I just heard from a reliable dealer source that the December production line of 2003 4Runners (arrival in dealerships in February) will have all models, including SR5 and Sport, available with body colored cladding.

So for once Toyota listens to consumer complaints, and does something about it quickly. Now if they would only offer a factory off-road suspension package that would increase clearance...

 

Do you have any pics?

 

Should look exactly like the Limited, but with a few different color choices (and without the silver running boards and roof rack ).

 

I'm sorry, but I'm a bit confused. :confused: Is the '03 Runner going to have no cladding or are they all just going to have painted cladding? None would be much better!

Thanks for the info.
Have fun.
DH6twinotter

 

the term I heard was "body colored cladding." Maybe they will get rid of the ugly notches at least...

 

I've heard from a reliable source that you can special order '03's with a manual tranny. I wonder if this fallls into the "Toyota Listens" category.

 

It's nice to see a big company listen to their customers. You have to give Toyota a big hand if they are offering collor keyed body clading on all models of 4-runner because of dustomer feedback.

 

What they should have done was followed Nissan's move and find out what people want. A perfect example is the Xterra, Nissan's design team here in La Jolla relentlessly interviewed thousands of wheelers to find out what they wanted in an S.U.V., the Xterra was the outcome and this thing sells like crazy.

They should have let the 4th gen project manager/engineer stick with cars and asked their loyal customers what they wanted instead of assuming that people were going to think the new 4Runner was the best thing since sliced bread.

The reception of the new 4Runner has been luke warm at best and I would expect an early redesign (of at least the body) over the next couple of years, I think this may be a disaster for Toyota when it's all said and done. Most people dislike the new look and I think its sales are showing this to be true or else Toyota would not be changing the cladding so quickly.

Think about this ... if the body cladding of an SR5 is color matched it will look exactly like a Limited. Who's gonna pay $10,000 more for a Limited if there is no exterior difference between it in and the SR5?

 

Maybe the LTD would come with those clear rear tail lights and a lot of fake wood on the inside... now who wouldn't pay $10G more for all that???



Some Factory 4th goodies IF you live in Nippon...

4th Gen Goodies.......

Maybe Toy could market the High Spirit Version for $10k more!

LOL!!!!!!!

 

They always get the good stuff...Color coordinated water bottles..woohoo.

MY Grandma needs this for when she goes wheeling.

 

I'd hate to be the guy that gets fired for the cladding... Makes you almost feel sorry for him

 

Cool James, your grandmother goes wheeling too?!? I'm still scratching my head over the burger holders, LOL....

 

Sure, and she always brings a few burgers with her, hehe.

 

The high spirited version makes me want to hurl !!! The square fenders and cladding are already ugly enough ... add some more square fiberglass ˟˟˟˟ and you basically have a big ulgy box! The only cool thing to me are the HID lights.

And since when does adding some chrome colored plastic make a vehicle rugged (aka Rugged Version)? IMO Toyota has lost track of what a truck is all about! They should save themselves the embarrasment and stop making trucks all together before they destroy the Tacoma next.

A new car company needs to be developed and start producing real trucks and suv's again. Real 4x4's that are meant to be simple and robust. Crosslander almost did it, but whimped out and made their front end IFS. Jeep needs to part with Chrysler and some real entusiasts need to run the company and use the KISS formula.

Cheers

 

My other fav 4 th Gen Nippon item...