17-07-2025
2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro vs. 2024 Lexus GX 550 Overtrail: The Off-Road Battle
Trail drive
Both of these vehicles have been out to Hungry Valley OHV park on separate occasions and have been through our three-pack of tests there. The GX defeated the Land Cruiser, and the 4Runner TRD Pro took on the Honda Passport TrailSport. Therefore, we already went into this challenge knowing that the Toyota has an advantage on the ziggurat of integrity, where it went a full step higher thanks to greater flexibility and a disconnecting front stabilizer bar, while both were about equal on the hill climb. So to provide a new challenge, we put together a trail drive that combined a dirt road, some sand, whoops, and a high-speed washboard section to test them out more thoroughly.
The two vehicles have very different suspensions, with the TRD Pro opting for Fox shocks and the GX offering a more conventional setup, but with KDSS (Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System) up front. This system uses a hydraulic control to adjust the front stabilizer bar, so it can be tighter on the road for greater stability and loosen up off-road to allow for more articulation. At slower speeds, the GX was more comfortable and its steering felt much more precise. But on the whoops when it would bottom out, the impacts were very harsh in the Lexus.
That's where the 4Runner really came alive. This is the desert-running version of the Toyota, and when the speeds crept north of 40 mph, it was much more comfortable than the Lexus. The Fox shocks have internal valves that add pressure as the shock compresses, so when it bottoms out, it doesn't feel nearly as violent, and rebound is also well controlled. Weirdly, the 4Runner was quite uncomfortable at lower speeds, and it never really settled in. (The same is true of driving it on the road.)
