The Toyota Land Cruiser has been in production since 1951, it's one of the most important vehicles in Toyota's history, and it laid the groundwork for the whole Japanese SUV segment. But it's not nearly the company's most popular off-roader, and no, we're not even talking about the Toyota RAV4, which sold 479,288 units last year.If you're talking about dedicated off-roaders, it's actually the Toyota 4Runner that stands as the brand's hottest seller, moving 98,805 units last year, more than twice the Land Cruiser's 43,946 sales. While the Land Cruiser may be more impressive when it comes to performance specs, the 4Runner's versatility and low price point have proven difficult to resist. Here's what you need to know about America's favorite Toyota off-roader. The New TRD Off-Road Model Starts At $51,790 Toyota We can easily recommend any version of the 4Runner if you want a capable off-roader that can also function as a daily-driver. But, if you're a true outdoorsy type, and you plan on spending a lot of time on trails and backroads, you probably want to skip the entry-level models and go right to the TRD Off-Road trim, which starts at $51,790 for a four-wheel drive model.The 4Runner is a body-on-frame mid-size with a wheelbase of 112.2 inches, and 9.1 inches of ground clearance in the TRD Off-Road trim. Standard features in the TRD Off-Road include the following. Heated front seats Leather steering wheel and shift knob Fixed running board Multi-terrain select with crawl control Bilstein monotube shocks with remote reservoirs Part-time four-wheel drive Electronically controlled locking rear differential Options like roof racks, dashcams, and LED cargo lights let you take your adventures to the next level, but the standard features in this trim are more than enough to get you started. The reason the 4Runner outsells the Land Cruiser may be as simple as this: when you look at what you get for the price of purchase, what more do you really need? We Wouldn't Have The 4Runner Without Winnebago Bring a Trailer You could say that the 4Runner has adventure in its DNA, seeing as the SUV's predecessor, the Toyota Trekker, was actually a Winnebago product, built on a short-bed Toyota Hilux in the early 1980s. Winnebago took out the rear wall, added a bench seat in the back, covered it with a fiberglass shell, and launched the Trekker as a competitor to models like the Chevy K5 Blazer. This wasn't the first time Toyota had partnered with an RV company to build something out of the Hilux, but it was the first that truly resembled a modern SUV.The Trekker functioned as something of a trial run, proving the viability of an off-road-oriented mid-size Toyota SUV, and Toyota hit the market with the first-gen 4Runner for the 1984 model year, emboldened by the Trekker's success. Like the Trekker, the original 4Runner was built on the Hilux. Five Generations Later... Toyota The Toyota 4Runner had some modest success early on as a niche product, selling 6,498 in 1984, its first model year. Sales would really take off with the launch of the second generation, hitting the market in 1989 for the 1990 model year, and selling 36,927 units in its first year.Toyota based the second generation 4Runner on the Toyota Hilux, just like the first, but it featured a full-steel integrated body mounted onto the frame, rather than being a simple conversion. At this point, the SUV was starting to come into its own as more than just a pickup with some extra seats.The third generation 4Runner, launched in 1995 for the 1996 model year, featured an all-new body shell built on a Land Cruiser chassis, borrowing its 2.7-liter 3RZ-FE engine and five-speed manual transmission from the then-new Toyota Tacoma. By this point, there was no mistaking a 4Runner for a converted pickup.This generation saw the SUV breaking 100,000 sales in a year for the first time, hitting 128,496 units sold in 1998. The 4Runner has had its ups and downs since then, but the launch of every new generation usually sees the SUV experiencing a healthy sales boost, moving 109,308 units with the launch of the fourth generation for the 2003 model year. 2009 was a slow year with just 19,675 units sold, but the launch of the fifth generation model saw these numbers more than doubling for 2010, with 46,531 units sold.Even as the fifth generation started to feel its age, it continued to sell more than 100,000 units every year from 2016 to 2023, retiring after the 2024 model year, when the SUV went out on top with 92,156 units sold. A Fifth-Gen 4Runner Can Be Had At A Fair Price In 2026 ToyotaIf $51,790 sounds a bit steep for something that you're going to drive like a rental, slinging around backroads and skipping across creeks, the fifth-gen 4Runner is still a beast, especially with the V6 engine found in the Trail model, with 9.6 inches of ground clearance.Taking a look at the market, via our own trending prices tool, here's what we turn up for each model year in the fifth generation.To go over some of the listings contributing to these numbers. The most affordable model we can find is a 211,622-mile 2012 4Runner Limited selling for $10,500 in Texas. A 109,253-mile 2013 4Runner SR5 is selling for $13,800 in Washington. An 87,960-mile 2012 4Runner SR5 is selling for $18,800 in Louisiana. A 115,345-mile 2014 4Runner SR5 is selling for $18,900 in Florida. A 99,361-mile 2011 4Runner Limited is selling for $19,500 in Louisiana. Note that this is all based on current listings and recent sales. These numbers could be very different by the time you're ready to buy, and there's no telling what will be available in your own neck of the woods.There are 4Runners available for barely more than $10,000, but they tend to be fairly high-mileage. If you budget $16,000 to $20,000 for the purchase, you'll have your pick of relatively low-mileage fifth-gen 4Runners. The Fifth-Gen 4Runner Is As Reliable As It Gets Toyota When it comes to reliability, it's a Toyota, what do you really need to know? RepairPal suggests that a 2010 4Runner should cost just $498 a year to maintain, with the following accounting for the most expensive common fixes. Fuel injector replacement $1,310 - $1,578 Air conditioning expansion valve replacement $941 - $1,349 Automatic trans shift cable replacement $509 - $573 Coolant change $304 - $365 Clutch master cylinder replacement $294 - $472 Fuel filter replacement $161 - $233 With routine maintenance, there's no reason a 100,000-mile 4Runner shouldn't be able to go hundreds of thousands of miles more. In fact, you could probably hit a quarter-million miles in a 4Runner while neglecting the occasional oil change, but why not get every mile you can out of your new-to-you off-roader?