6th Gen 4Runner Camping

[TRD JON]

Who plans on camping in their new 6th Gen 4Runner? What solutions are you thinking of to sleep inside of it since the seats don’t fold flat anymore like they did on the 5th Gen 4Runner?

I think I plan to get a hybrid model to get the battery floor as close to the rear seats as possible when folded and maybe just add some padding or something to even it out. It’s only a difference of about 3” or so. I wish that Toyota would come out with a sliding cargo try to add on top of the batter bump to make it nice and even.

Thoughts on this one?

 

[SamYota]

Thanks Jon, for measuring seat height (from non-hybrid floor) in your video. It's very helpful for ppl like me who ordered Gas ORP.

I've been brainstorming for the sleeping "solution" for a while.
I have a padded cot similar to the one in the picture.
The cot happens to stand at a height of around 11". I plan to fold up the leg frame on the head portion and to lay the cot on that 60% seat on pax side.
Hopefully there won't be too many interferences like the 3rd row cupholders, storage trim panels and so on. We'll see.
Otherwise, I'll just build a simple foldable wood bed platform.

Who plans on camping in their new 6th Gen 4Runner? What solutions are you thinking of to sleep inside of it since the seats don’t fold flat anymore like they did on the 5th Gen 4Runner?

I think I plan to get a hybrid model to get the battery floor as close to the rear seats as possible when folded and maybe just add some padding or something to even it out. It’s only a difference of about 3” or so. I wish that Toyota would come out with a sliding cargo try to add on top of the batter bump to make it nice and even.

Thoughts on this one?

 

[TRD JON]

Thanks Jon, for measuring seat height (from non-hybrid floor) in your video. It's very helpful for ppl like me who ordered Gas ORP.

I've been brainstorming for the sleeping "solution" for a while.
I have a padded cot similar to the one in the picture.
The cot happens to stand at a height of around 11". I plan to fold up the leg frame on the head portion and to lay the cot on that 60% seat on pax side.
Hopefully there won't be too many interferences like the 3rd row cupholders, storage trim panels and so on. We'll see.
Otherwise, I'll just build a simple foldable wood bed platform.




View attachment 883

That could work right there!

 

[rustytaco]

BamBeds has been making all sorts of sleep and leveling platforms for Toyota platforms and beyond. I imagine they will come out with a 4Runner product. They already have LC250, so that's an indication of roughly what to expect.

 

[Toyota]

Who plans on camping in their new 6th Gen 4Runner? What solutions are you thinking of to sleep inside of it since the seats don’t fold flat anymore like they did on the 5th Gen 4Runner?

I think I plan to get a hybrid model to get the battery floor as close to the rear seats as possible when folded and maybe just add some padding or something to even it out. It’s only a difference of about 3” or so. I wish that Toyota would come out with a sliding cargo try to add on top of the batter bump to make it nice and even.

Thoughts on this one?

I must admit, I was a bit surprised at what Toyota did with the rear not making it flat considering SO many use these for camping/sleeping. What were they thinking? I'll know more once they show up to get a sense of how much of a challenge it presents, but again, really disappointed with Toyota on this front from what I've seen thus far. Need to see it in person to form a final opinion.

 

[SamYota]

I must admit, I was a bit surprised at what Toyota did with the rear not making it flat considering SO many use these for camping/sleeping. What were they thinking? I'll know more once they show up to get a sense of how much of a challenge it presents, but again, really disappointed with Toyota on this front from what I've seen thus far. Need to see it in person to form a final opinion.

Just my Assumptions:
Looking at many unibody SUVs, I feel that the fold-flat 2nd row seats are more often to see on the unibody than the body-on-frame SUVs (no statistical analysis just a personal impression). But this leads me to dig a bit into the reasons behind it.

1. platform, frame design.
- Unibody's integrated structure gives more flexibility in creating that fold-flat seat since there's usually no separate frame intruding?
- Body on frame, it raises the floor height to accommodate frame, driveline components, etc?

2. structural requirements
- Unibody, it relies on the body itself for rigidity and they can integrate the seat brackets on floor structure with less worry about reinforcing a separate frame?
- Body on frame, by contrast, the reinforcements may protrude into cabin area and interfere the fold-flat seat (we don't want compromise cargo area headroom, etc too much just for having it "flat" folded)?

3. design, target market priority trades-off
- In general, factors such as ruggedness, ground clearance and others on the body-on-frame outweigh other priorities including the flat fold seats (even it is used more often in the 4x4 world)?

It would be good to know more from TOYOTA if you could have a chance to talk with them.

Cheers,

 

[Toyota]

Just my Assumptions:
Looking at many unibody SUVs, I feel that the fold-flat 2nd row seats are more often to see on the unibody than the body-on-frame SUVs (no statistical analysis just a personal impression). But this leads me to dig a bit into the reasons behind it.

1. platform, frame design.
- Unibody's integrated structure gives more flexibility in creating that fold-flat seat since there's usually no separate frame intruding?
- Body on frame, it raises the floor height to accommodate frame, driveline components, etc?

2. structural requirements
- Unibody, it relies on the body itself for rigidity and they can integrate the seat brackets on floor structure with less worry about reinforcing a separate frame?
- Body on frame, by contrast, the reinforcements may protrude into cabin area and interfere the fold-flat seat (we don't want compromise cargo area headroom, etc too much just for having it "flat" folded)?

3. design, target market priority trades-off
- In general, factors such as ruggedness, ground clearance and others on the body-on-frame outweigh other priorities including the flat fold seats (even it is used more often in the 4x4 world)?

It would be good to know more from TOYOTA if you could have a chance to talk with them.

Cheers,

I don't think I'll be talking to anyone at Toyota anytime soon who had any influence on their designs, but they clearly made sacrifices which favored engineering and not the marketing teams. If I ran a survey on their behalf, pretty sure there'd be an expectation of a flat rear for anyone even remotely considering the 4R for camping. It's the only reason I'm even considering the 4R, combined with it's ability to tackle off-road adventures, otherwise I'd just keep my very off-road ready pickup. Sure I can pop a tent in the rear bed, but I prefer being tucked away inside (hence the 4R). It'll all come to a head once I get to test drive the 4R TRD Pro. If it doesn't appeal to me, then I won't purchase. The current generation was a major deterrent so time will tell.

 

[SamYota]

I don't think I'll be talking to anyone at Toyota anytime soon who had any influence on their designs, but they clearly made sacrifices which favored engineering and not the marketing teams. If I ran a survey on their behalf, pretty sure there'd be an expectation of a flat rear for anyone even remotely considering the 4R for camping. It's the only reason I'm even considering the 4R, combined with it's ability to tackle off-road adventures, otherwise I'd just keep my very off-road ready pickup. Sure I can pop a tent in the rear bed, but I prefer being tucked away inside (hence the 4R). It'll all come to a head once I get to test drive the 4R TRD Pro. If it doesn't appeal to me, then I won't purchase. The current generation was a major deterrent so time will tell.

Same here.
Currently sleep in the RTT on my 4th gen Tacoma. Before that, I used a Napier tent on the bed which was burdensome for setup.
I prefer to be tucked inside as well, no wind rattling, no rain drops noise and stealthy camp anywhere.

 

[jloehle]

Worried that a platform to build up to the folded "flat" seats would be too high once a mattress is added.

Probably just pull one of the seats out for that purpose.