If it weren’t for teaser shots about hotly anticipated models from different brands, car corners of the internet wouldn’t have much to talk about on some days. Fortunately, the news keeps rolling from Toyota, who’ve released a telling photo of the upcoming 4Runner – along with a suggested release date.
Billed as showing up ‘right around the corner’, the next 4Runner will take its place in a newly and delightfully square SUV lineup at Toyota dealers. Today’s photo highlights a retractable rear window, something treasured by current owners and shown here complete with what we presume are up/down buttons on the truck’s hatch area. As part of the marketing blurb, Toyota says it’s a ‘window to bigger worlds and adventures’, suggesting someone let the new marketing intern write this skiff of copy. Bless them.
Rear windows which open separately from the entire hatch are making a resurgence in recent years, suggesting manufacturers are either cluing into the fact it’s a great feature, have found a way to distract the accountants, or actually listening to feedback from shoppers. The latter is a stretch, we know. But we’ll take our useful-if-sightly-retro features where we can get them. Now would be a good time to reiterate our commitment of campaigning for a return of hood ornaments on high-trim pickup trucks (we’re only half joking here).
Most are wondering out loud about where the 4Runner will fit into the mix, what with the Land Cruiser being reintroduced at a new price point and its own attractive square visage. If the 4Runner ends up being a close carbon copy to the Tacoma in terms of its cabin, we’d be fine with that – especially if it means the possibility of a manual transmission and affordable base trim. It isn’t out of the question, especially since the 4Runner is slated to use wide swaths of Taco ingredients as a base for its recipe.
Elsewhere, it’s easy to spy the Jumbotron of an infotainment screen in this show truck, along with other interior elements which mimic other models in the Toyota 4×4 lineup. This is all welcome, especially after umpteen years in which the current model remained basically unchanged. That didn’t seem to hurt sales, as buyers who knew what they were getting into often delighted in the rugged basic charm of the 4Runner.
[Image: Toyota]
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