We are presented with a dilemma. A proper one. The sort that causes arguments in car parks, comment sections, and family group chats. On one side: the 2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro, painted in something called Mudbath, which sounds less like a color and more like a spa treatment gone horribly wrong. On the other: the Trailhunter, wearing Everest, a shade so good it makes the TRD Pro briefly question its life choices. But this review is about the TRD Pro. And whether it is still the king of Toyota’s off-road jungle… or whether it’s been quietly elbowed aside by its new, very smug sibling.
I drove the 2025 Toyota 4 Runner Trailhunter 6 months ago and came away suitably impressed, but the question is, is it better than the TRD Pro version we have here?
Suspension
Now let’s talk suspension, because this is where the TRD Pro starts flexing.
Underneath are Fox QS3 shocks, which are clever because they let you manually adjust compression damping. There are three settings: One for daily driving, also known as “Starbucks mode. One for fire roads and mild off-roading, and one for Baja racing, desert heroics, and pretending you’re on a Red Bull contract. Yes, you have to physically reach under the truck to adjust them, which feels like Toyota saying, “If you really cared, you’d get dirty. The Trailhunter’s Old Man Emu setup is excellent, but the Fox system’s adjustability gives the TRD Pro a technical edge.
Point: TRD Pro.
Exterior
Visually, the TRD Pro is doing what it’s always done best. The front end looks angry. There’s a hood scoop. A proper one. There’s a rigid LED light bar, white fog lights, TRD badging, and enough black trim to frighten wildlife. The wheels are classic TRD black alloys wrapped in Toyo Open Country all-terrain tires, and honestly, this combo is like a leather jacket. You don’t question it. You just accept that it works. Yes, Trailhunter’s bronze wheels are very fashionable. Yes, Everest is arguably the better color. But the TRD Pro’s black-and-red theme is timeless.
Point: TRD Pro.
The TRD Pro gets: Stabilizer bar disconnect, Locking rear differential, and Crawl Control; it also gets a moonroof, which Trailhunter does not. Depending on where you live, that’s either essential… or completely pointless.
Now, here’s where things get awkward
The Trailhunter comes standard with things the TRD Pro makes you pay extra for, like the onboard air compressor and the roof rack. On the TRD Pro, those are optional upgrades. Which means that once you spec it properly, the price creeps north. Both start at roughly the same MSRP, but Trailhunter quietly offers more standard kit for the money. And suddenly, the TRD Pro looks over and realizes it might not be the obvious choice anymore. This tester is $73,523.
Point: Trailhunter
Under The Hood
Right then. Under the hood sits a turbocharged 2.4-litre four-cylinder hybrid, which sounds about as exciting as a microwave… until you find out it makes 326 horsepower and a meaty 465 pound-feet of torque. That extra shove comes from an electric motor chucking in another 48 horses and 184 lb-ft, like a mate pushing you downhill while yelling “GO ON!”
It’s hooked up to an 8-speed automatic, and compared to the old one, it’s smoother by roughly the distance between Yorkshire and the Moon. Zero to sixty happens in 6.7 seconds, which in off-road-truck terms is basically warp speed. And if you drive it like a responsible adult — briefly, just to see what it feels like — you might even see 23 mpg on the highway.
Driving
Off-Road
We pointed the Trailhunter toward our usual off-road playground near the US–Mexico border — a place so rugged it’s basically a gym for Border Patrol trucks. The trails here aren’t the sort you drive so much as negotiate: steep, narrow, littered with rocks the size of Labradors, and absolutely demanding proper four-wheel drive, low range, and enough ground clearance to make a mountain goat feel inadequate.
And this is where the TRD PRO starts grinning smugly. We deliberately picked the nastiest routes we could find — sharp climbs, awkward angles, loose rock everywhere — and only once did we bother locking the rear diff, when one wheel was busy doing interpretive dance on gravel while the other still had dirt beneath it. Otherwise, it just… went. With 10.1 inches of ground clearance and skid plates underneath like medieval armor, we never once flinched about smashing something expensive.
The cameras help too, peering around boulders so you can choose which side to not destroy the truck on. Drop it into low range, lock the diffs, disconnect the front anti-roll bar, and the TRD PRO simply oozes over the terrain. That huge slab of torque arrives at just 1,700 rpm, which means it climbs obstacles with the bored confidence of something that knows it can’t be stopped. Honestly, it feels less like driving and more like issuing mild suggestions.
We did manage to find some large puddles, unusual for Southern california. This allowed us to have maxumum fun and get the car absolutely filthly. Needless to say we ddint get stuck.
On-Road
The TRD PRO, like the Trailhunter, is, quite unexpectedly, the best-behaved 4Runner Toyota has ever unleashed onto tarmac. A lot of that is down to the smooth Toyo tyres, but the real sorcery is happening in the dampers. These things deserve a knighthood. Now, no one — no one — has ever described a 4Runner as “sporty” without being escorted out of the room. And yet… threading this 2.5-ton slab of ladder-frame stubbornness down a twisty back road, I found myself grinning like an idiot. It actually holds itself together. It turns. It doesn’t immediately panic.
Don’t get carried away, though. This is still a proper body-on-frame truck, so it thumps, jiggles, and sways over bumps in the way that reminds you it was designed to climb mountains, not apexes. But by 4Runner standards? This thing is practically a ballet dancer wearing hiking boots.
Interior – Does it give off good vibes?
You open the door, and you’re hit with black, red, and Toyota’s now-famous technical camo. It feels sporty, aggressive, and a little bit tactical, like you should immediately put on gloves and say things like “copy that.” The seats are excellent. Heated. Ventilated. Properly bolstered. There’s four-way lumbar, memory settings, and enough comfort to remind you that this is no longer the agricultural 4Runner of old, where luxury meant “the radio works.”
In front of you is a 14-inch Toyota multimedia screen, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, a digital rearview mirror, and enough cameras to make a Netflix documentary about your parking skills. Everything works as it should, feels rugged, and best of all is built to last.
Cargo Space
You get 42.6 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row and 82.6 cubic feet with the second row folded. Cargo space in the hybrid is harder to use because of the SUV’s higher load floor.
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So what’s the verdict?
The 2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro is still magnificent. It’s aggressive, incredibly capable, packed with technology, and feels like the most “sporty” member of the 4Runner family. But… The Trailhunter is a smarter value. More standard gear and a lighter interior, which means the TRD Pro is no longer the default answer. It’s now the emotional one. If you want the most aggressive look, the most adjustable suspension, and that classic TRD Pro attitude, this is still your truck. If you want maximum value and uniqueness, the Trailhunter might just steal your heart.
2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD PRO
BASE PRICE: $66,900
PRICE AS TESTED: $73,523
VEHICLE LAYOUT: Front-engine, rear/4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door SUV
ENGINE: 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder
ELECTRIC MOTOR: AC motor, 48 hp, 184 lb-ft
COMBINED POWER: 323 hp
TORQUE: 465 lb-ft
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
0-60 MPH: 6.7 sec
CURB WEIGHT: 5,500 lbs
TOWING CAPACITY: 6,000 lbs
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 23/24/23 mpg
OUR OBSERVED: 16.8
PROS: Unstoppable off-road and on, rock-solid build quality, much-improved interior
CONS: Pricier than the Trailhunter
2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD PRO Review
