2010 Toyota 4Runner First Impressions

"More stuff to break."

Though most rest assured that reliability has advanced with technology, the above remains a common statement from off-road fanatics learning about the latest driver-assist electronics.

The 2010 4Runner is priced from under $37,000, and goes on sale in the near future.

Toyota's revamped 2010 4Runner is fitted with many of these sometimes-controversial gadgets. Of course, old school methodologies in the 4x4 world remain valid, and Toyota says most SUV owners don't hit the trails until their machines get older, anyhow. Regardless, the once-simple 4Runner of the 80's now blends mud and microchips into a highly advanced version of a traditionally simple machine.

Improvements and updates for 2010 are extensive. Depending on the model in question, shoppers will find features like an electronic sway-bar decoupler, Advanced Traction Control (A-TRAC), Crawl Control, Hill Start and Descent Control and a Multi-Mode terrain selector.

Of course, most of today's sport-utility buyers aren't using their rigs for recreational turf-tossing. Accordingly, most SUV's in the market aren't designed for heavy off-road use. The new Toyota 4Runner is not one of these machines.

Aside from the doodads, it's got plenty of serious hardware that's largely absent in the do-it-all Crossover SUV. Rugged body-on-frame construction, a transfer case with low-range, and a full-sized spare are included on all models.

After all, 4Runner has a reputation to live up to. It's got to handle family duty with ease during the week, but it's got to perform flawlessly when owners return it to its ancestral environment, too.

A recent late-fall trail ride in the new model allowed your correspondent to put some of the 4Runners advanced off-road goodies to the test. Toyota invited selected Canadian journalists to Huntsville, Ontario to try the model out on a challenging controlled trail.

It looked intimidating for a relative off-road virgin like your writer. Mud, wet leaves and other assorted forms of slipperiness were everywhere. Deepening my initial nervousness, the tester rolled on a set of tires geared more for pavement than dirt.

4Runner now puts a bigger-than-ever arsenal of off-road tools at its owners disposal.