Re: 2004 4Runner with 3rd Row Seat and DVD system and release date in Canada

Good grief. Now remove the 4WD and youll have a Sienna! What are SUVs for anymore!?!?! Surely not for towing or offroading or what they were initially designed for...

I don't know, the new 4Runners still sit on a truck frame. Although I find the newest ones rather hideous and wimpy looking by comparison, I'd assume that's just external and part of the whole new 'let's make everything look angular and sucky' style pattern and has no real bearing on how it performs. ;)

My 96 4Runner is basically a kid-transporter, but we regularly use it for things which I'd never trust a minivan or pseudo-SUV to do. I wouldn't mind a third row seat for long trips to separate my kids so they won't kill each other or for when family visits, but I'd want to remove it for daily and local use. Hubby wants a video system in it, and I just roll my eyes about that one. C'mon, I don't want a sissy truck! Dee

If anything looks good, it's the new 4Runner, with its handsome, chiselled looks. One tough-looking truck. They're selling like hotcakes in my area.

If anything is looking dated, it's the 2002 and prior 4R's. Sales of them were falling dramatically, year-over-year.

You'd buy a new one if you could afford one. They are just so superior to the old design, all the way around. Glad you like yours so much.

Actually, for the first time in like forever - since the old FJ series in the 70s, Land Rover has something out there that equals it in actual off-road performance.

Despite the wierd looks, the new 4 Runner is actually as good as a Land Rover off-road. It's a huge deal, actually - because you can now get the best off-road experience AND best reliability in one package. It completely stomps on the old 4-Runner off-road.

Yeah - it looks odd, but as they say, ugly is (thanfully) only skin deep. ;)

I think your a little bit jealous and want to trade in your bullshit

6cyl 96 for a real 03 4Runner its ok we Understand! Get some glasses to Compare a 96 to a 03! a little Product Knowledge would be nice too! C

Rumor Validated......I spoke to the Product Marketing Manager at Toyota Corporate today. The 2004 Highlander will offer the 3rd row seat first starting new models and late next year the 2004 4Runner will offer the optional 3rd row seat with optional DVD system.

Toyota is introducing this so they can have the same offering as all the other SUV's today.

Not at all jealous. I take my 96 2.7 liter 4Cyl stick shift to the dealerships to browse the other vehicles (as well as compare the 03 as far as interior space, gas mileage, etc) and the dealers just about trip all over each other offering to take it off my hands for well above blue-book. Their loss for selling it to me way below blue-book to begin with. I keep it in impeccable shape inside and out, the engine is extremely clean and clean running (according to my last smog test a few days ago) and it averages

21mpg (mostly in town, short trips, better than hubby's car.) I could definitely afford an 03 or 04, but I don't care for the looks at all. If anything I'd get an 02, but they don't come in a stick with the engine I'd want. I have no intentions of trading mine in, ever. I want to see how long it will last, and I rather like the idea of spending a good 10 years without making another car payment.

I don't need it for heavy offroad use, towing, hauling, or ego-boost. It suits my needs perfectly. I find it overkill to buy more truck than you need. What's the deal with 'bigger is better'? Maybe you should trade in your bullshit webtv for a computer? Product Knowledge would be nice there too.

Besides, I wasn't dogging the new 4Runners. They're good vehicles, I just find them ugly (along with a lot of other new designs of vehicles, not just Toyota.) If you weren't so intent on flaming someone, you'd see that, and that I stuck to the thread's continuing topic of third row seats and why they might be useful. Nowhere did I compare an 03 to a 96, nor would I. Dee