Our Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro's Suspension Finally Hits Its Sweet Spot

• What's new: I took our Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro off-road to see which of its adjustable suspension settings is best.
• Why it matters: When I did this same test on-road, I found setting 2 to be ideal, rather than setting 1, which is how the SUV was delivered.
• Edmunds says: Setting 2 wins again. And why does setting 1 even exist?

It was terrible. My son and I could feel every little pebble under the 4Runner's meaty tires, which I left at stock pressure. I had to dramatically slow down for the larger bumps, and even moderate surface imperfections were magnified beyond their visual size. The broken pavement on the return road only reinforced the feeling that setting 1 isn't really good for anything except maybe loosening your fillings. 

I pulled back into the campground and readjusted the suspension to setting 2 before hitting the trail again. The improvement was immediate and dramatic. I could cruise more comfortably, and even though the suspension was still notably stiff — the adjustments change the shock absorbers, not the springs themselves — both my son and I agreed this was a much better way to navigate the trail. I felt more confident driving a bit faster since the cabin wasn't shaking nearly as much, and even the steering felt calmer. On the return road, it was the same story. The 4Runner's softer setting helped me feel more confident over the broken and washed-out sections of pavement. 

So, on to setting 3. In my first pavement-only test, I noticed some extra nosedive when braking and acceleration squat in 3, but otherwise it felt very similar to 2. At first, it seemed like the same story in the dirt: obviously softer than 1, but not a lot different than 2. I was mystified about why it even existed ... until I realized I was going faster on the same trail by about 5 to 10 mph. When I slowed down to the speed I drove at setting 2, I realized 3 was indeed better, albeit subtly. On the paved return road, the smoothness was even more noticeable, but my son agreed that the dive-and-squat penalty was too much. 

The best (or least bad) setting

I did one last gut-check run in setting 2 since I wanted to drive home in that setting anyhow. Going from 2 to 3 and back to 2 was revealing: definitely a backward step from 3 off-road, but an improvement in controllability on pavement. To be clear, neither setting 2 nor 3 makes the 4Runner properly smooth, but 2 at least makes it at least tolerable, which is an improvement over setting 1.

Setting 1 is a mystery. It's far too harsh for the pavement and even worse off-road. Perhaps with the independent adjustment of each corner there's a case to be made; for example, you could set the front shocks to 3 and the rear to 1 for ... some reason. As for our 4Runner, it's in setting 2 again, where it will likely remain for the rest of its time in our test fleet.