Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), the second-largest automaker in the U.S. automotive market in 2024, typically avoids altering its successful formulas. For instance, the fifth-generation Toyota RAV4 compact crossover SUV has been in production since 2018, as has the twelfth-generation E210 Corolla passenger car series. However, until recently, the oldest model in their lineup was the N280 fifth-generation Toyota 4Runner mid-size off-road body-on-frame SUV.
Toyota introduced the then-new 4Runner at the State Fair of Texas on September 24, 2009, and it went on sale for the 2010 model year a few months later. This model continued with the 4.0-liter 1GR-FE V6 engine until the 2024 model year. After nearly 15 years of service, it finally passed the baton to the all-new N500 sixth-generation Toyota 4Runner, which is still built in Toyota’s Tahara plant in Japan, though it’s only offered for left-hand-drive regions. Like the closely related Toyota Tacoma, Land Cruiser (Prado or J250), and the Lexus GX 550, the all-new iteration now rides on the modern TNGA-F body-on-frame platform and has downsized to inline-four turbo engines, including an electrified 326-hp i-Force Max version.
The 2025 model year hasn’t altered its distinctive DNA—the all-new Toyota 4Runner still looks and feels like itself, only updated for the modern era. These upgrades have been long-awaited while Toyota sticks to the beloved rugged formula that has kept the 4Runner relevant (and popular) for more than a decade—and there are no less than nine different trims at launch to support the impressive off-road capability with additional options for personalization.
But how about customization? The aftermarket realm and members of the imaginative guild of digital car content creators dwelling across the parallel universes of vehicular CGI believe there’s always room for more. For example, Nikita Chuicko, the virtual artist better known as kelsonik on social media, thinks that now is the right CGI time to work on the 2025 Toyota 4Runner. As the model finally makes its way across the nationwide network of dealerships, the pixel master envisions that the rugged 2025 Toyota 4Runner doesn’t really need those off-road capabilities all the time. So, the CGI expert decided to gift the rugged SUV with a lowered suspension setup and three types of new aftermarket wheels, all deeply concave and sporting modern designs.
What do you think of this reimagined 4Runner?
