Hello,
I tried searching, but didn’t find much.
I’m considering a 2 year old 4Runner. 4 WD, 4.0l V6.
The boat is a 20 foot bay boat. I don’t ever tow very far. Most of the time it’s only 2 miles to Lake Lewisville. But, on occasion I tow up to Texoma. (1 hour each way)

Thoughts on 4Runner?
Bryan

The 4Runner will easily handle the rig. Should tow up to 5000 lbs with no problems. If you are concerned take rig to a public scale & get it weighed. Rig might weigh 3000 lbs.. One suggestion NEVER TOW IN OVERDRIVE!!!! Daniel

Cool. Thanks. I know my current rig is well under 5K. I didn’t think it would be a problem, but would like to hear from several real world users. ThankYou for the OD tip. I don’t use OD when towing in any vehicle I’ve owned.

A coworker towed a 19ft pathfinder with no problem. I recall him saying that he averaged 10 MPG and he would drive 70. The 4 wheel drive will help with those wet and steep ramps. My wife has a 20 4runner and I will pull my 18ft kenner some day. I do regret not getting the 4WD.

My 2020 can't hold OD most of the time and turns 3k rpms on interstate to do 78mph. So plan on turning a LOT of RPMs while towing. I debate whether or not I even want to pull the waverunner with mine. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have picked something else. My $.02.

PS - The engine has been the only disappointment. It also gets really bad economy. Everything else is great.

Don't know about the new ones, but I pull a Champion 188DCX sporting a 200 HP Yamaha OX66 with a 2003 2 wheel drive 4Runner with no problem.

Well, I can tell you the big three all have stronger engine options for towing. If you're ok turning 4k, more power to you

ThankYou Everyone for the replies so far. I drive an F150 now. Have had trucks my entire adult life. I don’t NEED the bed of a truck anymore, so I’m looking at other options that fit our lifestyle.

Bryan

Never towed with a 4-runner but towed with a couple Chevy 4.3 v-6's. The have what it takes, but dont have the grunt of the v-8's or turbo options. It will surely do the job though. Most of the time I found that responsibly driven the 4.3 v-6 while it worked harder would get better fuel mileage towing our old 20-foot bay boat than my 350 v-8. If you dont want it to run 4000+ rpm dont put the skinny pedal on the floor and it will do fine.

It's pretty sad, redchevy. Not sure that old pushrod didn't have better low end torque. The Toyota 4.0l reminds me of the prior generation chevy 5.3l. The specs look pretty good but in the real world, it doesn't even start to run until 3500 rpms.

I guess I should have asked how fast do you want to go?

You know I was never real wild about the performance of my 5.3 chevy. But the vast majority of that was my own fault. I got out of my old 350 v-8 into a 6.7 cummins. The diesel would drag a house in OD without a second thought. So when i got my 5.3 after driving it empty i knew right away it wouldnt tow in OD but tried to tow in 5th gear most of the time and it did ok but often wanted to downshift etc. If I let it run around 2500 rpm in 4th gear it did pretty well but my mind didnt like that so I always tried to force it to work around at a lower rpm in a higher gear. In my mind at the time 2500 rpm seemed like double or more what it did empty and must be doing damage, now i believe if anything i probably did more damage lugging it down.

It is what it is and it wouldnt be my choice at all, but that engine will hum along at 3000 rpm all day long. Heck the 4 cylinder in my wifes escape turns like 2700 at 75 mph in top gear... its turned a lot of revolutions in its day. I run walmart brad sysnthetic oil in it and it runs like new with 140,000 miles on it.

No doubt.

Good info Folks. I don’t tow the boat on the highway very often, so highway rpm’s aren’t a concern.

When I bought my F150 (2013), you couldn’t get a 6.5’ bed with a four door cab. So I ended up with a truck with suicide rear doors. Not traditional doors. It worked just fine…. Until we had grandkids. The suicide doors with anybody in the backseat, doesn’t work at all in a parking lot.

So now I’m in the market for a vehicle with 4 real doors, shorter than a full size truck, narrower than a full size truck, and can handle a 20 foot boat. I drive a total of about 6000-8000 miles a year. So mileage isn’t a concern.

From what I have seen the lighter weight of the 4 runner is the biggest problem with towing. I had a cousin with one and it would slide uncontrolled while backing down the minnow bucket ramp at lake fork when it was wet. Scary when your behind the wheel. K.D. on here had one and it would fishtail when he pulled the boat over 65mph. No way you are making an emergency stop on wet pavement in one. They pull fine though. But for these reasons I will stick with fullsize vehicles for all towing.

No way they will ever truely compete with a full size, but the fishtailing is 100% a trailer set up issue. When you downsize tow vehicles you loose more hitch it and forget it ability.