Best vehicle for 4wd trailheads

[blakhawk]

To the above post..an fyi

A Dodge Ram Power Wagon edition will blow a Forester outta the water offroading. Not even close. A real low range with front and rear lockers. They are big n bulky,and not very nimble tho. Same goes for Ford raptors.

[blakhawk]

One other vehicle that should be mentioned is a Colorado ZR2. They've got front and rear lockers. Lockers go a looooong ways in the offroading realm,and greatly increases a vehicles off-road prowess. There are easier to maneuver around than a full sized truck as well.

There's some other vehicles out there that have low range(transfer case) and a rear locker like any of the trailhawk editions in Jeep's lineup. And they ride on road like any other car,and get decent gas mileage.

[jrs1965]

Ram 1500 5.7 with a topper. (AKA: Ernest Hemi) It's a 4x4 hotel room on wheels. Super comfy to sleep in the back. Pups love the back seat deck. Pulls the camper to the beach in Cali. Only trailhead to thwart it was Lake Como Road. This is actually my third variant. The first one was a 4.7 which didn't do so well when I had upgraded to a larger camper. Ram #2 didn't do so well when it hit an elk at 70 mph. ABS and the size of the truck saved my life...

Ram 1500 5.7 (1 of 1).jpg

Edit: In contrast, here's what Ram #2 had looked like after hitting the elk. Walked away with a dislocated thumb from the airbag deployment.

Elk.jpg

A subaru forester is probably better than a dodge ram off road, especially for colorado where having a short wheelbase is useful. Rams also seem to litter their plastic air dams when they bottom out on rocks hahaha

19 Forester
Min. road clearance 8.7 in.
Angle of approach 22.9 deg.
Angle of departure 24.6 deg.
Ramp breakover angle 19.6 deg.

19 ram
Approach Angle, degrees 18.9
Departure Angle, degrees 25.0
Ramp Breakover Angle Without Skid Plate, degrees 19.9
Ramp Breakover Angle With Skid Plate, degrees — 17.8
Ground Clearance Without Skid Plate 8.7

Agreed. I always have to be cognizant of the underside and exhaust so they don’t rub. I’m just trying to get to the TH. However, like I said the only trailhead I couldn’t make it up was Lake Como Road. Also, pretty sure I’m probably more comfortable sleeping in the bed with topper. Saved my life, I’m happy with it.

[nunns]

This is an extremely common thread if you just go read old ones asking the same question. To sum it up: Outback, 4runner, Tacoma, and then miscellaneous other 4x4s after that.

OK dumb question I am sure, so flame away at my lack of vehicular knowledge, but do stock 4Runner types of vehicles have the same ground clearance as stock Jeeps?
I would imagine the shorter wheelbase on a Jeep would help for advanced 4WD stuff. I am just looking for something that would get me up "easy" 4WD roads in order to cut down on the amount of road hiking I have to do.

Sean Nunn

A 4runner will get you to the vast majority of 4wd trailheads on this site. The list of trailheads that a 4runner could not get to but a stock Wrangler could get to is a short or empty list.

EXACTLY the kind of answer I was looking for. Thank you very much.

Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

[JTOlson26]

I love my 4runner. Recently upgraded to a 5th gen after sporting a 3rd gen for the last 8 years. Just built a simple platform to level the rear (still need to carpet it) so it's more comfortable to sleep in the back.

[ker0uac]

Is TRD PRO worth the premium price?

[two lunches]

Lockers go a looooong ways in the offroading realm,and greatly increases a vehicles off-road prowess.

PSA: if anyone reading this thread doesn't know what a locker is, Colorado 4x4 Rescue would probably appreciate it if you didn't use one. lockers will take you almost anywhere you want to go, and can also take you places you don't want to go.

Is TRD PRO worth the premium price?

no. almost any toyota forum will support this answer

[ker0uac]

Is TRD PRO worth the premium price?

no. almost any toyota forum will support this answer

Yea, I think it mostly adds comfort and style, which I personally don't value as much, but wondering if there were other benefits like higher resale value, etcc although it's not easy to find used TRD PROs for sale, so....

[blakhawk]

Is TRD PRO worth the premium price?

no. almost any toyota forum will support this answer

Yea, I think it mostly adds comfort and style, which I personally don't value as much, but wondering if there were other benefits like higher resale value, etcc although it's not easy to find used TRD PROs for sale, so....

It adds more than just aesthetics. It does add some meat and potatoes like crawl control,terrain select,and a rear locker. Some people find that extra cost worth it. I know I do.

[MichelleLW]

no. almost any toyota forum will support this answer

Yea, I think it mostly adds comfort and style, which I personally don't value as much, but wondering if there were other benefits like higher resale value, etcc although it's not easy to find used TRD PROs for sale, so....

It adds more than just aesthetics. It does add some meat and potatoes like crawl control,terrain select,and a rear locker. Some people find that extra cost worth it. I know I do.

However, you can get all of those in the TRD Off-road model rather than TRD pro model, several thousand cheaper. The pro adds upgraded shocks, tires, badging, a few other things that I don't recall off the top of my head, nearly all of which can be added to the off-road for much cheaper than buying the pro model.

[two lunches]

no. almost any toyota forum will support this answer

Yea, I think it mostly adds comfort and style, which I personally don't value as much, but wondering if there were other benefits like higher resale value, etcc although it's not easy to find used TRD PROs for sale, so....

It adds more than just aesthetics. It does add some meat and potatoes like crawl control,terrain select,and a rear locker. Some people find that extra cost worth it. I know I do.

the TRD Off Road and the TRD Off Road Premium have crawl control, terrain select and a rear diff locker, as well. yes i agree those are worth the cost if you know how or want to learn how to use them.

the TRD Pro setup limits the number of aftermarket modifications that can be added to the 4runner- there are additional sensors on the KDSS, and apparently the remote reservoir Fox shocks are a PITA to work around. additionally, what you "get" out of the Pro versus the OR or ORP is not worth the additional $10,000 cost. you can do a full suspension upgrade and purchase the TRD Pro wheels/rack/ladder for less than $10K. if you're like me, and don't leave stock vehicles as they are, this choice is not for you.

[blakhawk]

Yuppers...I was under the impression if it was worth the extra cost to the base models without all the real off-road goodies added. Besides I'm not gonna list everything different between the trims here on a forum when someone can easily find out for them selves.