ckonarske

Hey, Corey! Get ready, here come about 60 pics of the new 4Runners!

My salesman called me today to tell me they had six new 4Runners on the lot that had been dropped off, I assume for prepping, to be sent on to the press preview here in Detroit. He said they'd only be there for a couple of hours. VROOOOOOM! I'M THERE!

I got there with my trusty little camera and snatched about 40 minutes of crawling-all-over-these-things pictures! What a blast!

I just got home a few minutes ago and am working on them right now. I'll send them to you for uploading to your site within the next hour or so.

FWIW, I think Toyota did a good job on these things and I think they may turn out to be deserving descendents of the trucks we love so much. You'll be able to judge for yourselves soon.

Backatcha ASAP.

Stump1883

Yeah Corey let us know when you get those pics. up, I just got done reading the edmunds report on the 2003 and I'm excited to see more pictures, any back seat shots ckonarske? I still don't like the base models side cladding and fender flares but the LTD looks okay, curious to see how the look in other colors and how they evolve over time. Thanks ckonarske for [passing on the experiance you had.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Oh man, guy's, it will be tomorrow.
I am not on my PC tonight
I am on the kid's PC.

My oldest is spending the night and will be on my PC till quite late tonight.

Chuck, my mail can only hold 5 MB, so I hope it's not more than that.

ckonarske

I'll reduce them or split them. Lemme know if there's any problem.

ckonarske

My favorite:


Not too shabby:


Not my favorite shift pattern:


Trash bag holder:

pfdaxe

.....and just think....in a few months, we'll all be sick of seeing them rushing past us with the V-8s late for soccer practice...

Grey cladding......YUK!!

Thanks for sharing the pics....

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Chuck, receieved the 1st 8 MB file.
I guess my mail will hold upto 10 MB at once before sending the over flow message and youy files back to you.

If you have more, send them, but only if it's less than 10 MB.

Also I won't be able to get these pics online until late tomorrow.
Very busy day tomorrow.
But they will be up by 6 PM PST or earlier.


Son downsized his game and let me retreive my mail box.
Can't get on again, as he is in a tourney tonight with friends gaming online.
Corey

AZTOY

Paint it all one color add billet grill a big grill guard a lift and some other mods it could be cool. It looks good in black

ckonarske

I was pleasantly surprised by the looks of these in the flesh. MUCH better than I thought they'd look!

I was also surprised by the fact that they didn't look a whole lot larger than what we're used to. The additions in size must be spread around so as not to be too noticeable.

Just a guess, but it appeared that the gas tank skid plate was at least one of the places where ground clearance is given up. When Corey gets them up, look at the front side view of the black one and you can see the skid plate.

The reduction in reported cargo space may be at least partly because of the the storage shelf thickness as it lays on the floor of the cargo area. It looks like it reduces the height, which shouldn't be a very big problem. Otherwise, the area seemed about the same as 3rd gen. I'd be happy to give up a bit of space to have the shelf. I liked it.

I didn't get to drive any of them, but I started one and the V8 was SILKY! Very smoooooth.

The black one looked like it can sit in my driveway anytime! I'm not ready to trade yet, but I can see it happening someday assuming the 03 keeps the same driving personality the other 3 gens have had.

The cladding got less and less offensive every time I saw it and should actually do a pretty good job of protecting the areas it covers.

We can finally stop looking for the hood support rod when we raise the hood on the 03s. Gas struts are now used.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

The pics are up on the 03 page.http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/tando/0...nner_page1.htm

I put them in a folder to click on, instead of on an actual page.
That's a lot of pics, and the server they are on right now may get overtaxed if the pics were inline with them all showing up at once.

Thanks Chuck for the pics...
Corey

jalaber

Chuck and Corey...Thanks for all the work in taking the pics and hosting/webpaging them!!! I agree this thing is looking better each time i see it. The flares being plastic is not so much an issue to me...yeah they look cheap, but long term I bet they look better by not chipping up. And if the squared off flares goes hand in hand with the double decker cargo area then so be it.

SLC Punk

The shift gate and the shift knob looks exactly like the one on my mom's 2002 ES 300

Trash bag holder, what else a makeup holder??

SLC Punk

What size tires are those 235??

ckonarske

265/70-16 standard on SR5,265/65-17 standard on Limited, opt on SR5

SLC Punk

really, for some reason those look really small..

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I went ahead and made 4 new pages that are linked from page two of the original pics form Toyota.
This way it's easier to see the pics than looking through a folder.

Did not take as long as I thought to crank out 4 pages.
Corey

Beowulf

It sucks that it lost its ground clearance (for me, one of its strongest selling points). What's sad is that you will have to put a 2" lift on the 2003 just to be level with the stock 3rd generation 4WD.

Knowing that any lift over 2.5" will quickly where down the CV's makes the maximum ground clearance for the 2003 just above 11" ... which is close to the already stock height of the 3rd generation 4WD. Geez, that's some off road machine huh?:rolleyes:

Regardless of the technologically advanced suspension, if you can't drive over a curb without scraping the bottom it’s not going to do much.

I really wish Toyota would have gone with a more Spartan concept with an off-road prowess that could have gone toe to toe with the Jeep Rubicon. They already have so many plush SUV's in their lineup I just don't think they need another. If people wanted more passenger space and plush-ness they should buy the LC or Sequoia.

I used to own a Jeep Wrangler but I quickly outgrew it once I got married and had a kid so I traded it in for my 4Runner. The strongest selling point for me was that I wanted something that could basically do the same thing/go the same places as my Jeep but with more room (and Dependability). I think the new 2003 model looses track of the first reason the 4Runner was developed, it wasn't developed to be a plush car, but 1st and foremost an off-road vehicle that can hold more than 2 people and lot's of camping gear and tools. Now the 2003 turns out less cargo space, more emphasis on interior asthetics and less emphasis on its off-road heritage (I mean come on, the 4Runner HAD the highest ground clearnace in its class, now it's barely higher than a Volvo).

You don't see Jeep giving in to Soccer Moms when it comes to its off-road machine the Wrangler, in fact they did just the opposite with the Rubicon they enhanced it and took it even further than its predacessors. Yes, they do have other SUV's for the Soccer Moms of America but the Wrangler will never go in that direction and neither should the 4Runner!

jalaber

Give it a few more years as I hear Toyota is developing a new SUV to compete against the Xterra. It will be lower in cost and more "spartan".

Beowulf

Yea I heard about that as well, but they already had an awseome platform in the 4Runner ... why go F*@k Up the Formula? To me they just turned the proud 4Runner heritage into another BMW or Cadillac SUV. And if they do come out with that SUV to compete against the Xterra, what's to stop them from listening to soccer moms again and turning that into just another fat wanna be car as well?

I heard estimates of 42-45K for the price of a new 2003 limited, why not just buy a BMW or Mercedes CAR since it's never going off road anyway? At least then someone wouldn't be in another Yuppy POSER mobile!

Cheers

Beowulf

Soccer Ball holder