I am Lexus ES300h owner, but it is my first SUV riding.
Toyota 4Runner has been rented for traveling w/ family. I just asked for big thing, such as full-size SUV. Rental car staff suggested this one.
It is too big to me, my 5 year daughter cannot get by herself and i have little trouble when parking it.
But it has difference against other SUV.
Sometimes I was on Landrover Freelander 2 at passenger seat. It was ordinary and tranditional SUV. My wife does not like it because SUV has little rolling. Simply impression of ridingn is worse than other sedan’s. SUV has higher position and it can be the root cause of motion sickness.
However, this time she said fine with Toyota 4Runner!! I drove from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver BC, Canada, about 550km for 6 hours. Except noise from outside, her feedback was positive.
About noise, it was bad. I have drive many cars when traveling, mostly sedan, and former owner of Kia Rio(2007) and Hyundai NF Sonata(2008).
But about noise blocking, 4Runner was worse than others. It was hard to talk with passengers when riding it with 100km/h. Noise from outside or from road was not blocked well. It is SUV for offroad or outside activity.
Of course, it cannot be compared with sedan. It is unfair. I wanna say 4Runner is not acceptable car with travelling w/ family. It is my personal opinion.
As rental car, it does not have many options. Also bug and oil pig.
About oil consumption, I think it is little acceptable.
My ES300h is hybrid car and officially its fuel consumption rate is 14.9km/L in Korea. But my case, it is AVG. 18.9km/L for last one year. Maybe I am good and economic driver.
Toyota 4Runner is 7.6/L and 270hp, officially, with 4.0L gasoline engine. During 550km driving, it was about 8.5-9.0km/L. I think it is not bad. I drove on freeway mostly, but w/ 4.0L engine, it is much better than I thought.
Toyota 4Runner is not fast moving car and touring car with family. However, for outdoor activity, I might consider to buy it. Acceptable price and large volume of storage mould be sales point.
... but need to improve NVH and audio.
