DC Tacoma or 4Runner for kids?

I have owned both 4runners and Tacomas. I have the Tacoma now, but no kids. My other half tells me when the first kid is coming, I bump over for another 4Runner. She loves the Tacoma but the rear space is pretty bad.

 

Actually your 4Runner is exactly the path I’d go. I love MGM so I was going to trade my MGM taco for a MGM 4Runner OR

 

Rear facing fits easily in the center. Forward facing and booster fits easily anywhere you want to put it. Two rear facing at the same time is when it gets tricky.

 

My friend has 2 kids. One 6 months old one almost 3, he has a 2nd gen double cab Tacoma and a 5th gen 4Runner. There is so much more usable room in the 4Runner it is crazy. I just bought my wife a 5th gen 4Runner and I love it for family things.

The Tacoma does not really fit a car seat when you are over 6 feet tall. Maybe if you are 5 foot tall you can get it to work, wouldn't know.

 

Thanks guys for a lot of good info and insight. I’m going to sit on it for the weekend. Test drive one Monday and see from there if the Taco is staying or going.

 

I had 99 4Runner and 2015 Tacoma, now own 2016 4Runner and 2017 Tacoma, I love both of them, at the end I may take 4Runner.
I would recommand Highlander if for the kids. This is my own opinion though.

 

Both will work. As another post mentioned, if you're simply in the 'planning phase' of family life, there is zero reason to rush out and dump the Tacoma for a vehicle you feel is more 'family' oriented. Unless you just damn well want to and if thats the case then go do it brother!

There are likley better options out there if you're wanting the best family oriented vehicle available. But thats not what you asked for, you asked specifially about the Tacoma and the 4Runner. As a Tacoma owner and father of a 19month old (second due in Sept.), if I had to choose one or the other, it would be the 4Runner all day every day.

I plan to keep my Tacoma (or at least a truck of some kind) and when we 'need' more vehicle for the kids, I plan to trade/sell my wife's Subaru Crosstrek and get her a 4Runner or something along those lines. But until then, the Tacoma and Crosstrek work just fine for our family and 2 dogs.

Don't forget about exterior storage options such as roof cargo baskets, rocket box, tow hitch carriers, etc. for when you need more interior space on the longer trips. Those options are significantly cheaper than buying a bigger vehicle when the space is only necessary on occasion.

 

I’ve got a ‘15 T4R and a ‘17 Tacoma, for daily use with kids I would get the T4R. Its the car we use for road trips and camping more often than my truck.

 

My 2002 double cab was just fine for my two kids when they were little. And I got to have a truck! However, when my son turned 14, I bought a 4Runner.

My wife had a Highlander though so we didn’t use my truck for family trips too often.

 

Minivan.

 

And bigger cushions?

 

We have a 4runner and a DCSB tacoma ... We take the 4runner on long trips just due to it has a little more room in the back seats. But no much. Our kids are 7 and 5....

I have no issues in my tacoma carrying the kids .. Even with car seats. I just throw everything in the back under the bed cover. As far as the ride, they're the same

 

In the '90's my family vehicle was a 2 seat Silverado. It was very comfortable, auto, air, buckets, power everything. I would drive, my daughter in the passenger seat and I would throw my wife in the bed. It did have a cap so it's not like she got wet or snowed on. We went on many 300 mile plus trips in the winter and in the summer when I would go down the shore I would put her in the back, all sunburned with a bushel of crabs.

 

I don’t think I could ever bring myself to drive a minivan lol.

 

Very useful thread! I may end up going with a 4Runner now instead of a taco. Or maybe an explorer.

 

We have a '16 Trail T4R and I bought a '18 TRD Pro Tacoma last month. For any trip with more than 2 people, T4R every time. Actually, if we go anywhere together we just drive the T4R by default, from a practical standpoint it does everything we need so well (we have put 48K miles on it already). If we only had one car, T4R by a mile.

 

We have both a 17 DC and a 14 Runner. My kids are teenagers and we regularly do long drives to the ski hill. I bought a roof top carrier for gear because the kids would rather sit in the Runner piled with gear than sit in the Tacoma. It kind of makes me wish I'd gone for the extended cab and longer box since I seem to be the only one riding in my truck. A couple of better things about the 4runner, a door you can easily fit in without ducking your head, a steering wheel that telescopes out to where you can reach it with more than your finger tips, a power driver seat that TILTS, dash controls where they should be (hazard button is top dead center). My wife finds my truck much sportier on a twisty highway (before I lifted it). One more plus for the runner is that wheel base, amazing around town and would kick the crap out of my Taco off road. Would the kids thing apply to little ones, I have no experience there.

 

How’s the interior compared to the Tacoma. Pictures look like the 4Runners tech is a little dated.

 

By the talk of the 4Runner I’d get that over the Explorer. Coming from someone who drives a 2016 Explorer 40 hours a week for work, they sure do seem to have problems.

 

Yeah - the tech sucks in both, but sucks a tad more in the 4Runner...like you said, dated. The knobs are bigger and more plastic-y but actually are easier to use (I bought the Hondo ones for the Tacoma). The info-display is better in the Tacoma (however, remember my 4Runner is a 2016, so not sure if that changed. My fiance would also kill for the push-button start in the Tacoma...this is a real benefit vs. fishing for the keys every time.

Tech aside, I think the interior in the 4Runner is better and bigger. Awesome leather which holds up well, power seats are much better and for me (6'3" 260 lbs) there is more room all the way around. There is just more substance, even shutting the door is more solid-feeling. Love my Taco...but for a family truckster, 4R FTW.