Toyota 4Runner and Tacoma Hybrids Are Quickest in Rear-Wheel Drive

Welcome to Car and Driver's Testing Hub, where we zoom in on the test numbers. We've been pushing vehicles to their limits since 1956 to provide objective data to bolster our subjective impressions (you can see how we test here).

We here on Car and Driver's testing team are always seeking ways to extract the maximum amount of performance from any vehicle. We fuss with launch rpms, watch boost gauges, and occasionally try to manually shift an automatic to find a few extra tenths. Pickups are some of the most thoughtless things we test. Put ‘em in four-wheel drive, stomp the brake and throttle, and let them eat. But Toyota’s new 4Runner and Tacoma with their optional hybrid turbo-four powertrains threw us a curveball.

We started off straight-line acceleration testing the 323-hp Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter just as we would in any other four-wheel-drive truck or SUV—with torque going to all four wheels.

The configurable digital instrument cluster allows for a turbo boost gauge and also a display to monitor the electric motor's output. Pushing the brake pedal and accelerator simultaneously, we watched both gauges near their indicated peaks before we released the brakes, and off went the 4Runner to 60 mph in 7.3 seconds. It also reached the quarter-mile mark in 15.7 seconds at 88 mph.

During these acceleration runs, however, we noticed the electric motor’s gauge spent little time at the top of its reading. On a whim, we shifted the transfer case into rear-wheel drive and ran two more tests. First thing, there’s wheelspin to manage, on account of the system's combined 465 pound-feet of torque being routed to only one axle. Secondly, the electric motor flexes more muscle. To our surprise, 60 mph arrived in 6.7 seconds, and the quarter-mile took 15.3 ticks at 88 mph.

We reached out to Toyota, and they confirmed our observations. According to its engineering department, the manufacturer reels in the available torque when in four-wheel drive in order to protect the front differential. This detuning means the Trailhunter SUV needs about a half-second more to reach the mile-per-minute mark and an extra four-tenths of a second to cover 1320 feet. Other worthy intel: the electric motor can only lend assistance for 10 seconds at a time.

We applied what we learned from the 2025 Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter to a similarly powered '25 Tacoma Trailhunter with a six-foot bed, and the delta between the four- and rear-wheel-drive 60-mph times grew to almost a second. In the end, the 5441-pound 4Runner was 0.4-second quicker to 60 mph than the 5561-pound Tacoma Trailhunter. With less mass yet more weight over its rear axle, the 4Runner responds more positively to a bigger brake boost off the line.

Do we expect 4Runner and Taco owners to be out burning up the tarmac to 60 mph? Absolutely not. But it's nice to know the quickest way to do it.