think the wheelbase is not that large but it's so tall and square that it uh appears to be a very large machine and you certainly do not feel un safe at all no um if you were to get into an accident pretty sure you would win yeah you would win your uh unless you had another FJ a Hummer or another FJ Cruiser you're probably all set small bus garbage truck are the only real dangers in an FJ Cruiser uh this color is pretty badass uh it's orange I think it was described as magma yes it was and even the dash part of this is magma orange as well pretty awesome all right the steering feels pretty good it's a lot tighter than uh any Toyota I've driven a lot of the steering wheels are really loose on their trucks SUVs and sedans and this has a more uh sporty feel to it you have to turn the steering wheel Less in order to get more turning out of it and uh the feedback is a little better than typical Toyota which is uh great and I'd say in general this is a very unique uh driving position and even passenger position for a modern car I can't really think of anything else that offers a kind of Bolt upright windshield and really squared off interior makes her a very spacious Place brakes feel good uh the visibility in the mirrors is great the rear view mirrror um it's small especially with that spare tire the window is very small with the uh spare tire and uh just small in general so your rear view viewing uh area is pretty small and uh not great if you turn your head to look uh over your shoulder uh when you change lanes I don't know what you're supposed to see other than the massive interior of this car you can you can kind of see it's got an interesting uh smaller window in the back it's actually got three side windows which is very unique um very different but the visibility I'm going to say it again it's not great outside um uh let's give it some gas and test out the acceleration slow down a little bit I'd say impressive not bad at all yeah not bad for a car that uh weighs this much and sounds pretty good yeah yeah it's not too quiet I like that um it's very sloshy it's it's very uh smooth and the suspension is loose but that's what you want in a car that's designed uh to be an aggressive off-road vehicle you don't want tight suspension whatsoever or it's going to bottom out and you're going to break things so cornering fast not meant to do that not going to excel at it but cruising down the highway incredibly comfortable going Offroad that's where it excels probably we don't know yet we're not allowed to uh take it off road nor is there any Offroad within 100 miles of here there's not you know a lot of kids our age uh have these cars as first cars because they look so cool and I don't know any of them who really take them Offroad yeah maybe two or three of our friends who have trucks go off-roading yeah so it's not so much used to suit its intended uh purpose I'm not actually sure if Toyota really intended it to don't know yeah don't know um all we know is it's cool and a lot of people take it get uh up to the ski slopes so it's a very Drive purpose built uh car practical very safe too if uh if safety is your priority which it should be but like any car um you hope that its drawbacks are outweighed by uh the positives and in this car absolutely it is uh yeah it's awesome all right shall we test out the sound system plug in your iPod it's got these big speakers so we are hoping and expecting um to have some good or at least loud sound yeah doesn't have to be good but it has to be loud got a pretty cool uh interface here for the music and the uh it's radio this is our first time ever doing this y all right that took us all 25 seconds wow the base is pretty good so it's clear it's loud the base is good um excellent yeah yeah good all right well as always please browse our Channel And subscribe and if you have any more questions about your first car purchase or cars in general visit www. vehicle virgin.com special thanks again to Nado Toyota and Kia helped us out a lot if you like this car it's there now thankstoday we review the 2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser special thanks to Navado Toyota and Kia for letting us drive the car this car looks like nothing else on the road short of a Mercedes G Wagon and with the G-Class $113,000 base price this FJ is one hell of a bargain the car comes equipped with a 4 L V6 producing 260 horsepower and 271 ftlb of torque it weighs 4300 lb when equipped with the optional four-wheel drive package and actually feels pretty quick with a 16 m per gon City and 20 m per gon Highway rating it's not the most fuel efficient car on the planet but that's a small price to pay for a mean looking ride all right so we are in this 2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser and it is enormous and manly and awesome you do not feel embarrassed to be in this car it's pretty awesome the whole interior is just built like a like a construction looks Industrial does it's a really industrial grade yeah um it's not fancy or elegant it doesn't want to be fancy or elegant um it looks exactly how it should yeah and I really dig it yeah the leg room in the back isn't great um and the blind spots are terrible but those the blind spots are terrible this is the only two real downfalls to this interior so head room's great uh room in the back for cargo is excellent got side VIs visor FR um it's got a USB and Ox input for easy connection with your iPhone that's awesome it has huge speakers I want to say 8 in 10in speakers 10 in um that we'll test out so I would say this is Toyota's response to Land Rover and maybe I just say it's Toyota's response to badass yeah yeah I I wouldn't say response so much as it's it's their effort and it's cheaper and it's a little more raw and uh and badass yeah 4 L V6 in this thing kind of a big engine one thing to note is the turning radius getting into this parking lot was incredible for a car that um maybe it it looks bigger than it is I think the wheelbase is not that large but it's so tall and square that it uh appears to be a very large machine and you certainly do not feel un safe at all no um if you were to get into an accident pretty sure you would win yeah you would win your uh unless you had another FJ a Hummer or another FJ Cruiser you're probably all set small bus garbage truck are the only real dangers in an FJ Cruiser uh this color is pretty badass uh it's orange I think it was described as magma yes it was and even the dash part of this is magma orange as well pretty awesome all right the steering feels pretty good it's a lot tighter than uh any Toyota I've driven a lot of the steering wheels are really loose on their trucks SUVs and sedans and this has a more uh sporty feel to it you have to turn the steering wheel Less in order to get more turning out of it and uh the feedback is a little better than typical Toyota which is uh great and I'd say in general this is a very unique uh driving position and even passenger position for a modern car I can't really think of anything else that offers a kind of Bolt upright windshield and really squared off interior makes her a very spacious Place brakes feel good uh the visibility in the mirrors is great the rear view mirrror um it's small especially with that spare tire the window is very small with the uh spare tire and uh just small in general so your rear view viewing uh area is pretty small and uh not great if you turn your head to look uh over your shoulder uh when you change lanes I don't know what you're supposed to see other than the massive interior of this car you can you can kind of see it's got an interesting uh smaller window in the back it's actually got three side windows which is very unique um very different but the visibility I'm going to say it again it's not great outside um uh let's give it some gas and test out the acceleration slow down a little bit I'd say impressive not bad at all yeah not bad for a car that uh weighs this much and sounds pretty good yeah yeah it's not too quiet I like that um it's very sloshy it's it's very uh smooth and the suspension is loose but that's what you want in a car that's designed uh to be an aggressive off-road vehicle you don't want tight suspension whatsoever or it's going to bottom out and you're going to break things so cornering fast not meant to do that not going to excel at it but cruising down the highway incredibly comfortable going Offroad that's where it excels probably we don't know yet we're not allowed to uh take it off road nor is there any Offroad within 100 miles of here there's not you know a lot of kids our age uh have these cars as first cars because they look so cool and I don't know any of them who really take them Offroad yeah maybe two or three of our friends who have trucks go off-roading yeah so it's not so much used to suit its intended uh purpose I'm not actually sure if Toyota really intended it to don't know yeah don't know um all we know is it's cool and a lot of people take it get uh up to the ski slopes so it's a very Drive purpose built uh car practical very safe too if uh if safety is your priority which it should be but like any car um you hope that its drawbacks are outweighed by uh the positives and in this car absolutely it is uh yeah it's awesome all right shall we test out the sound system plug in your iPod it's got these big speakers so we are hoping and expecting um to have some good or at least loud sound yeah doesn't have to be good but it has to be loud got a pretty cool uh interface here for the music and the uh it's radio this is our first time ever doing this y all right that took us all 25 seconds wow the base is pretty good so it's clear it's loud the base is good um excellent yeah yeah good all right well as always please browse our Channel And subscribe and if you have any more questions about your first car purchase or cars in general visit www. vehicle virgin.com special thanks again to Nado Toyota and Kia helped us out a lot if you like this car it's there now thanks\n"